Choosing a hotel in London

[Cotswold Eagle]

That's a great price for that hotel, but I would suggest not at all representative. You are staying over a weekend in August - like many hotels in the City (financial district) you can get great deals at weekends and August is holiday time.

 

As you say a good lesson in checking for special rates :)

[lovetochill]

After 36 lengthy stays in London I would recommend the Raddison chain especially the Blu hotels. The are all in the Trafalgar/ Leicester Square areas.

Free wifi very well run old buildings with all mod cons and three Underground stops within a block or two. They are also walking distance to many sights I would never consider staying near, Eye, Tower of

Suites at the Radisson Blu Hampshire are fantastic as is the staff.

 

I completely agree! I go to London quite a lot and I have stayed at different Radisson Hotels and I think they are the best in London. Just come back from the Radisson Blu Edwardian Providence Wharf near Canary Wharf. We used to catch the tube to the O2 and have breakfast at Garfunkels, which was a quarter of the price of the hotel. We then got a day ticket for the river ferry which lets you get on and off where you want, and we saw the Cutty Sark (although being renovated at current time); The Tower Bridge, Tower of London, London Bridge, Hayes Galleria, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, HMS Belfast.

 

If you want a budget hotel, then a good one is the Premier Inn at Tower Bridge, Central and reasonably priced.

 

The thing is with London, wherever you stay, it is easy to get a day ticket on the tube, currently about £9 or so, or the river cruise ferry boat and travel around to anywhere you want to see. All the main attractions are only a tube ride away from each other.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

That's a great price for that hotel, but I would suggest not at all representative. You are staying over a weekend in August - like many hotels in the City (financial district) you can get great deals at weekends and August is holiday time.

 

As you say a good lesson in checking for special rates :)

 

I was not sure why we were getting a good rate. But, I was pretty happy!:D

 

There are at least 5 other couples staying there from our roll call. A few of us have connected and booked a car to take us to the pier [not that much more than taking a taxi to Liverpool St rail station and a train to Harwich]. It has turned into a good choice.

[Globaliser]

The thing is with London, wherever you stay, it is easy to get a day ticket on the tube, currently about £9 or so ...

Alternatively, it may work to get an pay-as-you-go (stored value) Oyster card. This has a price capping mechanism, so you pay for each journey as you take it, but only up to a pre-set daily cap, the amount of which depends on exactly what trips you have done that day. If you end up using the card relatively little, you only pay for what you've used. If you use the card a lot, you will never pay more than the applicable cap.

 

And the applicable cap is now once again lower than the cost of a one-day Travelcard bought in advance - for most tourists, travelling only in Zones 1 and 2 off-peak, it's at least £1.90 a day cheaper using Oyster (£7.00 cap on Oyster, £8.90 for the cheapest off-peak Travelcard covering these Zones).

 

This relates only to the cost of travel, though, and doesn't take into account the discounts that some people make use of by buying Travelcards at specific places.

[lovelyladi]

thanks for everyone' thoughts...We have booked for the three nights at the Crown Plaza

 

Seemed to be a good compromise of location and value....and I prefer a smaller hotel over the a large skyscraper for this visit.

[LiftLockCouple]

thanks for everyone' thoughts...We have booked for the three nights at the Crown Plaza

 

Seemed to be a good compromise of location and value....and I prefer a smaller hotel over the a large skyscraper for this visit.

 

I think this is a good choice. Garfunkels family restaurant is across the street as is a grocery store. I have eaten three times at this Garfunkels. Food is good but not spectacular. Around the corner on Gloucester Road near the Tube Station there are other restaurants including a pub, steak house, coffee cafe, pizza, Fish & chips, convenience store. I bought English Cadbury Chocolate for my DIL at the convenience store. She insisted she wanted the English variety so that is what I brought back. When you exit the front door of the hotel. If you turn right, after a short walk you will find more small restaurants and another grocery store.

 

I used the Tube ( Piccadilly line) to get to and from Heathrow. I arrived and departed mid day so that worked well. Not that great an idea if you are arriving in the morning.

 

Have lots of fun.

[Globaliser]

Garfunkels family restaurant is across the street as is a grocery store. I have eaten three times at this Garfunkels. Food is good but not spectacular.

Even amongst chain restaurants, there are far better places to eat in that area than Garfunkels, about which I had something to say here (and see also the earlier post in that thread from the original reviewer).

 

Right next door, for example, is ASK, which is a better-than-normal chain pizza/pasta. Go around the corner into Gloucester Road and next door to each other there are Paul (excellent French bakery and patisserie) and Byron (probably the best burger chain in London). And if you get to the junction with Stanhope Gardens/Harrington Gardens, there's a Nando's (Portuguese/South African grilled chicken). If you go the other way (ie north) up Gloucester Road, there's a Med Kitchen (exactly what it sounds like) near the junction with Elvaston Place.

 

Moving away from chains, the area also boasts a number of London stalwarts: The Bombay Brasserie (good Indian cuisine, not a mere curry house) on Courtfield Road; l'Etranger on Gloucester Road at the junction with Victoria Grove; and a (literally) stellar restaurant called Launceston Place at the junction of Launceston Place and Victoria Grove, which does a good value lunch (although evenings are :eek: expensive).

 

And, of course, the Crowne Plaza itself has an interesting restaurant called Umami.

[LiftLockCouple]

Even amongst chain restaurants, there are far better places to eat in that area than Garfunkels, about which I had something to say here (and see also the earlier post in that thread from the original reviewer).

 

Right next door, for example, is ASK, which is a better-than-normal chain pizza/pasta. Go around the corner into Gloucester Road and next door to each other there are Paul (excellent French bakery and patisserie) and Byron (probably the best burger chain in London). And if you get to the junction with Stanhope Gardens/Harrington Gardens, there's a Nando's (Portuguese/South African grilled chicken). If you go the other way (ie north) up Gloucester Road, there's a Med Kitchen (exactly what it sounds like) near the junction with Elvaston Place.

 

Moving away from chains, the area also boasts a number of London stalwarts: The Bombay Brasserie (good Indian cuisine, not a mere curry house) on Courtfield Road; l'Etranger on Gloucester Road at the junction with Victoria Grove; and a (literally) stellar restaurant called Launceston Place at the junction of Launceston Place and Victoria Grove, which does a good value lunch (although evenings are :eek: expensive).

 

And, of course, the Crowne Plaza itself has an interesting restaurant called Umami.

 

 

Thanks for this run down. As I mentioned we are going to be there again and these tips will certainly be useful to us. You have also illustrated more of the positives for staying in this area.

[Flainefan]

I completely agree! I go to London quite a lot and I have stayed at different Radisson Hotels and I think they are the best in London. Just come back from the Radisson Blu Edwardian Providence Wharf near Canary Wharf. We used to catch the tube to the O2 and have breakfast at Garfunkels, which was a quarter of the price of the hotel. We then got a day ticket for the river ferry which lets you get on and off where you want, and we saw the Cutty Sark (although being renovated at current time); The Tower Bridge, Tower of London, London Bridge, Hayes Galleria, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, HMS Belfast.

 

If you want a budget hotel, then a good one is the Premier Inn at Tower Bridge, Central and reasonably priced.

 

The thing is with London, wherever you stay, it is easy to get a day ticket on the tube, currently about £9 or so, or the river cruise ferry boat and travel around to anywhere you want to see. All the main attractions are only a tube ride away from each other.

 

I live in Greenwich and just thought you might like to know that the Cutty Sark renovations are now complete and the new visitor centre is open. It's fantastic! You can walk right under the hull and explore the interior of this amazing ship. There is a glass roof to the viewing hall so from outside, the ship looks as if it is skimming across the ocean waves, as it would have done in its glory days.

The Thames Clipper river bus runs right to the Cutty Sark at Greenwich pier. You can board at Westminster or the London Eye and pass by Tower Bridge on the way to Greenwich. If you have the Oyster Card, you can get a discount.

Other attractions in Greenwich are the Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory and the Greenwich Meridian. Greenwich Park is beautiful at any time of year. Come to see us in S E London. You'll love it!

[Pet Nit Noy]

Moving away from chains, the area also boasts a number of London stalwarts: The Bombay Brasserie (good Indian cuisine, not a mere curry house) on Courtfield Road.

 

 

My research turned up the following restaurants in the area:

 

The Bombay Brasserie is quite famous for its weekend lunch buffet.

 

Royal China: (In Bayswater -- Queensway-- which makes it farther afield than the other places folks are mentioning) We enjoyed an excellent dim sum lunch there on our last visit. Cantonese cuisine.

[Globaliser]

Royal China: (In Bayswater -- Queensway-- which makes it farther afield than the other places folks are mentioning) We enjoyed an excellent dim sum lunch there on our last visit. Cantonese cuisine.

I was concentrating on the area in the vicinity of the hotel that was referred to.

 

The Queensway is quite a long way away from the hotel. If you start look at that sort of distance, then we're talking about many dozens of really good restaurants of different types. (That's the main reason why I have nothing to offer when members here ask "Does anyone have a recommendation for a good restaurant in London?")

[Pet Nit Noy]

I was concentrating on the area in the vicinity of the hotel that was referred to.

 

The Queensway is quite a long way away from the hotel. If you start look at that sort of distance, then we're talking about many dozens of really good restaurants of different types. (That's the main reason why I have nothing to offer when members here ask "Does anyone have a recommendation for a good restaurant in London?")

 

Good to know.

 

I've done research on restaurants in the area of the Crown Plaza Kensington. I'd kept Royal China on the list since we enjoyed it last trip and since a thread on a different board had offered it as a place for dim sum before our attempt last year to visit Kensington Palace.

 

Kensington Palace/Crown Plaza Kensington/Royal China. Obviously, I drew the wrong conclusion about distances. Although I'll add that staying in Bloomsbury last year, we thought nothing of walking a mile to theaters and restaurants in Covent Garden many nights.

[Globaliser]

I'd kept Royal China on the list since we enjoyed it last trip ...

I'm not surprised - it's a good place. Royal China does very decent dim sum at all of its branches. Queensway, Baker Street and Canary Wharf will be the ones most likely to interest visitors to London, and our nearest branch is a regular haunt of ours. (Not all restaurants in London called "Royal China" belong to the group, though.)

[LiftLockCouple]

Heads up to anyone planning to stay near the Gloucester Road Tube station and use the Piccadilly Line for transportation.

 

From the website https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/stop/940GZZLUGTR/gloucester-road-underground-station?lineId=piccadilly

 

GLOUCESTER ROAD STATION: From Saturday 24 May until mid-December, Piccadilly line trains will not stop due to lift works. District and Circle line trains stop as normal.

Gloucester Road: Part Closed - The Piccadilly line is not serving this station while we replace the lifts. Step free interchange between the Piccadilly and District lines is available at Hammersmith and Barons Court

[Globaliser]

Step free interchange between the Piccadilly and District lines is available at Hammersmith and Barons Court

If you take this option, remember that there is no step-free exit from the District Line at Gloucester Road Tube; IIRC the exit is by stairs only.

 

If you need step-free exit, you may be better off getting off the Piccadilly Line at Earls Court, using the lift (elevator) to get to street level and getting a taxi from there.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Globaliser

[miss dee]

My husband and I will be staying there in early June. Our primary destinations will be the Victoria and Albert Museum and Kensington Palace which made this hotel a no-brainer, but I don't think you have anything to worry about under any condition. The Gloucester Rd station is about one block away. The Piccadilly, Circle, and District lines stop at that station.

 

For first time visitors, the District and Circle lines which overlap for a portion of their routes may be the most useful. In no particular order...

... the Blackfriars stop, while not the closest to St. Paul's Cathedral is acceptably close. It's also reasonably close to the bridge that will take you across the river to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theater.

... the Westminster stop lets you off close to Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, and more

... the Tower Hill stop lets you off close to the Tower of London

 

The Piccadilly line will take you to the Covent Garden area.

 

Here's the link to the official Tube map:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf

the location is excellent. we've stayed there 3 times.