The 37 Best Hotels in London
There are approximately 123,000 hotel rooms in London. Nobody knows for sure exactly how many. You would think that, as with schools or hospitals or public swimming pools, there would exist a definitive and up-to-date list of the city’s hotels. Apparently not. In any case, 123,000 was the figure that some diligent scholar of the hospitality sector came up with back in 2010. A decade later, that number has no doubt increased considerably.
Still, a shortlist of 36 hotels in London is plenty to be getting on with, especially 36 that are as diverse, exciting, innovative, sumptuous, original, and surprising as these. While it is true that certain other great cities of the world are, in hotel terms, similarly blessed—Paris and New York, undoubtedly; Hong Kong and Rome, possibly—none is more so than London.
As for the word ‘best’ in our headline, with its hint of know-it-all certainty, well, provoking a bit of civilized debate is part of the point of lists like these. We hope you will agree that our idea of what is best is generally on the money. If you do not, you may take comfort in the fact that there are at least 123,000 alternatives available to you during your time in London.
What area in London is best to stay in?
If it’s your first time to the capital or you’re looking to stay among the action, most of the best hotels in London tend to surround the West End in areas such as Soho, Piccadilly, Mayfair, and Covent Garden. For a stay that sits alongside greenery, some of London’s smartest high-end hotels neighbor Hyde Park or Green Park, with grand landmarks like Buckingham Palace and Harrods located nearby. To be closer to London’s creative, music and nightlife hub, head to East London, where there are a number of smart hotels in Shoreditch.
Other places to stay in London
To help you narrow down your search, we also have the following recommendations:
All listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
All listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you book something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Claridge's, Mayfair
Over the years Claridge's has acquired an almost mythical aura, making it something more than the sum of its parts. Not that there's anything wrong with its parts – an irresistible hybrid of flapper-tastic Art Deco, grand Victorian flourishes and low-key, streamlined contemporary luxe. To pass through its oddly fragile-feeling revolving doors is to pass into another, lovelier world. One of the best afternoon teas in London is served in the foyer and a drink at the bar (or, better still, in the tiny Lalique-panelled fumoir) is de rigueur. Eternally on our list of the best hotels in London. To find out more, read our Claridge's hotel review.
Simon UptonNomad London, Covent Garden
Despite the Ace Hotel’s departure from the city, there’s something of a USA revival going on in London, with The Standard landing in King’s Cross and the Mondrian just launched in Shoreditch. And earlier this year, the first NoMad outside the States opened in a palatial former magistrates’ court opposite the Royal Opera House. It came with some expectation—after all, the original put a whole New York City neighborhood on the map, its Dirty Martini-fueled bar an overnight sensation – but has hit the ground running. The centerpiece restaurant, in a luminous, almost neoclassical atrium draped with greenery, was booked up for weeks, a see-and-be-seen destination. There’s plenty of showmanship here, but it’s more Noël Coward than PT Barnum: vintage chandeliers, brass and crimson, mohair and damask, mural painters from the opera house involved in the decor. In the bedrooms, bathrooms nod to golden Twenties Art Deco and the main spaces to a sort of transatlantic connoisseur spirit, with big-brushed abstract expressionism propped up on the floor, Hopi kachina dolls beside the fireplace and a blend of Victoriana and art history on the walls (we perhaps have hotelier Andrew Zobler’s grandmother, who owned an antiques shop, to thank for this). The Library bar has shelves and shelves of books, though the prominent criminology section can’t match a tour of the adjacent new Bow Street Police Museum, birthplace of London’s first force, which has seen the Krays, Oscar Wilde and Emmeline Pankhurst pass through its cells. Shakers rattle like sidewinders in the tavern-esque Side Hustle, mixing up fancy American-style cocktails. This is a big-thinking but surprisingly intimate hotel that deserves a standing ovation. To find out more, read our NoMad London review. —Rick Jordan
Adam LynkThe Mayfair Townhouse, Mayfair
The brains behind classic country-house hangouts Cliveden and Chewton Glen have whisked up a sharp new city offshoot for any of their loyal troupe of guests wanting to overnight in a London hotel. But there’s no whiff of a rural familial connection. Instead, the Half Moon Street address pays tribute to the frilly artistic folk of the 19th century: there’s a playful dose of Alice in Wonderland meets The Importance of Being Earnest (the play is set on the same street), with nods to the flamboyance of Oscar Wilde’s characters and quirky colored graphic art referencing motifs from down the rabbit hole. It could all add up to something distinctly gimmicky but a sense of restraint and a Claridge’s-like appreciation for Art Deco has resulted in rooms that are moody, masculine and smart. Some have a tiny quiet garden terrace to retreat to – a rare thing indeed for central London – while others major in marble. The building spreads grandly across 15 converted Georgian houses, a few Grade II-listed, and a lucky handful of the jewel-toned suites come with views over leafy Green Park below. But the real high point is The Dandy Bar on the ground floor—a shiny mirror-and-plush-leather speakeasy serving up a smooth menu of cocktails alongside dishes such as chicken cobb salad and steak frites. If you can prise yourself off your bar stool, Shepherd Market with lovely Kitty Fisher’s restaurant is just around the corner, the Royal Academy is a brisk 10-minute walk down Piccadilly and 5 Hertford Street is a late-night stumble away. A brilliant new spot in a location that already knows how to have fun. —Katharine Sohn
The Connaught, Mayfair
A hotel known for its Englishness—a quality embodied in its celebrated central staircase (dark and woody of bannister, bright and stripy of carpet), which apparently drove Ralph Lauren into such a fit of longing that he commissioned a replica of it for his Madison Avenue shop. The Connaught Bar is a mini Art Deco masterpiece and our pick for the best bar in London. Both Hélène Darroze's three Michelin-starred restaurant and the less formal Jean-Georges at The Connaught are outstanding too (the latter with a view onto a magical Tadao Ando water sculpture outside). To find out more, read our The Connaught hotel review.
Jake EasthamLime Tree Hotel, Belgravia
This Ebury Street townhouse conversion is a masterclass in how to maximize eclectic style in a small space. It also delivers on a hard-to-keep promise: an elegant hangout that feels like home, in a great location, at an affordable price. Owners Matt and Charlotte Goodsall opened the property in 2008, quickly turning it into the area’s loveliest little boutique hotel and the best affordable hotel in London. They reframed challenge as opportunity during the 2020 lockdown, overhauling the interiors and adding a new café. The couple enlisted Fraher & Findlay architects, whose previous projects include Wolf & Badger in Coal Drops Yard, but relied on their own taste for the decorative details, sprucing up corners with Sanderson wallpaper and Pooky lampshades. The 28 bedrooms range from minuscule to moderately sized, but this only contributes to the country-cottage cosiness. Clever design ensures that even the tiniest space is optimized, with teal velvet headboards, mountains of ikat pillows and marmalade-colored armchairs (thoughtful reading material is provided—ours was Aesop’s Fables). Single rooms come at a keener price, so solo travellers are well looked after. The Buttery kitchen is helmed by Stefano Cirillo, previously at Notting Hill spot Beach Blanket Babylon. Breakfast is made up of perfectly executed classics—avocado on sourdough with runny eggs, chocolate-spread-layered French toast topped with berries, a full English with halloumi—accompanied by the smell of freshly ground Gentlemen Baristas beans and crunchy pastries from the bakery down the road. The back garden is a tiny pocket of quiet for chatting late on summer evenings. Just like the rest of the house, it’s a sweet miniature that has all the elements needed and charm in spades. —Katharina Hahn
Niall CluttonMondrian London, Shoreditch
This East London enclave should really have had its day. It’s been years since Shoreditch’s street-food stalls, concept bars and cutting-edge boutiques started taking off. Then came the smart stays, award-winning cocktail dens, and Michelin-starred restaurants. Bright young creatives were quickly priced out of living here. Then, over the past 18 months, the once-buzzing streets went silent. A couple of big names closed for good and there was space for fresh players to shake up the re-emerging neighborhood scene. Mondrian, the city-slicking group dreamt up by Ian Schrager in the 1990s, was primed to launch a new London hotel after handing over the keys of its South Bank stalwart a few years ago. The company, helmed by the Reuben brothers, took over splashy members'-club-hotel The Curtain when it shuttered and brought in design studio Goddard Littlefair—also behind the 2016 facelift of Scotland’s Gleneagles—to switch things up. The loveliest of the 120 whitewashed, exposed-brick rooms have large balconies and skyline views, but this is the sort of place where you won’t spend much time in bed. Art fills the lobby—spot the double-height piece by British painter Fred Coppin—while ground-floor Christina’s serves glossy pastries by day and Espresso Martinis by night. There’s a members'-only rooftop restaurant with its own pool and co-working space where events and panels are held. And – the biggest coup of all—Spanish chef Dani García has opened the first UK outpost of his renowned BiBo brand downstairs. The best incentive yet to rediscover Shoreditch. —Sarah James
The Lanesborough, Hyde Park
Minimalists, modernists, fanciers of all things sleek, shiny, geometrical and monochrome – this is not the place for you. The Lanesborough was always an unrepentant riot of Regency splendor. In 2015 it reopened more unrepentant, riotous and Regency-splendid than ever. The Royal Suite, at £26,000 a night, is supposedly the most expensive in London—guilty as charged – but certain of the Junior Suites are among the most charming and cleverly contrived hotel rooms you will find anywhere. The celebrated Library Bar and cigar terrace are still there, little altered. The main restaurant, Céleste, deserves mention as one of the most spectacular dining rooms in town, with decorative cues from Wedgewood and daylight from God, via a gorgeous 'sky dome'.
Ham Yard Hotel, Soho
First things first: it's got its own bowling alley. A 1950s bowling alley, no less, imported from Texas. Nine properties down, Kit Kemp's design sensibility continues to impress. Here, her fondness for acid accents, contemporary art and rampant eclecticism imparts its own peculiar energy. Little about Ham Yard's public spaces suggests 'hotel'. Sink into a chintzy armchair before an open fire with a volume plucked from a library shelf, or nibble a savory tartlet in the drawing room served on china designed by Kemp for Wedgwood – the tone is almost clubby. Only better, because clubs don't have bowling alleys. To find out more, read our Ham Yard hotel review.
Nobu Hotel Portman Square, Marylebone
Nobu Hotel Portman Square spills out onto a cool, cosmopolitan terrace reminiscent of New York (fitting, perhaps, considering Lower Manhattan was where the legendary Nobu restaurant first opened in 1994) and builds on Nobu’s Park Lane legacy while adding fresh, minimalist rooms and chill-out spaces to complete the picture. There are no frills or fancy here – it’s all smooth urban energy with design-led chairs and sleek tables where London’s glitterati fine-dine on signature dishes such as black cod miso and yellowtail sashimi, sizzling wagyu beef, Chilean sea bass and wasabi lime miso. As one of the best restaurants in London, the space (and omakase multi-course tasting menu) feels grown up, sexy even, with flashes of diamonds, stilettos and red lacquered chopsticks, while the bedrooms demonstrate Japanese minimalism in its purest form: clean lines, muted woods, restrained natural fabrics. For a near-mythical, indulgent (and mind-blowingly tasty) lunch or supper experience, followed by a calming sleep in the bedrooms, this is a hotel that’s earned its spot occupying the corner of one of Marylebone’s handsomest patches. Staying without booking a table in the restaurant is akin to visiting The Ritz and forgoing their famed London afternoon tea. To find out more, read our review of Nobu Hotel Portman Square. —Rosalyn Wikeley
Address: Nobu Hotel, 22 Portman Square, Marylebone, London W1H 7BG
Beaverbrook Town House, Chelsea
A smart offshoot of the Surrey Hills original, this property has taken over a pair of restored Georgian townhouses in a prime position near Sloane Square. It feels like a joyous and timely celebration of the capital – especially on the stairs where an extraordinary collection of artwork has been cherry-picked by creative director and advertising legend Frank Lowe: old posters for the Boat Race, Brooks’ Peckham Brewery and Kew Gardens. Just as bedrooms in the country mansion pay homage to former owner Lord Beaverbrook’s friends and guests, here each one is named after a London theatre, with framed programs of past productions and books on opera and Laurence Olivier. Interior designer Nicola Harding, who previously worked on the estate’s Garden House, has used a bolder, more playful palette for this spin-off, lending it a grown-up urban edge. Four-posters and fringed velvet sofas sit alongside antique desks, patterned lampshades and cushions made from vintage fabrics by Penny Worrall; bathrooms are equally colourful, with glassy tiles in rich apple green and bottle blue. On the ground floor, a Japanese apothecary cabinet at the entrance of the arsenic-hued, Art Deco-detailed bar marks a shift to the East. The best spot in the Fuji Grill restaurant, helmed by ex-Dinings SW3 chef Alex Del, is at the counter, where a sensational 20-course omakase supper is prepared, combining traditional techniques with modern European elements for dishes that might include tuna dry aged in house and hamachi sashimi with smoked aubergine. This standout addition to the area – where the Cadogan reopened under Belmond in 2019 and Hotel Costes is slated for late 2022—is part of a new chapter for Chelsea. –Emma Love
The Berkeley, Hyde Park
Part of the Maybourne Group, which also manages Claridge's and The Connaught, The Berkeley is a bit like both but not much like either. A child of the early 1970s, there are no heritage trappings; instead, the look is cool, low-key, non-specifically modern. Soothe your aching muscles and achieve a state of serenity at the Blue Bar, or at the health club, home to one of the best spas in London. The views over Hyde Park are excellent; the rooftop pool is itself as pretty as a picture, though too small to be of much use to anyone who actually wants to swim. By way of compensation, there is Andre Fu's 278-square-metre Opus Suite—a spectacular space boasting more impressive vistas. To find out more, read our The Berkeley hotel review.
Address: The Berkeley, Wilton Place, London SW1X 7RL
The Ritz, Piccadilly
There have been a few changes at The Ritz in recent years. Above all there was the renovation of the Rivoli Bar (which serves the best-presented cocktails in London) and the acquisition of the magnificent William Kent House next door (César Ritz's dream ever since he built the hotel in 1906). Yet the main public spaces— including the adored Palm Court and dining room, aligned along the sumptuous gallery that runs the length of the building, from Arlington Street at one end to Green Park at the other – remain little changed. Here you still have a sense, enhanced by the rich, warm, golden glow of this part of the hotel, of having found yourself preserved in amber. No celebrity interior-designers have been let loose on the rooms, which retain their original Louis XVI style and a lustrous palette of pinks, yellows and blues. Ravishing.
The Shangri-La at the Shard, London Bridge
Never has a traffic jam on the Old Kent Road looked so enchanting – everything seen from The Shangri-La looks enchanting. The hotel occupies floors 34 to the 52 of Renzo Piano's 87-storey London landmark. The rooms (contemporary, creamy, Asian-influenced), restaurants (especially the romantic Ting) and bar (gin and rosemary – divine) are all fantastic, though nothing can compete with the extraordinary views over London, which turn every guest into a slack-jawed infant, lost in wonder, gazing out, palms to the window, all day long. At night, sitting cross-legged on the bed with the blackout blinds open is like being on a magic carpet, floating high above the ceaseless glow of the great city. To find out more, now go to our Shangri-La at the Shard London hotel review.
Paul RaesideHenry's Townhouse, Marylebone
Heritage and hedonism are happy bedfellows at Henry’s. Said to be Jane Austen’s favorite brother, the eponymous proprietor lived here in the 19th century, putting the author up as she toiled away at her masterpieces—apparently early sections of Sense and Sensibility were written here. Today, there are first editions of her works to pore over in the velvety Snug, with its enormous fireplace and tumblers of whisky. That’s the kind of vibe that owners Steven and Jane Collins have established throughout the seven-bedroom Georgian house, previously a ‘dreadful’ B&B. The couple injected a hefty dose of fun and frivolity into every corniced corner during an 18-month makeover, for which they tapped designer Russell Sage, behind some of the city’s best-looking addresses (The Savoy Grill, Zetter Townhouse). As well as the commanding original staircase, floors and doors, there are 15th- and 16th-century oil paintings from Steven’s personal collection, and every bedroom is named after one of Austen’s family – with twin canopy beds in brother Frank and celestial blues in sister Cassandra. Crafty modern extras – silent Dyson hairdryers, slick flatscreen TVs—are smartly hidden away. But it’s the social spaces and pitch-perfect service that really supercharge the place. For now, it’s all about having the run of the whole house with your crew. Gregarious housekeeper Ann Grimes helps to make everything happen, poised for a call via speed dial on one of the antique telephones. Chef George Parkes, meanwhile, uses local produce for feasts served in the Pantry, a dining room large and private enough for even the most rip-roaring supper. Chic yet cheeky, historic but with all the cutting-edge trimmings, Henry’s is the ultimate good-time crashpad. —Becky Lucas
The Lost Poet, Notting Hill
This property arrives six years after the local hotel scene was leveled up with The Laslett, whose five Victorian mansions, made over by a British group keen to invoke a sense of ‘old’ Notting Hill, put the district back on the map for shiny people looking for late nights and a fun vibe. But The Lost Poet has opened in what is today an entirely different Notting Hill, one that collectively leans into the hyper-local, where the baristas know your coffee order and the most curious new bakery/ restaurant/bar is only stumbling distance from the front door. On the quiet end of Portobello Road_before the vegan cafés, film-set mews and paintbox-pastel terraces with makeshift lemonade stands±the unmarked townhouse is capturing the zeitgeist for serious privacy and a sense of rootedness in its surroundings. Checking in here feels more like renting an apartment than staying in a hotel. Rooms have monochromatic wallpaper (pistachio green, pastel pink, sunshiny yellow), artwork from the Nelly Duff Gallery and a rainfall shower or silver bathtub deep enough for a proper dip. The front-of-house team is always at the end of WhatsApp, dropping off hampers of cheese and crackers from The Sloe Kitchen and breakfast tote bags stuffed with Ottolenghi bakes and salty butter at the door. Windows look onto the curving entrance of Portobello Road—the lower-level Suite has a whitewashed deck while showstopping two-story penthouse The Muse is all about the top-floor suntrap terrace, with views to rival any rooftop bar in the area. This patch of W11 has long been a classic spot for weekend day-tripping—and now there’s a lo-fi address for sleepovers too. —Sarah James
Sea Containers London, Southbank
Designer Tom Dixon went full steam ahead with the maritime theme here, transforming Sea Containers House, a great lump of an office building on the south bank of the Thames, into a hotel that is meant to resemble a transatlantic liner. A transatlantic liner, however, that also references Art Deco, Pop Art, and disco, and that makes expressive use of a distinctly non-nautical palette (velvet banquettes in mimosa-yellow, wardrobes in bubblegum pink, staff uniforms in baby blue). Outside, there's Tate Modern to your left, Shakespeare's Globe to your right, and all of London seemingly spread out before you beneath the balcony of the hotel's brilliant, brassy rooftop bar 12th Knot. See our full review of the Sea Containers, South Bank.
The Goring, Green Park
The Goring has been owned and run by the same family since it opened a century ago. It shows. The hotel possesses a no-expense-spared quirkiness for which you will search in vain elsewhere. It is a glorious one-off. Rooms and suites are elegant and opulent, from the smallest Splendid Rooms to the silkily sumptuous Belgravia Suites and the duly palatial yet winningly homely Royal Suite, where Kate Middleton spent her last night as a single woman. The bar is one of the most romantic in London, the restaurant Michelin-starred, the private garden the biggest of its kind in London and as pleasing to contemplate on a rainy day as it is to wander around on a sunny one.
Dean Street Townhouse, Soho
This Soho House outpost comprises three adjoining Georgian townhouses close to the original club. Rooms (Tiny, Cosy, Small, Medium and Bigger) are fetchingly pale and interesting, and no two are exactly alike. Care has been taken over every little detail—mirrors, lighting, throws, digital everything. The descriptively named Dining Room dishes up oysters, Scotch eggs, mince-and-potatoes, apple and blackberry pie. And while the silvered tea and coffee tins hint at the black-Labs-and-wellies wholesomeness of sister property Babington House, this is more Dangerous Liaisons territory, providing stiff competition for the nearby Soho Hotel. To find out more, read our Dean Street Townhouse hotel review.
Sim Canetty-ClarkeThe Savoy, Covent Garden
Though people tend to think of it as monolithic and unchanging, The Savoy has something of a split personality and has in fact changed a great deal over the years. It's decorated in Edwardian style on the Thames side – from which Monet and Whistler painted the river—but it's quintessentially Art Deco on the Strand side. Rooms are large and traditional but never frumpy; and in a world of shrinking bathtubs, The Savoy's remain satisfyingly deep. The Savoy Grill is excellent and The River Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay brings the best of British seafood and shellfish; and the hotel is blessed with two of the finest watering holes in London, The American Bar, granddaddy of London's cocktail bars, and its younger, sassier sibling, The Beaufort Bar. So don't even try to make it an 'either/or' proposition – it must be an 'and'. To find out more, read our The Savoy London hotel review.
45 Park Lane, Hyde Park
The luscious feminine curves on the outside of 45 Park Lane used to be echoed by luscious feminine curves on the inside too, back when the building was home to the original Playboy Club, hopping with Bunny Girls. These days it's an Art Deco-styled, contemporary-art-filled 45-room hotel (and part of the Dorchester Collection – the mothership is just across the way). The vibe is masculine, with lots of dark wood, suede and leather. Tasty little rabbit dishes are no longer on the menu – Wolfgang Puck's superior steakhouse, Cut, is said to have the widest selection of beef in London. To find out more, read our 45 Park Lane hotel review.
The Beaumont, Mayfair
This used to be a multi-story car park, you may be surprised to learn. The Beaumont is named after Jimmy Beaumont, a fictional character from Prohibition-era New York. Hence the Art Deco trimmings, wood panelling, vintage photos, and red-leather banquettes in the Colony Grill Room, where the shrimp cocktail is as good at the steak. In this context, Antony Gormley's astonishing Room literally sticks out like a sore thumb–a three-story sculpture extruding from one side of the building, which also happens to contain a suite. To find out more, read our The Beaumont London hotel review.
Paul RaesideBoundary London, Shoreditch
Terence Conran's first hotel—whoops, “multi-functional space”—comprises a dozen large, expensively pared-down rooms in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch, showcasing the work of Conran's favourite designers (Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe) against gallery-style white walls and exposed brick. On the third and fourth floor there are also four duplex lofts and studios, plus a further suite designed by Sir David Tang. The good looks continue in Albion, a self-styled 'caff' with shop and bakery attached, and the swishy restaurant, where City swells and media types nibble on frogs' legs and do their best to deplete the well-stocked wine cellar. Upstairs, there's something of a Manhattan state of mind at the rooftop bar, an oasis of good taste above the nitty gritty big bad city, albeit an oasis with a 24-hour soundtrack of sirens and revelry. If you're a light sleeper, pack earplugs. To find out more, read our Boundary London hotel review.
Corinthia Hotel London, Trafalgar Square
As delicious as the huge slice of cake that it resembles when seen from the right spot by the Thames. No fewer than 1,001 Baccarat crystals illuminate the double-height, Victorian-pillared lobby, whose parquet floors and elegant palette of creams, caramels and charcoals with splashes of lime-green hint at the splendors beyond. Guests with a list of London landmarks to be checked off will find this a convenient base, within striking distance of Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Theatreland, and the South Bank (if you take one of the top-floor suites with a terrace, you can save yourself some time and see all of them at once). The ESPA Life spa occupies four levels, with 15 treatment 'pods', a marble-and-leather spa lounge, glass-encased sauna and steel-lined pool. To find out more, read our Corinthia London hotel review.
Brown's Hotel, Mayfair
This Mayfair grande dame submitted to a thoroughgoing facial in 2005 at the hands of owner Rocco Forte's sister Olga Polizzi, who gave it a whole new complexion, nipping and tucking her way around all that lovely old oak panelling, wrought-iron and stained-glass. The result is a contemporary classic that respects the past without getting stuck in it. Former guests such as Rudyard Kipling and Agatha Christie, were they to return, might have to steady their nerves over Adam Byatt's seasonal menu at Charlie's.
The Dorchester, Hyde Park
Its walls were apparently built to withstand practically anything that nature or man could throw at them; The Dorch's reputation is similarly robust. Whether or not it's entirely to your taste – one look at The Promenade just off the lobby should be enough to make up your mind – there's no denying its wow-factor. It has two of the best hotel restaurants in town (Alain Ducasse and the recently revamped Grill), one of the most enduring nightspots (China Tang) and one of the best bartenders (the ageless Giuliano Morandin). There is impressive variety among the rooms – from the impeccable 1950s time-capsule apartments by Oliver Messel to classic chintz to the most smoothly contemporary – and the spa inspires fanatical loyalty. To find out more, read our The Dorchester hotel review.
Dukes, Mayfair
Practically hidden down a barely existent alleyway between St James's Street and Green Park. Practically hidden is how they like it here. Hushed, discreet, cosy and ever-so-English – yet by no means sombre, stuffy or stuck-up. How could anyone remain sombre, stuffy or stuck-up after a martini perfectly prepared by Alessandro Palazzi in one of the greatest bars on the face of the earth? This was supposedly where Ian Fleming first envisioned James Bond ordering his favorite drink 'shaken, not stirred'. The GBR (Great British Restaurant) is delightful; so is the entirely chic Cognac and cigar garden. To find out more, read our Dukes London hotel review.
Hotel Café Royal, Piccadilly
This revamped Regent Street landmark combines fin de siècle opulence with streamlined modernity. There are subtle references to its storied past – vases filled with tulips are a silent salute to Oscar Wilde, who once drank so much absinthe in the Grill Room that he hallucinated he was cavorting in a field of the flowers. The Grill Room has been turned into a bar, and its opulent gilt and mirrors have been sexed up with a frankly immodest blush of red furnishings. Recover your composure downstairs at the Akasha spa, which specializes in watsu aquatic-massage treatments. To find out more, read our Hotel Café Royal hotel review.
The Langham, Marylebone
If it feels as though The Langham has been there forever, that's because, in hotel terms, it pretty much has. But a century and a half on, it's looking grand, as sophisticated and elegant as it did when Napoleon III spent the night. These days the Victoriana and chinoiserie are offset by smooth, occasionally quirky contemporary elements—notably in the award-winning Artesian bar, with its timber chandeliers, imitation-snakeskin flooring and resin-topped tables. It would be difficult to name a finer hotel restaurant than Roux at the Landau, where father-and-son dream team Albert and Michel Roux Jr have been casting their culinary spells. To find out more, read our The Langham, London hotel review.
Nikolas KoenigThe London Edition, Fitzrovia
A restaurant with rooms? That wouldn't be entirely fair, but there's no escaping the fact that chef Jason Atherton's ground-floor Berners Tavern is the palpitating heart of the hotel. The lobby cocktail bar, oak-paneled, reservation-only Punch Room and nightclub Basement only increase the pulse-rate. Ian Schrager's considered, gimmick-free design has given the stucco, marble and stained-glass of the historic lobby a funky edge; upstairs, rooms are James Bond-slick, with buttoned-linen George Smith sofas alongside Scandinavian wishbone chairs and Schrager's trademark floor-to-ceiling white drapes. They are also marvellously quiet, a perfect antidote to the hubbub below. To find out more, read our London Edition hotel review.
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
Best for: walks in the park
The Queen learnt to dance in the ballroom of this splendidly florid pile. A great deal has changed since then. There's now an award-winning, state-of-the-art spa, zeitgeisty restaurants by Daniel Boulud and Heston Blumenthal, and perpetually packed bars (not one, not two, but three, and all terrific in their very different ways). In June 2018, straight off the back of the biggest refurbishment in this Hyde Park hotel’s history, a major roof fire kept the hotel closed for another 10 months. Reopening in April 2019, the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park retains elements of its gentler, more cosily traditional past, but with interiors that have had a modern makeover, and are significantly lighter and brighter. Meanwhile, the clippity-clop that rises faintly from the Hyde Park side as horses from the Household Cavalry make their way past the hotel never gets old. See our full review of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.
Rosewood London, Holborn
With their first foray into London, Rosewood has created not just a magnificent new hotel but a whole new neighborhood: 'Midtown', previously known, without any of that implied New York spunk, as plain old Holborn. Yet the location is extraordinary, starting with the most unexpected of courtyards, like a mini Somerset House, from which a kind of country-house vibe emanates – a country house, however, with a tremendous sense of wit and panache. The style of the interiors is difficult to characterize, by turns demure and decadent, muted and glossy, traditional and contemporary. The overall effect is dazzling. The perpetually jammed Scarfe's Bar and the elegantly elongated Mirror Room are at either end of an exquisitely lit bronze corridor that insulates the lobby from the outside world. The Holborn Dining Room, run by Calum Franklin, adds a lively brasserie buzz. Sitting outside in the courtyard terrace in summer with a glass of something chilled is a joy. To find out more, now go to our Rosewood London hotel review.
COMO Metropolitan London
Plain on the outside, plain on the inside—only you're talking about two very different kinds of plain here. While the Metropolitan's exterior is anonymous to the point of charmlessness, the interiors are, particularly for this part of London, a pleasant surprise. Icy-calm, uncluttered and understated, though with some arresting and endearing touches—vivid block-colored carpets, splendid orchids, big sofas arranged alongside big windows the better to enjoy the big views over the park outside. Though no longer in the first flush of their youth, the Nobu restaurant and Shambhala spa continue to deliver the goods.
The Soho Hotel
Cleverly converted from a multi-storey car park, the Firmdale Group's Soho property remains one of London's most fashionable hotels. There's a great big fat Fernando Botero bronze sculpture of a cat in the lobby, probably contemplating his next saucer of milk in the adjacent Refuel bar, even though he could clearly do without it. The rooms are a celebration of color and pattern, richly varied, in designer and co-owner Kit Kemp's characteristic eclectic-English style. Six apartments have private entrances, kitchens and sitting rooms. You know you're in Soho when there's not one but two screening rooms in the basement. To find out more, now go to our Soho Hotel review.
Bulgari Hotel and Residences, Knightsbridge
Just when you thought the vita in this part of town couldn't get any more dolce, along came this gem from the great Roman jewelery house. It's all very hard-edged and stealthily spoiling, but softened and enlivened with thoughtful design touches such as bedside lamps inspired by Bulgari's classic silver candlesticks. The clever use of subterranean space is one of The Bulgari's distinguishing features – there's a serious screening room, the swimming pool is positively radiant with golden mosaic tiles, and the spa is among the biggest and best in the city. Read more, find our full review here.
Blakes, South Kensington
Every hotel is to some extent a theatrical space. Some more so than others, and very few more so than Blakes. It's dramatically different before you even cross the threshold—its unmissable dark-grey exterior has the force of a thunderclap. Inside, the plot thickens amid decadent bohemian clutter—objets and curios from all over the world compete for attention with antique pieces and richly textured fabrics. Rooms are wildly dissimilar, though all are elegant and slightly louche, with come-hither four-posters, low lights, smoke and mirrors (you're actually allowed to smoke in your room). If only in terms of its spirit of grown-up playfulness, the other London hotel to which Blakes bears comparison is, oddly enough, The Goring. It's testament to the enduring charm of Anouska Hempel's vision that, although the hotel has been going for 30 years now, and has lately changed hands, it's still as youthful and witty as any of the countless boutique hotels that it inspired.
Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane
The proverbial oasis of calm over the Circus Maximus that is Hyde Park Corner. Trust Four Seasons stalwart Pierre-Yves Rochon to keep things elegant but well and truly on the down-low. There are no expressive upheavals or synapse-battering splashes of color here—apart, perhaps, from the red chairs in the excellent Italian restaurant Amaranto (which is as good for breakfast as it is for dinner). Otherwise, the most conspicuous decorative features are the use of discreet walnut and sycamore panelling in the rooms, and the large-format black-and-white fashion photos from Vogue in the corridors. The spa on the tenth floor has serene park views, and perpetuates the chilled-out ambience.
A version of this article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller UK.
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Courtesy Darren ChunhotelThe Zetter Townhouse Clerkenwell
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Gold List 2020Two adjoining Georgian houses on cobbled (or, if you're wearing high heels, hobbled) St John's Square, Clerkenwell, just across from sister hotel The Zetter. Supposedly inspired by Dickens's London and in particular the gin distilleries for which this part of the city was once known. The curio-filled reception/cocktail lounge/breakfast room is, if not exactly Dickensian, at least chock-a-block full of zany drama and incident. Plonk yourself down on a velvet sofa and order a witty cocktail and nibble on steamed bao buns, aubergine dip or a platter of British cheese. Upstairs, rooms are furnished with reclaimed and vintage furniture and mahogany four-posters.
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