Best Hotels in
London

A former Midland Bank transformed into a members-club-meets-hotel with nine restaurants, a rooftop pool overlooking St Paul's, and the most spectacular lobby in London — original 1920s banking hall, Lutyens-designed, absurdly grand.

• Design lovers
• Social scene
• Rooftop pool

The original Hoxton, and still the best. Compact rooms with vintage school-desk furniture, a ground-floor restaurant that's become a neighbourhood institution, and a location at the epicentre of East London's creative scene.

• Creatives
• Budget-conscious
• Shoreditch

The definitive London grand hotel. Art Deco lobbies, immaculate service, and a guest list that reads like a social register. The afternoon tea is iconic, the bar is legendary, and the doormen remember your name from last year.

• Ultra-luxury
• Afternoon tea
• Mayfair

Philippe Starck-designed chaos in the best possible way. Bold prints, neon signs, a rooftop with DJs at weekends, and room rates that make Shoreditch accessible. The pizza is legitimately good.

• Budget
• Social
• East London

Understated luxury that whispers rather than shouts. The rooms are dressed in muted linens and mahogany, the cocktail bar (by Agostino Perrone) is the best in London, and the Hélène Darroze restaurant holds two Michelin stars.

• Ultra-luxury
• Fine dining
• Quiet elegance

Three Georgian townhouses in the heart of Soho, furnished with genuine antiques — four-poster beds, claw-foot baths, and not a hint of corporate uniformity. Named after the essayist William Hazlitt, and every bit as literary.

• Boutique
• History lovers
• Soho

Apartment-style suites with kitchenettes at hotel prices, steps from the theatres. The rooms are compact but smartly designed, and having your own kitchen in central London changes the economics of a long stay entirely.

• Families
• Extended stays
• Covent Garden

Art Deco grandeur meets Antony Gormley sculpture. The ROOM — a habitable artwork by Gormley, a cubist sleeping chamber projecting from the hotel's facade — is one of the most talked-about hotel rooms in the world. Everything else is quietly perfect.

• Art lovers
• Luxury
• Mayfair

A Georgian townhouse dressed like an eccentric aunt's drawing room — mismatched china, taxidermy, Victorian curiosities. The cocktail list is one of London's best, and the location between the City and Shoreditch suits almost everyone.

• Boutique
• Cocktail lovers
• Clerkenwell

A sharp, design-forward hotel where the City meets Shoreditch. The rooftop restaurant and bar draw a post-work crowd, the spa is excellent for the price, and the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city's newest skyline.

• Business
• Rooftop views
• Design

A townhouse hotel on a quiet crescent steps from the V&A, Natural History Museum, and Hyde Park. The drawing room serves a proper afternoon tea, the rooms are classically English without being stuffy, and South Ken tube is 90 seconds away.

• Families
• Museum district
• South Kensington

London's best ultra-budget option. Tiny but clever rooms with USB charging everywhere, power showers, and a location on Curtain Road that puts you in the middle of Shoreditch's restaurant scene. No frills, no apologies, no regrets.

• Budget
• Solo travelers
• Shoreditch