London weekend

[Madwife123]

For someone who doesn’t know London at all.

Where is the best place (hotel suggestions or areas) to stay that meets the following criteria:

-Easy to get to travelling in from the North via trains
-Close to a tube station for travelling around London
-Close to main attractions, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc.
-Ideally near some nice places to eat and shop
-Not extortionate to stay there. Budget £800 for 3 night’s accommodation

Maybe somewhere round King's Cross/Euston? Easy access for the trains, on the Victoria line for the Tube which gets you down to Green Park for Buckingham Palace plus easy to get onto the Circle/District line for Tower of London etc.

Some good Indian restaurants round the back of Euston and King's Cross has new developments in Coal Drop Yard with shops and good places to eat.

The area around the British Museum/Russel Square/Bloomsbury has a good choice of hotels that are generally good value for money.

I always stay near King's Cross because you can dump your bags and not have to stage them across London. I mostly use the bus for getting about as I have mobility problems but tbh by the time you go through the tube system you are often just as long as the bus - at least you get to see things by bus.

Best for location is County Hall Premier Inn or Park Plaza in the same building. At the foot of the London Eye and opp Westminster.

Covent Garden Travel Lodge. Great location, nice enough and near lots of things, not too far for cabs either so won’t be too expensive if you’re late at night and want them.

I recently stayed in a hotel right by Westminster Abbey, it was 100metres from St James's Park tube station and was walking distance to Covent Garden, Soho, Trafalgar Square, South Bank etc. it was a Hub by Premier Inn on Tothill street and I'd really recommend it. Clean, modern, budget friendly. Rooms relatively small but manageable.

I've been shocked at the cost of hotels recently.

I would start by checking the price of Premier Inns anywhere within zone 1 (zone 2 if near a tube). If these are coming up at £150+ per night (which wasn't uncommon before Xmas), i would the. look at Booking.com (but then check the websites of the hotels direct to see if they are running special deals/packages).

IBIS is also a good value chain. There is one out in Ealing near the Elizabeth Line which is often pretty good value and close to places to eat (but obviously a bit further to get to/from).

I'm pretty certain google will show me hotels on a map with prices for my chosen dates. As others have suggested Kings Cross and Waterloo area are worth a look.

Oh yes, when we don't have a flat up in London to stay in, I use Stasher.com to find somewhere to store my bags fir a few hours if my hotel is the other side of town (invariably I'll end up storing them at a Premier Inn!).

There are so many hotels and your sights are spread across central London. If possible, avoid weekends and school holidays. If your budget is tight, try a Premier Inn a bit out of town (eg Hampstead) and you can still travel in easily on the Northern Line.
Or maybe consider an aparthotel - somewhere like Holborn would be a good location.
If you use the Tube, nowhere is far from anywhere else and it's so easy to get around.

I'd say Kings Cross or Bloomsbury (Russell Square/Holborn). Get the Citymapper app, it will make you aware of how close everything is in central London and how often walking is same time as Tube.