Best hotel/airbnb location

Bloomsbury, Soho and Covent Garden are central locations close in to many attractions. Some don’t mind taking the tube from neighborhoods a bit further away from the center— neighborhoods like Kensington, Earl’s Court and Notting Hill.

To add to that list if very central neighbourhoods, Mayfair and Marylebone, plus to the south Waterloo, and heading east towards the City, Blackfriars, Farringdon etc. Basically anything within the Circle Line tube route could reasonably be considered Central London. What sort of budget are you looking at? This will likely be a driver of where you stay.

Anywhere close to a tube station, particularly in Zone 1 (the most central part of the public transport network) would be good- if you have certain major sights/landmarks you want to be close to we can also advise.

it would be ever so helpful to have an idea - in £ sterling of possible - of your budget and if you are aware that in a hotel you will probably need two rooms. If low budget have you considered a family room in a hostel?

Is this a short trip or a longer one?

Bloomsbury, Soho and Covent Garden

I would ditto this, but add that Bloomsbury is slightly less busy in the evenings (although it is still central London, so surely not "suburban" quiet). I love Bloomsbury as the perfect intersection of centrality and peacefulness. That said, last time we stayed right on St Martin's Lane (as central as you can get) and still really enjoyed it.

We have also stayed in neighborhoods around Paddington and Victoria stations when an early train was needed. I didn't like those neighborhoods as much. Ditto for Earl's Court, which we stayed in once.

We are in almost exactly the same situation except that there are 3 adults and 2 teens (I’m Grandma and will be traveling with my family). Last night I was looking at a Holiday Inn in Whitechapel, but one of the reviews said that the area didn’t feel safe to them. Any thoughts on that?
A few years ago I stayed in the Canary Wharf Hilton and liked it very much. The tube was nearby and we didn’t mind the commute into the central part of the city. Right now it looks like they don’t have the room configurations that we were hoping for. We’d like to try to get by with two rooms, but it seems that rooms with twin beds are harder to find.
I will be following this post and appreciate any information and suggestions.

The thing about London is that, as Cat VH says, you can stay anywhere near a tube station—-particularly near a Circle Line tube station— and you’ll have relatively quick access to most major attractions.

If you’re staying for a week or more, a 25- minute tube ride into the heart of London is worth it if you can find a more reasonably-priced accommodation. For those looking for rooms that will accommodate 4-5 guests without breaking the bank—they will likely need to look for an apartment or for 2 rooms in an outer. neighborhood.

If you’re only going to be in London for 3-4 nights, then time will be more precious. Keep in mind museums are only open from 10am-5pm. which makes a central location all the more important if you’re only going to be in London for a few days.

That said., I think Whitechapel may be a bit out of the way and inconvenient and it may seem less desirable than Mayfair or Chelsea—but I wouldn’t say it’s unsafe. Sometimes people see graffiti on walls or whatnot and they automatically think the neighborhood is unsafe, when that is not the case.

Whitechapel is certainly safe. It will have a very different feel to Mayfair and Chelsea, as it's very multicultural, which I would regard as an advantage compared to the slightly sterile feel of the other tow areas, but it's perfectly safe. I would argue that it's also more central than Chelsea and these days very accessible from both LHR and LGW.

We stayed at a Hampton by Hilton Waterloo. We chose that for the short block and half. walk to Waterloo station because we were doing several train rides and wanted to be close to the station. Was a very good stay wonderful breakfast and also bus right outside the door. Very safe area and easy walk to restaurants. I know they have rooms for three adults as we were originally taking my sister so would have been the three of us but then she couldn't go. I think it was about $400 pounds a night.

I have been to Ali don many times and stayed all over. Most recent stay in September was near Liverpool Station and I would go back. Liverpool has a rail station and multiple tube lines including the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow. Easy walking to both The Tower and St Paul’s as well as all around the City of London. Between the Central line and the Circle line, getting to Covent Garden, National Gallery and Westminster are all each. The area has lots of pubs, restaurants, grocery stores and markets. We used a 2 bedroom Airbnb and were very happy

Local pedantry I know, but it’s Liverpool STREET station.
We have a lot of places with very similar names, all the words matter :-)

When? Budget? Interests? Food? Theatre? Museums? History?

Have you been to London before? Have you read the RS London guide?

Research the Premier Inn website.

Re Whitechapel, I would have no concerns on safety, pretty much anywhere in central London, certainly in any areas tourists are likely go to. Not sure why reviews would mention it, but rest assured it won't be an issue.

If you look on Booking.com or Travelocity, you should be able to find rooms that have two double beds in central London. When you find one you like, go to the hotel website and book direct.

I've traveled a lot with my two daughters and we've never had trouble finding rooms that have 2 double/queen beds.

Re Whitechapel, I would have no concerns on safety, pretty much anywhere in central London, certainly in any areas tourists are likely go to. Not sure why reviews would mention it, but rest assured it won't be an issue.

Eh, I would be a wee bit more pragmatic than that. Whitechapel's pretty rough. I don't think anyone is in any danger there per se, it's lively and vibrant, but to have no concerns about safety as an outsider unfamiliar with urban London is slightly naïve (no offence Simon, love your work). The main streets are fine, but there's some proper sketchy streets and council estates I wouldn't really want to hang out in. I did a series of photos of market traders' vans in Whitechapel a while back. Almost every single one is covered in graffiti from parking there. A Transit Luton makes a good canvas for some nice pieces. That's the kind of area you're dealing with.

Same as anywhere with a busy daily street market, Whitechapel High Street can be a bit dirty. I'm sure Tower Hamlets Council try to keep it clean best they can, but I think a bit of mess is inevitable.

Same as Brixton Station, Whitechapel is a bit of magnet for folk on crack and sleeping rough. We had a thread recently where I talked about that not necessarily being something to be threatened by in London, but yeah, lots of drugs and addiction around there.

I'd choose an AirBnB very, very carefully around there. Probably best sticking to one of several chain hotels.

It's a bit of a culture shock for many people I'd imagine because of the ethnic mix. If you're coming from rural or suburban Ohio without a lot of experience of big, grimy European cities with a lot of brown people, many living pretty faithfully to the culture of their heritage or country of birth, it may be something to take in. There's quite a few videos on YouTube of outraged racists walking around there passing comment. There's some recent news stories about an closely averted incident from just last Saturday centred around racial and cultural tensions. Long history of such in this area.

All that said, it's a great area if none of this stuff bothers you. It's a world away from the millionaires and billionaires of Kensington and Chelsea, but as John said further up, it may well be better for it in some people's books. If you or your young people are interested in being very cool and hip, it's right by Shoreditch and Brick Lane for shopping and hanging out, and the choice of eats for all budgets within walking distance is pretty much unrivalled in London. You're within walking distance to The City of London and it's a short ride on the tube or bus to London Bridge, Borough Market, Tower of London and destinations in Westminster.

Don't want to run it down, but just a slightly counter opinion to what others have said. I've spent quite a bit of time around Whitechapel, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Bethnal Green area and I live a couple of miles north and east. I'm perfectly comfortable there. but I've been around that general area since my late teens or early 20's as a visitor, and I've been living here almost 20 years.

Good point GerryM, if you're on holiday, you should feel safe as well as be safe. Interesting you should mention Brixton. I'm there fairly often visiting family and have never felt unsafe, including in estates.

All that said, I stay in St James, which definitely is a.world away ;)

Cheers Simon. I just think the culture of Whitechapel is worth mentioning if you're writing bluntly about what it's like. I wasn't really assuming anything about the OP, consciously anyway. It's just very different to the mental picture of America I have outside of the really big urban centres. Maybe that's my assumption.

Interesting you should mention Brixton.

I wasn't really referring to Brixton as a whole, more the station. Brixton and Whitechapel stations are a couple of the roughest station entrances I can think of on the tube, in terms of who's hanging out there, in my experience anyway.

Folk in Whitechapel are free to live as they want, even if that isn't that different to what they get up to on the daily back in the subcontinent. I'm pretty happy with that. It's going to be a bit of a culture shock to many people though. I'm not inferring anything negative at all I hope. It's somewhere that's dominated in numbers by folk from Bangladesh and other countries, but there's not a lot of segregation, in common with other places in London. It's proper multicultural, with a Bangladeshi slant.

I've been around a lot of estates too, moreso when I was younger and out and about of an evening more than I am today. I'm still not going to take a shortcut across the estate if I can help it. I had friends back in the day on one of the estates in Hoxton, not far from there, and I always felt I had to watch out for not being local when I went to visit.

On this Halloween, you forgot to mention that Whitechapel was Jack the Ripper’s stomping grounds!

Jack the Ripper’s stomping grounds!

I think that area has a much stronger association with the Kray Twins than Jack The Ripper for me, if you're thinking along those lines. I think there's a few pubs around there with history related to The Krays. I'm not a big fan of going on too much about either tbh, but fair play to anyone who likes that sort of stuff.

To the OP; catmom.
I would start my search for a hotel in South Kensington, then also search neighborhoods mentioned by Kenko in post #1 on this thread.
Look at the Premier Inn County Hall, behind the London Eye, as it is in an excellent location for tourists, near sightseeing hotspots, and inexpensive.

To Martha,
With all the great areas to stay in in London, I would not look at Whitechapel.
For one thing, there are many, many other locations, hotels, and rentals that are more central to London sightseeing. To me, Whitechapel is in an out-of-the-way location.

Look at the same areas people have thrown out there for catmom, plus the Premier Inn I mentioned.
I think you'll be delighted with Premier Inn County Hall, behind the London Eye.
Book two adjoining rooms.

OP did you make your choice or still interested in neighborhoods and recommendations.

While I realize it's not the best location for everyone, we loved our 2 week stay in Shephards Bush this past summer. It was a close walk to several tube/overground/rail stations, near grocery stores, was cheaper than more central locations, and always felt safe to us (including coming back from West End shows very late at night a few times). And there was a huge mall and several charity shops nearby for our teens to spend time in.

It's a bit further out from all the usual central London tourist spots but for us it was worth the few extra minutes on the train to save $$$ on the rental costs. And public transportation is part of the experience. If you aren't comfortable in a big city environment, Shephards Bush may not be the best location for you, but it worked great for us.