No city does luxury hotels quite like London. The capital’s oldest five-star guesthouses – Brown’s, Claridge’s — date back to the Georgian period. The Victorian age gave rise to the illustrious railway hotel — today’s Andaz Liverpool Street and The Landmark London. There are the grand dames (The Savoy, The Ritz, The Langham, The Lanesborough); the boutique boltholes (Blakes, The Beaumont, Dukes); and the contemporary sanctuaries beloved by the fashion set (Ham Yard, Nobu). Whether you’re looking for historic splendour or cutting-edge cool, we’ve rounded up the best five-star hotels in London guaranteed to provide a room to remember.
11 Cadogan Gardens, Chelsea
11 Cadogan Gardens occupies four adjoining redbrick townhouses in the heart of Chelsea. It embodies all the old-school charm, splendour and English eccentricity that you would expect of a historic, five-star hotel in Sloane Square, while a top-to-tail refurbishment in 2016 ensured it is fit for the modern guest.
Rooms range from sumptuous and comfortable to all-out, gilded glamour in the Sloane Suite. Similar to a members’ club, the hotel unfolds to reveal hidden corners and rooms full of curiosities, while the restaurant, Hans’ Bar & Grill, links 11 Cadogan Gardens to the eminently charming Pavilion Road. Unusually for a hotel dining room, it has a relaxed, neighbourhood vibe and draws a cross-generational crowd of families and local residents. Finish your evening in the low-lit Chelsea Bar.
Knightsbridge, Belgravia and King’s Road are all within walking distance of 11 Cadogan Gardens, which is part of Iconic Luxury Hotels — the esteemed group behind Cliveden House, Chewton Glen and the Lygon Arms.
Address: 11 Cadogan Gardens, Chelsea, SW3 2RJ
Number of rooms: 31 rooms and 25 suites
Amenities: Compact gym
Restaurants & bars: Hans’ Bar & Grill and Chelsea Bar
Price: From £290 per night, visit 11cadogangardens.com
45 Park Lane, Mayfair
45 Park Lane oozes Art Deco American glamour — all wood panelling and soaring drapes, with butterscotch leather furnishings and glitzy chandeliers. Rooms are equally slick, ranging from smart standard doubles to sprawling apartment-like suites, with views over leafy Hyde Park. The penthouse covers the entire top floor and is accessible via a private lift.
The centrepiece is Cut, Wolfgang Puck’s glossy restaurant for the super-rich, which is billed by many as the best steak in London and now offers a terrace for al fresco dining. Damien Hirst pieces adorn the walls, while the hotel also hosts a rotating gallery of global contemporary artists who frequently offer visitors personal art tours. Looking to see the sites? 45 Park Lane is within walking distance of Mayfair and mere steps away from sister hotel, The Dorchester.
Address: 45 Park Lane, Mayfair, W1K 1PN
Number of rooms: 45 rooms, 11 suites and one penthouse suite
Amenities: Guests have access to The Dorchester Spa and complimentary use of bespoke Brompton bicycles
Restaurants & bars: Cut at 45 Park Lane, Sushi Kanesaka and Bar 45
Price: From £950 per night, visit dorchestercollection.com
The Athenaeum Hotel & Residences, Mayfair
Among the hotel behemoths which fringe leafy Green Park, The Athenaeum Hotel is another London hotel with a storied history. In 1971, The Rank Organisation — founded by entertainment mogul Joseph Arthur Rank — purchased the art-deco-style Athenaeum Court apartment block and transformed it into a lavish hotel. After a two-year refurbishment, The Athenaeum became one of the most popular hotels in the capital thanks to Rank’s close links to Hollywood. The likes of Steven Spielberg, Marlon Brando, Harrison Ford, Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty have walked the halls of this Mayfair guesthouse, giving the Polo Lounge of Beverly Hills Hotel a run for its money when competing for high-profile guests.
Today, The Athenaeum still oozes as much contemporary luxury as it did when it first opened more than 50 years ago. The rooms are divided into five categories, with Residences that overlook Green Park available for those needing a longer break. The golden-hued dining room, 116 at The Athenaeum, offers a relaxed menu where guests can pick from British favourites including beer-battered fish and chips. Book in for an Afternoon Tea to try the hotel’s personally-infused selection of loose-leaf teas and delicious English scones, with lathers of Cornish clotted cream and sweet jams. From the lobby to the suite bathrooms, you’ll find subtle nods to the hotel’s celebrity-haven heyday in the form of black and white photographs picturing popular 1980s society figures, from Audrey Hepburn to Joanna Lumley.
Address: 116 Piccadilly, W1J 7BJ
Number of rooms: 162 rooms, 11 suites and one penthouse suite
Amenities: Fitness centre, including sauna and steam room
Restaurants & bars: 116 at The Athenaeum
Price: From £350 per night, visit athenaeumhotel.com
Andaz London Liverpool Street
Completed in 1884, and originally home to the Great Eastern Hotel — one of London’s illustrious termini guesthouses — this Liverpool Street-based, Grade II-listed building became an Andaz hotel in 2006. Since then, it has remained something of a secret — despite being one of the best-located and most eclectically-styled hotels in the capital.
Built on the site of England’s first hospital for the mentally ill (opened in 1247), referenced in Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula (vampire hunter Van Helsing stays at the Great Eastern during a visit to London) and bombed during the Second World War (staff protected the building’s glass dome with mattresses), the hotel occupies a storied piece of ground where the Square Mile meets Shoreditch — something the Andaz has admirably tried to acknowledge.
Original features include mosaic floors, ornate cornicing and two Masonic Temples: an Egyptian temple in the basement and a Grecian temple on the first floor, now a private dining space. The hotel even has its own authentic, oak-panelled pub. Offsetting these old-world features are neon lights, vivid upholstery, bold artwork and spacious rooms that are a riot of bright colour and contemporary comforts. St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane are all under a 10-minute walk away.
Address: 40 Liverpool Street, EC2M 7QN
Number of rooms: 252 rooms and 15 suites
Amenities: Gym, spa, steam room, meeting facilities
Restaurants & bars: Eastway Brasserie, 1901 Wine Lounge, Miyako, Rake’s Café Bar, Lady Abercorn’s Pub & Kitchen
Price: From £250 per night, visit hyatt.com
The Beaumont, Mayfair
Art meets history in a tale of Mayfair make-believe at The Beaumont Hotel. Despite occupying a Grade-II-listed building constructed in 1926 — and having the feel of a wood-panelled members’ club from around the same time — The Beaumont only opened in 2014. It was the first hotel by hospitality power duo Corbin & King — formerly of The Ivy, Le Caprice, The Delaunay and The Wolseley. To match the building’s Art Deco exterior, King concocted a narrative that would inform all aspects of the hotel’s interior. The Beaumont, he imagined, was the work of fictional James Beaumont — Jimmy, to his friends — a discouraged American hotelier who escaped prohibition Manhattan to establish an eponymous guesthouse in pre-war Mayfair.
Reopening in 2021 after an extensive refurbishment, the result is cosy public areas decked out in polished walnuts, bronze statuettes and a seriously impressive fine art collection. Traditionally styled, masculine bedrooms come with all the mod-coms. There’s also Room, a three-storey, one-bedroom inhabitable sculpture by Turner Prize-winner Antony Gormley, and The Colony Grill Room, a moody, macho American diner with blood-red leather banquettes and steaks the size of your forearm. In its short life, The Beaumont has won a bucket-load of awards, including The Gallivanter’s Guide’s Best Independent Hotel in the World and Best General Manager Worldwide for two years running.
Address: Brown Hart Gardens, Mayfair, W1K 6TF
Number of rooms: 50 rooms, 22 suites and studios
Amenities: Hammam-style spa, salon, gym, use of The Beaumont’s chauffeur-driven house car for local drop offs
Restaurants & bars: Colony Grill Room, Le Magritte Bar and Gatsby’s Room
Price: From £612 per night, visit thebeaumont.com
Blakes Hotel, South Kensington
Created by interior designer and former Bond girl Anouska Hempel in 1978 and considered London’s first boutique hotel, Blakes is an unabashedly grandiose and provocative adult playground in South Kensington. The rooms were completely revamped in 2016, with Hempel citing Corfu, gentlemen’s clubs and the opium dens of Asia among her eclectic inspirations. The immersive decor is both lavish and louche, from theatrical crimson walls and cocooning silk drapes in the Cardinal Suite to the immersive, ebony and gold milieu of the Gypsy Suite. Bibliophiles will find pleasure in The Library, with its hidden bookcase doors.
The dark and gilded eponymous restaurant draws on Eastern and Mediterranean influences, and you can continue the night at Blakes Below, the hotel’s basement lounge with regular live jazz music. It is, in short, a sophisticated urban sanctuary that feels a world away from the V&A and smart shops of Draycott Avenue and King’s Road, all of which are on your doorstep.
Address: 33 Roland Gardens, South Kensington, SW7 3PF
Number of rooms: 34 rooms, 10 suites
Amenities: Access to the nearby South Kensington Club, which has a comprehensive gym and wellness centre
Restaurants & bars: Blakes Hotel Restaurant and Blakes Below basement bar
Price: From £495 per night, visit blakeshotels.com
Brown’s, Mayfair
Located a stone’s throw away from the Royal Academy and the Burlington Arcade, Brown’s has all of the cachet of a five-star London establishment without the stuffiness. In the 19th century it was fondly known as a ‘family hotel’ because, unlike many of the clubs at the time, women were welcome at Brown’s. Despite its celebrity following (Kipling wrote The Jungle Book here), the hotel does not rest on its laurels; it underwent a multi-million-pound refurbishment in 2004 and was reopened by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher the following year.
The hotel benefits from a small but excellent spa and the 24-hour gym is a welcome sight after sampling the delights of the hotel’s classic afternoon tea and indulgent dinner menu at Charlie’s. Rooms are extremely comfortable, with the suites benefitting from interior design that bursts with personality. The Kipling Suite, designed by Olga Polizzi, is an aesthetic delight with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking historic Albemarle Street’s designer boutiques.
Address: Albemarle Street, Mayfair, W1S 4BP
Number of rooms: 82 rooms, 33 suites
Amenities: 24-hour gym, spa, wellness centre
Restaurants & bars: Charlie’s, Donovan Bar and The Drawing Room
Price: From £800 per night, visit roccofortehotels.com
Bulgari Hotel London, Knightsbridge
The Bulgari Hotel London is less ostentatious than you’d expect given the brand’s association with dazzling gold jewellery. Instead, it champions an elegantly slick, mid-century modern aesthetic with shiny black marble flooring, polished mahogany and lots of silver metalwork. The building itself is only nine years old — making it a baby in Knightsbridge terms — and was built especially for Bulgari by Squire and Partners architects, the creatives behind the brand’s other outposts in Milan, Bali and Dubai (to name a few).
85 rooms are spread over the top six floors, with two private apartments taking up the top two storeys. On the ground floor you’ll find the flagship restaurant Sette, owned by New York chain Scarpetta, which serves hearty Italian dishes. Nightcaps are had in the basement at Nolita Social, which, with an elevated cocktail list and DJ sets, is poised for parties while the 47-seat private cinema is perfect for special occasions. The Bvlgari Spa is one of the most impressive wellness destinations in London and has been designed with the brand’s Italian heritage in mind — the 25-metre swimming pool is clad in textured Vicenza stone and the showers tiled with gold leaf.
Address: 171 Knightsbridge, SW7 1DW
Number of rooms: 85 rooms and suites
Amenities: The Bvlgari Spa and adjoining swimming pool, Workshop gym, Neville Hair and Beauty salon, 47-seat cinema, cigar shop
Restaurants & bars: Sette Restaurant, Nolita Social Bar and The Bulgari Lounge
Price: From £954 per night, visit bulgarihotels.com
Charlotte Street Hotel, Fitzrovia
With a grand mint green exterior crowned by a wafting Union Jack flag, the Charlotte Street Hotel had us at hello. The five-star residence is part of Tim and Kit Kemp’s Firmdale Hotel group and reflects the duo’s modern, quintessentially British aesthetic, with plenty of warmth, wit and character. Bedrooms are uniquely designed with exuberant textiles and wallpaper prints, inspired by the history of the neighbourhood.
Charlotte Street Hotel is within easy reach of Soho, Marylebone and Mayfair, with the culinary delights of Fitzrovia right outside. Entertaining takes place in the lively Oscar Bar and Restaurant, which spills onto the streets during the summer months. There is a boutique gym and guests can also enjoy in-room beauty treatments in partnership with Temple Spa.
Address: 15-17 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, W1T 1RJ
Number of rooms: 52 rooms including suites
Amenities: Screening room, gym, in-room beauty treatments
Restaurants & bars: Oscar Bar and Restaurant
Price: From £450 per night, visit firmdalehotels.com
Claridge’s, Mayfair
While exploring central London, a drink at the ineffably elegant Claridge’s Bar is the height of sophistication. Since 1856, this five-star hotel has been the Art Deco jewel of Mayfair, welcoming Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and Kate Moss through its glitzy revolving doors. With a gleaming chequerboard marble floor, cascading chandeliers, towering floristry displays and dramatically curved staircases, it remains a glittering homage to the Roaring Twenties. And, of the five-star hotel’s 208 rooms and suites, nowhere is this more true than in the opulent Mayfair suite, where gilded period features are complemented by scalloped headboards and matching velvet chairs.
Afternoon tea at Claridge’s is one of the best in London while the upscale L’Epicerie restaurant is the perfect spot for a celebration. Post-dinner, head to the darkly decadent Le Fumoir bar: as cosy as it is glamorous with Lalique glassware and sultry interiors. Leave time to visit the serene rooftop spa too, which offers a smorgasbord of Sisley beauty treatments.
Address: Brook Street, Mayfair, W1K 4HR
Number of rooms: 197 rooms and 11 suites
Amenities: Rooftop gym, beauty treatment rooms
Bars and restaurants: Claridge’s Restaurant, L’Epicerie, ArtSpace Café, The Painter’s Room, Claridge’s Bar, Fumoir Bar, The Foyer & Reading Room
Price: From £829 per night, visit claridges.co.uk
The Connaught, Mayfair
The entrance to The Connaught reveals itself through a cloud of mist. The granite-edged water feature that engulfs two London Plane trees in the hotel’s forecourt emits clouds of vapour for 15 seconds every 15 minutes. The effect is mesmerising, and an apt introduction to a hotel that mixes modern taste with traditional hospitality.
The hotel first opened in 1897 and retains much of its Edwardian charm. So enamoured was Ralph Lauren with the staircase in the lobby of The Connaught that he had a replica installed in his flagship store on Madison Avenue. The hotel benefitted from a £70 million facelift in 2007, which saw rooms overhauled by David Collins Studio and, subsequently, the opening of the Aman spa – the first Aman Spa to be built outside the renowned Aman resorts.
The décor may be turn-of-the-20th-century, but drinking and dining is very much cutting-edge. Hélène Darroze at The Connaught earned the French chef three Michelin stars; The Coburg Bar has been voted Best Bar in London by Time Out magazine; while The Connaught Bar came runner up at the World’s 50 Best Bar Awards and was named Best Bar in Europe. Elsewhere, Jean-Georges at The Connaught mixes British classics with flavours from the Far East and the 2020 opening of The Connaught Grill relaunched one of London’s most celebrated restaurants.
Address: Carlos Place, Mayfair, W1K 2AL
Number of rooms: 121 including suites
Amenities: Aman spa, compact gym, indoor swimming pool
Restaurants & bars: The Connaught Grill, Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Jean-Georges at The Connaught, Connaught Bar, Coburg Bar and Champagne Room
Price: From £840 per night, visit the-connaught.co.uk
The Corinthia, Westminster
Located so close to the Palace of Westminster that it was commandeered as a government office during both world wars, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Corinthia’s proximity to Britain’s largest seat of political power would make it a rather corporate affair. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The hotel underwent a thorough renovation in 2011, emerging as an elegantly luxurious destination full of period charm and quirky design touches.
For the full experience, book the Royal Penthouse, a vast 465 square metre suite with two bedrooms, walk-in wardrobe, butler’s kitchen and terrace overlooking the Thames. You’ll even get your own private butler and access to the hotel’s private wine collection. Elsewhere, The Corinthia boasts three restaurants — including Kerridge’s Bar & Grill helmed by Tom Kerridge and the incredibly Instagrammable Garden courtyard eatery — as well as an ESPA spa with gym, treatment rooms, swimming pool and thermal floor, plus an on-site florist and hair salon.
Address: The Corinthia, Whitehall Place, SW1A 2BD
Number of rooms: 225 rooms, 51 suites and seven penthouses
Amenities: Business centre, florist, spa, hair salon, gym
Restaurants & bars: Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, Velvet by by Salvatore Calabrese, The Northall, Crystal Moon Lounge, The Garden
Price: From £756 per night, visit corinthia.com
The Dorchester, Mayfair
One of the first purpose-built hotels to be constructed using reinforced concrete — the building was completed in 1931 and Grade II-listed in 1981 — the austere, Art Deco exterior of The Dorchester is about as far removed as you can get from the extravagant interiors within. Public areas are characterised by marble floors, ornate pillars, gold-leaf ceilings, elaborate cornicing and acres of fresh flowers overseen by the hotel’s in-house team of florists. The Dorchester has almost 300 rooms and suites, some kitsch, others more contemporary with white-marble bathrooms, complete with super-deep baths, a running theme throughout.
The Dorchester was famed as a hangout for royals and movie stars, before George Clooney called for a boycott over the policies of the hotel’s owner, the Sultan of Brunei, in the Sultan’s home country. Long before then, HM The Queen attended the Dorchester the day prior to her engagement to Philip Mountbatten. Prince Philip would later choose to host his stag party at the hotel — an evening that’s documented by a plaque.
The Dorchester is perhaps best known today for its culinary offering. French fine dining restaurant Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is one of the few eateries in London to hold three Michelin stars. The Grill by Tom Booton offers upscale British cuisine; China Tang serves ritzy Cantonese. The Dorchester’s Afternoon Tea, served in the sumptuous The Promenade, vies for the best in London.
Address: 53 Park Lane, Mayfair, W1K 1QA
Number of rooms: 194 rooms, 56 suites and three penthouse suites
Amenities: Spa, steam room, small gym, gentlemen’s barbershop
Restaurants & bars: Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, The Grill by Tom Booton, China Tang, The Promenade, Artists’ Bar, Vesper Bar and The Spatisserie
Price: From £855 per night, visit dorchestercollection.com
Dukes London, St James’s
Dukes is small. And if your idea of luxury is multi-room apartments with flat-screen TVs the size of football pitches and corridors long enough to require a trail of brioche crumbs to navigate your way back to the bathroom, then Dukes isn’t for you. However, with marble bathrooms and inconceivably comfortable beds, these are rooms designed not just to be slept in, but to be lived in through afternoons of cold champagne and hot showers.
Down in the basement, Dukes Bar is famously where Ian Fleming decided upon 007’s favoured tipple and the bar’s white-jacketed barmen may just have served Fleming himself. The hotel’s bistro, GBR, an acronym for Great British Restaurant, allows diners to eat any dish in either starter or main-course size. These days, freedom isn’t a word often associated with hotels; a culture of hidden add-ons, ruthlessly applied check-out times and breakfast buffet queues see to that. Dukes is a glorious exception — and perhaps one of the last.
Address: 35 St James’s Place, St James’s, SW1A 1NY
Number of rooms: 75 rooms, 14 suites and one penthouse
Amenities: Italian marble steam room, spa, 24-hour gym
Restaurants: Dukes Bar and GBR
Price: From £460 per night, visit dukeshotel.com
The Goring, Belgravia
The Goring may have been providing well-appointed bedrooms to the rich and famous since 1910, but it was Kate Middleton that really put the hotel on the map when she stayed here the night before her wedding to Prince William in 2011. She opted for the appropriately named Royal suite, a double-bedroomed, dining-room-equipped expanse of a stay a mere stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, whose balcony she’d appear on the next day.
If you don’t happen to be the future queen of England, the hotel has 67 other rooms and suites, many of which are flooded with natural light from windows that frame The Goring’s large private gardens. A resolutely English hotel, every room is individually decorated by renowned British designers and feature elegant wallpapers, fine Italian linen and bespoke furniture. Bathrooms are stocked with Asprey amenities and Egyptian cotton towels and bathrobes.
The Goring is the only hotel in London still owned and operated by the family that founded it, and is the only hotel in the capital to have been awarded a royal warrant of appointment from Queen Elizabeth II, which it’s held from 2013 until her death in 2022. The Goring’s Afternoon Tea has won a trove of awards and its Dining Room also sports a Michelin star. It may not boast an indoor swimming pool and cutting-edge fitness centre, but what The Goring lacks in amenities, it more than makes up for in service, style and splendour.
Address: 15 Beeston Place, Westminster, SW1W 0JW
Number of rooms: 57 rooms and 11 suites
Amenities: Large private gardens, small gym
Restaurants & Bars: The Dining Room and The Goring Cocktail Bar
Price: From £591 per night, visit thegoring.com
Ham Yard Hotel, Soho
Also part of the Firmdale Hotel chain (see the Charlotte Street Hotel above), the Ham Yard Hotel is tucked away down a quiet side street by Piccadilly, among the charming shops of Ham Yard Village. The hotel bar packs out most evenings with a diverse, hip crowd of creatives, who come for the eclectic decor and sophisticated cocktail menu while the on-site bowling alley and theatre have long been draws for lavish private parties with a difference.
Bedrooms boast floor-to-ceiling, triple-glazed windows — allowing you to sleep peacefully through Soho’s clamour — while decor reflects Firmdale’s penchant for bold pattern and high-end contemporary design. There are also 17 serviced apartments with minimum three-month lets (you’ll never want to leave). In warmer months, visitors spill onto the al fresco courtyard, or take refuge at the rooftop bar, which is one of the best in London.
Address: 1 Ham Yard, Soho, W1D 7DT
Number of rooms: 89 bedrooms, nine suites, 17 luxury long-stay apartments
Amenities: Spa, gym, bowling alley, theatre
Restaurants & Bars: Ham Yard Restaurant & Bar and Rooftop Terrace
Price: From £466 per night, visit firmdalehotels.com
Hotel Café Royal, Soho
First opened in 1965, Café Royal courted bohemian contemporaries including Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. The hotel underwent a vast refurbishment in 2013, restoring the building to its former glory. Today, it truly lives up to its Royal name, with a vast marble lobby and lashings of Louis XVI gilded extravagance. There is also a delightful Cake & Bubbles café, serving champagne and Michelin-starred pastries.
By contrast, rooms are light and modern and surprisingly quiet, given their proximity to Regent Street below. Seriously impressive suites include the Dome Penthouse, complete with its own verdant roof terrace. There is a gorgeous, state-of-the-art Akasha spa in the belly of the hotel, with a 60ft pool and private hammam. Guests can enjoy free-of-charge fitness classes in dedicated studios, including morning yoga and Pilates.
Address: 10 Air Street, Soho, London, W1B 4DY
Number of rooms: 115 rooms and five suites
Amenities: State-of-the-art spa with 60ft pool and complimentary fitness classes
Restaurants & bars: Barbounia at The Gallery, Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, Green Bar, Cakes & Bubbles by Albert Adrià
Price: From £790 per night, visit hotelcaferoyal.com
The Kensington, South Kensington
‘Homely decadence’ was the brief when designing The Kensington, a plush five-star residence behind grand neoclassical façade near London’s museum mile. The Drawing Room is the hotel’s convivial hub, serving breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea by a roaring all-year-round fire. Generously sized rooms are decorated with striking Thibaut wallpaper and lustrous silk headboards, while Calcutta marble ensuites are generously laden with Malin and Goetz bath products. The clubby K-bar is a destination in its own right, attracting tourists and affluent locals alike.
Guests can make use of the Pashley bicycles parked outside the hotel, and the kitchen will also rustle up a picnic to be enjoyed in nearby Hyde Park. Children are made most welcome and receive a complimentary Kensington teddy bear, as well as a turndown service of milk and cookies.
Address: 109-113 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, SW7 5LP
Number of rooms: 150 rooms
Amenities: Fitness suite and spa treatment room
Restaurants & bars: Town House, The Drawing Room and The K Bar
Price: From £355 per room per night, visit doylecollection.com
The Landmark London, Marylebone
Along with the buildings now occupied by the Andaz hotel at Liverpool Street, and the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in King’s Cross, The Landmark was originally designed as a grand, Victorian-era railway hotel serving the relatively minor (given the size of the hotel) Marylebone station, opposite. The Landmark London is centred around a stunning, eight-storey glass-roofed atrium that’s lined with towering palm trees, making for one of the most spectacular interior spaces of any London hotel — and a place perennially popular with afternoon tea goers and Sunday brunch lovers (thanks, largely, to the free-flowing champagne that comes as part of the deal).
Classically-styled rooms may not be as expensively upholstered as some of London’s starrier hotels, but they nonetheless come with marble bathrooms and all of the traditional mod-coms. Its basement spa, meanwhile, remains something of a hidden secret and is spacious, well-equipped and features a good-sized pool with a hot tub — something that many pricier hotels aren’t able to boast. Architecturally uplifting, the Landmark London is a Victorian vestige that offers door-step access to one of London’s more under-explored neighbourhoods.
Address: 222 Marylebone Road, Marylebone, NW1 6JQ
Number of rooms: 249 rooms and 51 suites
Amenities: Spa, sauna, steam room, gym, indoor swimming pool
Restaurants & bars: The Winter Garden, Great Central Pub by Matt Fletcher, Mirror Bar, Champagne Bar and Garden Terrace
Price: From £405 per night, visit landmarklondon.co.uk
The Lanesborough, Hyde Park
When The Lanesborough reopened in 2015, after a year-and-a-half of restoration, it promised to take guests back in time to the early 19th century. The price of tickets — £26,000 a night for 445 square metre Royal Suite complete with a dining room for 12 — reportedly made it London’s most expensive hotel. Today, the suite remains available strictly on application.
Occupying a neoclassical, Grade II-listed ex-hospital overlooking Hyde Park and dating back to 1844, the inside of The Lanesborough was reimagined in the style of its Regency-era façade. Crystal chandeliers cascade from high ceilings, wide corridors are held up by ornamental Greek columns, marble runs for miles, more than 42,000 sheets of gold leaf were used for various decoration, there’s a bar stocked with cognacs that date from 1770 (which cost up to £10,000 per pour) and an impressive collection of 18th-century artworks, including three original Reynolds.
The Lanesborough Club & Spa was named the World’s Best New Hotel Spa in the year of its launch, and all bedrooms come with butlers and televisions that are artfully hidden behind replica oil paintings.
Address: Hyde Park Corner, SW1X 7TA
Number of rooms: 47 rooms and 46 suites
Amenities: State-of-the art gym, sauna, steam room, small pool, hair salon
Restaurants & bars: The Library Bar, The Lanesborough Grill, The Garden Room and The Withdrawing Room
Price: From £750 per night, visit oetkercollection.com
The Langham, Marylebone
The Langham is an historic hotel that’s kept up with the times. Its two biggest draws are its location — it’s a three-minute stroll to the shops of Oxford Street and equidistance to the restaurants of Marylebone — and its food and drink offering: Artesian was voted the World’s Best Bar for four years in a row (2011-15); Roux at the Landau has a reputation for serving some of the finest French cuisine in London; while the less-formal, highly-welcoming The Wigmore is a gastropub with a menu overseen by Roux — what more could you ask for?
When the 10-storey, turreted, neo-baroque building was completed in 1865 it touted itself as the continent’s first ‘Grand Hotel’. Then the largest hotel in London, it housed 100 water closets, 36 bathrooms and the first hydraulic lifts in England. Guests have included Mark Twain, Napoleon III, Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and Princess Diana. The past 30 years has seen The Langham pass through the hands of several owners. The upshot is that the building has benefitted from almost £200 million’s worth of refurbishment.
The Langham may have 380 rooms, as well as a number of branded residences for those who can’t bear to leave, yet away from its bustling, marble-clad, column-lined lobby, it manages to retain a sense of intimacy. Rooms are light, neutral and luxurious. The Chuan Health Club boasts a 16-metre subterranean swimming pool and a spa that was the first in London to incorporate the ancient principles of traditional Chinese medicine into its signature treatments.
Address: 1C Portland Place, Marylebone, W1B 1JA
Number of rooms: 333 rooms, 42 suites and five apartments
Amenities: Spa, sauna, steam room, indoor pool, gym
Restaurants & bars: The Good Front Room, Palm Court, Artesian Bar and The Wigmore
Price: From £400 per room per night, visit langhamhotels.com
One Aldwych, Covent Garden
Located in the heart of theatreland, there are few better places to lay your head after a night in the West End than One Aldwych. A stone’s throw from the Royal Opera House, Trafalgar Square and Somerset House, its elegant rooms are ideal for out-of-towners and staycationers alike while its gorgeous signature suites (including the incredible Terrace Suite) promise a night to remember.
When you’re not out exploring, One Aldwych’s in-house offering includes neighbourhood restaurant Indigo, where chef Dominic Teague serves up modern British fare and indulgent afternoon teas and pre-theatre fare, as well as the elegant Lobby Bar and Library cafe. There’s also an in-house cinema with films curated by Curzon and a serene health club with gym, indoor pool and spa treatments from Oskia and Natura Bissé.
Address: 1 Aldwych, WC2B 4BZ
Number of rooms: 93 rooms, 12 suites
Amenities: Spa, sauna, steam room, indoor pool, gym
Restaurants & bars: Indigo, Lobby Bar and The Library
Price: From £610 per room per night, visit onealdwych.com
Pan Pacific London, The City
One of the newest additions to London’s five-star hotel scene, the Pan Pacific London opened in 2020 to offer a luxurious new lifestyle-oriented option to the often business-focused hostelries of The City. Housed in a soaring 43-storey bronze tower, with interior design by Yabu Pushelberg throughout, its 237 rooms (43 of which are suites) promise gorgeous views, high-tech ChiliSleep Ooler Sleep Cooling Systems and well-appointed bathrooms with Diptyque toiletries and Dyson hairdryers.
And, while you’ll find a yoga mat in your room, the Pan Pacific London’s full-floor wellness suite is a must-visit. Equipped with a state-of-the-art gym, 18.5 metre indoor infinity pool, full-service spa and complete thermal suite, with sauna, steam room and relaxation pods, it is undoubtedly one of the most expansive health and wellness offerings of any London hotel.
Worked up an appetite? Stop for a drink at Pan Pacific London’s chic Ginger Lily or Silverleaf bars before heading to its in-house restaurant Straits Kitchen for delectable Asian cuisine, including signature dishes such as wok-fried Singapore chilli mud crab. Sweet tooths, meanwhile, will find much to love in the Orchid Lounge’s afternoon tea, created by Executive Pastry Chef Cherish Finden. Presenting a unique twist on the classic, expect bao and dim sum alongside exquisite pastries.
Address: 80 Houndsditch, EC3A 7AB
Number of rooms: 194 rooms, 43 suites
Amenities: Spa, sauna, steam room, indoor pool, gym
Restaurants & bars: Straits Kitchen, Shiok!, Orchid Lounge, Ginger Lily bar and Silverleaf bar
Price: From £395 per room per night, visit panpacific.com
The Ritz, Piccadilly
In 2021, The Ritz celebrated 115 years of splendour and elegance and, in that time, has won the affections of innumerable high-profile guests over the years – the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) was a loyal client of César Ritz and is reputed to have said, “Where Ritz goes, I go”. In 2002, it became the first hotel to receive a Royal Warrant for its banquet and catering services. With many world-class restaurants in the vicinity, The Ritz Restaurant easily holds its own (a Michelin star was awarded in 2016) while a quintessential experience of The Ritz is afternoon tea in the Palm Court, where more than 18 different types of loose-leaf tea can be chosen.
Indeed, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother regularly dined at The Ritz where she requested her favourite song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square be played on the piano. More akin to staying in a palace than a hotel, the hotel has an opulently decorated cream-coloured Louis XVI setting, with panelled mirrors in gilt bronze frames. The ultimate way to experience the grandeur of The Ritz, The Prince of Wales suite is a vast penthouse suite with views over Green Park — yours from £5,450 a night. Toast the end of the day with The Ritz’s French 75, a classic champagne cocktail.
Address: 150 Piccadilly, St. James’s, W1J 9BR
Number of rooms: 111 rooms and 25 suites
Amenities: Rolls-Royce Phantom available for suite guests, Hiro Miyoshi at The Ritz London, cigar room, beauty and massage treatments
Restaurants & bars: The Ritz Restaurant, Rivoli Bar and Afternoon Tea Room
Price: From £744 per night, visit theritzlondon.com
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Knightsbridge
The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park re-opened its doors in April 2019 after a top-to-bottom refurbishment. Rooms were reimagined by Hong Kong-based design doyen Joyce Wang as bright, light contemporary spaces that come with Bang & Olufsen flat screen TVs, iHome stations, GHD hair straighteners, Nespresso coffee machines and heated electric toilet seats.
A literal stone’s throw from Hyde Park, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Sloane Street, Mandarin Oriental is home to the two Michelin-star DINNER by Heston Blumenthal and the slick Mandarin Bar, home to a seriously impressive cocktail menu. In its subterranean floors, the hotel boasts a comprehensively kitted-out fitness studio, an expansive spa and slick, spot-lit 17-metre pool.
From antique mirrors that have been artistically gilded and etched with feathers, to the heft of marble that flows from lobby to reception and into every guest bathroom via grand sweeping staircases, it’s clear that no expense has been spared transforming Mandarin Oriental into one of London’s classiest hotels.
Address: 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA
Number of rooms: 168 rooms and 26 suites
Amenities: 17-metre indoor swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness centre, spa
Restaurants & bars: Mandarin Bar, The Aubrey, The Rosebery, Hyde Park Garden and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Price: From £791 per night, visit mandarinoriental.com
Nobu Hotel, Shoreditch
A celebrity chef’s empire extends far beyond the kitchen these days and Nobu Matsuhisa is no exception. Opening his namesake sushi restaurant in Los Angeles back in 1987, it became such a hit he once had to turn down Tom Cruise for lack of space. Soon after, Robert De Niro approached Chef Nobu to become his business partner — the rest, as they say…
With international outposts in more than 10 locations, including two in London, the Nobu hotels share a blend of modern cool luxury and minimal Japanese tradition. As expected, the food is the crowning achievement of the Nobu Shoreditch experience. The hotel features three restaurants: Nobu Shoreditch serves signature classics like the umami-laden Black Cod Den Miso; in the Lobby Lounge you’ll find the Nobu café, the first Nobu restaurant in London to serve breakfast; while Nobu Bar serves a selection of Japanese street food dishes, as house music is played by a collective of mysterious, masked DJs.
Rooms are bento box-like in their dimensions but aesthetically pleasing and utilise space well. Defining moment? Make yourself a ceremonial-grade matcha tea post-spa treatment and soak up the vibes of Shoreditch from your terrace (available in higher-rate rooms) in one of East London’s most restful experiences.
Address: 10-50 Willow Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 4BH
Number of rooms: 148 rooms including suites
Amenities: Spa, wellness and fitness centre
Restaurants: Nobu Shoreditch, Nobu Café and Nobu Bar
Price: From £214 per night, visit london-shoreditch.nobuhotels.com
The Savoy, The Strand
The Savoy — where do we start? If you want to sleep on a mattress worth £40,000 or stay in rooms approved by Frank Sinatra, Edward VII and Judy Garland, then the Savoy is where you can dream easy. As the first luxury hotel in Britain, the Savoy trades on tradition in both service and look. Immaculately turned-out staff have an ethos of ‘personal service naturally’ and the hotel was the first to establish its own school to train professionals.
Attention to detail sets the Savoy apart from other five-star hotels: which other hotel employs a ‘Literary Ambassador’ to select novels for its guests? Rooms are cheerfully decorated in typically Edwardian or Art Deco style, though our recommendation would be to opt for one overlooking the Thames for spectacular panoramas at night. Guests are spoiled for choice with dining options: Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill does not disappoint, neither does the darkly seductive The Beaufort Bar.
Address: Strand, WC2R 0EZ
Rooms: 265 including suites
Amenities: Beauty and fitness centre, indoor pool, spa, sauna, florist
Restaurants & bars: Savoy Grill by Gordon Ramsay, Restaurant 1890 by Gordon Ramsay, The River Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay, Thames Foyer, The American Bar and The Beaufort Bar
Price: From £675 per night, visit thesavoylondon.com
Sea Containers London, Southbank
Formerly the Mondrian, Sea Containers boasts spectacular views from its riverfront location in London’s Southbank. While the 1980’s post-modernist exterior has remained largely intact, the interior was completely revamped by designer Tom Dixon in 2014, who drew inspiration from the former tenant of the building: a shipping company. Inside, the atmosphere is unashamedly flamboyant; there are glowing metallics, copper-clad hallways highlighted by moody lighting and sweeping art-deco curves, all intended to invoke the glamour of 1920s transatlantic liners.
Throughout its guest spaces and bar, Sea Containers evokes the sensation of a nightclub more than a hotel. Voted one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, guests can enjoy a cocktail at Lyaness — which offers unique views towards St Paul’s and the Square Mile — and the rooftop 12th Knot with its outdoor terrace. Rest assured though, that the hedonistic Dixon theme does not extend to the rooms, which are comparatively modest in comparison, allowing some of the best views in the city to speak for themselves.
Address: 20 Upper Ground, South Bank, SE1 9PD
Number of Rooms: 359 rooms including suites
Amenities: Fitness and wellness centre, spa, Curzon cinema
Restaurants & bars: Sea Containers Restaurant, 12th Knot and Lyaness Bar
Price: From £209 per night, visit seacontainerslondon.com
Shangri-La The Shard, Southwark
Shangri-La at The Shard, the capital’s highest hotel, comes served with a slice of renowned Asian hospitality. Service is friendly, warm and genuine, while 360-degree vistas of the capital from almost every point in the hotel are unrivalled. Being so high above the city, there’s a sense of serenity and occasion. The hotel’s restaurants are destinations in themselves — we suggest kicking off the night at GŎNG Bar, with its impressive rotation of themed cocktails.
Rooms and suites, meanwhile, offer contemporary, understatedly elegant interiors that highlight the views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. The hotel also has a comprehensive health and wellness offering, including its draw-dropping 52nd floor Skypool, which caused quite the stir when the hotel opened. You’ve never had a workout quite like it.
Address: 31 St Thomas Street, SE1 9QU
Number of rooms: 202 rooms including suites
Amenities: Skypool swimming pool, spa, gym
Restaurants & bars: GŎNG Bar, TÎNG Restaurant, Bar 31, Hutong, Sky Lounge, Oblix and Aqua Shard
Price: From £566 per night, visit the-shard.com
The Stafford London, St. James’s
English eccentricity meets mid-century Americana in this historic hotel, which served as a base for American and Canadian officers during the Second World War. Tucked away in a demure corner of St James’s — just a few hundred yards from Buckingham Palace — The Stafford sits atop a 380-year-old wine cellar, thought to be the oldest in London, which houses whiskies dating back to the 1920s.
Despite the hotel’s storied history (since the 1940s it’s operated a member’s club for service men who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty), there’s nothing antiquated about The Stafford’s rooms and restaurant. Suites have the sprawling feel of an officer class cabin on a vintage ocean liner; dark woods, smooth leather chairs, marble bathrooms and tonnes of milk chocolate, caramel and cream.
The hotel’s American Bar is famed for its world-class cocktail while The Game Bird, presided over by head chef Jozef Rogulski, is an entirely unapologetic love letter to the Great British larder. Immense flower displays, deep carpets, backgammon boards and a display cabinet full of partridge and beef ribs tells you one thing immediately: this is not a place in which to try and order a hot dog and fries.
Address: 16-18 St James’s Place, St. James’s, SW1A 1NJ
Number of rooms: 107 including suites
Amenities: A 380-year-old wine cellar, multiple private event rooms
Restaurants & bars: The American Bar, The Game Bird and The Wine Cellar
Price: From £391 per night, visit thestaffordlondon.com
Read more: The Staycation Guide: The best luxury hotel stays in London
