?Best area to stay in London?

We're spending 2 nights in London post cruise, and I know no nothing about the various areas of the city in order to make plans as to a hotel and HoHo buses.

We are 2 senior ladies, reasonably active, both in our 70s.

We probably won't get to a hotel before early evening on disembarkation day as we plan to take one of the tour/transfer bus from Southampton that visits Stonehenge and Windsor Palace before dropping us at our hotel. Our plan is to take one of the HoHo buses the next day for a tour of the highlights. And then we fly out of Heathrow about noon the day after that.

Needing some direction as to where in the city would be best to stay and hotel recommendations if possible. Hoping for a hotel rate of $200-250 USD per night.

Any thoughts/recommendation would be appreciated. I'd really like to get a hotel reservation in place soon.

Arguably, there is no "best area" to stay in London. Major attractions are scattered across the city. And "best area" and "$200-250" may be impossible. £250 will not be easy either.

I'd be inclined to check the County Hall area along the south bank. That's a growing area right across the Thames on the Westminster Bridge, so close to Parliament, Westminster Abbey, etc. Just be prepared for sticker shock.

Beyond that, there's a lot of personal preference, day of week, and willingness to use the Tube that comes into play. Hotels will generally be much less expensive near Heathrow, but not horribly convenient for tourist attractions in London.

If the tour/transfer bus that you mention is London toolkit/International Friends, you & your luggage will be dropped at the door of any central London hotel, or for small hotels at least at a hotel very close by. So no worries there.

If you want to travel to Heathrow by public transport:

- a hotel in easy walking distance of Paddington station will be very convenient for Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect trains (Connect is less luggage-friendly & journey time 20 minutes rather than 15 minutes, but at about £10 pp it's half the cost of Express). Paddington is in the north-west corner of central London. But if you have to add a taxi fare to Heathrow Express fares & the cost will be about the same as a private transfer. Main ho-ho bus routes walkable at Marble Arch, and there may be a convenient feeder route.

- a hotel handy to Victoria coach station for frequent National Express buses to Heathrow, fare £6 pp. Victoria is in the south-west corner of central London. Main ho-ho routes go through Victoria.

- a hotel convenient to the Piccadilly tube line (deep blue line on this map) https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf . It's what I'd do, but most visitors shy away. Be warned - with luggage some tube stations are easier than others, and tube trains aren't luggage-friendly & can be crowded. The Piccadilly line crosses through central London. Fare £6 pp.

If you prefer a private transfer, it'll be a little quicker & cheaper (around £40 to £50 for the car) from a hotel in west central London (Westminster/the West End) than east central London (the commercial "city of London"). And the West End is where you'll find most of the nightlife - theatres, restaurants, pubs etc though there'll be plenty of choice anywhere in central London.

Here are "Original"'s ho-ho tour routes

https://www.theoriginaltour.com/media/1756/the-original-tour-map-hr.jpg

A hotel close to the yellow or red routes would fit the bill, other than the red route's deviation north to Marylebone Road - that loop because of rail stations along Marylebone Road.

And the routes of "Big Bus" ho-ho's

http://eng.bigbustours.com/UploadedFiles/London_May_14_201405012752.pdf

You'll see that the red routes are identical. And that Big Bus has a feeder route in the Paddington area.

Both operators include the same river cruise.

A third operator is Golden Tours - a reputable & established tour operator, but they're new kids-on-the-block for ho-ho, & their scope & frequency is much poorer than the other two.

Prime locations would be in and around Mayfair, but hotel rates are high.

I rate a hotel in or close to County Hall (by Westminster Bridge & the London Eye), because it's convenient to ho-hos, tubes, easy walking distance of sights such as Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, Churchill's War Rooms & the sights along The Mall between Parliament Square & Trafalgar Square. Plus plenty of bars, restaurants, etc along the South Bank of the river. Check out rates at Marriott County Hall, Premier Inn County Hall, and Park Plaza County Hall.

You'll find a broader selection of hotels and better prices around Victoria & Paddington. Not a great deal within walking distance, but reasonably convenient.

JB :)

Thanks very much to both of you for the responses. I really had no idea where to start looking, and you information will certainly enable me to start the search for a hotel with a better sense of knowing what I'm doing.

I have stayed at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge in 2013.

This August, I stayed at the Premier Inn Waterloo. This hotel was about 1 block behind the Park Plaza Westminster.

Both hotels are in the Waterloo/Westminster area. Both hotels have A/C. Premier Inn County Hall is also in the same area but has no A/C.

All 3 hotels are within walking distance to the HOHO buses, restaurants, regular bus, train station, Westminster bridge, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben.

I used http://www.justairports.com to take us from the hotel to LHR, plan about a hour for traveling time from hotel to the airport. The cost from hotel to LHR was £35, I booked the bigger size car as we had 2 big suitcases. It was nice to be picked up at the hotel door and dropped off at the airport. To get a quote use, the hotel's postal code, size of car.

You did not mention the date, if in August/Sept, the staterooms of Buckingham Palace are open to the public. http://www.royalcollection.org.uk

I used International Friends from Dover to London, I would recommend them as they pick you up at the dock with your luggage, tour, then take you to your hotel (if it is on their hotel list) or LHR hotel or LHR. They only go on cruise embarkment and disembarkment days.

Princess has a post cruise excursion that does a tour and takes you to LHR. They have a transfer from Southampton to London Victoria Coach Station then you would need a taxi to your hotel.

International Friends cost a little more than Princess but they dropped us off at our hotel.

There are any number of good hotels for around £180 - £200 a night that would suit you. I suggest that you look at trip advisor to find a hotel that interests you and then google it separately to find its location and facilities.

You should look for a bed and breakfast deal and once you start looking, you will no doubt be inundated with 'special' offers. Booking well in advance is usually the cheapest, and apart from tripadvisor there are several other websites that you can explore. The Waterloo/Westminster area is a good base to explore from.

I like the looks of the Park Plaza, but according to the website their reservations are non-refundable, and I am not comfortable with that. Since we are both 70+, plans can change unexpectedly, and I prefer not to have to "eat" that cost if something happens and we have to cancel our cruise plans.

Phabric .... was the room at the Premier Inn reasonably comfortable? In their description I see they apparently don't offer rooms with 2 twin or full beds, which would be preferable. Otherwise, either the one by Westminster Bridge or the Waterloo one looks acceptable.

John Bull ..... I've only ever used one hoho bus and that was a rather short route in Ravenna, Italy a few years ago. I presume one can begin at any of the stops even though the narration began at "stop #1". By taking the entire route one will eventually get the earlier part of the narration?

Earlier this month we spent a week at the Premier Inn-County Hall just over the Westminster Bridge. Except for the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and Kensington Palace we were able to walk to all of the major sites that were of interest to us. We are both slightly over 70 and Dudette has MS, travels in a wheelchair and I am the pusher. The Premier Inn is a formula hotel and a real plain-Jane but it is clean, the beds are very comfortable, it would fit in your budget at about 143 GBP per night and they have a refundable program. There are a number of restaurants across the street which are reasonably priced. If we were to return to London we would certainly stay there again.

Two Park Plazas close to each-other - Park Plaza County Hall & Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, both are convenient.

For both properties, http://www.booking.com offers a choice of cancellable with about 2 days notice & pay at the time (for a premium), or non-refundable & pay with booking. For a random date in 2016, the option to cancel costs an extra approx. £45 per night.

Similar cancellable options offered by booking.com with a lot of other properties. For that random date, booking.com is offering Premier Inn cancellable for the same price as Premier Inn direct cancellable. Go to their website anyway, good info, good location maps, good photos, plenty of genuine reviews.

In the past, we've booked hotels with booking.com as cancellable. Then, closer to the date & we're sure we want, if the price still warrants it we re-book & pay, and cancel the original.

Ho-ho's

The narration is pre-recorded & activated by GPS. So it relates to the sights as the bus approaches/passes them - for instance it doesn't get ahead of itself if held up by traffic. You select your own language for your headset - the closest language for you is English :p

Original has live guides instead of a recorded commentary on their yellow route (I recommend it), I think Big Bus also has a route with a live guide. The live commentary is in English only. Live guides are entertaining. Well, first time round they're entertaining. If you repeat part of a route you'll realise that the off-the-cuff jokes aren't as "off-the-cuff" as you'd thought. ;)

If you want a complete tour on one bus, yes it will come back to the place you boarded - except of course the last bus of the day.

Some cities suit ho-hos, some don't.

For instance, places like Rome or Florence or Bath don't suit because they're not permitted in the interesting narrow city centre streets.

But they're a very good way of getting an overview of London's many sights.

Exception is Buckingham Palace, buses aren't allowed past the front. If you want to see it, you have to get off the bus & walk round the corner. Then return to the bus stop & take the next bus.

And don't cocoon yourselves on the ho-ho's all day. Take a walk down Whitehall, or round Covent Garden, or along The Strand.

JB :)

I like the looks of the Park Plaza, but according to the website their reservations are non-refundable, and I am not comfortable with that. Since we are both 70+, plans can change unexpectedly, and I prefer not to have to "eat" that cost if something happens and we have to cancel our cruise plans.

 

 

Phabric .... was the room at the Premier Inn reasonably comfortable? In their description I see they apparently don't offer rooms with 2 twin or full beds, which would be preferable. Otherwise, either the one by Westminster Bridge or the Waterloo one looks acceptable.

 

John Bull ..... I've only ever used one hoho bus and that was a rather short route in Ravenna, Italy a few years ago. I presume one can begin at any of the stops even though the narration began at "stop #1". By taking the entire route one will eventually get the earlier part of the narration?

I requested 2 twin beds as I travelled with my sister. It was a double and a single bed, with a desk & chair, kettle for coffee/tea, small open cupboard with a few hangers, TV, A/C, window did not open, bathroom - high step into bathtub, with shampoo/bathwash, sink - liquid soap. NO facecloth, no Kleenex box. I took the meal plan for the breakfast - it was buffet - 2 types of juice, coffee/tea, scrambled egg, mushroom, bacon, sausage, tomato, ceral, bread, bagel, little muffins, if you wanted porridge, omelet, fried eggs you asked the staff. Dining room and bar is in the basement. Must use room key for elevator and room. Free basic wifi in the room, if you want a faster wifi there is a cost. Staff friendly and helpful with our many bus route questions.

I had read that the Premier Inn County Hall which is close to the Premier Inn Westminster/Waterloo does not have A/C.

I have stayed at a Premier Inn in London, Southampton and Dover. I would say, they are a like a Holiday Inn, basic.

I had booked with a credit card on hold very early and would keep checking the price, If I found it cheaper would cancel and rebook. Later, I found the prepay price was much cheaper so cancelled and rebooked with that price.

The first time I was in London post cruise, I took the HOHO - The Original Tour Co. I joined at one of their stops. I took that bus all the way around on that route, switched to another route all the way around, the next day the 3rd route. We did not get off the bus to see any of the sights. Some buses had a person talking and other it as a programmed talk, they give you ear phones.

Thanks again everyone who is posting such great detailed explanations. It's all very helpful. Trying to make plans for a city one has minimal knowledge of is a bit of a challenge.

Our cruise is 30 days and ends on May 20th, 2016. I don't imagine the lack of A/C at the Premier Inn County Hall should be a real concern at that time of year. I looked up the average temps for that time of year and I think we'd be OK.

Thanks again everyone who is posting such great detailed explanations. It's all very helpful. Trying to make plans for a city one has minimal knowledge of is a bit of a challenge.

Our cruise is 30 days and ends on May 20th, 2016. I don't imagine the lack of A/C at the Premier Inn County Hall should be a real concern at that time of year. I looked up the average temps for that time of year and I think we'd be OK.

With the Premier Inn, if you get too hot in the room, ask for a fan. In Dover, they had a fan in the room, the window only opened inches. Premier Inn Westminster, I saw the front desk taking a fan to the only room that did not have A/C.

Just last month we used International Friends for a pick up at the Southampton port to Salisbury,Stonehenge,Windsor Castle & then to our hotel. This was a long day but so enjoyable.

We stayed at the Doubletree in Westminster.Walked outside, turned right & walked 2 blocks to the stop for the Original Bus HOHO. We followed the whole circuit & since the ticket also included a canal boat ride, we did that as well. These were both great fun . Easy walk back to the hotel stopping at a pub for dinner, visited Westminster Abbey & had a great time.

Used Just for Airports to take us to LHR.

Heard about London Toollkit from John Bull ! Great website with soooo much info on London .