London Hotel Recommendations?

[slewis7]

Late next June, my wife and I are taking a Viking cruise out of Greenwich England.  We plan to spend 3 nights prior to the sailing somewhere in Central London and spend two full days sightseeing.  We arrive at Heathrow and will likely take the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then catch a cab from there to our hotel.  We are looking for a reasonably priced 4 star hotel ($200 to $350 a night) within walking distance of a tube station and would appreciate any recommendations.

[CruiserBruce]

Conrad St James. Between Buckingham Palace and Westminster. Tube station across the street. Might be a bit more expensive...is a 5 star hotel in a great location.

[Turtles06]

Here are a couple of threads you might want to look at

 

 

[slewis7]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Conrad St James. Between Buckingham Palace and Westminster. Tube station across the street. Might be a bit more expensive...is a 5 star hotel in a great location.

Wow!  This hotel looks great but would definitely be well above the price point I am hoping to fit within.  I will consider it, if we decide to splurge!  Thanks.

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

($200 to $350 a night)

 

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Conrad St James.

That seems quite optimistic....

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

Wow!  This hotel looks great but would definitely be well above the price point I am hoping to fit within.  I will consider it, if we decide to splurge!  Thanks.

 

Well, if you get to the point of splurging (or, as the Brits would say "pushing the boat out"), there are some hotels on the south bank side of Westminster Bridge (across from Parliament) that are an easy walk to the Westminster tube station, and within walking distance of much of what you might want to see/do in London.   We stayed at one of them in September, the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.  Can't beat the location.  And we splurged on a "Big Ben view" room.  

 

PS: Looks like you have a great trip coming up before our Beyond TA!  🙂 

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

Edited November 30, 2022 by Turtles06

[slewis7]

20 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Well, if you get to the point of splurging (or, as the Brits would say "pushing the boat out"), there are some hotels on the south bank side of Westminster Bridge (across from Parliament) that are an easy walk to the Westminster tube station, and within walking distance of much of what you might want to see/do in London.   We stayed at one of them in September, the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.  Can't beat the location.  And we splurged on a "Big Ben view" room.  

Not quite as ritzy as the Conrad, but pricing is more in the ballpark 😆.  This looks like a really good choice and is is available as low as $300 a night during my planned stay, with free cancellation.  Also, a King sized bed which is my wife’s strong preference (although she will reluctantly accept a Double).  I will give this hotel a close look.  Thanks!

 

Correction: room price is close to $350 with VAT included

Edited November 30, 2022 by slewis7

[cyntil8ing]

This summer, we stayed at The Clermont, Charing Cross. Lovely historic hotel, steps to Charing Cross and Embankment stations, and easy walk across the bridge to Waterloo station, great rooms, comfortable king beds, great buffet breakfast (included),  mini-bar (also included) for about $275/night (before taxes) via Priceline. I dithered for months reading reviews and looking at airbnbs. We couldn't have been happier with our choice.

Edited November 30, 2022 by cyntil8ing

[slewis7]

8 minutes ago, cyntil8ing said:

This summer, we stayed at The Clermont, Charing Cross. Lovely historic hotel, steps to Charing Cross station, great rooms, comfortable king beds, great buffet breakfast (included),  mini-bar (also included) for about $275/night (before taxes) via Priceline. I dithered for months reading reviews and looking at airbnbs. We couldn't have been happier with our choice.

Looks nice but much higher pricing in late June.  I presume we are visiting in the high season.  Thanks for providing the link too. 😆

[Turtles06]

14 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

 I will give this hotel a close look.  Thanks!

 

BTW, not hotel-related, but I just wanted to mention a couple of things that might not be on your radar that we just loved:  a guided tour of Parliament (one of the most interesting tours we've ever taken), and the Ceremony of the Keys -- the nightly ceremony (9:30-10pm) of the locking up of the Tower of London.   For the latter, only 50 tickets a night are made available (5 GPB each), at "midday" on the first working day of the month for the entire next month  (that is, in May for June).  They are snapped up quickly.  It was amazing to be in the Tower at night with just a small group of people, watching this 700-year-old ceremony.

 

Guided Tour of the Palace of Westminster:

https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/

 

Ceremony of the Keys

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.jkgunn

[slewis7]

I have gone ahead and booked a room at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.  I went for the higher priced cancellable rate, but was able to get a nice 15% discount by signing up for Radisson Rewards.

 

Thanks to all who kindly posted here. I did not expect to find something suitable so quickly!  Feel free to post more suggestions.  I can always change my mind!

[cyntil8ing]

2 hours ago, slewis7 said:

Looks nice but much higher pricing in late June.  I presume we are visiting in the high season.  Thanks for providing the link too. 😆

I see you found another good option, but I will follow up anyway. Our dates were in late July. However, we didn’t book until late May and used Priceline, so perhaps they were just trying to get rid of excess inventory at bargain prices. The web site prices were much higher. We originally booked a different hotel that had free cancellation, so we were able to switch last minute.

 

Enjoy your trip! Look into the London Pass if you want to do a lot of touristy stuff. It didn’t include the Eye, but it had everything else we wanted, plus some we didn’t know about. A surprise hit was the Ben Franklin Architecture tour. The house was literally around the corner from the hotel.

 

Here’s a link to my review - 12-day Northern Europe 7/31/22 Pride review

[Island2Dweller]

Heathrow Express may be a good option if you choose a hotel right beside Paddington station.  But if your hotel is elsewhere (and as Paddington is on the edge of central London, I'd suggest you want to be elsewhere) then it isn't your best choice.

Choose the hotel first then ask for advice on how to get there.  The new Elizabeth line (very comfortable, fully airconditioned) will get you to many locations in central London directly from Heathrow

[Turtles06]

13 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I have gone ahead and booked a room at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge.  I went for the higher priced cancellable rate, but was able to get a nice 15% discount by signing up for Radisson Rewards.

 

 

Glad that worked out for you.

 

You'll no doubt discover this on your own, but there's a really handy convenience store between the Bridge and the hotel (on the side of the road opposite Parliament), pretty close to the hotel.  Cold drinks, sandwiches, other food, sundries.  You pass it walking to/from the tube, and it was perfect if you wanted to grab something on the way back to the hotel.  Nice folks working there too.

[slewis7]

1 hour ago, Island2Dweller said:

Heathrow Express may be a good option if you choose a hotel right beside Paddington station.  But if your hotel is elsewhere (and as Paddington is on the edge of central London, I'd suggest you want to be elsewhere) then it isn't your best choice.

Choose the hotel first then ask for advice on how to get there.  The new Elizabeth line (very comfortable, fully airconditioned) will get you to many locations in central London directly from Heathrow

I certainly will consider other ways of getting to our hotel from Heathrow, given that it is about 15 minutes by car from Paddington Station.  I will be sure to include looking at the Elizabeth line, thanks.

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I certainly will consider other ways of getting to our hotel from Heathrow, given that it is about 15 minutes by car from Paddington Station.

 

There's no way you're getting from Paddington station to the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in 15 minutes, even at 3.00 am!

[slewis7]

2 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

There's no way you're getting from Paddington station to the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in 15 minutes, even at 3.00 am!

You are right!  Perhaps I made an error checking Google Maps; it is now showing me it takes 30 minutes by car (there is some bad traffic currently indicated).

 

We may consider taking the Bakerloo line instead off a taxi, although dragging luggage on the tube might be difficult.

Edited December 1, 2022 by slewis7

[Globaliser]

31 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

We may consider taking the Bakerloo line instead off a taxi, although dragging luggage on the tube might be difficult.

 

A lot depends on your levels of fitness and enthusiasm - but however fit and enthusiastic you are, I doubt that the Bakerloo Line will work well.

 

On the basis that luggage means that you'd want a step-free route if you take the Tube, the nearest stations are Westminster (~500-metre walk) or Waterloo Jubilee Line (~700-metre walk). If that works for you, the obvious options are:

• Piccadilly Line to Barons Court (or Hammersmith in the morning peak or inclement weather), cross-platform change, District Line to Westminster;
• Piccadilly Line to Green Park, change to the Jubilee Line to either Westminster or Waterloo;
• Elizabeth Line to Bond Street, change to the Jubilee Line.

 

There is a step-free route at Green Park by taking a lift (elevator) up, a long walk, and then a lift down. You can also do this change by using the escalator up to ticket hall level and then immediately going down the escalators to the Jubilee Line (without going through the ticket gates) - this involves less walking. But managing big luggage on an escalator requires some care.

 

Bond Street will have a lift route too.

 

Using the Elizabeth Line to leave Heathrow will cost more than using the Piccadilly Line.

[slewis7]

22 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

A lot depends on your levels of fitness and enthusiasm - but however fit and enthusiastic you are, I doubt that the Bakerloo Line will work well.

Wow!  That is really helpful and is much appreciated.  I love these forums and the wonderful contributors. ❤️

[slewis7]

Considering my selection of a stay at the Park Plaza Westminster Hotel, I just now realized it is very convenient to travel to our cruise embarkation by Greenwich Pier.  There are numerous boats we can take to Greenwich from Westminster Pier which is just a short walk from the hotel (7 minutes)!

[Twickenham]

On 12/10/2022 at 4:42 PM, slewis7 said:

Considering my selection of a stay at the Park Plaza Westminster Hotel, I just now realized it is very convenient to travel to our cruise embarkation by Greenwich Pier.  There are numerous boats we can take to Greenwich from Westminster Pier which is just a short walk from the hotel (7 minutes)!

 

Great plan. The Thames Clipper boats are my favourite way of getting around London. There's also a pier at the London Eye which may or may not be more convenient for you.

[slewis7]

9 hours ago, Twickenham said:

 

Great plan. The Thames Clipper boats are my favourite way of getting around London. There's also a pier at the London Eye which may or may not be more convenient for you.

You are right!  Thank you for pointing that out.

[bunnyette]

On 12/1/2022 at 12:35 PM, slewis7 said:

You are right!  Perhaps I made an error checking Google Maps; it is now showing me it takes 30 minutes by car (there is some bad traffic currently indicated).

 

We may consider taking the Bakerloo line instead off a taxi, although dragging luggage on the tube might be difficult.

When you’re jetlagged and dragging luggage, a taxi from Paddington to your hotel is not a splurge but a necessity 

Edited December 22, 2022 by bunnyette
Spelling

[slewis7]

On 12/21/2022 at 7:56 PM, bunnyette said:

When you’re jetlagged and dragging luggage, a taxi from Paddington to your hotel is not a splurge but a necessity 

True and we will gauge our energy level before selecting our route.  I do feel that the tips in this thread has given me several options.

[Joanne G.]

On 11/30/2022 at 4:37 PM, Turtles06 said:

 

BTW, not hotel-related, but I just wanted to mention a couple of things that might not be on your radar that we just loved:  a guided tour of Parliament (one of the most interesting tours we've ever taken), and the Ceremony of the Keys -- the nightly ceremony (9:30-10pm) of the locking up of the Tower of London.   For the latter, only 50 tickets a night are made available (5 GPB each), at "midday" on the first working day of the month for the entire next month  (that is, in May for June).  They are snapped up quickly.  It was amazing to be in the Tower at night with just a small group of people, watching this 700-year-old ceremony.

 

Guided Tour of the Palace of Westminster:

https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/

 

Ceremony of the Keys

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.jkgunn

 I agree about the Palace of Westminster tour; very interesting.

 

I didn't do the night ceremony of the keys at the Tower, but I did a tour of the traditional opening ceremony, also with keys, that started before the opening to the general public.  We were then in the first group to see the Crown Jewels, avoiding the line that forms quickly.    I bought the tour through Viator.