Which Premier Inn in London?

A lot of locations would work fine, but I think it's worth considering how much time you'll spend sitting on the Underground.

Knowing I'd be making multiple trips to the British Museum last month, I decided to stay at the Holborn PI, which is within walking distance. I liked being closer to the center of town than was the case when I stayed at the County Hall PI near Waterloo and a non-chain lodging near Notting Hill Gate--though both of those locations were perfectly OK. (County Hall would be better for someone planning to visit the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms and Buckingham Palace.)

A tangential plus for the Holborn PI is that it's on Red Lion Street, a quiet side street full of restaurants (mostly moderately priced) that seemed to attract residents rather than tourists. And they didn't appear to be chain places, either. I get really tired of all the chain restaurants in London. My room was very quiet, though I can't vouch for the noise situation on all sides of the hotel.

On the other hand, there are many locations that would provided faster walking access to Underground stations served by more lines than I had a short walk from the Holborn PI.

The Holbon PI is usually a bit more expensive than Country Hall, so I assume it's also higher than Kensington Olympia.

The Holbon PI is usually a bit more expensive than Country Hall, so I assume it's also higher than Kensington Olympia.

Yes, the Holborn PI is about the same as the Victoria PI, so in that case I would prefer to go with the Victoria location. than

I also prefer a bit more central than Paddington/Bayswater area (stayed there once and didn't love the location), which is how I'm thinking I might feel staying at the Kensington PI location.

Go with the Victoria one. Book it.

Now you have the time to research via Google maps street view to find the closest coffee spot. Closest market for snacks and bottled still water. Location of Nearby cafes, pubs, restaurants to dine in.

Although never stayed in this Premier Inn it’s logistically situated. Easy stroll to the Palace, From there could follow Birdcage Walk in St James Park to Parliament Square.

Great city to explore.

Go with the Victoria one. Book it.
Now you have the time to research via Google maps street view to find the closest coffee spot. Closest market for snacks and bottled still water. Location of Nearby cafes, pubs, restaurants to dine in. Although never stayed in this Premier Inn it’s logistically situated. Easy stroll to the Palace, From there could follow Birdcage Walk in St James Park to Parliament Square. Great city to explore.

We actually never both to research restaurants in advance whenever we travel! We just pick something that looks good at the time that we're hungry!

Yes London is a great city! Probably my favorite city in the world!

Merely a suggestion to research the neighborhood for places to dine.

I do it as a back up for when weather is miserable. Like having an option(s) to head off to if rain falls.

As a Fall traveler to London for decades have learned to appreciate the comfort of a pub or cafe with a bowl of soup or stew. Knowledge of a spot also provides the option of a free loo.

Now with the option of a great travel resource as Google Maps street view it’s easy to denote options.

Enjoy your wandering.

I mean, most of my time in London has been spent eating 7p spaghetti-o's from Asda straight out of the can and wishing that the tube stations had benches so we had somewhere to sit out of the rain, so anything is a step up from those days! LOL!

We stayed at the PI Victoria in June and had a good experience. The hotel was on a quiet street. There were some breakfast/coffee restaurants and pubs within walking distance. We liked the Queens Arms pub the best. Have fun!

We stayed at the PI Victoria in June and had a good experience. The hotel was on a quiet street. There were some breakfast/coffee restaurants and pubs within walking distance. We liked the Queens Arms pub the best. Have fun!

Thanks for the feedback!

I have never stayed in a PI, but looking forward to it myself, but I generally like Earls Court. It is on the Piccadilly line, which makes getting around easy, the area is good, and there are a lot of restaurants and pubs there. It is a short walk down to the Troubadour Café, which is a mecca for musicians over the years, even today (name somebody from the 1960's, and chances are they played there - from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan).

I have never stayed in a PI, but looking forward to it myself, but I generally like Earls Court. It is on the Piccadilly line, which makes getting around easy, the area is good, and there are a lot of restaurants and pubs there. It is a short walk down to the Troubadour Café, which is a mecca for musicians over the years, even today (name somebody from the 1960's, and chances are they played there - from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan).

I am most familiar with the Piccadilly line since that's the tube line I had to ride to get to my school in London, so that definitely makes that PI more appealing to me!

Not mentioned--make sure the PI you choose has three bedded family rooms. That's one king, one twin and one foldout.

Some say "cots" available. That's not a bed. It's what we call in the U S-- a baby crib.

The PI rooms I've stayed in as a solo traveler or part of a two-person group have had a large bed and usually (always?) a daybed that was treated as a couch unless it needed to be made up to sleep on. If you ask for a twin room, that piece of furniture is made up as a bed. I've slept on plenty of those, and I found them fine--though not as super-comfortable as the big beds.

I just looked at the PI website, and it gave me many hotel options for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. Unfortunately, the website seems to show the same photos for every hotel, so I don't know how reliable they are for any specific hotel. The one photo of a room that would sleep four shows the large bed, the day bed set up to sleep on and an additional bed that is clearly smaller. It would be a good idea to see whether you can find photos of the Victoria hotel on TripAdvisor or perhaps booking.com to get a maybe-more-reliable idea of the setup. From experience I can tell you that trying to get an answer to a question from a PI--whether via email or phone--is often a very frustrating, and fruitless, experience. Once you're there in person, the staff tries to be helpful, but prior to that point...good luck.

We just stayed in a PI by Gatwick and it had the queen bed and 2 singles (one was a couch bed/day bed and the other was a rollaway I believe). Plenty of room for us and the kids said the beds were really comfortable! All of the rooms I've seen on the website look identical to the room we stayed in.

I stayed in the Victoria PI late last month. The location is great, the hotel is not as nice as some PI's, but is adequate. My problem was the elevator to my part of the building was not operating. I was told to go to that elevator when I checked in, but when I got there a sign on it read not in service. When I used the other elevator I was dismayed to learn I had to drag my suitcase up a flight of stairs. I wish they had told me this prior to check in so I could have asked for another room. When I reported the issue I was told they could try to find another room, but obviously that wasn't a solution as I would have to revisit the stairs/luggage issue again to move. Luckily I had packed light and only had my old R Steves roll aboard & an underseat carryon. Just a warning if you decide to stay there.

Thanks for the feedback!

Unfortunately, a lot of European hotels that have lifts turn out to have some rooms that aren't fully lift-accessible. Booking.com has a filter (I don't know that it displays for all cities), "Upper floors accessible by elevator", but I honestly don't know whether that's a guarantee that every room will have elevator access. I read reviews carefully and look at exterior shots in an effort to avoid hotels where I might have to drag my not-small-enough bag up to the 3rd or 4th floor. When presented with an option to submit a special request (available on booking.com), I try to remember to ask for an elevator-accessible room. Even a chain hotel can turn out to have been put together from two or more buildings with floors not perfectly aligned, so you can't be sure of what you're getting.

acraven, I agree with your post, but to clarify the hotel is 2 building put together. Each building has a lift to your floor. They told me to use lift 2 to my floor, but neglected to tell me it was currently out of service. (Maybe the woman had just come on shift & the problem was new.) I had previously checked to make sure they had a lift to all floors since I knew it was an older building, Unfortunately that was a couple months before I arrived. If they had just told me when they gave me my room key I could have asked for another room in the section of the building where the elevator was working.