London Hotel Dilemma

Have not stayed at any of the three so won’t offer an opinion.

Will provide easy walking route to the Peter Pan Statue. Take the tube ( central line) to Lancaster Gate station. Exit and turn right. At the adjacent stoplight where Lancaster Terrace intersects Bayswater Road use the cross walk to cross Bayswater and walk into Hyde Park at the Italian Gardens. Stay to the right of the gardens and follow the path along the Serpentine
To the statue. Easy stroll , shouldn’t tire anyone out.
From there continue toward the overpass and beyond it is the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. Opens at 10am.

Past it are nice restrooms adjacent to the Lido Cafe. There are picnic tables and benches if you need to rest and enjoy some food.

If you go early enough you might come across the Horse Guards practicing. There’s a riding rink by the children’s playground past the Lido Cafe.

Thanks Emma and Claudia. The hotel choice boils down to the relative merits of the neighborhoods, Bloomsbury or South Bank/Westminster. The Premier Inn London County Hall is quick walk across the river to the major sights of Westminster, but It may not be any more convenient for other sights or arrival transfer from Heathrow. Also, I know nothing about the area around the County Hall, such as the feel of the neighborhood at night and availability of pubs and eateries.

C'ville C

Two sources for planning your trips around London on public transit:

https://tfl.gov.uk/ The government source, with interactive route searches

Google Maps: Sorry, I can't provide a link since it depends on where you are living. It also has interactive planning and can show restaurants etc. in the vicinity of your hotel.

For Manchester, http://www.mtabus.org/
It's not so helpful. Some of the bus routes are run by private companies. No Tube, but there is a new streetcar network. I've gone to the airport on the street car but found the local train service to be quicker.

It's a good idea to practice using these sites before you leave home so you won't feel so disoriented after a long flight to the UK.

The area around Premier Inn County Hall gets very, very crowded with tourists practically all week now. If your daughter has any difficulty with large crowds it's best avoided.

I'm sorry you thought my question was argumentative. I have deleted it.

I was going to respond to the crowd issue at County Hall but Emma beat me to it. The area right around the London Eye is indeed crowded, as well as Westminster Bridge, but they could easily avoid both. From the hotel entrance on Belvedere Road, turn left and go past the Jubilee Gardens area before cutting over to the Thames pedestrian path. That should bypass the knot of people right by the London Eye. The path is lined with shops, restaurants (mainly moderately-priced casual eateries), and is a joy to walk, with great views across the river and no cars. The next bridge in this direction (Hungerford) has pedestrian paths on both sides that are completely separated (by a gap) from the main bridge. The near side bridge will take you to Whitehall area, one block from the Horseguards. Cross the Parade to reach St. James Park, our favorite for a stroll (and watching ducks and other waterfowl).

Or turn right off Belvedere Rd. To reach Waterloo tube station.

We love staying near the river in London and always find something close to it.

Kind of you, Nick.
Cheers!

Of the 3, we've only stayed at PI County Hall. It looks like PI and Hotel Jesmond are close to tube stations and bus stops -I didn't check your other choice. You're in a major city, so there will be crowds, but I think early November will give you some respite from summer crowds. We found PI County Hall fit our needs. The staff was helpful, the rooms were family friendly with quality linens and the proverbial electric kettle and biscuits replenished daily. We paid for the internet upgrade and it was not only minimally priced, but had some of the best service we've had internationally. There is a restaurant serving all meals as well as a bar and well-stocked vending machines. When we were there, it was very popular with families.

I think Emma &a Lola covered the rest of the area. Hope this helps with your decision.

I've found that when you search Travelodge's web site, there's a checkbox for accessible rooms, and you get a bigger one when you do that.
https://www.travelodge.co.uk/

I've seen that area near London County Hall can be very busy with the constant stream of people from Waterloo station & stay quite noisy until quite late at night. But I'm not sure *when you're going, so something might change.

I have scoliosis and collagen problems/crunchy muscle pain when I walk too much, and bus stops were my friend. I plotted trips out on Google Maps often, chose the public transportation option up at the top, and all the bus stops come up as little blue rectangles when you zoom in on the map. It might be good to map each of your hotels and see where the closest bust stops are. Some hotels over by Kensington have bus stops outside their front door :)

If your daughter was a Girl Scout, you won't be that far from Pax Lodge in Hampstead, they run evening programs for scouts and guides to tell about their experiences and have fun.

Hope it goes great for all of you.
-Alison

Thank you, Lola, Patty and Alison, for the very helpful information about avoiding crowds and enjoying the area near the Thames. I'm definitely swaying in the direction of the PI County Hall. But still love the idea of the English-ness of the B&B hotels on Gower Street. I'm going to double-check the ease and speed of transport from Heathrow to PI County Hall, and compare that to the Gower Street hotels. I've already been checking bus routes on the tfl website; looks like buses will indeed be our friends, whichever neighborhood we choose!
Thanks again,
C'ville C

Keep in mind that those pretty town-house style hotels which are so attractive on the outside tend to have small rooms. The quad room at Hotel Arosfa fits two double beds in a room of 18 square meters, or roughly 12 x 15 in feet. We would find that impossibly small for two, let alone three people, Look at the photo and you will see the two beds take up most of the space in the room.

Another issue with the size of many inexpensive lodgings is space for suitcases. Three people means at least three suitcases. Often three suitcases on the floor (don't expect more than one luggage rack, if that) will not leave a walking path through the room.

I've seen room square footage listed on booking.com. I've never paid any attention to how consistently it is shown, but with three people sharing a room, I recommend that you check to see whether you can get room-size info there.

There used to be a lot of rooms without private ("en suite") baths in the inexpensive London hotels and B&Bs. Over time, more and more baths have been added, but that space had to come from somewhere.

I found the room size I listed right on the Hotel Arosfa website, during the booking process.

Thanks, everybody! I've double-checked the room size on Arosfa Hotel, and TripAdvisor reviewers and their photos helped clarify the space question (just barely adequate). Arosfa gets rave reviews for its breakfast (a big factor for my husband), which is included when you book through the hotel's website, and also for the helpfulness of its staff. Having stayed on Gower Street a few years ago, I know I like the neighborhood. I like the idea of sitting down to breakfast at our little hotel, no fighting lines or crowds, and trying out the Bloomsbury area pubs and restaurants. That's why Arosfa Hotel is my first choice.

You've helped me realize the source of my dilemma. Arosfa is my first choice, but my Disney-loving daughter might really prefer the scene along the Southbank near the Premier Inn London County Hall. But I figure we'll spend a day or more in that neighborhood, taking a boat ride down the Thames perhaps. And having looked at bus routes, it looks like we can get to the Westminster area reasonably quickly in early November.

Thanks again!
C-ville C

Well done.

If there’s interest you are only a 5 minute walk from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology.

I very much enjoyed it. Closed on Monday’s though.

I enjoyed the Hotel Jesmond Dene which includes a free English breakfast when you book using the hotel website. The breakfast was made to order and excellent. The room I shared with my adult daughter was small but had an en-suite bathroom, the hotel has many rooms with a shared bathroom. It’s very close to Kings Cross but on a quiet side street. I would stay there again.

Enjoy your trip!

I stayed at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in Kensington a few years ago and found it terrific. There is a tube station right across the street that is on the Picadilly line. I've found in my many trips to London that being in the city center is not nearly as important as being next to a tube station that takes you to where you want to go. The Picadilly line is the one you want - parks, West End theater district, Harrods, and the museums are all off this line.

Good luck - have fun!

Another vote for the Jesmond Dene hotel 2 short blocks from the Kings Cross / St Pancras stations. I have walked from this hotel to the British Museum (cut across Russell Square park.) Note this is not the Jesmond Hotel mentioned in the first post - but the Jesmond Dene. check out their website.
It is a nice budget hotel.