Where do YOU stay when in London?
 

We will be in London the first week of September. Would love to know where others have stayed - particularly, which area is the most convenient to stay in?

We like to stay in the Earls court area. London is big, so you are going to be taking transit to some sites, wherever you stay. We like the somewhat non-touristy feel of Earls Court and find the almost affordable hotels, and the undergound connections to most everywhere (including Heathrow) to work well for us.

I like to stay near the theatre district or around South Kensington. I am a walker and find that I can spend the day, enjoy the city and never get a cab, bus, or tube. On my last trip I bought the Aldwych Hilton on Priceline for $120. Best bargain I ever struck. After years of suffering in wretched little rooms with closets for bathrooms, it was a real treat.

B&B in Bloomsbury, not too busy, easy walk to many sites, good Tube access.

Hi
you may find the London Superthread to be helpful

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34548473

We love the Park Lane, near Piccadilly Circus & Green Park and also the Sheraton Park Tower, in Knightsbridge.

The Regency Hotel, South Kensington - http://www.regency-london.co.uk/

-very lovely location (beautiful streets), >5 min walk to the tube, Kensington Gardens, and museums.


~amelie

Last year we went in March (very cold and rainy) we stayed at the Lansborough hotel. Very nice but expensive. You have your own butler which at times is fun, but we like doing things ourselves so we didnt have much for him. The bar there is great called the Library. This hotel is walking distance to Buckingham. The rooms are decent. I have found that all hotel rooms is London are SMALL compared to rooms in America, so keep that in mind!!

We've stayed twice at the Rubens Hotel across from the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. Nice staff, well furnished if smallish rooms with air conditioning and a great breakfast buffet. It's only a couple of short blocks from Victoria Station, and its around the corner from St. James Park (one of my favorites) and Green Park. There's a Sainsbury and lots of pubs and restaurants nearby too.

I suspect "convenient" may somewhat depend on what you want to do most.

This past February we stayed at the Covent Garden Hotel (mainly because we went to see a lot of West End shows).

The hotel is pricey but we felt it was well worth it. Convenient to the Tube, rstaurants, etc.

Any hotel close to the Tube (if you choose to use that for transport) might end up being convenient for you. But the amount you feel comfortable spending on a hotel in London will probably drive your final choice if you are like most folks.

I spend a LOT of time in London in the theatres, and have been renting the same flat in Covent Garden for 9 years now. I love the location as I can easily return between shows and relax, or head out just a few minutes away to get half price tickets, etc. Meanwhile the flat is in a very quiet cobblestone street that is quiet, despite its closeness to all the tourism and fun of the area. Add me to the list who rarely take tubes or other transportation -- we walk a lot.

Now we stay in So Kensington, my husband lived in Knightsbridge so we used to stay in that area.
Mayfair isn't bad either :D

"Most convenient" for what?

For your company's head office, or UK subsidiary, if you're here on business?

For a specific exhibition or conference?

For London's msjor library complex, if you're here to study?

Or do you just want a ghetto for low-income tourists, like Earl's Court?

Being told Joe Blow always stays in a great B+B in Northolt because it's so convenient really doesn't get you very far unless you realise he's attached to NATO.

And a list of places strangers always like to stay is as useless as taking every twentieth entry in the hotel section of London Yellow Pages.

Tell people why are you here, how much (precisely) a night can you afford and what you want to do in your spare time and you'll get useful suggestions. As it is, you've got a random list of neighbourhoods, and absolutely no way of telling whether any of them meet your needs.

Millenium Knightsbridge.

You can often get very good deals on their web site.

It is not a cutesy, charming oldsey worldsey type of place - but a modern highrise - but has everything I want in a hotel at a good price.

Great location - on Sloan St - just south of Knightsbridge Station - near Harrods, Harvey Nicks, and several major musuems.

Rooms are a reaonable size and have all basic amenities - good hair dryers, lots of TV channels besides the basics, large size mini-bars (for my sodas) and AC you can really control yourselves.

Breakfast is excellent - simple continental - or cooked if you want (but not the ghastly greasy half-cooked english breakfast - beautifully prepared omelets, scrambled eggs with a tiny bit if cream cheese etc.)

And also good light meals - if you're exhausted and want to stay in early one night. (Have never eaten a full dinner there - but everything always looked good).

The Renaissance Chancery Court, a half block from the Holborn Tube was great. Was there last month. Our room was huge, air-conditioned, with a huge bathroom with separate tub and shower stall. It was perfect for our needs. We walked back from the theater district in the evenings. Walking distance to the British Museum.

It might help if you gave us your price range and what is important to you.

I've stayed in Bloomsbury (Bonnington and Scala House), Pimlico (Dolphin Square hotel), South Kensington (Adelphi) and Kensington (Allen House and Copthorne Tara.) I'd have to say Kensington is my favorite. Good tube/bus access, nice shopping, nice area and a good pub right across the street. :)

We were surprised and pleased with our (granted, very touristy) Days Inn Westminster on Belgrave Road right down the road from Victoria Station.

Cheap, clean, and convenient to a tube stop, YES!!

Classy and cultured, NO!!

In all - I would definitely stay again if traveling for that length of time (3+ weeks) on a budget.

I love the Sloan Square area.

ttt

SLOANE!