Looking for a Safe London Borough Apt

Kensngton & Chelsea
Hammersmith & Fulham
Camden
Westminster

btw. All of London is safe, and refer to London's metro as the Tube or Underground.

I have just started my search for an apartment in London for next year. Central London can be expensive and I thought the surrounding area would be less expensive. As for safe boroughs, usually large cities have neighborhoods that are not as safe as others and I am generalizing, not judging.

I will look for an apartment in the boroughs you have suggested. Thank you for offering me a starting point for my research. And I will also use the term "Underground" when referring to the subway.

Commuter towns to consider outside London ...
Tunbridge Wells
St Albans
Epsom
Sevenoaks
Windsor
Richmond

Lol. Call the subway whatever you want. As the Picadilly line is the one that comes out of Heathrow ( if that's you're airport), look along that line. Just remember that if you stay too far out it will take longer to get anywhere. We are going in December and got an apartment
near Hammersmith station.

This community is absolutely wonderful. You ask a question. You get an answer.
Thank you.
Diane

How many people are you traveling with? How big does the flat need to be?

Have you checked into university accommodations? Many rent unused dorm rooms (and even full apartments/flats) to tourists. One that I am aware of is the London School of Economics. They even have an entire apartment building that is run by some students as part of their studies. I'll put their websites (one for dorm accommodations and one for apartments) at then end of my post. You get either a kitchenette in your room, or access to a common kitchen on the floor, usually a private bathroom. Some also have a breakfast room or full cafeteria. You get to use student services like the laundry room and 'lounge'- TV and game room. In the apartments you have your own kitchen, etc. Just be aware that their website sometimes indicates no availability, but there really are rooms/apartments open. Just email or call them to check. They have multiple locations in central London, all near good transportation (Tube or bus stops or both). Other universities offer similar, but I am not familiar with them. To check them out, just google London university tourist accommodations.

[lsetopfloor.co.uk/][1] For apartments

[www.lsevacations.co.uk/][2] for dorm accommodations

Call the subway whatever you want.

Yes. If you want to find a walkway beneath a road. Which is what a subway is here. Otherwise Tube or Underground.

"Call the subway whatever you want" says one poster above. Should we also refer to the subway in New York City as the underground or the tube when asking for directions?

Agree w/ Toni unless you are looking for a super plush flat. Try London School of Economics. I stayed at their Northumberland location (which is one that is not apartments - it's just ensuite rooms). It was clean, quiet, safe and 2 blocks to Trafalgar Square making it a breeze to walk or take multiple forms of public transit to get around to many major sightseeing options. My LSE option also had daily maid service, access to coin-op laundry, a business center, a kitchenette, tv lounge, secure card access to the building plus someone at front desk 24/7 - during the day it is the students, at night it's a security guard - but there's someone there that can give you directions if needed (they aren't concierges, so don't expect them to phone in a restaurant reservation or call you a taxi - the rooms for rent there do have phones so you can handle those things on your own). It definitely saved me plenty of time and money not needing to commute back and forth all the time.

As for what to call the Tube… the locals will figure out in under a minute what it is you are looking for. We call it the "T" here. I have also lived in cities where it was referred to as the "El". I've had plenty of tourists (both foreign and U.S) stop and ask me how to get to the subway or the metro and never once have I directed them to the green boxes on the corner with the crappy little commuter newspapers inside, or the equally crappy sandwich chain that was unfortunately affiliated with the creepy pedophile. And if you type "London Subway Map" or "London Metro Map" into Google, you will get dozens of images of the Tube map popping up on your screen.

I would try the HomeAway website. We rented a flat near London Bridge in Southwark near Borough Market. It was divine.

Not sure where you want to be but we stayed in Belsize park and it was awesome- very nice neighborhood. We rented a flat from vrbo #443666 (she also has another on 3rd floor). The hostess was amazingly sweet. The flat was great, the tube was less than a block away. Many restaurants right near the flat also!

Kim