28 Best places to stay in London

‘Not that I intend to die, but when I do, I want to go to Claridge’s,’ said Hollywood actor Spencer Tracy – just one of many A-listers who fell in love with this historic hotel in millionaire’s-playground Mayfair.

Undeniably the most glamorous and timeless of all London’s 5 stars, it might blow the budget, but service is as polished as the Art Deco interiors, and there’s a choice of destination restaurants and sexy bars. The tiny leather- and mirror-clad Fumoir is a throwback to the 1930s, with sidecars and juleps served in Lalique crystal glasses at a marble horseshoe bar.

The top-floor gym and Sisley spa has wonderful views as well as deliciously indulgent treatments – the anti-ageing facials have a fanatical following.

But Claridges’ glamorous history is the main draw: this is where the Duchess of Cambridge got ready for her wedding to Prince William; back in 1945, Winston Churchill briefly moved in.

There’s a very particular style to Artist Residence hotels; mismatched retro furnishings, quirky décor and – predictably – lots and lots of art. Most of the clientele are younger, but the vibe is warmly bohemian rather than intimidatingly hip.

Bedrooms have nice luxury touches; king-sized beds and floral British Organic Bramley bath & body products, while the basement speakeasy is a great place for an early evening cocktail before heading out on the town.

Pimlico itself is pretty quiet, but the Victoria line will have you in the bright lights of the West End within minutes.

Designed to commemorate the glamour and glory of Britain’s Victorian railways, this neo-Gothic London landmark originally opened as a hotel in 1873, forming the frontispiece of St. Pancras railway station. It then languished for decades as station offices before an ambitious £150 million renovation relaunched it as a hotel in 2011.

Now, as well as the elaborate original features of its turreted, redbrick building, it has a new contemporary wing, a fabulous cocktail bar in the former station’s Booking Office, and clubby fine dining by way of its all-day drinking and dining space, Hanson.

It’s also home to one of London’s most indulgently-set spas, an Orientalist Victorian fantasy of tiling, steam rooms and a peacock blue pool overlooked by grand windows.

Original Victorian features in the building include gold-leaf ceilings, ornate murals and a spectacular staircase with windows measuring over 50ft.

Convenience is the key to Mimi’s success: a central Soho hotel that’s both affordable, chic and right in the thick of things.

Set on the corner of Frith and Bateman Streets, the entrance on the former leads to the hotel’s lively bar, Henson’s, popular with locals and visitors alike (and where guests take their modest breakfast), while the Bateman Street entrance leads to reception.

Rooms are on the small side, but all have good bathrooms, and cosy velvety boudoir-style furnishings.

With underfloor heating and high-tech soundproofing, the hustle and bustle of Soho is left outside the door, making this the perfect base if you want to make the most of London’s nightlife, while still getting some sleep.

You can play at being a Chelsea resident in this understated conversion of two Georgian townhouses, in a quiet residential street off Fulham Road. Book a deluxe double room to bag the best space – these old houses don’t brag walk-in wardrobes.

But they do have espresso machines, Egyptian cotton-clad Vispring beds and L’Occitane toiletries.

The attic floor room on the fifth floor has the best views across the Royal Borough, with porthole windows in sloping eaves, and a generous private roof garden laden with potted flowers, deck chairs and a dining area.

There’s no restaurant on site but you’re flanked by Michelin-star dining spots, and room service includes the likes of pastas, panini and a full English.

Much loved for its lively location close to cutting-edge street markets, galleries, and bars, this interiors dream of a hotel is set in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch.

Dreamt up by design guru Terence Conran, each of Boundary’s 17 bespoke rooms and suites are inspired by a different designer, in striking styles ranging from Chinoiserie to Modern Italian.

Two ever-fashionable restaurants and a rooftop bar lure stylish locals for drinks and dinner. Breakfast (not included) is served at the hugely popular Albion café on the ground floor – the fry-ups, vegan included, are legendary. Take advantage of priority booking at the clubby rooftop bar, with its 100-year-old olive trees, open fire, and Cuban humidor.

The location is uber-hip, close to exciting street markets, galleries, and bars, though it’s a shlep to get London’s major central sights. Don’t stay here if you’re sightseeing.

There is nowhere in this hotel, set on floors 34 to 52 of London’s tallest building, that doesn’t offer a staggering, sky-scraping view of the capital.

The Shard oozes luxury from every pore; suites come with telescopes, walk-in wardrobes and butlers, while the pocket-sized infinity pool, up on the 52nd floor, is possibly the capital’s most spectacular place for a dip (or possibly just a float, as it’s a tad small to swim properly).

This is a grand, upscale address; don’t come expecting quirky London charm; instead, gaggles of orchids and oceans of marble create a pleasingly exotic feel.

Pre-book a window table at Gong; the city’s ultimate sundowner spot.

A period hotel named after a 17th-century writer might sound stuffy, but this eccentric boutique has a warm, quirky vibe that suits the arty crowd that stay here.

This is as far away from a bland, chain hotel as it’s possible to be; rooms are swathed in deep golds and reds with four-posters and grand oil paintings.

This isn’t the place for cutting-edge cocktails or Michelin-starred dining; there’s no restaurant (although the room service menu is excellent).

Instead, it’s about holeing up in the heart of the city, taking breakfast in bed or afternoon tea in the courtyard and savouring the sense of being cocooned from the frenetic streets outside.

One of the most talked-about openings in the capital in recent years, the Standard’s futurist-retro 70s décor brings some fun American pizzazz to Camden Council’s former Brutalist headquarters. Its arrival cemented the Kings Cross area as the capital’s most exciting regenerative district.

This is a place to splash out and party, with some suites offering private bars and outdoor tubs. The open-plan ground floor is home to Isla restaurant, terrace and lobby lounge making one big lively social space, with regular evening DJ sets.

Cherry on the cake, quite literally, is the rooftop (all AstroTurf and flamingo-pink furniture), with fabulous views across the city. Decimo, the Standard’s smart Mexican-inspired restaurant, is on the floor below.

It’s all about the location at this chic, boutique hotel, which overlooks Covent Garden’s historic piazza, and the cafes, bars and restaurant that line it.

There’s nothing grand or showy about the Henrietta; rooms have subtle, art deco touches, with decor in powder pink and cobalt blue; this is an under-the-radar bolthole for those who want quiet style without any fuss.

The ground floor is home to the hotel’s bar and restaurant, the Italian Supper Club, which offers bright, summery Tyrrhenian fare, and lesser-known wines from the western coastline around Cinque Terre.

Offering front-row seats for the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and a sparklingly historic stretch of the River Thames, this hotel is ideal for first-timers to the city, with an unbeatable location and impressively grandiose feel.

Once through the imposing Victorian entrance – complete with lots of marble and wood-panelling – things start to feel a bit more contemporary, with an excellent gin bar, stocking more than 100 different varieties, and juicy British steaks on offer in Gillray’s restaurants. Rooms are a touch corporate, but comfortable and many have panoramic river views.

The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben are on the doorstep, while Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery and the London Eye are within walking distance.

Style, comfort and a prime location between The Strand and Covent Garden: The Resident offers all mod-cons accommodation complete with flatscreen TVs, free-flowing WiFi, and handy mini-kitchens with fridges, microwaves, and a kettle.

Add spacious bathrooms complete with Gilchrist and Soames toiletries, and bedrooms with comfy pocket-sprung beds, and it’s all you need to set up an ‘affordable luxury’ base in the centre of the capital.

There’s no restaurant on site but you’re surrounded by some of London’s best dining, drinking and snacking options, plus the hotel has a choice room-service menu of drinks and snacks including a wine selection from Berry Bros and Rudd.

Groceries to stock that sleek little kitchen can be delivered to your room if you really don’t want to step out.

There’s no grand entrance to Hazlitt’s – this charming bolthole is strictly for those in the know. Supremely elegant and consummately British, this hotel is spread over four Georgian townhouses – a decadent but discreet hideaway in sociable, central Soho.

Lavish period interiors (four posters, oak panelling) are cleverly combined with modern comforts (flatscreen TVs concealed behind antique mirrors) in a way that hits the sweet spot between historic grandeur and on-trend chic.

The cosy library contains signed editions by visiting authors, including Vikram Seth, Susan Sontag, Bill Bryson, and JK Rowling.

There’s no dining room – the continental breakfast is room service only. Order the bacon ciabatta, introduced by popular demand from regular guests. It tastes even better in bed.

A fantastic choice if you’re on a budget but still want to be right at the heart of things, rooms at the Hub are rather like a super-modern cruise ship cabin.

Everything is at the touch of a button, from the comfy Hypnos beds to the power showers and 40-inch smart TVs. Rooms have London scenes as paintings or maps as wall friezes, modest desks, and a control pad with all the mod-cons near bed headboards, plus free Wi-Fi.

This isn’t the place if you’re looking for a romantic weekend; the Hub is slick and functional – a place to sleep in-between sightseeing and exploring, rather than a destination in its own right.

Fun, sophisticated, and cosmopolitan: if London was a cruise liner, this is what she would look like.

Guestrooms in this cleverly-converted one-time home of a shipping company come with porthole mirrors and maritime-themed fixtures and fittings that never quite stray into cliche.

This is a grand, glam affair of a hotel, with Lyaness – regularly voted London’s best bar – offering some of the city’s most inventive cocktails.

The cherry on the cake is the rooftop bar and restaurant which has fantastic views across the Thames – the perfect spot for a romantic dinner overlooking the night skyline.

The Tate Modern, St Pauls Cathedral, Borough Market and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre are all within walking distance.

With colourful interiors that are chock-full of character, an award-winning cocktail bar and an acclaimed chef, this Georgian townhouse is a perfect bolthole for individualists and hedonists.

The design means it feels more eccentric country house than hotel: each of the 13 rooms has a unique mix of antiques and curios; all come with decadent bathrooms and plenty of free treats, from rare teas to classic novels.

With so few rooms, you’ll need to book well ahead, but there’s an intimate, house-party feel: this is a hotel for couples who want to immerse themselves in London’s hippest corner, without shouting about it.

Part of the flamboyant Firmdale chain, Number Sixteen is more low-key than its sister properties. On a quiet street in well-heeled South Kensington, the discreet white facade of its Victorian terraced house belies the colourful interior, decked out with flourishes of print and texture fabrics.

The hotel’s public spaces are a big plus: two cosy drawing rooms, an honesty bar and a conservatory overlooking an idyllic, tree-shaded secret garden. The latter is a pretty setting for cream tea on a summer afternoon.

Special services for families include babysitting, highchairs, children’s books and DVDs – they’ll even provide milk and cookies.

No two rooms are alike in this Neoclassical hotel where rock’n’roll hangovers of legend have been crafted. Over the years these two adjoining mansion houses have witnessed the tabloid-reported exploits of Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Tim Burton, to name a few.

Recently overhauled by the team behind Cheltenham’s Cowley Manor, The Portobello has retained its quirky, home-from-home charm, updated with entire rooms done out in bold reds, aristocratic blues and zesty greens, set against simple wood furnishings and four-poster beds, some with free-standing tubs.

A limited room-service menu is available around the clock with continental breakfast delivered to your door.

A clean, streamlined budget option with a somewhat exclusive vibe, accessed via a ‘secret’ courtyard just behind Covent Garden Piazza.

The smart six-storey redbrick has complimentary WiFi throughout, and the ground floor reception area is home to a bright airy cafe for simple continental breakfast and light bites, plus a complimentary cheese and wine, served 5-8pm nightly.

Rooms are compact but smartly functional – all business blacks and greys – with in-room coffee and tea.  Two categories are windowless, which can feel a bit claustrophobic – it’s worth spending a small amount extra for some natural light.

CitizenM bought a new brand of affordable chic to the capital when it first arrived almost ten years ago, and this Tower Hill outpost combines an ideal location for sightseeing with a serious sense of style. The Tower of London is directly opposite the hotel, while many of the bedrooms have incredible views of the Shard and the Gherkin through large picture windows.

Rooms are pocket-sized (thus the affordable price tag), but downstairs you could be in an upscale design hotel; the open-plan café-bar-restaurant is crowned by a soaring atrium, and frequented as much by locals as visitors.

If you’re coming for sightseeing, it’s pretty central. The Tower of London and Tower Bridge are opposite and it’s only a short tube, taxi ride or walk to the main sights of the centre, and to the attractions of the museums on the South Bank. Given the convenient location, it’s exceptional value.

Sandwiched between the iconic Harvey Nichols department store and Hyde Park, there’s a glorious, over-the-top opulence to the MO, with acres of marble, a Michelin-starred dining room with Heston Blumenthal at the helm and wonderful views across Hyde Park.

A great choice for those who want to combine sightseeing with some serious pampering, the hotel’s spa is a subterranean, low-lit space centred around a 17m swimming pool, with Asian-themed treatments and therapies.

This is the place to come if you want classic, old-school glamour – although it does come at a price.

Mixing flamboyant British design with vibrant colour schemes, Ham Yard is a classic slice of London style, set in the heart of buzzing Soho.

This is a multi-use, melange of a hotel, from the tree-filled garden to the book-lined drawing rooms, 1950’s bowling alley and cinema.

Set in the heart of the West End, Theatreland, Soho and Covent Garden are within easy walking distance. It’s a popular meeting place for Londoners too, creating a very different feel to hotels that are purely for out-of-towners.

After a day’s sightseeing, retire to the fourth-floor garden terrace; in spite of the central location, it feels deliciously private and away from the hubbub – the perfect city centre bolthole.

One of the city’s first ‘budget boutique hotels’, the Hoxton was celebrating all things Shoreditch long before the district became a byword for East London cool.

It still leads the pack, offering compact rooms at affordable prices, with a New York-meets-London industrial-chic vibe, that appeals to a younger crowd, but is equally welcoming to everyone.

Rooms come with parquet floors, dark walls and black-tiled bathrooms – they can feel a touch masculine, but are super-comfortable for the price.

Its Hoxton Grill remains at the heart of the fun; a great place to kick back for dinner after a day’s sightseeing.

With gardens that roll down to the river, you don’t have to demand a room with a Thames view to enjoy this hotel’s spectacular waterfront setting.

A ferry (or Tube) ride quickly delivers you from the city centre to this lovely leafy west London address: two adjoining Georgian townhouses which once hosted a literary set, including WB Yeats.

From the lounge to the library rooms, a cosy bookish theme dominates, while guestrooms are simple, mid-century modern-yet-comfy with warm colours and rich natural fabrics, some with hand-forged copper tubs.

This is a proper city retreat, with a pretty terrace restaurant, and another helmed by MasterChef champ, Steve Edwards where you can refuel before exploring the towpath on one of the hotel’s Pashley bikes.

Richmond Park, Hampton Court and The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are on your doorstep.

A beacon of old-fashioned British hospitality, family-owned and managed by the Miller family for almost a century, this hotel is a welcome antidote to the big corporate chains.

True to its location in genteel Marylebone, it’s quietly grand but ever so discreet. Spruced up for the London 2012 Olympics, bedrooms are traditional without being chintzy – though the olde worlde vibe also means trad’ plumbing, so don’t expect wet rooms or power showers.

Public areas have a country-house feel: linger over malt whisky in the snug, wood-panelled bar or feast on a Sunday roast served on monogrammed cutlery.

Sat amid a patchwork of London’s poshest postcodes, Marylebone is a central but peaceful location where you’ll feel like a local.

Hidden away down one of London’s pretty mews streets, this glamorous hotel provides a classy cocoon for rock stars and actors.

From the giant bronze cat guarding the lobby to the sumptuous fifth-floor suites with terraces overlooking Soho’s rooftops, everything is designed to make a splash.

Knock back bespoke cocktails at the oak-and-pewter bar or sink into a cowhide armchair in the private cinema – wherever you are in this hotel, you know you’re at the heart of the action.

Here, even standard rooms are some of the largest in London – and every room is different. Some burst with clashing colours and prints, others are more subdued.

If you’re planning a weekend break, don’t miss the Sunday Film Club. New releases and old classics are shown mid-afternoon in one of the hotel’s two screening rooms, with free popcorn thrown in.

This bright, breezy boutique retreat sits pretty at the top of Richmond Hill. It feels like a real village retreat, with summery décor and plants at every turn. The exceptional spa comes with indoor pool, a zen garden, a hydrotherapy pool, plunge pool, hot tubs and sun loungers – perfect for post sightseeing recovery.

The Gate, the hotel’s all-day brasserie opens out into a courtyard garden, which doubles as a bar with live music and DJs at weekends. It’s a popular spot with locals.

Swanky, leafy Richmond is only 20-minutes by (regular) trains to the West End, so a great base for those don’t want to be in the crowded centre. World-famous Kew Gardens and Hampton Court are just minutes away. Richmond Park is next door.

Established by a theatre impresario in 1889, The Savoy is back among the best of London’s five-star hotels following a £220 million renovation.

While its polished entrance is more subtle and discreet than many of its five-star London rivals’, The Savoy is the one with stories – oodles of them, from decades of hosting Hollywood and West End stars, politicians and jazz musicians.

Many original features are intact, including the Art Deco American Bar, the Savoy Grill, the Thames Foyer (its glass-domed gazebo is a dazzling setting for afternoon tea), and of course those spectacular Thames views from the riverside rooms, which inspired both Whistler and Monet.

Most sumptuous are the nine Personality Suites, inspired by famous guests such as Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin, and Marlene Dietrich, who always requested a dozen pink roses on arrival.

Try a White Lady, invented by legendary bartender Harry Craddock at the American Bar, Britain’s oldest cocktail bar.