Central hotel in London

We recently stayed at Rydges Kensington. It is one block from the Gloucester Road Tube station and was perfect. The city, as well as HopOnHopOff, bus stopped in front of the hotel. There is a post office across the street and a bank. The hotel has a great restaurant and there were a variety of restaurants nearby (walking distance), as well. Our room priced in at $318.00 (US) a night. Well worth it! http://www.rydges.com/accommodation/united-kingdom/kensington-london-hotel/welcome/

London is big, so "centrally located" really comes down to what part of the city you will be spending most of your time in. But... a good rule of thumb is that if you are anywhere inside the Underground's Circle Line (see here) you'll be in good shape.

If I had to choose an hotel in London I think I would would go for one of the ones on the South Bank of the Thames ie opposite the Houses of Parliament. There are Premier Inns (a good budget chain) or, more expensive, Park Plaza or the Marriott. There are some good walks from the location eg along the river and cross by the Millenium foot bridge to St Pauls , across the river to Westminster and up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace etc. Or you could just catch a bus/ride the Tube.

I recommend Premier Inn County Hall, near the London Eye, and Westminster attractions. Low price.

I've stayed at the Lime Tree twice. It's in Belgravia, within walking distance of Buckingham Palace and close to Victoria Station (underground and rail). The Rick Steves book on Great Britain has numerous suggestions in various parts of London. Have a great trip!

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My, our, first visit so i'm clueless. All helps!! Keep them coming! I am thinking continental breakfast would be good and then we wouldn't be back till evening,night.

We have stayed at the Green Park Hilton several times. It is directly across the street from Green Park just off Picadilly Street. From there we have walked everywhere. Their breakfasts are good but rather expensive - you can save quite a bit by going to the Pret a Manger which is on the corner of Picadilly and Half Moon Street, half a block walk.

The Green Park area is afine location. We stayed in a flat on Hay Hill Street about three streets away from the Green Park Underground Station which is on the Picadilly line and therefore very handy for popular sites. Knightsbridge and its Harrod's is also pretty walkable from the Green Park area as is Buckingham Palace and the Ritz Hotel is across the street from the Green Park Underground Station. We'll be staying in a different flat again later this year just around the corner from Half Moon Street. Many of our favorite dinner places are in Beauchamp Place which is in Knightsbridge and that pretty rasy walk from Green Park. An earlier post mentioned Gloucester Road and that is an excellent South Kensington neighborhood west of and close to
knightsbridge as well (with added bonus of the Natural History Museum and the wonderful Victoria and Albert Museum.

I have stayed at the Lime Tree and was very disappointed with our stay. There are much better options out there. I do not recommend it to my visiting friends.

We stayed at Premier Inn Old Street. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g186338-d2416251-Reviews-Premier_Inn_London_City_Old_Street-London_England.html Since you have a whole year, sign up with their newsletter. They send me promo codes and promotional rates all the time. When we went in May. We got our room with a king size bed for £29 including tax per night. unbelievably cheap for such clean and modern place. Happy Travels.

btw, to sign up for their newsletter you have to create an account on their official site here: http://www.premierinn.com not sure what type of hotel you prefer, but if you don't mind places such as Ibis, Premier Inn is a bargain.

We always stay at the Blades Hotel, also in Belgravia, a few steps from a bus stop and the Pimlico tube station.

Nancy, what didn't you like about the Lime Tree? I found it to be pretty much just at described in Rick Steves Great Britain book. Although I did notice the bathrooms were redone between my 2009 and 2013 visits (I was randomly given the same room both visits).

Dianne, at least one Rick Steves tour stayed at the Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes. I browsed the 2012 tour scrapbooks and found that information on this one: http://acrossthepondcourtney.weebly.com/day-one.html

Since many of you have mentioned the Green Park station area, can you suggest small eateries and pubs in the area? We will be at the Washington Mayfair on Curzon St. in August.

Mayfair is well above my price point so I never eat there. I go just down the street a bit to Soho, and gravitate onto or pretty close to Wardour Street. You can find all sorts of restaurants all up and down Wardour Street. And just across the bottom end of Wardour Street, across Shaftsbury Avenue, is Chinatown. You wouldn't go hungry in that area. Check out the Time Out website or app.

We have enjoyed staying at the hotel inside Victoria Station. It used to be the Victoria Thistle and is now called the Grosvenor (I think). It is a lovely old Victorian era station hotel. But I understand that they recently remodeled the rooms (though the lobby kept the 'opulent' look!!!). Very good location - easy access to the Tube or buses, plenty of pubs and restaurants in the area, too. And the station itself has at least 2 or 3 grocery stores, 2 Boots the Chemist, a 'tech' store, a W H Smith bookstore/newsstand, and a decent food court with McDonalds, KFC and others.

Thanks everyone. Lots of ideas to check out. Any ideas on Dublin? I have been there but stayed out near John Kavanagh's (graveyard) pub at a B and B. Would like to stay in town. Suggestions?

I agree with the folks saying the Belgravia area is a good location. I have stayed at the Morgan House B&B twice, from Rick's book, when I was staying over a day or two after a business trip. I found that to be a good choice. On our recent trip this spring, my wife and I stayed on points at the Doubletree Hilton Victoria Station, which I think is technically in Pimlico. We found that to be a great option, since it's right across the street from the station.

A couple of other options not mentioned. The Darlington Hyde Park Hotel near Paddington station; although I haven't personally stayed there it is on my list of hotels...has good reviews and was recently remodeled. A couple weeks ago I stayed at the Crowne Plaza the City and really enjoyed it; see TripAdvisor reviews. The beds are heaven, rooms nice sized, good breakfast, free wifi and free bottles of water and it is right across from Blackfriars Pub and tube/RR station. A nice location to see the historical Roman sites and other ancient sites in the City. Do look at walks.com for schedule for London Walks group...I took three of them during my stay and enjoyed each one. With the tube station all other sites in London are a quick hop away. I loved walking the St Paul's Cathederal area early in the morning before the 300,000 office workers and tourist began to flow into the City. I didn't expect to enjoy the location as well as I did so would consider staying in the area and Crowne Plaza again. This was my second five day stay in London and am planning on my next trip...first visit I stayed about 10 minutes away from Victoria station. Have a great time planning your trip.

I second the Crowne Plaza the City. I think its either 3 or 4 times I've stayed there. There are decent deals available there from time to time. Decent brekkie, too. We stay there on weekend breaks, and we too walk to St Pauls. We go for the bell ringing for the two Sunday mid-morning services. I used to think St Pauls has the best ring of bells in England. It still probably has but there is one other I want to try to be sure - St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. Worcester and York are also in the running but pipped by St Pauls, IMHO.

Dianne, You wrote in your last post, "Any ideas on Dublin? I have been there but stayed out near John Kavanagh's (graveyard) pub at a B and B. Would like to stay in town. Suggestions?" If you would post this as a new question, it would start a new thread and get more answers. Notice no one here has noticed you asked it, because it is sort of a subject change, and they are all concentrating on answering the London hotel question.

We have stayed at the Crowne Plaza, South Kensington, four years in a row. It too is directly across the street from the Gloucester tube station. South Kensington is a wonderful area to stay in. You can walk to Kensington Gardens and to Kensington Palace where the "new little one" now lives. Last year we also stayed in a great hotel, as the Crowne Plaza was booked up for pre-Olympics guests. We stayed over by Parliament at the Doubletree, Westminister. We could see the Thames, outside our room to the left, from our high floor room. Everyday, we could turn left outside of the hotel, walk a few yards and we were at the Thames. We walked along the river everday, during our 10 night stay. We also just had to walk a short distance to Big Ben, the Horse Guards Parade, Parliament (where we took an afternoon tour), the Tower Bridge, etc., etc. We could walk everywhere and also get the various buses on the Whitehall Road, in front of Parliament. We could also walk to the pier to get our Thames river cruises (short ones or full day tours). We totally enjoyed both hotels and their locations.