It depends on where you stay, from central London it's about 30 minutes by tube. If you stay more to the west in Bayswater etc. it's about a mile and a half, so easily walkable..

Notting Hill is a district of West London, and the carnival lasts two days over the August bank holiday weekend. This website might be helpful:
https://www.visitlondon.com/things-t...-hill-carnival

Notting Hill Gate underground station is less than 10 minutes from Oxford Circus Station, which I would call central London.
The carnival gets very busy, and the underground stations are exit or entrance only at certain hours. If you stay in Bayswater you are walking distance, but far enough not to be bothered by the noise.
It is VERY loud. Do not walk around without earplugs.
4-star hotel? What budget. You could stay at The Laslett Hotel close to Notting Hill Gate station, that is a 4-star hotel. It's a lovely hotel.

Welcome to Fodors

4 star tells us nothing - what is your actual budget (posh London hotels tend to be very expensive)

Notting Hill is essentially IN central London. As Tulips says it is a short tube ride from most parts but a lot of people stay in that specific area because it is on the edge of what we call central London (basically anyplace inside the circle Tube line)

Hi Patrick, just be aware that Notting Hill during Carnival is not what it normally looks like. Shops are boarded up, most locals move out and board up their front windows.
There are sound systems on the street corners that are so loud that you feel the pavement moving. A million people come to the carnival.
The parade is fun to see, there are lots of food stands. If the weather is good it can be fun. Just watch out for pickpockets and other trouble.

Notting Hill Carnival 2019 saw 350 arrests made in two days and 37 assaults on police officers. Drug use is endemic and very open. Violence is frequent and often accompanied by the use of bladed weapons. The atmosphere can be intimidating for many people particularly when sections of the crowds are held in pens to prevent crushing as all too often the parade floats do not travel fast enough to enable an effective flow of people.
The locals hate the carnival. Many board their houses up and leave for the weekend, their gardens often used as toilets and places to consume drugs. The police would like to see it banned, the pressure it places on already stretched resources is obscene.
When compared to other festivals in the UK the level of violence, drug use and police attendance, Notting Hill Carnival far exceeds the levels seen anywhere else. Personally I'd avoid it like the plague.

I agree JC. I walked around, I think 2 years ago when the weather was pretty bad, and crowds were fairly OK, just to see what it was about, but wouldn't go again.

I went last year, I really wanted to see it and probably would not have let anyone talk me out of it. Maybe we went too early, I didn't see any of the costumes I was expecting. Saw a lot of huge piles of garbage in the streets, though. Shocking amounts of cups, bottles etc and this was around 1pm! There are lots of food stalls, but we could not find any live music, all sound distorted boom box stuff. Wanted to go into a pub I like - they were charging admission!

We walked back to Paddington and en route passed a park, I am not sure the name of it but it was on the way to the canal that runs to Paddington. The park was packed with people having picnics, socializing, kids playing.. that was the only part of the Carnival I liked and would go back to. It seemed like local people having a good time, There were some scents in the air for sure, but they seemed like innocent scents.

I am glad I went so I can knock it off my list. If I went back I would backtrack from Paddington to that park and skip the rest of it. Having said that, Patrick when you go do report back on your findings.

>>My budget for accommodations is around US$200 per night. <<

Dream on! $200 = approx £150. That is very low for London. You most definitely will not get a '4 star'- property for that and most likely not for 3 or 4 times that. You REALLY need to lower your sights. Even a basic hostel dormitory will cost about $50-60 / £35-45-ish.

You need to look at booking.com and plug in 'central London' and your budget. They will mostly be basic two-ish star tourist class hotels plus some 3star-sh running special sales.

Its not impossible to get a 4 star that time of year around the Paddington area in this budget. If you are willing to pay in advance, check out Park Grand properties. Plugging in August 30 - September 1, the 4 star Park Grand on Westbourne Terrace (which is comfortable but not luxurious by any stretch of the imagination) is $351 at today's exchange rate. It isn't much over the budget to book refundable. They have a couple of other properties in the area.

parkgrandlondon.com

Amwosu told me about the hub hotels, new hotels that have small rooms, great design and high tech features. I stayed in two different ones on a trip last year (with a trip to Paris in between). Loved them. Several locations to choose from. I did visit the Saturday market, but very different from Carnavel. The hotels would be below your budget. Just one to consider. I was about to recommend the Conrad as a hotel - until I saw your budget.

Here's a link -
https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hub.html

I plugged in the HUB in Covent Garden for Aug 29 - 31 and it came up £465 for the 3 nights - £155 per night for a teensy room with no window.

How do you know the room has no window?

But that's right in budget!

Rates are lower at the other hub locations though. Here are the price options at the one I loved -

Under budget!
297 for the smaller room and 312 for the bigger room (for the 3 nights stay)

You can do it for that budget in a less desirable area - look at the Dorsett Shepherds Bush. Very nice hotel, slightly scruffy area, but easy to get to a tube station and not far at all from Notting Hill, and the cheaper rooms will be in your price range. Warning: the cheaper rooms have windows looking into the building not external, if that is a dealbreaker, but it's not a particularly pretty area anyway.

Once one 'discovers' the HUBs one might think they the best thing since sliced bread. But they are definitely an acquired taste. The rooms are very modern and very very small and half don't have windows. They are in good locations but are not bargains. A plain old travelodge or the cheaper Premier Inn locations will have rooms twice the size . . . and every one has a window.

But we have been through this before - a HUB acolyte is a hard nut to crack

Okay. Challenge accepted. I have the stamina to crack this nut!

They ARE great! I couldn't believe the rate but very definitely trust amwsou's travel advice so made two reservations - soley based on HER (excellent) recommendations. Many of us have followed amw's travel advice and she's never steered any of us wrong.

The rooms ARE small. The rooms ARE modern. I'll add again that the rooms ARE high tech.

Brand new. Fabulous. And for the same price I paid for a horrid room in London back in 1990?!

How can that be?!
They have a fabulous model and a fabulously successful model. Just look at the THOUSANDS of reviews on TA and see for yourself.

They aren't the "perfect" room and not for every situation. Definitely not if you need room service, need a big room, and/or traveling with more than 1 other person - and don't want to share a bed with that person.

But beautiful new (small rooms), high tech, great bathrooms (small but nicer than in many mid-range hotels) and in GREAT locations!

I'm still going back to that window thing that is being stated as a fact.

"..and half don't have windows."

What is that based on?! Have you actually stayed in a hub hotel or are you just sharing something you've heard/ read elsewhere?

I'm sticking with this because EVERY time I've mentioned the hubs, I've gotten the same pushback. Maybe I'm just lucky that way, but I'd really like to sort out the source of the misinformation.

Have to agree with the posters who said they'd never go back to the Notting Hill Carnival. We went once when we lived in the UK and didn't enjoy it at all. Way too crowded, you couldn't move and could only walk in certain areas due to the barricades. A lot of the tube exits and entrances are closed off at certain times due to the crowds. We saw some of the parade but it didn't flow and there were long waits in between all the time which just got tedious. In my opinion, highly over-rated. Suggest staying in Bayswater within easy walk of the tube stations, you can then walk to the carnival.

Kay