London Hotels Recommendations

rhk109 · 05-15-2005, 04:51 PM

On our upcoming trip to Europe, my wife and I have a 3 day layover in London.

We are trying to decide if we should stay at a hotel close to Heathrow and take the tube into downtown or if we should just get a hotel that is downtown. This will be our first time in London. Anyone have any advice?

alf · 05-15-2005, 05:56 PM

Like Peter say, go into London.

That said, London hotels are grossly overpriced and underwhelming. If you are going in the Summer, make sure it is air conditioned. Even with a 4 Star rating and price all you might have is a table fan. Ask me how i know.

The Park Sheraton on Picadilly is nice, The Met right around the corner is nicer. Walking distance to most everything in town and an Exoctic car dealship a hop skip and jump away.

alf

alf · 05-15-2005, 05:59 PM

There is a nice hotel i stayed in last year by Shepard's ?Crook? station that was recently remodelled, good service and reasonably priced but not in the best tourist part of London. I could look it up if you like. Short Underground ride to central London.

alf

Flatbutt1 · 05-15-2005, 05:59 PM

3 days? Check out Trafalgar Square and eat at the Texas Embassy. Do the double decker bus tour , its cheap and you can get the lay of the land. Get to the Tower pf London and take the tour. The Tower Bridge is an excellent photo op. Across from the Tower is the remnant of the original Roman wall that enclosed London. Get to Picadilly Circus for some street theatre and local flavor. If theres time get to Windsor and do the castle tour, it is unbelieveable. Also when in Windsor , walk across the footbridge over the Thames into Eton. Near Eton College is a restaurant called Antico's. The best Italian food in England! The people are awesome and for lunch get a Plowman's platter with a pint of ale!

Flatbutt1 · 05-15-2005, 06:00 PM

BTW English hotels don't do air conditioning and generally charge per person. It ain't cheap!

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

I was in London almost 2 years ago and stayed at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. Not too far from the tube and also near many of the parks. If you are going to be traveling the tube and sightseeing, look into getting a London Pass, this will cover all of your tube travel and much of your sightseeing expenses and you don't have to wait in tourist lines with this pass. The hotel if I remember correctly was right across from the Kensington Gardens.

rhk109 · 05-15-2005, 06:11 PM

I was planning on getting a place near Heathrow so I don't have to haul all our luggage downtown. I figured we could then take the tube into London in the morning and then back to the hotel at night.

rhk109 · 05-15-2005, 06:12 PM

Alf,

The name of the hotel would be great.

targa911S · 05-16-2005, 07:28 AM

Noel Cowards house is now a B&B. It is very near the theatre district and we had a fine time there. It was also very reasonable.

Noel Coward Hotel

111 Ebury Street
Belgravia
London SW1W 9QU
England
Phone: +44 (207) 7302094
Fax: +44 (171) 7308697

Close to Victoria station and Gatwick express

rhk109 · 05-16-2005, 04:32 PM

Noel Coward Hotel

Is this a 'alternative lifestyle' hotel. All the reviews I found started with "my partner and I" or "my lover and I".

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

targa911S · 05-16-2005, 05:08 PM

OOOH well maybe. It has been a long time since I was there with my wife and kids. Things change. Sorry to put you onto a possibly weird setting. As I said it's been 10 years since I have been to London. Oops!

RallyJon · 05-16-2005, 06:27 PM

My wife and I stayed at the Marriott Park Lane (the NE corner of Hyde Park) recently. Reasonably nice. Good martinis. Absurdly expensive. The £1 = $1 of actual value conversion rate applied here as it does everywhere in London.

michaelathome · 05-16-2005, 06:42 PM

My wife and I were in London about a year ago. We stayed at a hotel around paddington station. We caught the high speed train and were at heathrow in about 20min once we boarded.

It is close enough to be convenient to downtown and still outside the higher priced downtown Mariots. As a matter of fact there was a Hilton right next to the station as well but we didn't stay there. We stayed in a POS hotel that was REALLY pricey as far as we were concerned. Wierd being on the QM2 for a week and then staying in a run down hotel.

Michael

rhk109 · 05-17-2005, 03:27 PM

Okay,

What area in London is the best for a first timer? My wife is looking into Piccadilly Circus based on a suggestion from a co-worker. It is also somewhat close to Waterloo (starting point of the chunnel and a day trip to Paris).