LONDON areas - narrowed down, need thoughts

I personally like the Earl's Court/South Kensington/Glouchester Rd area. Do a google maps search for London SW7...

The area has really good tube and bus connections. Earl's Court station has a lift (Gloucester Rd does not) and the #74 bus runs up & down Cromwell Rd and past the Earl's Court tube station. The area is also within an easy walk to the Natural History and Science museums. It's also convenient to Paddington Station via the tube or a £10 taxi ride.

There is a good selection of pubs and budget restaurants in the areas around the tube stations. Kensington High Street is a short tube ride away...

In addition to a good selection of moderately priced hotels, you can usually find some nice holiday apartments at good rates.

Russell Square/Bloomsbury would be my preference (not far from Kings Cross, either). Good range of hotels at all price points, nice feel of being both in central London but a bit apart, great transport links.

Don't be deceived into thinking that the Tube will save lots of walking. There is much walking to be done underground, following serpentine tunnels frequently, and there are almost always plenty of stairs even if the station has lifts or escalators. It is also fairly far between most tube stations and if your destination isn't right at the station you and she could have yet more walking.

London is honeycombed with efficient bus routes. Bus stops are reasonably close to each other, all buses have audio and visual announcements of every stop and direction of travel, most have very easy access and are frequent. The view, especially from the front seats upstairs, is excellent - far more interesting than the dark walls of a tunnel.

I'd choose Notting Hill from the ones you mentioned, but all would be just fine.

So frustrating - going round and round! I've nixed Kings Cross now. So between Bloomsbury and Notting Hill. Notting Hill seems to have a lot of what we like, but Bloomsbury seems to have very convenient location in it's favor. Well...at least that is what the non-Londoner thinks from reading online info pages! It's hard to decide and narrow things down, but I'll get there.

Yes, I get the walking and the tube. I typically walk around 10 miles a day on trips, but my sister can't do that. So busses might be a good alternative. We will probably end up doing hop-on hop-off one day. I actually like them because they help you get a good lay of the land/feel for a place.

Thanks all!

the reason why you find it difficult is that pretty much anywhere in central London is OK

just find somewhere you can afford, book it and move on.

Yep, so true ramblin' ... just came to that conclusion now too! :) I found the Thanet Hotel (B&B) in Bloomsbury that looks simple but nice. I'm check on that now.

Emma...thanks for advise on hop on/off. May avoid it then...we will play that by ear once we arrive. Excited. :)

I understand your frustration and think Emma is spot on, choose a place reasonably priced, easy access to what's important to you and you should be fine. I made the decision to choose an area closer to Paddington Station because we would be coming in from Heathrow using the Heathrow Express. We stayed at a wonderful Airbnb that was about four blocks from the Bayswater Tube Station and a bit further along was the Queensway Tube, buses were everywhere along with decent restaurants, pubs, groceries and coffee shops. We were about half a mile from Paddington Station. (We saved money buying in advance a carnet of six tickets based upon our need for six rides to and from the airport.) We also used Paddington to get to Bristol to meet friends in that area. We purchased our two Together Railcard's on that arrival day to London from Heathrow. Once we were back in London we went to Paddington & purchased our 7 Day Travel Cards to activate Two for One to sights and attractions in and around London. We used those Travel Cards for buses & the Tube. When in London we used buses often because they were readily accessible and we could see the city or areas we were traveling around. We also used the Tube. And we, later in our trip used Uber. I was initially opposed to using Uber but sometimes it was just the easiest thing for us at that moment. And though everyone commented on how light we were traveling--honestly it wasn't light enough! Allowing ourselves to use Uber saved the stress of schlepping two carry on bags & two personal items on later travel days on our trip. It meant we weren't too frazzled on those travel days. What's important is a reasonably priced place to stay, easy to get in or out of, that is stairs or a lift and safe in a good location. I think it's also crucial to remember it's your trip and everyone should feel comfortable doing what works for them. Good luck, as soon as you decide on a place to stay you may find the rest will easily fall into place...at least it did for us. Sonja

Thanks for the advise Sonja. I feel super happy with finally just making a decision! Now I can move onto my road trip (see another post). And once that is organized, I'll delve into the little details.

Love Uber myself - we use it quite a bit here in N.Calif. Very handy, but can be tough with lots of traffic...like any taxi really.

Sorry, clarification it wasn't 6 rides but 3 rides times 2 people= 6 tickets.
I also meant to add Kensington Park & Palace was close to where we stayed and near the Queensway Tube Station. We did do a lot of walking however as that was our goal. We walked through Kensington Park to get to the Victoria & Albert Museum but certainly a Tube or bus ride would have saved that trek. But we wanted to do it and it was a beautiful day in June! Transport options are plentiful in London.
Sonja

To make it a little easier on your sister here is a document that outlines which tube stations have lifts to avoid stairs...it might help if you do end up using the tube and want her to have the easiest time possible.