London - what area to stay?

"Safe" - This question always irritates. Europe is safe, USA isn't.
"Convenient" - basically anywhere on or within the circle tube line is as convenient as any other. Central London is spread out (City, West End, Westminster), you will need to use the tube or (slower) buses to get around.

London is really two cities merged into one, it has two centres.

• The "City of London" = The original medieval city. It has walls (little remaining), a castle to guard it (the tower), a bridge to funnel trade to it (London Bridge), a cathedral (St Paul's) and crowded medieval hovels (mostly destroyed in the Great Fire or 1667. It is now the business and commercial centre. Think New York.
• Westminster = The government settlement. About 1 hour from the City (by road or boat). This has palaces, which as they got out-of-date were re-used as government buildings (Palace of Westminster, aka Houses of Parliament), Whitehall, Buckingham Palace) and a royal church to crown Kings in (Westminster Abbey). Think Washington.

London grew East and West (East End and West End), until the West End reached Westminster and it became one big city. Now you have a city with two centres, with the area in between called confusingly the "West End".

I have stayed in the area around Victoria station on three separate trips, and found this to be a good choice. Begravia/Pimlico are two districts that border the station. There are a lot of B&B in that area, and Rick features the area in his book (or at least he did in 2013).

We usually use Travelodge.co.uk for great bargain rooms. We like to stay at Marleybone Travelodge, right across the street from the Marleybone tube and rail station, and you can get to anywhere in London if a few minutes. We last month stayed at Premier Inn Covent Garden but it was a high tech double bed we never did get used to. Stay near Trafalgar Square in the heart of the city, lots of good advice on tripadvisor.com, Londonforum, specific to London.

George, Janie, Its "Marylebone", square C4 on the tube map (click here), on the brown "Bakerloo line".
Travel Lodge and Premier Inn are both low price (for London) chains.

Stayed in Soho for a week this past September. and enjoyed having it as our base. Located just north of Trafalgar Square, its an arts and entertainment type area. We are mid 50's and appreciated this very active, lively district, especially in the evening. There are tons of restaurants, cafes, bars and the streets are lively in the evenings. Exactly the opposite though on my morning stroll for coffee. We used the Leicester Square station as our entry point to the tube as it was convenient to our Soho hotel.

Slightly erroneous description of Westminster above.
The current Palace of Westminster (1840-1870) was custom-built by the Victorian architect Charles Barry for Parliamentary use. The design and layout of the building were thus carefully designed to serve the needs and workings of Parliament.
Buckingham House was bought as a residence by George III before being extensively rebuilt to become a palace under George IV. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to take up official residence in 1837.

Although George might hve spelt it wrong, that's actually pretty much how it's properly pronounced -- Marlyb'n, or sometime Marlab'n

The distance between St Pauls Cathedral and Westminster Abbey is only around 1.5 miles. Anybody taking an hour for that journey must either be on their hands and knees or caught in traffic.

By boat it is even faster.

Janie,

I also like the Victoria station / Belgravia area as it's a pleasant area and very convenient for transportation via Victoria station, Victoria Coach station and Tube stops (Victoria or Pimlico). There are lots of hotels and restaurants to choose from.

I was back there again in September and stayed at Luna & Simone Hotel, and would absolutely recommend it. The hotel doesn't have a lift, but if you're in good shape that shouldn't be a problem.

I like the area between Paddington Station and Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. It's especially nice to be close enough to that enormous park for frequent strolls. Bus and Tube services are good there; Paddington is walkably close.
For safety, be careful around traffic. This applies to all of London, and Europe for that matter.

The last two times I've been to London I stayed near Paddington. It had great tube stops and close Heathrow Express for travel to Heathrow. It was wonderful to be able to just walk to Paddington and take a train to the airport with no taxi's or tube stairs to contend with. I also enjoyed dinner at the Mitre one night and The Flavors of India another. Both easy walking distance which was welcome after a couple of long days walking around London.

Over many, many trips to London, we've loved staying in the Covent Garden/Neal's Yard area and the Victoria Station area. Both have decent transportation nearby and good to very good restaurants. Both also have theatres! The Covent Garden/Neal's Yard area is particularly suited to walking- at least for us it was.

If you want to see mostly historical London choose somewhere near the central Thames area (City, Southwark, London bridge/tower). If you want to stay near shops, nightlife and all the other tourists any suggestion above will do.

As Emma says,

The city doesn't have the "no go "areas that you sometimes find in US cities.

That is true, and that is despite the stupid comments of the Trump. It still has not got them, regardless of what he comes up with.

Thank you all for your helpful responses.

@ Nigel- I am sorry about Donald Trump. When you live in a democracy that allows free speech, idiots are allowed to speak. If they are rich idiots they get a lot of press. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to London and never felt unsafe at any time.

Also recommend Luna Simone, bus stop to central london right out the front door.
10 minutes walking distance to Victoria Stn

Hi, We (family of 4 - mom, dad, 12 yr old daughter, 9 yr old son) got back from a 7-day vacation/trip to London.
I had searched this blog for suggestions where to stay - and after weeding out several, we decided to stay in Notting Hill.
Our apartment was conveniently located - 10min from Notting Hill Gate or 8 min from Ladbroke Grove tube stations.
It was great and we walked to our apartment at 11:00 pm after watching a musical - and train stations etc were buzzing w/
activity. Found it in Air BnB.
Thanks.

Most areas of London are safe however I would not venture as far as Liverpool Station. I have stayed in London by myself and stayed in Paddington area (Darlington Hyde Park), St. Paul's (Guest Quarters), Monument (Go Native apts) Pimlico (Dolphin House Apts) and many places I would not recommend from 5* in West End to dumps in Earls Court. Just be sure you are on a tube line in central London as you don't want to be taking/waiting for train rides and look around at what people say about a hotel on various websites like tripadvisor. You will find so many hotels in all areas and various price ranges, figure out your style, price, and then just look in central London (anywhere in the circle line tube will be central) that way you won't waste your time with transportation.

I've been to London 3 times in the last 4 years and am returning in May so here are my choices: by the way, I will turn 60 in February so I guess that makes me a senior as well. First, determine what you want to see, many of the London sites are within easy walking distance of each other, others need a tube trip or 2. Second, determine what kind of hotel you want to stay in, London hotels are not cheap(and by the way, make sure your room comes with a private bath, otherwise you will be in a hotel like the Griswolds from European Vacation. A lot of older hotels also do not have a lift, if you need one make sure the hotel has it. If you are coming in from Heathrow, take the Heathrow Express train, runs about every 15 minutes for about $30 or so, it's worth it, trust me. The train will take you to Paddington Station, from there you can get a cab to your hotel(I would not suggest taking the tube at this point, especially if you have a lot of luggage). There are some nice hotels within walking distance from the Paddington Station including the Hilton right next to it. The Bloomsbury neighborhood is also nice, near Russell Square but more expensive. Soho, Mayfair and Kensington area hotels are very expensive and unless you don't mind paying $$$, I would stay away. If you think you would like to use the tube(underground), it's very easy going from point A to B, each of you get an Oyster card with about $30, that should hold you for a few days unless you ride the tube a lot. Google "Oyster card" for more details.
The Oyster card also allows you to use the local busses which are fun, clean and a good way to see the city. London is a very diverse town, don't be intimidated by the different cultures there, most people are good natured and will help if you ask politely for directions. Try the pubs too, they are fun places for a pint or two and serve good fish & chips(you order at the bar). Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens is a nice place to begin your tour, it's London's version of NY Central Park. Buy a map of London, you can't miss it, it's about a 15-20 minute walk from Paddington station. Oh yeah, be careful when crossing street, remember they drive on the wrong side of the road, but more importantly, watch out for the bikes, a lot of people ride bikes and they are very aggressive drivers. Have fun.

Our hotel was very conveniently located. http://www.jesmonddenehotel.co.uk/
Rooms are small and basic, which suited us fine since we only sleep there. Some rooms have shared bath and others en suite (we had en suite). I don't think there was an elevator -- our room was on 1st floor. Couldn't beat the location. And price seemed reasonable as compared to all other properties we reviewed (and I reviewed hundreds) using Rick Steves and TripAdvisor.

I'll second the Jesmond Dene - about 1 or 2 blocks from Kings Cross train and tube station
and since I've been there - across the road St. Pancras Station is now open.
I have stayed at Jesmond Dene about 5 or 6 times and it is perfect for me . The full English Breakfast is great.
If you pay your bill in cash, you get a discount.