London Apart-Hotel Location

There are many Aparthotels in London and I'm wondering why you are limiting to these three? (Could it have anything to do with people raving about Native hotels on this board?)

The following chains have aparthotels all over London:

Fraser Suites
Citadines
Staybridge Suites
Residence Inn
Staycity
Wilde by Staycity

Nothing to do with these boards at all! I actually discovered the concept of an apart-hotel after several hours of searching for hotels yesterday, and these were three that I found that fit our needs and budget in the limited time I had left to devote to trip planning. I’m happy to consider others, I just know we are late on booking accommodations already and I want to make a decision this week.

Our budget is $200-300/night (USD). Which of the above would you recommend for a location with easy tube access where we will not step outside to throngs of tourists? (I realize we are tourists, but I don’t want to be in a noisy location.)

The Bankside area is fine. Southwark would be the Underground Station you’d use.

From your hotel its a pleasant stroll across Blackfriars bridge to the gorgeous art deco Blackfriar Pub. Personally I love the dichotomy of it and the Blackfriar Station. Very old and new architectural works.

Yes, London is a walkable city and the tube is a great way to get from point A to point B.

Respect Rick but his recommendations aren’t the only places to see and explore.

Been going to London since Nixon was President.

London is always the same and always changing. The Bankside area has been evolving for years.

Book your stay and be done with it.

This past November in my first trip to London, I stayed in the Hyde Park area you mention and liked the neighborhood feel of it.
I chose that area as it was close to Paddington Station, with trains directly to/from Heathrow, and trains to Wales/the west.
I had thought about staying in Bankside and in the end, the additional cost was my deciding factor.

Rick seems to be stuck on his fav locations in London, like South Kensington, Notting Hill, and Victoria Station. The one time we tried his recommendation in London we did not like it. I don’t know why Frank Ii is suspicious of “rave reviews” of Native apartments in this board. I haven’t seen any of those.. But the Southbank area is our favorite location in London. Close to Borough Market is a plus.

Actually Native Bankside is almost equidistant to 4 tube stations between 0.5 and 0.7 miles away, with Southwark being the furthest of those. London Bridge and Cannon St are 0.5 miles away and Blackfriars 0.6. The last two require a walk across the river but might turn out to be more convenient stations.

It's also on the footpath right along the South Bank with Borough Market, the Globe and Tate Modern very close.

Southwark is one of the very best locations for tourists for me and much better than Kensington, Hyde Park and Victoria in my view.

All of the chains I mentioned above have numerous locations all over London. Just take a few minutes, go to their websites, and put in London for location.

As an example, two of the Fraser Suites are located less than a 3 minute walk to the Gloucester Rd station in South Kensington. Citadines also has numerous locations including one two blocks from the Gloucester Rd. Station. There's a Staybridge Suites about a five minute walk to the Vauxhall tube station. Wilde by Staycity is less than five minutes from Paddington.

Some of these hotels may not call themselves "aparthotels." They may refer to themselves as extended-stay hotels. It's basically the same thing.

We have stayed at the Native Hyde Park for short stays before flying home. Our one-bedroom apartment was surprisingly large. The closest grocery was a kind of mini-mart up by Paddington Station, but maybe we didn’t look hard enough to find a real one. We enjoy walking in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, but otherwise the location is not great for us because I avoid the Tube (claustrophobia). But if you are OK with the Tube the location would be fine.

The South Bank (Bankside and Southwark) area is our favorite in London. We spent 3 weeks in an apartment near Tower Bridge in May 2016, and other times in places nearby, still on the South Bank . There are a number of good grocery stores in the area. We love walking the pedestrian path along the Thames and using the pedestrian Millennium Bridge to cross the river.

I like the look and the location of the Bankside Native apartments, but have not yet stayed there; either they were not available for our dates, or we needed a larger apartment that they offer. This would be my my choice of the ones you list.

You might also check out Locke at Broken Wharf, just across the river near St. Paul’s. They offer small, modern studio apartments equipped for light cooking, some with views of the river.

Thank you! Good to know that Bankside is recommended by many of you :) Locke at Broken Wharf may work for us too. I like that it has slightly better Tube access, though maybe I am overthinking it.

We are both perfectly capable of walking 10 minutes from a Tube stop to our hotel; I am only slightly worried about navigating from the last station back to our hotel after dark. If we stuck with the locations across the bridges and stuck to the bridges/pedestrian path along the Thames, is it well-lit and active between 10-11pm? I don't imagine we'd be out later than that. The stops across the bridge do look more accessible than Southwark/London Bridge.

You're very central there. There will be a lot of bars, pubs and restaurants all over the place and the majority of them will be open until well past 11pm. The streets will still be busy with people.

You need not have any concerns about lighting along the river path or the bridges. The Thames and the bridges are now an art installation titled Illuminated River.

https://illuminatedriver.london/

The pedestrian Millennium Bridge is the fourth from the bottom in the photo—-the narrow white band between the orangish one and the blueish one. Here is a closeup:

https://illuminatedriver.london/bridges/millennium-bridge

In late May you will have to wait until almost 10 pm or so to see the lights. Darkness comes late at this latitude. On May 25 the sun sets around 9 pm, followed by civil twilight until 9:45, and then nautical twilight until 10:50.

When we have been there in late May, we met families out walking with babies in prams well past 9 pm, enjoying the evening on the traffic-free Thames path.

This is one of many reasons we like being near the river.

I like the location of Native Bankside.
It's close to Borough Market (great food), the Globe (great plays), and Tate Modern (great art).
The South Bank/Southwark area is great.
Good walks along the Thames riverfront; great views of London across the water.

You would be walking distance to a great many of the big attractions.

Thank you all! You have convinced me on the Southwark location. Now I need to decide if I want to add a fifth day for London and skip the Cotswolds, as I am discovering so much that interests me about this city!

OP

LOL about possibly adding another day for London. I’ve been visiting it for nearly 50 years and still haven’t seen it all….the many museums, parks, street markets, et al.

It’s why I try to go each year.

Discover something new each trip.

We were hoping to just get a quick glance at the Cotswolds and stay for one night on the way to Liverpool. We were not completely set on this, but we are intrigued by the area, and I don’t see us doing a trip that would allow us to spend more than a day there any time in the near future. We realize we would only be scratching the surface.

Assuming that you have more time as you are heading to Liverpool after London you may have other opportunities to see fine U.K. rural landscapes. The Cotswolds are nice enough but for me do not bear comparison to the likes of the Peak District and Eryri(Snowdonia) - they are both national parks which is the level above the Cotswolds’ National Landscape designation and readily accessible from Liverpool.

On Thursdays, London Walks offers a day tour to Oxford and the Cotswolds.

On some Saturdays, they offer a day tour to just the Cotswolds. However, the only date near the end of May is June 1.

You may want to look at their other walks in London to see if they may be of interest.

The out of town tours are a combination of train, coach and walking.

I've done some one day tours with London Walks and they were excellent.