London Visitor Guide

Your Accommodation Guide for London

Whatever your needs, from a luxury five star hotel to a great bed and breakfast, we can help, with our carefully selected listing of the best properties. We have chosen mostly independent properties and small hotel chains, though we don't have anything against the big chains, some of which are very good indeed. We have arranged our listings by area and by style, so you can easily find what you're looking for. If you have any thoughts, reviews or comments, why not drop us a line? Email: info "at" london-visitor-guide.com

Choose your hotel by comfort / star rating / level of facilities and luxury:

Luxury Hotels, Town House Hotels, Boutique Hotels in London
Five and Four Star Recommended Hotels In London (page 1)
Five and Four Star Recommended Hotels in London (page 2)
Recommended Hotels - Three and Two Star Hotels in London (page 1)
Recommended Hotels - Three and Two Star Hotels in London (page 2)
Recommended Hotels - Three and Two Star Hotels in London (page 3)
Serviced Apartments in London
Budget and Backpackers' Accommodation in London
Vegetarian Accommodation in London
Camping and Caravanning in or near London

Choose your hotel by area:

The West End - the centre of London

The West End of London is that part of Central London where you'll find many of London's biggest tourist attractions, businesses, and West End theatres. If you don't know London well, and you want a central hotel within reach of all the big attractions, anywhere in the West End will suit you fine. The area is relatively small and the Underground ("Tube") will take you anywhere in minutes. The various districts of the West End are listed below, and you can click on each one for hotels and guest houses or other accommodation in that area:

Bloomsbury Covent Garden Fitzrovia Holborn
Marylebone Mayfair Seven Dials Soho
St. James's Westminster    

Just outside the West End  - still in the heart of London

Knightsbridge Hyde Park Kensington Gardens South Kensington
Belgravia Pimlico Chelsea Bayswater
Paddington Notting Hill Holland Park  

Other areas of London - a little further afield

Hammersmith Earls Court    
       
       


In case you're still wondering what the "West End" means.....

Choose the area or the type of hotel you'd like to stay in. (Click here for an explanation of the term the "West End".)

Westminster and St James's Park - luxury hotels, recommended hotels, romantic hotels, family-friendly hotels, pubs with rooms, and bed and breakfast / guest houses.

Kensington and Knightsbridge - again featuring top luxury hotels, our selection of recommended hotels, hotels for a romantic break, family-oriented hotels, pubs and inns with rooms, and great British bed and breakfast / guest houses.

Southwark and the Borough, the South Bank - the best properties in all categories listed above (ranging from luxury to B&B) that Southwark and the nearby area on the South Bank - known as The Borough - have to offer.

Budget and Backpackers throughout London

Camping and Caravanning throughout London and outskirts

Vegetarian Accommodation throughout London and outskirts


What is the West End?

The West End of London is that part of Central London where you'll find many of London's biggest tourist attractions, businesses, and West End theatres. The expression originated in the early 19th century, when it was used to refer to the area to the west of Charing Cross. The West End is also located to the west of the historic Roman and Mediaeval City of London. It was a place where the rich elite settled because it was mostly upwind of the perfidious smoke drifting across from the crowded City. Another reason why the rich settled here was that the West End was (and still is) close to the seat of power at Westminster. The area was originally built as a series of expensive town houses, royal palaces, shops and entertainment venues. The nearer you went to the city, around Holborn, Seven Dials and Covent Garden, the poorer the areas - these were eventually redeveloped in the nineteenth century.

The term "West End" is very flexible - it has different meanings to different people: it can refer to the entertainment district around Leicester Square and Covent Garden; or to the fashionable shopping area which revolves around Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Bond Street; others would include the shopping area in Knightsbridge and it can even refer to the whole area west of the City of London.

When you take this broad definition of the West End, you actually have encompassed London's main areas of interest to the average visitor, apart from financial services, which are located in the City of London. Indeed, most of the following are in the West End:

  • Major art galleries and museums
  • Company headquarters
  • Educational facilities
  • Embassies
  • Government buildings
  • Hotels
  • Institutions, educational or learned societies (like the Royal Society for the Arts) and think tanks
  • Legal institutions, the judiciary, law courts and chambers
  • BBC radio
  • Theatres and cinemas, bars, restaurants and nightclubs
  • Shopping areas

Under this broad definition, the inner districts of the West End are:

  • Bloomsbury
  • Covent Garden
  • Fitzrovia
  • Holborn
  • Marylebone
  • Mayfair
  • Seven Dials
  • Soho
  • St. James's
  • Westminster

South, north and west of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are some areas which were once thought of as being in the West End, but use of that term in relation to these areas, which lie to the west of Park Lane is less common nowadays.

  • Knightsbridge
  • Belgravia
  • Pimlico
  • Chelsea
  • South Kensington
  • Bayswater
  • Paddington
  • Notting Hill
  • Holland Park

Famous streets in the West End

  • Albemarle Street
  • Baker Street
  • Bond Street
  • Carnaby Street
  • Charing Cross Road
  • Denmark Street
  • Gower Street
  • Great Marlborough Street
  • Great Portland Street
  • Harley Street
  • Haymarket
  • High Holborn
  • Kingsway
  • Old Compton Street
  • Oxford Street
  • Park Lane
  • Piccadilly
  • Regent Street
  • Shaftesbury Avenue
  • The Strand
  • Tottenham Court Road
  • Wardour Street

Notable squares and circuses in the West End

The West End has a lot of impressive public squares and circuses ("circus" is the original name for a London roundabout).

  • Berkeley Square
  • Cambridge Circus
  • Grosvenor Square
  • Hyde Park Corner
  • Leicester Square
  • Manchester Square
  • Marble Arch
  • Oxford Circus
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • Russell Square
  • Soho Square
  • St Giles' Circus
  • Trafalgar Square

London Underground Stations in the West End

  • Baker Street
  • Bond Street
  • Charing Cross
  • Covent Garden
  • Embankment
  • Goodge Street
  • Great Portland Street
  • Green Park
  • Holborn
  • Hyde Park Corner
  • Leicester Square
  • Marble Arch
  • Oxford Circus
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • Regent's Park
  • Temple
  • Tottenham Court Road
  • Warren Street
  • Westminster

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