Which neighborhood for one night in London

Is cost an issue? If not, consider Trafalgar Square. I loved the convenience of being so close to everything I love during my 2009 trip, but I used hotel rewards points that were gifted to me. I could never afford it on my own. Other trips I've stayed with friends on the outskirts of the city.

If convenience and being able to walk to sights is important (it is to me) then Trafalgar Squre/Leicester Square/Mayfair/Jermyn Street is where you want to be. Next would be Marble Arch (less expensive). All these areras you walk out of your hotel and you are in tourist London and would not even ned to get on a Tube. Charing Cross Hotel (a big impersonal? railway hotel) is right at Trafalgar Square, a few minutes walk to Westmisnster Abbey via Whitehall and Horse Guards.

Cost doesn't have to be huge to stay near Trafalgar Square. Check out the London School Of Economics. The rent dorm rooms and apartments to tourists as well as students. All are ensuite, plu they have a kitchen/kitchenett and you have access to student facilities like laundry room, game lounges, etc. They have good locations all over town (including one jsut off Trafalgar and one in Covent Garden and some in the Victoria area- plus others!) This is their website: http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/

Most any place within a mile of Parliament will be located nicely for almost all the usual tourist attractions in the West End. Last trip, I stayed at the City Inn Westminster, a nice hotel about half mile south of Parliament. That's an easy walk.

I like the Strand Palace Hotel. It is only a block from Covent Garden and less than 10 minutes walk to Trafalgar Square. It's also walking distance to the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, River Thames, Charing Cross rail station and a short tube ride to pretty much everywhere else in central London a tourist would usually want to see. IMO that area is great if you want to be centrally located. If you don't like that area, you might also check out Bloomsbury. http://www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk/ http://goo.gl/S1Lil

Mandi: I would make a decision based on where you are going after your one day in London. Are you flying back to the US from Heathrow? Then stay at a hotel near Paddington, where you can catch the train directly to LHR. Gatwick Airport? Stay near Victoria. Are you flying to a European destination from Stansted? Stay near Liverpool St station. Are you taking the Eurostar to Paris or Brussels? Stay near Kings Cross/St Pancras. Are you taking the train to Liverpool or Glasgow? Stay near Euston. Any of these areas are in or on the Circle Line, and a quick tube ride to any sightseeing destination. Central London is so large that if you are closer to one sightseeing destination such as the Tower you'll be farther from another (like the Imperial War Museum). So just get a nice hotel near a tube stop and close to your point of departure for the next day.

Thanks, Everyone... very helpful! After careful consideration and reading lots of reviews I've reserved at the Strand on Trafalgar Square at what seems to be a quite reasonable rate. What a great forum this is; will definitely use again. Cheers!