London Hotels

[Cotswold Eagle]

10 hours ago, CruiszBug said:

Does anyone have knowledge of The Belgrave Hotel? I am traveling solo and looking for a nice budget hotel. This one is in the Westminster area, I believe. It gets a "Fabulous" rating. Fingers crossed... I have it reserved with ability to cancel.

I know exactly where it is, but no knowledge of it. As you say it gets well reviewed, which may elevate it above the dozens of other similar size hotels in townhouses in the area. Understand that it will not have the facilities of full service hotels, and the rooms are likely to be small - but not so much of a problem for a solo traveler. I don't know, but it almost certainly won't have an elevator, if that matters to you.

 

It's in the City of Westminster, but about 20 minutes walk from what visitors may think of as Westminster (Abbey, Parliament, etc etc). It's in Pimlico, which is a perfectly fine area and there are pubs and restaurants around, but the only pretty close tourist attraction would be the Tate Gallery. 

[CruiszBug]

2 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

I know exactly where it is, but no knowledge of it. As you say it gets well reviewed, which may elevate it above the dozens of other similar size hotels in townhouses in the area. Understand that it will not have the facilities of full service hotels, and the rooms are likely to be small - but not so much of a problem for a solo traveler. I don't know, but it almost certainly won't have an elevator, if that matters to you.

 

It's in the City of Westminster, but about 20 minutes walk from what visitors may think of as Westminster (Abbey, Parliament, etc etc). It's in Pimlico, which is a perfectly fine area and there are pubs and restaurants around, but the only pretty close tourist attraction would be the Tate Gallery. 

As I have been searching for the last few months trying to find a nice budget lodging which has easy access to trains/tubes. I will be arriving from LHR then departing to the cruise port in Southampton dragging my own bags. Thank you for your reply!

[NE John]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:19 PM, Beachvue said:

Considering the The Westminster London, Curio Collection by Hilton hotel in London.  If anyone has stayed here would appreciate your comments.  

Sorry for late comment here.
We stayed at Westminster Curio for five nights in June and we were deeply disappointed. We are Hilton Diamond members, FYI. 
The regular hotel rooms are abysmally small with no room to move around in. Our air conditioning didn’t work and they couldn’t fix it. Luckily for the last two nights we got moved to a suite. That suite was nice but if I paid full fare for that suite, I’d be underwhelmed. Also, the hallways are very dark to keep to the theme of being near MI5 HQ. Really unnecessary. 
The location is quite and resident but it’s really closer to the Pimlico than Westminster; it is slightly out of the way from most attractions, even though it’s near the Thames walkway. 
The positives: the breakfast buffet is good and staff are nice. 
I would still avoid due to small, poorly designed, and unlivable rooms. 

[CruiszBug]

Well I did a "dumb" thing! I had been finding multiple lodgings and booking the refundable version as a temporary placeholder, until... I didn't! It is funny because this is the FIRST place I booked when I started looking and ended up cancelling after discovering it didn't have air conditioning! Found a super deal for the same one weeks later and didn't notice that I hit the non-refundable button, argghhh! So looks like (by default) I have finally found a place. The Rose & Crown at London Bridge (PUBLOVE).  It is a cool looking pub with good reviews on the bar and food. I do have a private room and bath on the TOP floor with no lift. (SMH!) Great location, though so I should be fine!

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, CruiszBug said:

So looks like (by default) I have finally found a place. The Rose & Crown at London Bridge (PUBLOVE).

 

That will be an adventure.

[Cotswold Eagle]

7 hours ago, CruiszBug said:

The Rose & Crown at London Bridge (PUBLOVE).  It is a cool looking pub with good reviews on the bar and food. I do have a private room and bath on the TOP floor with no lift.

I don’t wish to alarm you, but you do understand this is a pub/hostel, not a hotel?  I would say it’s in Southwark, rather than London Bridge. It’s certainly not AT London Bridge, it’s about a 10 minute walk away. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Cotswold Eagle

[CruiszBug]

1 hour ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

I don’t wish to alarm you, but you do understand this is a pub/hostel, not a hotel?  I would say it’s in Southwark, rather than London Bridge. It’s certainly not AT London Bridge, it’s about a 10 minute walk away. 

It is a pub/hostel, but the top floor is a private room with an ensuite bathroom. That is what I booked. Yep! 

 

2 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

That will be an adventure.

At least it is fairly close to the Waterloo Train Station which is a plus!

[Globaliser]

19 minutes ago, CruiszBug said:

At least it is fairly close to the Waterloo Train Station ...

 

It's not that close. It's about a 20-minute walk to Waterloo station, which may feel like an eternity if you have luggage.

 

I'm beginning to wonder whether you've booked the Rose and Crown that you think you have. From what you say, you're in the one at 65 Union St SE1 (ie the backpackers' hostel). There is another Rose and Crown at 47 Colombo St SE1, which is only about half the distance away from Waterloo station proper. So you need to make sure you're going to the right place.

 

The hostel does at least have the advantage of being very close to the Menier Chocolate Factory, which is one of London's best off-West End theatres and has a long track record of excellent and successful productions that later transfer into the West End.

[Mary Louise]

Hi,

 

Has anyone stayed at the H10 Waterloo? I was planning on taking the train from Waterloo to Southhampton. Is it close by if you have luggage to bring?

 

Thank you

 

ML

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Mary Louise said:

Is it close by if you have luggage to bring?

 

Funnily enough, it's exactly the same distance from Waterloo station whether or not you have luggage: 600 metres (which is just over a third of a mile) to the Waterloo Road entrance to the station, according to Google Maps.

[Mary Louise]

On 2/17/2024 at 11:44 AM, Globaliser said:

 

Funnily enough, it's exactly the same distance from Waterloo station whether or not you have luggage: 600 metres (which is just over a third of a mile) to the Waterloo Road entrance to the station, according to Google Maps.

Thank you 

[CruiszBug]

On 12/6/2023 at 7:47 AM, Globaliser said:

 

It's not that close. It's about a 20-minute walk to Waterloo station, which may feel like an eternity if you have luggage.

 

I'm beginning to wonder whether you've booked the Rose and Crown that you think you have. From what you say, you're in the one at 65 Union St SE1 (ie the backpackers' hostel). There is another Rose and Crown at 47 Colombo St SE1, which is only about half the distance away from Waterloo station proper. So you need to make sure you're going to the right place.

 

The hostel does at least have the advantage of being very close to the Menier Chocolate Factory, which is one of London's best off-West End theatres and has a long track record of excellent and successful productions that later transfer into the West End.

Yes, I am at the 65 Union St location! Depending on the weather I'll walk or take the bus...

[shofer]

On 6/25/2023 at 2:43 PM, gnome12 said:

Most European hotels don’t provide washcloths; I believe Europeans don’t consider them hygienic. 

I was shocked by this when staying in Amsterdam.  I hated having to wash my face after removing my makeup using a towel.  Our London pre-cruise stay was at the Grosvenor (sp?) and they had wash cloths.  I had brought some, just in case.

[CruiszBug]

22 minutes ago, shofer said:

I was shocked by this when staying in Amsterdam.  I hated having to wash my face after removing my makeup using a towel.  Our London pre-cruise stay was at the Grosvenor (sp?) and they had wash cloths.  I had brought some, just in case.

I found that to be true at my hotel in Barcelona, too! When they finally understood what I was looking for, they found me four! Like you, I will bring some JIC!🙂

[Jeep3131]

We have booked rooms at Parkwood Hotel (4 Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, Westminster Borough).  I've read reviews and they are good.  I understand there is no elevator.  We're only there for 2 days prior to our cruise.  We are an active group and plan to walk to most attractions (Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral and Tower of London).  Can anyone familiar with this area advise if this can be done in 1.5 days? 

[markeb]

1 hour ago, Jeep3131 said:

We have booked rooms at Parkwood Hotel (4 Stanhope Place, Marble Arch, Westminster Borough).  I've read reviews and they are good.  I understand there is no elevator.  We're only there for 2 days prior to our cruise.  We are an active group and plan to walk to most attractions (Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral and Tower of London).  Can anyone familiar with this area advise if this can be done in 1.5 days? 

 

Are those the only sites you want to see? Or the primary ones? Do you want to visit the interior or Westminster Abbey and St Paul's? I'm assuming you want to tour the Tower?

 

You are probably 150-200 meters from the Marble Arch tube stop, and maybe 15 minutes from the Bond Street underground. There's a bus stop on Park Lane just south of Oxford Street and essentially in front of the Marriott Park Lane. I'm reasonably sure both TFL (Public) buses and HOHO buses use that stop. That's 10-15 minutes (more dependent on lights than your walking pace) from your hotel.

 

My answer would be a qualified yes. If you're primarily looking at exteriors then rather than walking everywhere (some of those are long walks and will take significant time), look at doing a HOHO on your first afternoon. I believe you can catch those at the stop on Park Lane. That will give you a good orientation, and should go by the exteriors of the major sites you want to see. That will take you by most of the places you've mentioned and then some (you have to get off and walk at Buckingham Palace, but that's probably to your advantage). 

 

You'll need to check opening times of attractions you want to enter. The Tower is probably the big one. It looks to be a little over a half hour by Tube from Marble Arch. You can walk from there back to St Paul's, and in fact it's a nice (long) walk all the way back to Trafalgar Square from there. It will take time, but I like it. According to their web page, Westminster Abbey's hours are 9:30-3:30 for Monday through Friday. You could be hard pressed, for instance, to see the Tower, St Paul's and the Abbey in the same day unless you're just moving from one to the other and not taking time to see your surroundings. Depending on the day of week, the Abbey may be open for an evening service (Evensong, for instance). I don't know if that gives you an opportunity to wander the Abbey as much as be there for a service.

 

To me, London is a city you experience as much as see. Slowing down and having a pint is a nice break!

 

 

[Globaliser]

3 hours ago, Jeep3131 said:

We are an active group and plan to walk to most attractions (Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral and Tower of London).  Can anyone familiar with this area advise if this can be done in 1.5 days? 

 

What you can do has little to do with "this area", because realistically you're going to have to take public transport to get to some of these places. It would take you about 2 hours to walk from your hotel to the Tower (unless you keep your head down, walk at a Londoner's pace, and look at nothing en route) - it's four miles away.

 

You can only see Big Ben from the street, anyway - it's part of the Houses of Parliament and there is no public access to that part of the building.

 

Depending on when you're going to be in London, the same may apply to Buckingham Palace, which is only open to the public for a few weeks each year. But you may want to allocate some time to seeing the Changing of the Guard, if you're interested in doing that.

 

St Paul's, the Abbey and the Tower are basically the only places that are open year-round. If you give each of these half a day, then you can have a worthwhile visit. But as markeb says, do check opening hours for planning purposes.

[EuroDate20]

Kindly help me out with some advice....

 

My sister and I will be spending one full day in London post cruise in Southampton.  We're either staying at the Hyatt Place Paddington or the Hotel Indigo Paddington.  We'd like to take in a guided tour of Buckingham Palace, visit the Tower of London, and maybe do some shopping at Harrod's.  Are these locations within easy walking distance of the Circle Line?

 

The next morning we'll take the Heathrow Express to Terminal 3 for our midmorning flight back to the States.

 

Are these plans feasible?  Thank you very much for your help!

[markeb]

1 hour ago, EuroDate20 said:

Kindly help me out with some advice....

 

My sister and I will be spending one full day in London post cruise in Southampton.  We're either staying at the Hyatt Place Paddington or the Hotel Indigo Paddington.  We'd like to take in a guided tour of Buckingham Palace, visit the Tower of London, and maybe do some shopping at Harrod's.  Are these locations within easy walking distance of the Circle Line?

 

The next morning we'll take the Heathrow Express to Terminal 3 for our midmorning flight back to the States.

 

Are these plans feasible?  Thank you very much for your help!

 

My gut says feasible, but not necessarily enjoyable. Google Maps is your friend, or in this case probably enemy. And unless you plan on returning to Paddington after each stop, proximity to the Circle Line probably doesn't matter.

 

For instance, it's about 40 minutes from Paddington Station to the Tower. That is on the Circle Line, with a 10 minute walk. Other Tube lines will work as well; I didn't look at walking distance recommendations for all of them. I'd probably allow 2 hours at the Tower for planning; that's unlikely to be perfect and will probably be either too much or not nearly enough. It looks like you can pre-purchase timed tickets. It looks like the Tower opens at either 9:00 or 10:00 depending on the day of the week. I think when we went years ago we spent a half day...

 

From the Tower, it's about a half hour to Buckingham Palace, including a 15-20 minute walk (Google's pace may not be yours). That looks like District or Circle Lines. And probably not to the visitor's entrance you'll be using. You'll need to time that to meet the tour times, so you'll undoubtedly lose some of your day. The Royal Collection Trust says to allow 1.5 hours, but I've seen other sites that recommend allowing 3 hours in total for the tour. 

 

From Buckingham Palace, it's about 19 minutes to Harrod's; most of that is walking across Green Park to get to the Tube. Harrod's is open until 9:00 pm.

 

From Harrod's, it's about a half hour back to Paddington, regardless of Tube line or bus.

 

Assuming you pre-purchase tickets for 9:00 at the Tower and leave your hotel no later than 8:00, you'd be leaving the Tower 11:00-11:30 and getting to Buckingham Palace between 11:30 and 12:30. You'd be unlikely to make the Changing of the Guard at 11:00 if that interests you. You probably wouldn't want to try to schedule the tour before 1:00, maybe 1:30. If you get a 1:30 tour, that's 3:00-4:30 depending on whose estimate you use. You'll then be walking your probably exhausted body across Green Park and looking for somewhere just to sit down, but if you push on, you're at Harrod's about 5:00 heading for the food hall in all probability. Then however long you want to spend at Harrod's before another half hour back to Paddington and the walk to your hotel. If you spend any time at Harrod's, that could easily be 7:00 or 8:00. It would be a very long day. I don't know that changing the order will really help. The Tower to Harrods via Buckingham Palace avoids switching back on your travels. And Buckingham Palace would almost certainly be the most immovable timeslot. 

 

Oh, and if you're planning on the Heathrow Express, buy the advanced purchase tickets as soon as they're available. 

 

TL;DR: It would be a very long and probably rushed day!

 

 

 

[Island2Dweller]

Now that the new Elizabeth line (huge trains, lots of space / air con) connects much of central London directly to Heathrow, there is very little point in paying the premium price for Heathrow Express, nor any reason to restrict your hotel choices to be near Paddington (which is on the edge of central London but not really in it).  Any hotel near an Elizabeth Line station in the centre would be a good option.

There is no reason to worry about locations being close to the Circle line - there are easy connections to all the lines so it doesn't matter which line you need to use.

Doing Buckingham Palace, Tower of London and Harrods in one day is possible, but a bit rushed.  But if you only have one day, go for it.  Plan tickets and timing carefully to get the most out of your day.

[Globaliser]

12 hours ago, EuroDate20 said:

My sister and I will be spending one full day in London post cruise in Southampton.  We're either staying at the Hyatt Place Paddington or the Hotel Indigo Paddington.  We'd like to take in a guided tour of Buckingham Palace, visit the Tower of London, and maybe do some shopping at Harrod's.  Are these locations within easy walking distance of the Circle Line?

 

The next morning we'll take the Heathrow Express to Terminal 3 for our midmorning flight back to the States.

 

When you say "one full day", is this the day that you disembark from the ship, or are you spending two nights in London?

 

If you are thinking of the day that you disembark from the ship, you won't have "one full day". It's going to take you half a day to get fro Southampton to London and check in to your hotel. You will really only have half a day, plus an evening.

[Jeep3131]

23 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Are those the only sites you want to see? Or the primary ones? Do you want to visit the interior or Westminster Abbey and St Paul's? I'm assuming you want to tour the Tower?

 

You are probably 150-200 meters from the Marble Arch tube stop, and maybe 15 minutes from the Bond Street underground. There's a bus stop on Park Lane just south of Oxford Street and essentially in front of the Marriott Park Lane. I'm reasonably sure both TFL (Public) buses and HOHO buses use that stop. That's 10-15 minutes (more dependent on lights than your walking pace) from your hotel.

 

My answer would be a qualified yes. If you're primarily looking at exteriors then rather than walking everywhere (some of those are long walks and will take significant time), look at doing a HOHO on your first afternoon. I believe you can catch those at the stop on Park Lane. That will give you a good orientation, and should go by the exteriors of the major sites you want to see. That will take you by most of the places you've mentioned and then some (you have to get off and walk at Buckingham Palace, but that's probably to your advantage). 

 

You'll need to check opening times of attractions you want to enter. The Tower is probably the big one. It looks to be a little over a half hour by Tube from Marble Arch. You can walk from there back to St Paul's, and in fact it's a nice (long) walk all the way back to Trafalgar Square from there. It will take time, but I like it. According to their web page, Westminster Abbey's hours are 9:30-3:30 for Monday through Friday. You could be hard pressed, for instance, to see the Tower, St Paul's and the Abbey in the same day unless you're just moving from one to the other and not taking time to see your surroundings. Depending on the day of week, the Abbey may be open for an evening service (Evensong, for instance). I don't know if that gives you an opportunity to wander the Abbey as much as be there for a service.

 

To me, London is a city you experience as much as see. Slowing down and having a pint is a nice break!

 

 

Thank you for the awesome info.  Yes, these are the only sites we plan on seeing.  I will take into account all your suggestions.  We may have to cut our list down as we would like to tour the interior of some of these places. And yes, we will slow down for a few pints as well.  Thanks again!!!

[Jeep3131]

22 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

What you can do has little to do with "this area", because realistically you're going to have to take public transport to get to some of these places. It would take you about 2 hours to walk from your hotel to the Tower (unless you keep your head down, walk at a Londoner's pace, and look at nothing en route) - it's four miles away.

 

You can only see Big Ben from the street, anyway - it's part of the Houses of Parliament and there is no public access to that part of the building.

 

Depending on when you're going to be in London, the same may apply to Buckingham Palace, which is only open to the public for a few weeks each year. But you may want to allocate some time to seeing the Changing of the Guard, if you're interested in doing that.

 

St Paul's, the Abbey and the Tower are basically the only places that are open year-round. If you give each of these half a day, then you can have a worthwhile visit. But as markeb says, do check opening hours for planning purposes.

Thank you for the awesome info, we will be there in August, so Buckingham Palace appears to be open to the public then.  Appreciate this helpful info while we plan out our short-lived time in London.  

[Firstin87]

Just happened upon this thread.  thank you markeb for the advice.  We'll be in London for four days post-cruise this May for the first time and I'm planning what to do on our 3 full days there.  Definitely going to Westminster Abbey and seeing the Notre Dame exhibition.  Have been told to plan for 2 hrs. there.  Am working on how to do that on our own (so am not rushed), then seeing the Parliament Building (hopefully doing a tour inside).

 

Also want to see the Tower, of course.  Also, on our own so not rushed.  Heard that could take 3 hrs., but I plan on skipping the Crown Jewels, which I know is crowded and time-consuming.

 

I assume my best bet is to do ticketed sites in the morning, followed by non-tick2eted sites in the area.  Best not do to the Abbey and Tower the same day, correct?  We're staying at the Clermont Hotel at Victoria Station.  Does my planning approach sound correct to those who have been to London?

[EuroDate20]

8 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

When you say "one full day", is this the day that you disembark from the ship, or are you spending two nights in London?

 

If you are thinking of the day that you disembark from the ship, you won't have "one full day". It's going to take you half a day to get fro Southampton to London and check in to your hotel. You will really only have half a day, plus an evening.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and insight.  After rethinking our plans, we've decided to make the Buckingham Palace tour through the Royal Collection Trust our priority.  The tour was not available in our last visit 15 years ago.  We'd like to do the Royal Day Out tour, but tickets aren't available for September yet.  However, we can purchase standard admission tickets to see the State Rooms.  Does anyone know when the Royal Day Out tickets might be available?  I wonder if we should purchase the standard admission tickets so we don't lose out.  I assume it's a tour in demand.   We've scaled back our initial plans and though we'd like to see the Tower of London and its Crown Jewels, alot depends on the Buckingham Palace tour.

 

We are staying two nights in London.  I'd like a longer stay, but my sister has limited vacation time.