Reasonably priced hotels for a week in London

[lnks]

I’m planning to travel to London for a week in the summer holidays with my DH and DD. We want to go to all of the tourist attractions and museums.

I live in Lancashire and I’m not familiar with it London at all. I’m looking for a travel lodge type hotel and will need 2 bedrooms. I have no idea where the best location is. We will be driving down but we’re then planning to use the tube/train whilst we are there.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where might be the best places to say. I’m pretty clueless and so would really appreciate any help.

I don’t have specific recommendations but suggest you look at the outskirts of NW London for hotels in close proximity to a tube/overground line. It’ll be a trade off between price and how far away you can manage travelling each day

Which attractions do you plan to visit and what is your budget?

You could park further out and tube or train to a more central hotel, or stay a bit further out and be prepared for a longer journey in each day.

There are lots of Premier Inns around London. You could look for one on the North West outer part of London so that it's convenient for driving from the North West, park at the hotel and then get the tube into London each day. Have you planned your route?

One thing I would suggest and I’ve suggested to others is that we stay in London quite regularly for work ( but on our dollar) and nearly always use the copthorne Tara in Kensington - it’s in a great location and I’ve found many times of year ( particularly in the week) it’s cheaper than premier inns or similar - it’s a huge hotel, a bit dated but lovely foyer that smells nice etc, bakery and little shop plus bars and restaurant on site. Great breakfast place just over the road - don’t bother with hotel breakfast and no I don’t work for them or market for them - I book via booking.com for it

Make sure you've sorted out where you are going to park! If you're going to follow recommendations like the Copthorne Tara, parking nearby can cost a fortune. You might do better to travel to London by train.

@DustAndBooks yep it’s£29 a day at the Tara but does at least have its own car park - we just factor that in -

Parking is very very expensive. Train from Lancashire is a bit unreliable and crap but will save you a lot of money as you really don’t want to be using a car in London.

premier inn and travel lodge have lots of hotels in London. Price very much varies according to location. Stuff in Covent Garden or the west end, where it’s a 2 min walk from the theatre to the hotel will be a lot more than places in Bethnal Green or Shoreditch (hipster and up and coming hence a bit more gritty and considerably less busy and touristy.

Yes be careful OP on the premier inn and travel inns as you will find many central ones simply don’t have car parks - one that does ( and is a particularly nice one with a safe underground park is in Chiswick) - bit of a slog to go in every day and get back at night if going central - but not difficult - parking isa big consideration if driving down - the other nice premier inn with a car park and more convenient is Haverstock hill in Belsize Park - great for Hampstead and Camden too and lots of nice shops and eateries close by as well .

If there is nothing on at Wembley the premier inn there is often very reasonable. It’s right next to the jubilee line tube station which has stops at Bond Street (for Oxford street shops) , Green Park (Buckingham palace) and Westminster (Big Ben). Down load the tube app, dead easy to navigate. Remember children under 10 free on tube, take them through the disabled gate with you.
park at Stanmore park and ride which is at the end of the jubilee line, then just 3 stops to Wembley Park premier inn.
on a side note, the theatre for Starlight Express is at Wembley and kids would love seeing that! We went and it was excellent, 8 year old, 12 year old and adults in our family all loved it 😁

https://www.imperialhotels.co.uk/hotels/tavistock-hotel?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAABeOAJQhwkCZxQYAuZzfuxPdbyAF0&gclid=CjwKCAjwwe2_BhBEEiwAM1I7sQcEFpZU47YOBWHJDEXkUQ-YWHhH89Y2F9sSLGBJ4yyr76_otCL3uxoC8fcQAvD_BwE

Tavistock hotel is central and reasonably priced.

Also consider the youth hostels - you can get family rooms and they’re really good in London. Also university rooms - student accommodation if you’re going outside term time.

www.universityrooms.com/en-GB/

@Gundogday I agree- only thing to bear in mind is it’s in congestion zone so you have to pay to get in and drive out even if you don’t use it whilst there- OP needs to check her car is Liz compliant too or she has to pay that as well. We’ve stayed there a few times when we didn’t have car with us - one reason we stay at the Tara especially on odd nights is it’s outside congestion charge

We've just got back from a mini break in London. We stayed in Russell Square, was literally a 20 minute walk from King's Cross and a lovely part of London. It has a lovely park also nearby and it's quiet on the evenings.
In the past we've stayed in Kings Cross but it's so noisy, especially at night and Chelsea - which is also a lovely area but not much to do there. We tend to go to Chelsea to watch a match, but prefer to stay in Russell Square and get the tube over.
The tube will be best your best friend. Think we've mastered it now lol (Touch wood).

Oh just to add I would be careful with Travelodge in London. Check in is at 3pm, our train was delayed once and needed to get the tube over to Chelsea which is around another 35 minutes. Got there at 3:40pm and they'd given our room away and there was no more rooms. They did it to a couple of other families and couples as well. We left our luggage with them and went over to Stamford Bridge to watch the football match not knowing where we would be staying that night with 2 kids in towe. Went back to Tra elodge and had to wait a further hour whilst they emailed other travelodges for vacancies. They don't even have eachothers phone numbers. We ended up in Brentford. Miles out. Was so angry and did get compensation but I would never use a Travelodge again. I'll stick with private hotels.

I’m Lancashire, go to London regularly. I wouldn’t drive!

Family railcard, book advance tickets it will be reasonably priced. Avanti West Coast are decent compared to northern & transpenine. Don’t travel on a Sunday though it’s all slow trains!

PI Hampstead is a good price if you book well in advance.

It really depends on what you want to see and how long you’re prepared to travel to get there. I prefer to drive in London, but parking is very expensive generally. Just park is a good app that gives you the option to park for longer periods of time and shows lots of different locations. Have you looked at air b&b’s too?

If you need 2 rooms would an Airbnb be better?
If we need a hotel we usually get a Premier Inn and leave the car at Westfield for about £9 a day.

There are various budget hotels near the O2 Arena, a 10 kin walk to Jubilee line or a million bus routes to get you where you need to be. Lots of carpals (not sure of daily price) and easily accessible off the M25 and not in congestion zone

I agree with this. I’m a Lancastrian who’s been living in central London for the last 2 decades so I’ve spent a LOT of ‘quality time’ on the M6 and M1 going to and from the North West. Holy hell, driving is a shit show 99.9% of the time. I started driving because I got fed up of the trains being unreliable but now driving is a million times worse. The trains are much quicker (as long as they’re running) and will avoid the parking issue for you meaning you can stay centrally and enjoy everything that London has to offer.