[Closed] Where to stay in That London

I'm happy enough not to live there anymore but it is a great city to visit.

Not sure about places to stay, we tend to just look on the usual websites and find something cheap not too far out from the centre. Just bear in mind cheap usually means tiny and awkward but I don't mind that as we'll be out most of the time.

We like to walk around as there is always loads to see and lots of great buildings. It easy to see it as a massive city but the centre is reasonably compact. Take the bus rather than the tube for longer journeys but walk around if you can.

The south bank is nice between the houses of parliament and tower bridge, plenty of culture along of the way. Greenwich is worth a wander a bit further down, too. I also quite like Camden. You can do a good walk through regents park, along the canal to Camden, then carry on to Kings Cross.

There's a whole host of good museums, some free like The Science Museum, Natural History and V&A all next to each other and the Maritime museum and Imperial War Museum a bit further out. Also lots of the universities, colleges and academies have shows and events on that are a bit different.

Loads of good places to eat. If you are heading to the West End for the theatre the China Town is good for not too pricey tasty food.

Premier Inn isn't a bad call - stayed in the Greenwich one - just check DLR/tube routes are open.

Train in is the obvious choice. Much more pleasant experience than the car, take some food and some wine and make it part of the trip.
In terms of location, I like the area around Mayfair/Victoria/St James's. It's a "nice area", close to the theatres and close to Soho for some fun and games as well.

And how to get there from “oop north” (West Yorkshire)?

Train into Kings Cross.

Personally, because MrsIHN and I are very much of a "the hotel is just for sleeping" mindset, I'd book the Premier Inn at Kings Cross, and then you can just dump your bags there pretty much as soon as you get off the train. The beauty of London is that everything you'd want to see is easily walkable and/or tubeable, so where you actually stay doesn't really matter.

I quite like Premier Inn as a chain, you know what you’re getting. King’s Cross Premier Inn would make sense.

Then there’s the price of train tickets…

Cheers all

MotelOne near Aldgate is good value. Take circle line from Kings Cross for 4-5stops

I use it for work.

Premier Inn by Borough Market, Marriott County Hall on the South Bank. St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel if you are feeling flush, handy for the North.

As an area, I like staying round Kensington. Plenty of hotels, so I always seem to get something reasonably priced outside of the obviously busy periods.

Train seems obvious. Leeds drops you at Kings Cross, but Manchester (if you can be arsed to trek there) drops you at Euston, which is Bloomsbury, and is a much nicer area. I stay Here mostly when I'm in town. It's close the British Museum, and as it's Bloomsbury everything is a walk (or Boris Bike) away.

last time I was down, went to see Louise Bourgeois at the Heyward South Bank which is a remarkable exhibition.

Leeds drops you at Kings Cross, but Manchester (if you can be arsed to trek there) drops you at Euston, which is Bloomsbury, and is a much nicer area.

Walking ten minutes from Kings Cross to Euston is a much lesser hassle than travelling from W.Yorks to Manchester...

Then there’s the price of train tickets…

Might be worth having a look at the Two Together railcard

https://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/?_ga=2.238793794.371741817.1647965928-184552485.1646912082

True that INH

10 Manchester Street, Marylebone; a few minutes walk from Baker Street tube.

Stay at the Shard* and make a thing if it. Wonderful views, right on the Southbank.

*tongue in cheek, unless you've a big budget.

If you have Tesco Clubcard points then using them for the hotel can make a nicer hotel a lot more affordable.

We stayed in Kensington just this last weekend - lovely place, handy for museums, and we fo shizzle saw someone off of last year's The Apprentice. :),

Treat London as distinct areas. Don’t burden yourself with the hassle of going too far when moving from site to site.

Plan where you want to go and then find accommodation.

If you want cheap, there is a youth hostel

I usually stay at the Premier Inn near Tower Bridge. Or if work are feeling flush the Tower Hotel (the one from Biggles - yes that's the only reason I requested to stay there :D)

London Blackfriars is a great station to get off at - if you’re arriving at kings cross then cross the road to st Pancras and it’s 10 minutes overground from there. The station is on the bridge it’s self so you step off and immediately get an amazing view down the river - it really is special

Then you’re right on the embankment so you’ve got the national theatre, Shakespeares globe, Tate modern, London eye, Borough market for lunch, Across the millennium bridge to St. Paul’s - and all without going on the underground

Plenty premier inns in that area too - PI Tate modern is my favourite but they’re all decent

I stay in loads of London hotels regularly for work, but you asked about area not hotels. (Although my default is whatever is the nearest Holiday Inn Group hotel to one of the major parks that has availability)

I’d just say, stay in Zone 1 in whatever hotel suits your budget. Then you can easily walk/tube/bus to pretty much everything of interest.

As for how to get there, use the train. Driving into London is for idiots and rich people.

I know you didn’t ask for hotel recommendations OP, so I’ll only recommend a chain. Z Hotel have a number across London so should be one near to where you base yourself. Small rooms but if you’re only sleeping then it doesn’t matter. Good price and they do free cheese and wine (and no, not just crap stuff from Asda) as a happy hour each night.

In terms of districts, I really like round Kings Road and up to Kensington. Round Barbican is nice too as is Spitalfields and Shoreditch and Bethnal Green if you don’t mind hipsters.

I also joined Serpentine swimming club one year as was working down there a fair bit. Nothing like an open water swim in central London to wake you up in the morning (there’s a heated outdoor public pool in Covent Garden too).

Premier inn at Kings cross is a great call as is the train from w.yorks.

If you have to drive I’d stay in Greenwich. There’s often great deals to be had at the Novotel or Ibis there, plenty of restaurants nearby and you can either train or DLR it into central London. If you want a spectacular way into town drop down to the quayside behind the Cutty Sark and get the Thames Clipper right to Tower Bridge, Tate Modern or Embankment.

Some good suggestions there, cheers.

Stay at the Shard* and make a thing if it. Wonderful views, right on the Southbank.

*tongue in cheek, unless you’ve a big budget.

I stayed there once - won a night's stay in a competition. It was nice but I wouldn't have paid £600 / night for the room that we were in.

One of the best ways of seeing the sights and getting around is the Santander Cycles hire bikes. £2 per day gets you as many <30min rides as you want. It's great just picking a bike up, pottering through some of the back streets or along the big cycle lanes, parking up and being free to explore on foot again. Do work out a rough itinerary though otherwise you run the risk that you'll be charging all over London to see this that and the other.

I would figure out what you want to do and where you want to go, then pick a premier inn or similar in that area. Kings Cross would be handy for the train in/out of London but if you are there for 3 nights / 4 days you'd be better closer to where you'll spend your time.

Highlights when we go (albeit with the kids):
Westminster: Parliament, bridge, etc
South bank: London Eye, food market, street entertainment
North of the river walks: Embankment, Trafalgar Square, The Mall, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Soho, Oxford/Regent Street, Covent Garden
Museums: tons of them, pick what you are interested in. We go for Natural History, British Museum, Imperial War Museum
Parks: St James, Hyde, Regents
Food: Covent Garden area is good Chandos Place, Henrietta St, Maiden Lane
Theatre: pick a show. Drury Lane etc is next door to Covent Garden

If you have a few hours to yourself, there is a mens barbers called Trufitt and Hill on St James' Street. Book in for a haircut and wet shave, it's worth it!

Based on the above I'd probably look for a Travelodge/Premier Inn around Covent Garden/Bloomsbury but anywhere central-ish would do you. There's nothing quite like walking out of the hotel into the hustle and bustle. Again, this is with kids, but we often stay at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge (with hotel points from work travel). Room rates are reasonable, and if they are quiet sometimes they will upgrade you to a decent view - when we went over Christmas we had a family room with a view of Big Ben and Parliament!

I'm super tight so I usually stay in the Travel Lodge behind Tower Bridge. Useful for the Circle District line and DLR, right next to the City if you need to go in there.

Hotels outside zone 1 or the normal tourist traps are better value, and you can often get deals if booking in advance.
The tube is no hassle for traveling,as long as your not staying out too late.

The City can be a good place to get a premium hotel at good weekend rates. Also great 'wandering' around there without the crowds and South bank is easily accesible

If you end up staying near Euston and want a really good cheap curry then check out Drummond Street, 5 minutes walk. A couple of bargains there. The diwanni for me.

The City can be a good place to get a premium hotel at good weekend rates.

Docklands is good for that too - vast majority of the hotel business around there is corporate types so at weekends it can be completely dead, you can sometimes find very cheap weekend deals. Bit further out of town though, you sort of have to rely on the DLR to get you into town.

If you're travelling around on public transport, make sure to use the same card to tap in everywhere, it auto-caps the fare. If you use different credit / debit cars it won't recognise you as being the same traveller.

The Indigo on Minories is with checking for a weekend rate

I only go to the square mile for work. I was there this week. One thing I definitely know is that all the Travelodges near the City are crap. I've used them all when I couldn't get into MotelOne in the last 5 years. They are uncomfortable, dirty, the food is inedible, the WiFi is crap and they're not cheap.

The Hub (Premier Inn and good value) Covent Garden and near a v good real ale pub The Harp.

The City can be a good place to get a premium hotel at good weekend rates.

It is, however, completely dead at weekends. Everything closed, no pubs, no restaurants, no shops, nothing. Personally as a tourist I'd like a bit more of life around me, even if I'm not planning on spending all my time in the hotel.

Ok like a fair proportion of the stw demographic it seems, I lived in London for 14 years and have been commuting and staying there for work for about 20, and as my expenses rates have failed to keep up with hotel prices I've experienced a pretty broad range. In fact I've been down two days this week (Ibis Canning Town - v good for an Ibis, with properly quiet rooms which is the main thing for me when I'm working, and over the road from the Jubilee line so 15 mins to middle of town, the main other consideration. Also just a short run to an open air 'gym' (pullups and dips) in the middle of an estate which vibe helps with cranking out an extra rep or two. Whatever, I imagine my criteria for a working stop are rather different to those for anyone wanting a weekend away with their partner...) Anyway:

- now's a good time to go. It's still less busy and prices are cheaper than pre-pandemic

- west london in my extensive experience may have museums and a few posh shops but it otherwise a desert of shite pubs and pricey shite restaurants, flyblown rentals; baffled chinese folks, otherwise very little to see etc;
- the west end - busy and horrible. Full of tourists who know no better;
- saaarf landan, well, I guess Camberwell and heaven help us Peckham have a few bars worth seeking out, but why make the effort if you don't have to? Let's not mention Brixton. And Norflundun - sort of getting there. Hampstead Heath's good for a stroll, views access to Hackney.

Anyway, basically I can't stand west london. For a visit I like to stay round Aldgate East / Brick Lane sort of area. Busy, multicultural, hipstery, whitechapel gallery, edge of the City so less busy with suits at the weekend, whilst still zone 1 and v central. Stayed the qbic a few times (called corner hotel now I think, different ownwers but still okay and googles as qbic), can't remember the names of other hotels but there are okay and not too pricey ones compared to west.

I've left out Bloomsbury sort of area - I see there's a nr Brit Museum hotel suggestion. Good area to stay and handy for Kings Cross if you want to walk. Stayed at the Midland most recently which is okay. Probably enough.

Thanks again, that’s given me a few ideas

Just a couple of thoughts more, agree 100% with the Premier Inn idea. I'd also suggest Greenwich - it's lovely. But the premier inn wouldn't be my choice out there.

If staying near Tower Bridge I'd not pick the Tower Bridge PI as it's not great for the tube. Try London Bank (Tower) or the Hub hotel nearer to the Tower itself. Then you're 5 min walk from the Tower, and about the same from Monument tube.

Problem with being that end of town is it takes 30mins on the tube to get to Buck palace etc. But you can try the Hubs in Westminster which are pretty good for the "wow" factor of stepping out and being in the middle of political world. Earl's Court also works well for the Science museum etc.

Citizen M at Tower sometimes has good weekend deals

Use restaurants but also food markets for easier eats in the day. Depending where you are, Borough Market

https://boroughmarket.org.uk/

South Bank Food Market

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/visit/cafes-restaurants-bars/scfood-market

or Mercato Metropolitano (Southwark is a trek, but Mayfair is ace)

https://mercatometropolitano.com/mmarketplace/mercato-mayfair/