Please help us find a decent London hotel
 

First trip to London. I've read as many threads as I can find and still don't have a place in mind. We'll be there sometime before Christmas and will spend between 200 and 300USD a night. We want a quiet hotel but in a good and fun area. Is this an unreasonable expectation for this amount of money?

Not sure what you mean by a fun area. Lots of clubs and restaurants? Central to sightseeing? Near parks or shopping?

Also, not sure how a quiet hotel fits with these. (London is a big city - and while not especially noisy - like Madrid with the troops of 3AM drunken revelers - there are the usual city sounds.)

Can you define fun area? And how you plan on spending most of your time? Tolerance for tube travel to get to the center?

Your price range is very good. You will be able to pick a nice hotel. Just pick something close to the tube station and you will be connected to everything within minutes. Some good ones are Millenium Bailey hotel and Hilton Metropole (make sure you get room on executive floors).

Thank you for the replies. We want to see all the sights and will probably do a combination of cabs and the tube. Want an area that we can walk to cool restaurants and pubs and some sights. One more thing, how far is Stonehenge? Is that doable? I'll have to drag my wife along but I feel like I can't miss that.

With your budget you can afford to stay at the Basil Street Hotel which is a perfect, English hotel. It isn't large, nor Americanized, but it is exquisite and is located in the heart of Kensington, a short walk to Harrods and a few steps to the underground. There are tons of shops, restaurants, pubs and wine bars in the area. You will fall in love with it.

Check out the website and see what I'm talking about (their tariff page has specials listed).
http://www.thebasil.com/

Comment: The choice of words is important. Implying that their are indecent hotels in London may raise some hackles. London prides itself on its more than 500 hotels. Prices are based on amenities offered. Many search sites list hotels and their particular facilities. Start with the Claridge. English hotels differ from USA hotels. You may be happier in a USA facility.

GSteed, come on. I doubt there's a person on the planet who believes that London doesn't have decent hotels. We have heard that hotels there tend to be more expensive than other cities, which explains but doesn't excuse my poor "choice of words". But I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody. We wouldn't be happier in a "USA facility". Rickmav, The Basil sounds exactly like what we're looking for. My wife loves the website already, but other similar suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Take a look at The Gore in South Kensington, right across the street from Hyde Park, beautiful but small & cozy Victorian hotel. Near Royal Albert Hall & V&A Museum

I'd recommend either the Capital Hotel (also on Basil Street, bizarrely!) which also has a 2 Michelin star restaurant (and THE most amazing lunch menu for £28 per head - it was again recently voted the best hotel restaurant in the UK); or, if you want something more contemporary, try the Soho Hotel.

http://www.capital-london.net/capital/hotel.html

www.sohohotel.com

Oh, and I live in London and I didn't find the reference to a '..decent London hotel..' offensive!

Sofitel St James see www.sofitel.com.
Very quiet yet 5 mins walk from Picadily and Leiecester Sq. 15 mins to Covent Garden. Upmarket and comfortable.
Also Check www.tripadvisor.com

The Dolphin Square Hotel in Westminster is in a quiet, residential area. It's an all-suites hotel. It's not necessarily a "fun" area, but it is very close to the Pimlico tube station and you'd be one stop away from Victoria Station and two stops from Green Park (on Piccadilly.)

We stayed there last December and really enjoyed it.

<b>www.dolphinsquarehotel.co.uk</b>

GolfBall - Stonehenge is definitely doable as a day trip from London and like you say is something that should not be missed. You can either do it one your own or via a tour. If you plan to rent a car then of course you are good to go whenever. If no car, take the train to Salisbury, then there is a bus that you can take from the Salisbury train station to Stonehenge just a few miles away. When you get back to Salisbury you should spend a little time exploring this very lovely town also, especially the cathedral.

Or, you can book one of the many coach tours that take day trips to Stonehenge. There's a lot of tour companies to consider than can easily be found on the Web. One of them, Astral, has a special access tour that allows you in to actually touch the stones.

I rate Stonehenge very high on my &quot;must see&quot; list for England.

It's really so hard to know what other people consider to be adequate and enjoyable, but I'll take a stab at this!
We stayed in London on 25 August this year at (what we considered) a lovely little hotel - but it was quite a bit under your stated price. It was located a couple of blocks from Hyde Park in a quiet area called Sussex Gardens. The name of it was Darlington Hyde Park and the price is approximately 78 pounds per night for a double, inclusive of taxes and a cooked Eng breakfast. We were within 1/2 block to 2 blocks from 3 different buses and a couple of blocks from Padington Tube Station. It was small, and immaculately clean. We had no AC but did have a fan and a window that we could have opened, but didn't need to.
The people were charming and helpful and we will definitely stay there again. You can do a search on Google and find their web site.
Happy travels,
Carol

I've won both the above-mentioned Sofitel St. James and the Le Meridien Piccadilly on Priceline last year at a rate of $150 per night (Mayfair/Soho zone). Can't get a location better than that, in the heart of Piccadilly Circus. Also located next to many theatres. Go to biddingfortravel.com for details on PL bidding. Then there is luxurylink.com, where you can get some great deals on 4-5* London lodging, where we won the Cranley in Kensington/Chelsea area but there are many more choices with ideal locations. But to me Mayfair would be the first choice.

These may be more &quot;budget minded&quot; than you are looking for but try visitlondonoffers.com to get an idea of hotels. London is not particulary spread out and it is easy to zip around on the tube or grab one of those great London cabs when you want both transportation and a great tourguide.

We enjoyed the Gallery Hotel, a small boutique hotel in South Kensington. The hotel is charming and the staff and service very personal and helpful. The hotel is located two blocks from the South Ken. tube station and around the corner from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The regular rates are about E160 for a double or twin but I notice that they have a winter rate of E110. Website is www.eeh.co.uk.

Golfball, we loved our stay at the DeVere Cavendish on Jermyn Street in the St. James/Mayfair area, we had easy walks to Picadilly, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square plus Fortnum and Masons was just across the street. They had received many positive reports on Tripadvisor.com. Have a great trip. Deborah