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London hotel recommendations
We're going to London for a few nights post Northern Spain tour this May. Looking for a moderate hotel near the West End - will probably go to the theater every day and fill in with a few museums, shopping, etc. Maybe a 4 star?
Not looking for anything as ritzy as a Tauck hotel but a comfortable room with space to move around. Good location for the tube, walking access to restaurants, shops, but not too noisy. Piccadilly might be ok if not too loud late at night. We like Mayfair as well.
Thanks!
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I usually use TripAdvisor to search for hotels in areas I don’t know. Use the reviews as a guide.
If you have an IHG hotel loyalty acct - which I do mainly because Tauck uses their hotels frequently - you might do a search on their website and see the range of hotels. If nothing else it will show you the range of prices. I did this recently for Amsterdam and found a Holiday Inn Express that suits own needs - a bit bare bones but good location and rate. FYI, the IHG loyalty acct doesn't accrue points for Tauck stays but you may get a perk like a free drink or better room.
We extended out stay in London after the ESW tour ended. I looked at alternatives to the Savoy (the Tauck hotel) and we ended up just extending our stay there. I do recall considering the Strand Palace, which is across the street for the Savoy. It has decent reviews, but we didn't stay there, so can't speak from personal experience. It's a great location.
We are staying at the Strand Palace when we go with a huge group of friends for a singing competition in August. I have stayed there once before when my husband could not go, so had to share with another girl. The rooms are small and basic which was good for a group where half the people were on a strict budget. The hotel is right opposite the Savoy and important for me, had a very helpful concierge because I was more adventurous than most of my American friends who were having their first visit to London. I was able to see two shows too, and the concierge got tickets for me. When you are in London, you are only in your room to sleep, so location is high up on importance. And anyway, I’ve stayed at the Savoy.
I can give a few recommendations or just our experiences at a few hotels in London we have stayed at over the past several years.
The Park Tower Knightsbridge - We stayed at this hotel last year after we extended our Tauck Scottish Isles cruise for a few days in London on our return portion. The hotel is across the street from Hyde Park and about a half block from Harrods. The hotel is nice but not in the ultra-luxury category. We were able to get a very good price on this as our travel agent was able to book this with Delta Vacations and combine it with our flights. I was very impressed with one item in their breakfast buffet. An orange juicer where you put in a few whole oranges and out comes your fresh squeezed orange juice. No problems getting around anywhere in London from here.
Hotel 41 - We stayed here a couple of times in the past and I highly recommend this hotel. It is a smaller boutique hotel. Service at this hotel is on the high end of high. It is across the street from Buckingham Palace Mews and about a 2 or 3 minute walk to Victora Station.
The Dorchester - I don’t recall exactly why we stayed here but this hotel is in the ultra-luxury category. The prices will be in the ultra-high category as well. The hotel is in the Mayfair area across from Hyde Park. If you want something on par with the Savoy, or maybe a bit higher, this hotel would be one to consider.
The Savoy - We stayed here a few years ago on our own and not part of a Tauck tour. We justified the high price since it was on an anniversary trip we took on our own. If you want to see any celebrities, this might be a good hotel to see them. When we checked into the hotel in the morning, we had some time to explore, and I almost bumped in to Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard from Star Trek) and Roger Daltry (lead singer of the Who) who were waiting in line for breakfast.
When we were stranded by BA in London for three days we stayed at the Radisson Blue which is very near the London Museum. It was a very nice hotel and the location was good for us. We had little choice at the time since London had thousands of unexpected visitors when BA completely shut down. A part of the story I may not have told was how we got to London from LHR. The taxi line was ‘miles’ long, and we had used the bar at the Novotel Hotel as our phone booth while making our lodging arrangements. Having stayed there before, I new they had a good concierge service. So I went to the concierge and asked if he could get us a car to the Radisson Blue. He immediately got on the phone, and said, “How about five minutes out front for eighty pounds?”. I said “sold”, and we were on our way to the city in less than five minutes.
Like you, SGF, I want to stay near the West End because I love the London theatre. I stayed at the Strand Palace a few (I think 3) times back in the 1990s. It was fine and fit my budget at the time. My last several times in London, I stayed at Le Meridien Picadilly, just a few steps up Picadilly from the Picadilly tube stop. At the time, it was part of the Marriott family; however, it no longer is. It's now known as The Dilly. I haven't stayed there since the change, so don't know what it's like, but the location can't be beat.
Thanks so much for your recommendations. The Savoy would be wonderful, but too extravagant. I did go for afternoon tea there with my daughter some years ago - she was a mere 13 and it was very special. We went after viewing Princess Diana's gowns at Kensington Palace.
The Strand might be just the ticket. Funny...my husband just offered to take me to a nice dinner one evening in London. He doesn't realize that we're doing a very gastronomic heavy Spain tour right before!
I think it's salads, sushi and maybe a little fish and chips before heading home to some gut rehabilitation!
There are so many things to do in London, we find we spend little time in our hotel and primarily look for location. We often stay at mid range Hiltons since we are Hilton Honors Diamond members. For food, like the pubs and smaller places. For Italian small plates, we found Chichetti's and its related venues very good. We often go to the bars in the fancy places. https://sancarlo.co.uk/restaurants/cicchetti-london-piccadilly/ .
I was in London in January with a friend and we stayed at the Hilton Tower Bridge. Though it is across the river from the Tower of London, it is across the street from a tube station and train station. It is an easy walk to London Bridge and across the Thames or, take the Bankside walk from Boroughs Market to Tate Modern and walk across the Millenium Bridge. Plenty of places to eat near the hotel, too. You are also hardly a block from the Shard.
We have eaten dinner at the Shard. It was somewhat marred by the following. We were with my husband’s cousin and her husband who is black. Another customer was verbally racially abusive to him so that’s all that sticks in my mind
British, I am so sorry to hear about your experience at the Shard. It just makes me so mad and sad that people have to experience rudeness because of the color of their skin.