In past visits to London we have stayed in Knightsbridge or Belgravia and have always enjoyed walking aroung the neighborhood. I am now considering staying at the new Renaissance Chancery Court on High Holborn. The description says that it is near the West End Theater district and the British Museum. Would there be nice places for leisurely strolls near the hotel? I do not need to be near all the fancy boutiques of Knightsbridge this trip.

Any information would be appreciated.

There are mainly office building on High Holborn,but as this used to be(still is) legla London, there are some ancient alleys and inns of court on both side to explore.

South of Holborn: Lincoln's Inn Field is a hugh green to stroll around,look around some of the old gates, the Chapel and Sir Soane's Museum are both worth visiting. Walk south of the Field throgh Bell Yard,cross Fleet Street to Temple: Temple Church, middle Temple Garden and other small courts gardens are all nice to walk around.

East of Holborn: St.Bartholomew-the-Great is one of the oldest/most beautiful churches in London, don't miss the gate. Nearby the Central Market Smithfield has couple places for hearty english breakfast.

North of Holborn,there are some nice streets to walk around near Gray's Inn.

On Holborn, take a look at Bernard's Inn and Staple Inn,both are dated from around 14th(13th?) century.

Thanks for the detailed response.

Its a very impressive hotel, but overrall even if you have stayed at Belgravia and Knightsbridge, I would choose to go back to those areas. Alternatively the Sloane Square area. From a perspective of casual walking around etc, I do not find Holborn particularly pleasant -too much in the way of an office area. Judy's recommendations are, however, very good, and whereever you stay would be worth checking out.

We stayed at this hotel in February, and I strongly recommend its location. I didn't want to stay in a big shopping area, since the $ is so low to the pound; one of the very few bargains in London is theatre, so we wanted to be walking distance to that district. The hotel itself is totally, wonderfully quiet (always a crucial point in a major city), and while it is sort of a business area, the British Museum is a 10-minute walk in one direction (Bloomsbury) and Covent Garden a 10-minute walk in the other direction. Because of the proximity to theatreland, there are many excellent restaurants around, lots of them reasonably priced for London. My teenaged daughters thought Covent Garden was the coolest area in London, and did a lot of shopping around there, as it turned out. The Holborn underground stop is less than a block away.

We'll be in London for three days (including a weekend) and plan to go to theater everyday. Sounds like the hotel will be convenient. The area proabably would be quiet then on Saturday and Sunday. And I guess we could take the tube to Knightsbridge if we want to shop there. Thanks.

We just returned from England this week. We stayed at the Marriott County Hall, which was a great location to sightsee,and a wonderful place to say, but having been there, I'm leaning toward staying at the Renaissance myself. It is close to the theatre dist., and I loved the Covent Garden area, which I believe is close by. We were able to get discout tickets for My Fair Lady and loved the performance [and had great seats]. That was the best deal we got while there. I think the tickets were 26 pounds! In NYC, we pay $100 for tickets, give or take a bit, so that was a treat. Enjoy the trip! I can't wait to go back myself.

Lois: Did you order your tickets in advance or did you get them at the British version of HotTix? Where did you wind up sitting for that price? Are a lot of the shows available at the last minute?

We are going to have a lot of luggage so we can't take public transportation to the airport. Anyone know how long we should allow by cab to get from the hotel to Heathrow for an 8:30 AM weekday check-in?

Thanks for all your help.

Last summer I stayed accross the street for three weeks. Although the location is great for walking to the theater and proximity to the tube (I chose it because I could walk to a class I was taking), I didn't like it at all. Busy, busy, busy during the day with office workers, rushing traffic and construction. At night panhandlers were bothersome. I much prefer being close to Hyde Park and quiet.

DMG, we got the tickets for My Fair Lady from a discount tickets booth behind the Marriott County Hall, right next to the Thames. This location is across the river from Parliment and Big Ben. There were quite a few choices available for a discounted price. Apparently their theater dist. is having the same problem with attendence being off as Broadway in NYC is. The seats we had were excellent. We were about 25 rows back, and just off to the left. There were closer ones available, but more to the side.

I'm sure the hotel will be able to advise you regarding the travel time to the airport. My daughter and son-in-law headed to the airport at 9 a.m. last week, from County Hall to Heathrow, and it took them an hour and 15 minutes! We had left before rush hour for an early flight, and breezed to the airport.

Thanks for all the advice.