Staying outside London

Are you planning to go into London for the usual tourist sights like museums, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London or theater in the evenings?

London is huge. For example, Hampstead is an area in northern London. The tube from the Hampstead Underground Station to Trafalgar Square is about 16 minutes.

We stayed in Richmond during one of our visits and took the train into central London. We loved it! (This was before Ted Lasso made it ultra famous!) Not Northern as you requested though.

Yes we are going to a game at Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Then we will spend time doing other tourist things.

Greenwich is not north, but it has its own attractions separate from London.

So, you want to get to the stadium and also have access to the sights in London.

Consider staying in the area of Kings Cross Station. It's not outside of London, but on the northern edge of typical tourist London. Great transportation hub with several tube lines and buses that will get you everywhere, in addition to walking.

You would be about 30 from the stadium by tube and bus.

Without knowing your budget, Premier Inns are a good choice. Clean, quiet and comfortable.

Finsbury Park or Hackney

London is basically the whole area within the M25 orbital motorway if you look at a map. You need to go beyond that to be outside of London and at that distance it’s far quicker to travel in by train rather than tube. You could look at a town like St Albans (20 mins to St Pancras).

I think you are maybe thinking of areas outside of central London rather than outside London itself?

Be aware that the Tottenham Hotspur football ground has not well located for public transport. Getting there isn’t too bad as some people want to arrive early and others just before the game but pretty much everyone wants to leave as soon as it’s over.

White Hart Lane station on the London Overground is nearby but I’ve seen long queues for trains after a match. Other options are to walk to Seven Sisters tube station (about a mile and a half away, I’d guess) or Northumberland Park station on the main line railway which is a bit closer. If you go for this route you can change onto the tube at Tottenham Hale. Several bus routes are diverted away from the ground around match times. These comments relate to football (ie soccer) matches, I don’t know if things are different for other events.

Thanks so much. This is very helpful.

I think Helen hit it on the head when she said:

I think you are maybe thinking of areas outside of central London rather than outside London itself?

You're not going to be 20 minutes on a tube train to get to somewhere which is outside London.

If you're only consideration for looking for a north London location is to be near White Hart Lane, I'd probably reconsider. Staying in Tottenham isn't really what I'd recommend to people generally. If you did, there's a Premier Inn on a soulless retail park by Tottenham Hale Station. I've Googled for hotels on Tottenham High Road, concentrating on the area around Seven Sisters tube station. Seven Sisters is on the Victoria Line and is a relatively short journey into central London. It seems quite slim pickings for hotels.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/f6kyr2GKgnahG59V7

If the Spurs game is your only reason for a north London location, I'd maybe think about looking in a more central London location. If you're a London "novice" it's best staying in central London to see the tourist sites for your first visit or two, then finding your favourite neighbourhood outside of the west end on later visits. Just by specifying "north London" you could end up somewhere where it's more awkward to get to the game than it would be from central London.

Bill has given some good info about matchday travel above. We could talk about that some more, depending on where you eventually decide to stay.

How many nights do you have? Is it your first time to London? How many in your party?

As someone who was brought up in Tottenham, I’m sad to say that these days it is a run down area of North London with something of a gang crime problem. . It’s ok to get to and from the stadium but I would not recommend staying there.

I’d stay in a central area and just plan how to get to and from the stadium.

Bill, I've lived in Hackney for 17 years now and I'm still slightly wary of Tottenham. The estates in Hackney are all pretty safe these days; there is some low level gang activity that I'm not privy to, as the youngsters involved keep themselves to themselves pretty much. I would be wary of the estates in Tottenham though. They don't seem to have got progressively safer in the last 20 or 25 years like the estates in Hackney.

Hackney certainly seems to have gentrified from how I remember it when I lived in London in the 1960s and 70s. I go to some Spurs matches and look where i happily and safely walked as a teenager but would not do so now. Maybe Tottenham’s time will come.

Good to know. My reason for wanting to stay out of central London was really more about price. It seems like the hotels are pricey and not that great. I love visiting an area and feeling more like I’m getting a authentic cultural experience. I’ll look into some of these suggestions

be careful when choosing how far out to be not to lose all your hotel savings in high train fares or outer zones tube travel costs, and bear in mind if you are out of central London you may want to travel in during the rush when the trains can get very very busy, or home in the peak when the same applies (also higher fares).

Morning peak is usually something like 7 - 9:30 am and afternoon peak is usually 4:30 to 7 or 7:30 pm.

For White Hart Lane you might consider Enfield- the end of that London Overground Line. An interesting town, once the site of a now lost Royal Palace.
30 minutes from Liverpool Street.

Be aware that the Tottenham Hotspur football ground has not well located for public transport.

He's right but it's doable. I didn't attend a game there (although we did attend a West Ham game), but I took my two grandkids on a tour of the stadium (which I HIGHLY recommend—it was wonderful), and it was a bit difficult figuring out how to get out of there. I wound up getting us lost and had to ask for directions. We eventually made it back to Victoria. :-) But I do agree that staying near Kings Cross would probably make it easier.

Also, I would check Premier Inns. Premier Inns are good hotels for those on a budget, yet are consistently clean with very comfortable beds. They are all over London, but there is one at Kings Cross: https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/london-kings-cross.html

All PIs provide breakfast at an additional (reasonable) cost. And keep in mind that PIs offer a variety of pricing options: Non-refundable (the cheapest), a hybrid price that is payable in advance but you can cancel up to 25 days ahead, and completely refundable. Generally the earlier you book, the cheaper the price.

My reason for wanting to stay out of central London was really more about price

That is a good reason. I was a bit quick to make the association just with the Spurs game.

In addition to Mardee's suggestion of Kings Cross, you could maybe consider Angel. There's a Premier Inn there too, near the Northern Line tube station. There's also a DoubleTree by Hilton, a Hilton and Citadines. I've linked to a Google map showing these locations - https://maps.app.goo.gl/g3BA4bJKVVrRTLdG9

I'd prefer Angel over Kings Cross. Upper Street at Angel is one of the best places for eating, from fast food to good international sit down restaurants. I feel it's a bit more of a "neighbourhood" than Kings Cross. I feel Kings Cross is more "just where the station is" but Angel is more of a functioning place for people. The same general area. About 30 or 40 minutes walk to Piccadilly Circus if you're a keen walker.

If we're staying in north London, you could also look into Dalston or Hackney. If you enjoy real mixed multicultural, multi-income-level neighbourhoods this may suit. I'm not sure what the options for accommodation would be like, but Walthamstow is an interesting, but slightly workaday neighbourhood that is served by the Victoria Line tube station. Walthamstow Village is nice. Shoreditch is worth a look. Like I said in a previous post, I would struggle to recommend being near Spurs' ground in Tottenham and I hesitate to recommend Newham and points east for the visitor.

If you want to tell us a bit more detail about when you're coming, if you're solo or with folks, any other interests like art, music, food, or historical sites etc we could help narrow it down. If you're into neighbourhood experiences you don't need to limit yourself to north London.

Just my husband I. We are meeting friends at the game in early October. We both love historical site and are big RS fans. My husband was stationed in the Air Force near London, a few decades ago. He has some sites he’d like to see. We’re thinking maybe a walking tour and for sure Westminster, Abby and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Total foodies.

Robin, if you could provide your nightly hotel budget and dates, we could give you some hotel suggestions.

Also, Google maps is handy for getting an idea of how far places are for walking. If you want to get an idea of bus or tube routes and times, change the date and start time to something realistic in the next few weeks, otherwise Google Maps will be looking for tube and bus in current. London time.

I’m guessing from the dates that you are planning to see one of the American Football games at White Hart Lane in early October. I don’t think that changes any of the advice you have already received other than there will be more fans unfamiliar with getting to and from the stadium than there would be with a normal football game, where most of those attending will be regulars. (Although there are a lot of people from the UK who do attend these games).

The key information is what budget you have for accommodation. It’s always a balancing act to find somewhere convenient for a short visit when most of what you want to see is in central London apart from the game - balancing convenience for cost and taking into account both cost and time if you stay outside the centre.

Does anyone have experience of saving money on hotels by staying in a borough further out from central London? It's hard to compare for the OP not knowing which time of year. I feel the differential might be greater in the summer. Premier Inns at Hampstead (Belsize Park) or Angel may be a bit cheaper than Waterloo or County Hall, but much the same as Holborn. I'm guessing.

If you've got five nights and you want to see stuff in central London every day, commuting from the outer zones may get a bit tiresome. It depends how much you value having lodgings somewhere off the tourist trail versus convenience for the big tourist sites. it can get expensive, but you'd need to account for zone 3 or up fares to zone 1 when you were pricing the hotel. Some of the more interesting neighbourhoods such as Hackney, Dalston or Peckham require using Overground trains or buses, which is a little more involved for the novice traveller maybe.

I thought it interesting Stuart mentioning Enfield. If you're thinking along those lines, Chingford is worth a mention too. I think the visitor could enjoy Epping Forest and Waltham Abbey, but still be in reasonably reach of central London, if not every day of their stay.

I mentioned Peckham as an example of south London too. Very multicultural and a bit grimy, but full of life. I think you may find good value in west London in places like Hammersmith and Fulham.

In October of 2013 I know I saved money staying in Richmond when I attended the San Francisco 49ers vs the Jacksonville Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium.

This was before the Richmond neighborhood suffered the effects of the Ted Lasso tv series. By that I mean became more touristy.

The mention of Wembley Stadium has reminded me- if anyone is coming here to attend an event at Wembley or just wants to stay outside zone 1/2, there are many hotels in Wembley (including a Premier Inn which I have noticed people on this forum recommend). Depending on where you stay in Wembley it's an extremely easy ride into central London on the Jubilee/Metropolitan line, the Bakerloo line/Overground, or the train into Marylebone. There's also some of the best Indian food in London and great shopping for kurtas and other Indian-style dress.

Thank you all. This has been very helpful. We are leaning towards the Premiere Inn near Kings Cross. Seems clean and reasonably priced. With close proximity to the tube, we can get anywhere reasonably quickly. Thank you all for your advice. It has been very helpful.

You'll be fine there. You can check out Coal Drops Yard, a sign of the revitalisation of the Kings Cross area in the last decade or so. It's an easy walk into the pleasant Bloomsbury neighbourhood, British Museum and on to the west end if you're good for a longer walk.

It's an easy trip to White Hart Lane from Kings Cross. You'd probably take a Victoria Line tube train to Seven Sisters, then it would be a walk, a 279 or 259 bus or an Overground train from Seven Sisters Overground station across the street. Walking from Seven Sisters tube station to the ground might take 30 minutes or so and be preferable on a match day? It's a fairly straight shot up the main drag, Tottenham High Road.

Thanks for the tip on Coals Drop Yard.

Robin, download the Citymapper app to your phone before you leave for London. It will give you bus, tube and walking directions for London and many other major cities. For tube travel, for example, it will tell you which cars to board, alert you that your stop is coming up and even tell you which exit to use at the station. Super helpful.

I hope you and your husband have a great time!

Kings Cross is one of the very best public transport hub ms in central London. Great for tubes and buses.

Used to be (many years ago) a red light area but now it’s a busy, bustling regenerated area. Easy walking distance too from British Museum.

On a match day, the overground trains arriving at Seven Sisters will probably be pretty full and it wouldn't be my preferred route.

Walking to the ground would take nearer 40 mins in my view. I'd be tempted to take a bus most of the way - they are often rerouted to be diverted away from the High Road on match days as there are so many people in the road outside the ground. Get the bus to its last stopping place in the High Rd and walk from there - you'll be less than 10 mins away.