First Trip to London

Fitzrovia and Covent Garden are good neighborhoods, with the latter being noisier and more commercialized. It’s home to the main theatre district.

If you get Oyster cards when you arrive you can travel easily on public transport. For example from Fitzrovia ( Googe Street) to the Tower of London would take about 25 minutes on the underground.

As far as train lines there are a number of train station ( not Underground trains). Euston, Paddington, St Pancras, King’s Cross to name a few. All easily reachable by public transport.

For first time travelers I’d opt for Fitzrovia. Nice mix of residential and commercial.

My husband and I enjoyed staying in or near the Covent Garden area, It has decent Tube access (Covent Garden station, Leicester Square station, etc.) and lots of good restaurants and shopping. It is an easy walk to many theatres. We also liked staying in the Victoria Station area, but at that time we usually arrived via Gatwick and used the Gatwick Express. It is also a good neighborhood with lots of great restaurants, and excellent access to the Tube (and buses). Victoria is a main Train station (but there are many and which one you need to use depends on your destination). Don't confuse Tube and Train stations (some are 'house' both, but not all). The Tube (most US folks would think of it as a subway) is local (mostly inside London) and the Train is for all over the UK. Since you are not going to be doing a number of day trips, I'd want to be near good Tube access, not Train.

Fitzrovia has more character, as more parts of Covent Garden have been redeveloped. You stand a better chance of getting an uninterrupted nights sleep in Fitzrovia, as there are more bars in Covent Garden.

Both areas are central for visiting the major sights.

At many times of day, taking public transport will be much quicker than taking a taxi.

There are two Bank Holidays in May - the first and last weekends, so places will be busy. You need to get a wiggle on and get some accommodation booked. Also book your train tickets 11 weeks out for the best prices.

"The Tube (most US folks would think of it as a subway)"

In the UK (London specifically):
Subway, https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3073/2879089256_0871363e68_z.jpg?zz=1

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Praha%2C_Fugnerovo_n%C3%A1m%C4%9Bst%C3%AD%2C_podchod_pod_Sokolskou.ogv/640px--Praha%2C_Fugnerovo_n%C3%A1m%C4%9Bst%C3%AD%2C_podchod_pod_Sokolskou.ogv.jpg

Tube:
https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2015/09/02/10/undergroundplatform0209a.jpg?w968

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgR0vo8siRxneMPIwqlgrOu93rgY0gbJoBVdDzcwGN9vo9FgAh

Thank you all for your suggestions, they've been super helpful. We'll likely end up staying in Fitzrovia now based on the fact that it's a little quieter. It looks like there are tons of things to do in the area!

Adding to your desire to experience some live music in a pub consider this website can help if it’s irish Music you seek. https://londonist.com/london/drink/the-best-pubs-with-live-irish-music

Please note many pubs are now corporate owned.

My preference are traditional independently owned pubs that haven’t evolved into Gastropubs.
If you seek those types of pubs here are some I’ve enjoyed over the years.
In your neighborhood, the Yorkshire Grey on Langham. Small and narrow.

The Bricklayer’s Arms also in Fitzrovia.
The Dove in Hammersmith. On the river.
The Princess of Prussia in Whitechapel.
The Dacre Arms in Black Heath
The Grenadiers in Belgravia
The Southampton in Highgate

So if you are in those neighborhoods check those pubs out. Lastly, in Nottinghill try the Cow Pub and restaurant.

"a friend of ours from England said Fitzrovia may be slightly more convenient because of its proximity to the main train lines."

I'm not sure what they meant by that. Both have tube (underground) stations. If they meant main train lines to other cities (like the ones to Bath or Edinburgh or Paris), it would depend on which trains you were planning to take. London has many train stations; some are close to Fitzrovia, some close to Covent Garden, and some close to neither. And trains will leave from particular stations. Staying near Goodge Street, I just took a short bus ride right to Kings Cross Station (for Edinburgh) and St. Pancras Station (for Paris, on a different trip). But if I had been headed to a place served only by Paddington Station, my hotel would not have been so convenient

"We plan on flying into Heathrow and taking a taxi to our Airbnb."

Look into a minicab. That's Brit-speak for a prebooked car service; from Heathrow, that's much cheaper than a regular taxi. Some minicab firms that are frequently mentioned here (no personal experience) are Just Airports, Simply Airports, and Blackberry Cars. If you go to their websites and put in all of your details (exact address, cash or credit card, size of car needed, etc), you can get an exact price quote.

All of these suggestions are fantastic, we really appreciate them!

Also, we're looking at Airbnbs because we like the "live like a local" experience you get with them but are a bit suspicious of the reviews of the Airbnb properties in the Fitzrovia/Covent Garden areas. Many of these Airbnb hosts appear to be working for larger property management companies instead of being individual property owners. I ran into a horrendous experience with an Airbnb in Montreal because of this and am a bit leery.

Would you have any tips to find good Airbnb hosts/properties in the area or would it just be better to stay in a hotel?

You might try filtering for Aibnb "Superhosts."

These are lovely flats owned and operated by a super women - Liz!
We enjoy the top floor flat with deck. Minutes from Goodge Street and Warren Street tube stations.
www.lizardproperty.co.uk

I have reported the following post as spam:

if you visiting London city for first time. i would suggest you to
go with Yellow Minicabs services they will guide you throughout the
city. and is a trusted choice for the first time visitors.

It’s also complete bobbins.

First trip to London! Wow! its going to be a blast!

Its good you are planning on staying in central London as that gives you a brilliant base to get across London. While you are in London for a short time, you could do one of the day trips to see some of the brilliant trips to Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath perhaps (see here) - these are always popular and they all go from Victoria Coach Station.

With regards to music, it depends what you are into - if you want to do a pub, then personally I would venture across to East London to get a true East End London experience!

Have a super time!

As well as being spam, the poster is not a London local. Confusingly, The City of London is only one borough in London. Most sights (Covent Garden, Westiminster) are not in the city, they are in the Borough of Westminster.

We wanted to thank you all for your wonderful suggestions, our trip will be a lot better because of them! Filtering our Airbnb search using "superhost" was the ticket. We found a very nice property in Covent Gardens.

A few things:

If you haven't booked your airbnb yet, there are many serviced apartments in London that are apartments but run like a hotel. Two "chains" are Fraser Suites and Citadines. They have locations all over London.

As stated earlier, rather than take a cab from Heathrow, look into a pre-booked mini cab. They will meet you as you come out of customs and drive you to your lodging. The price is set when you book. With a cab you pay for distance and time. You will hit traffic in London. There is no getting around it....literally.

The tube is your friend. Get Oyster Cards and you will find it is probably the quickest way around town. London is a big city and the sights are spread out.

Just got back from 6 days in London with my daughter and daughter-in-law. We stayed in AirB&B near King's Cross Station. Glad to hear that you found a good place and filtered for Superhost (super important!). We walked 40 miles over our 6 days. Honestly, that was the most fun way to get around rather than the tube and missing the sights. We also got tickets ahead of time for On/Off bus the first day just to get the lay of the land. Hate to burst your bubble, but I was also looking forward to Portobello Market and found it to be tacky. Hope you have a different experience. Was very happy to discover that theatre tickets are cheaper and more readily available than in NYC. If there is something you definitely want to see get tickets ahead of time, but there were plenty of options for Day Of tickets. We enjoyed Churchill War Rooms (get tickets in advance), The British Library. Museums are free. We had fun finding bookstores all over the city. Our favorite neighborhood for shopping was Marylebone. Have fun!

Reported as hilariously bad English spam.