Tower Hamlets Area?

Tower Hamlets is a mixed bag of areas (I've stayed in Whitechapel and enjoyed Bethnal Green) so would it be possible for you to post the link to the flat?

To elaborate on the previous answer - Tower Hamlets is one of the many boroughs in London.

While it may have Tower in the name, most of Tower Hamlets is not near the Tower of London.

It is in the heart of the East End, a traditionally lower working class to working class area. Some of the buildings are pre-war, but much of the east end and docks was bombed flat in the war so a lot of the housing stock is either post-war concrete or recent new build modern. Tower Hamlets is a borough with a great deal of poverty as well as some very posh developments.

The neighborhoods vary a great deal street by street and within the streets.

Tower Hamlets was the scene of the Cable Street Battle when Moseley's nazis wanted to march through the Jewish areas of the East End.

As was said in the previous answer it would be most helpful if you shared the area of Tower Hamlets you are looking in.

Here is a link to one of the apartments we looked at. This is the general area, some are a bit further north:
[http://www.vrbo.com/985112ha

After I read the comments I kept playing that Pet Shop Boys song over in my head "......East end boys and West end girls....."

I appreciate any and all advice. What would be other options in London as far as areas go?

Other areas are Bloomsbury, pretty central to museums and train stations; and Chelsea and Kensington, which you have already mentioned. The apartment in your link is beautiful, but it is not very central to tourist sights. You will have more restaurants and grocery stores in the areas I've mentioned. Include in your search Belgravia, which is very nice.

Here are two good ones:
http://www.vrbo.com/1055228ha
http://www.vrbo.com/1147708ha

It is worth the extra money to be in a convenient location for sightseeing, if that is the reason for your visit.

It's a nice apartment but it's too far east for my liking.

It is also somewhat to the south of the main Canary Wharf development to add to journey time.

Thanks for the links Rebecca and the other input. I hadn't looked outside of Chelsea and Kennsington so it is obvious I need to expand my search.

Curt, Look in South Kensington, very convenient to tourist sights, restaurants, and grocery stores. My personal preference is South Kensington (instead of North Kensington) because it is a more convenient location, IMHO, and more picturesque. North Kensington may be more expensive because it includes the famous Notting Hill (very popular since the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts movie). Also the Bayswater area is a convenient location, and not too expensive. Keith, I never said to avoid N. Kensington.

I don't know what it is about London but I am just flat out overwhelmed with the different areas to choose from, North Kensington, South Kensington, how can you tell, lol? I have rented in Paris 3 times and it was very easy, London seems to have so many great choices, I suppose one could make a bad choice but there seem to be lots of great options. I will post a couple that we like and hopefully get some input. We were in London last in 2012 right after the olympics and the place was so clean and fresh looking. We are anxious to get back.