The All-Time Best Hotels in London, According to Our UK-Based Editors

From classic grand dames to shiny new openings, these properties have all been tried and tested by our team.Courtesy The BerkeleyWhat’s the best hotel in London? To offer just one answer, or even five, is about as complex as a quantum physics equation. It's like asking, “What’s the best food?” or, “What’s the meaning of life?” The options are seemingly endless, incredibly subjective, and forever changing. At our last count (in 2026), London is home to over 3,000. And there are more to come later this year— notably the Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch and the Auberge Collection's Cambridge House.Good thing the editors at Condé Nast Traveler are up to the challenge. Especially given the fact that our British office is based in London—so there's nary an opening we don't thoroughly review, from the coziest of beds to the swankiest of hotel bars. After much discussion, we've created this ever-evolving edit of the best hotels in London, spanning the grand dames, the shiny modern addresses, the romantic boutiques, and more.Our top picksEditor-recommended hotelsFrequently asked questionsMore great places to stay in LondonOur top picks:Best for classic luxury: Claridge'sBest for luxury: Six Senses LondonBest for a cool crowd: Broadwick SohoBest for families: Mandarin Oriental Hyde ParkThe Newman, LondonTop amenities: Luxury spa, private dining rooms, terraceThe Newman sits on its namesake street, slipping neatly into Fitzrovia’s understated streetscape. The welcome is slick but unfussy, and as the smiling staff usher you inside, the ground floor unfolds as an open, fluid space—part lounge, part brasserie, part bar—humming gently throughout the day as people work, lunch, and gossip. The atmosphere was already alive during my visit, as the first guest to stay overnight. As evening set in, the lighting deepened and the downstairs bar, The Gambit, filled with music, laughter, and strong cocktails. —Chloe LawsPrice: Rooms from around $721 per night.Address: 50 Newman St, London W1T 3EBClosest tube station: Goodge StreetRead Full ReviewBertrand’s Townhouse, LondonTop amenities: Terrace with a cigar garden, speakeasy-style salonMade up of three conjoined Georgian townhouses on a quiet corner of Bloomsbury, this is the kind of bolthole where even non-guests, fresh from the British Museum, Oxford Street, or King's Cross, will want to come for whispered conversations over a French 75 cocktail or small plates in its characterful, speakeasy-style salon. The 43 rooms, including three suites, boast parquet flooring and wooden textures. You’ll be hard-pressed to find more atmospheric places to eat in Bloomsbury than at Ottie’s Salon. Its plushly upholstered furniture and valance curtains lend a cozy parlor-turned-speakeasy ambience, in a nod to the Bloomsbury Set era. Guests spill out onto the three-part terrace, with its overhead heaters, barbecue space, and The Cigar Garden, where tobacco lovers can take their pick of Havanas from the humidor and lose themselves in a smoky haze until closing time. —Noo Saro-WiwaPrice: Rooms from around $471 per night.Address: 4-6 Bedford Pl, London WC1B 5JDClosest tube station: Russell SquareRead Full ReviewSix Senses LondonTop amenities: Wellness center, magnesium plunge pool, green roofHoused in the historic Whiteley Building, this property is unmistakably part of the Six Senses universe. No mean feat, considering most of the brand’s hotels are set in remote, leafy locations that feel worlds away from real life. Wellness is the name of the game, and as I was handed my ginger kombucha welcome drink, I noticed how seamlessly it’s woven into every element of the Six Senses experience. One floor underground is a labyrinth of snazzy high-tech equipment designed to biohack, educate, and optimize performance. But this modern approach is teamed with ancient medicinal practices and a holistic, full-circle philosophy.A shaman strategically placed crystals—"energy flowing devices"— throughout the property, and there’s The Alchemy Bar, where tinctures and tonics are created for use in the drinks menu. The kitchen, too, champions locality, and its head chef visited 30 British farms before settling on its suppliers. In the rooms, slick and stylish interiors create a sense of calm: brushed bleached-wood flooring, sage-green velvet armchairs, and stems of eucalyptus that burst from vases on low-slung tables. The bed is paramount, and I spent two blissful nights enveloped in cloudlike comfort. And that’s the beauty of Six Senses. It’s a sanctuary in the heart of the city. Wellness here isn’t about compromise—a notion I think we can all get on board with. —Sarah Leigh BannermanPrice: Rooms from around $1,100 per night.Address: 1 Redan Pl, London W2 4SAClosest tube station: BayswaterRead Full ReviewThe ConnaughtTop amenities: Indoor swimming pool, babysitting services, pet-friendlyA 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. 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). –Lydia BellPrice: Rooms from around $1,335 per nightAddress: 16 Carlos Pl, London W1K 2ALClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full ReviewClaridge'sTop amenities: Mini bar with complimentary treats and soft drinks, private terrace, subterranean spaFounded in 1812, frequented by Queen Victoria, and listed by 1878’s influential Baedeker’s guide as “the first hotel in London,” Claridge’s could easily rest on its storied laurels. But it has always kept ahead of the rest, enlisting the likes of Guy Oliver and Diane von Furstenberg for facelifts over the decades to ensure it bestrides the classic and modern in a way few hotels manage. The lobby captures the Art Deco glamour of the Jazz Age when flappers hobnobbed with royalty. Its checkered-floor expanse buzzes with an international motley crew of Hollywood stars, brides, and business types catching up over zesty Ginger John cocktails in the 1930s-style Fumoir bar.The hotel’s expansion into the building next door created space for suites such as the Mayfair, where designer Bryan O’Sullivan (of The Berkeley Bar) has ingrained modernity through scalloped mohair furniture in coral and pastel-green palettes. Claridge’s has also dug deep to impress guests with its subterranean spa. Designed by André Fu (of the Maybourne Bar in Beverly Hills), its limewood and stone textures and dreamy peachy hues are the backdrop for bamboo-stick massages and Cryo Oxygen Shot facials. The pool ripples beneath a vaulted ceiling, surrounded by stone columns and cushy cabanas. Claridge’s is no longer the only show in town, but it’s with good reason that every other heritage hotel in London still sees it as the benchmark. —Noo Saro-WiwaPrice: Rooms from around $1,071 per nightAddress: Brook St, London W1K 4HRClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full ReviewThe Chancery RosewoodTop amenities: Marble baths, full-length swimming pool, full-service spa, reimagined historic design touchesIn a previous life, this corner of Mayfair was made to look uninviting and unappealing, as it housed the highly secure American Embassy for almost 60 years. Today, door staff in biscuit-colored suits greet intrigued passersby, and diners sip wine on the umbrella-strewn terrace at street level. Above this merry tableau, Theodore Roszak's 35-foot gilded eagle—an original feature from the building's Embassy era—watches over the square from the seventh floor.This is an all-suite hotel–144 of them to be exact, which feels like a relatively diminutive number (Rosewood London has 262 rooms, for context) and speaks to their size. Mine was on the sixth floor and had views of Grosvenor Square from floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides. Everything in my suite was appropriately (American-ly) super-sized—from the TV screens in every room to the marble bath–and the vast proportions made it one of the most sumptuous suites I've seen in London. Similarly, the Asaya Spa, on one of the basement levels, has—I'm told —the only full-length swimming pool in a Mayfair hotel. And then there's the Eagle Bar, a late-night terrace atop the building, dominated by that 35-foot gilded eagle, which is one of Mayfair's hottest tables to book. —Sarah JamesPrice: Rooms from around $1,693 per nightAddress: 30 Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 9ANClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full ReviewThe Emory, KnightsbridgeTop amenities: Holistic and longevity spa, open-air courtyard, on-site conciergeIt would be easy to walk straight past this glass box of a hotel that overlooks Hyde Park and not realize that it’s perhaps the starriest hotel in London. One of the last projects of the late great architect Richard Rogers, London’s first all-suite hotel is a departure of sorts for the Maybourne Group, best known for heritage classics like Claridge’s and The Connaught. It enlisted an all-star cast: Jean-Georges Vongerichten for the lightly airy ABC Kitchen; Tracy Anderson for the fitness studio in the 21,573-square-foot, longevity-focused Surrenne spa; and a handful of big-name interior designers, such as Rémi Tessier, who designed the entire ground floor and entrance along with the Emory Rooftop Bar, Emory Cigar Merchants, and all four floors of Surrenne.Others include André Fu (Claridge’s Spa), Pierre Yves Rochon (The Savoy), Alexandra Champalimaud (Raffles Singapore), and Patricia Urquiola (Six Senses Rome). While there's nowhere else like this hotel in London—thanks to the Damien Hirsts dotted about and helicopter transfers with larger suites—there's also nowhere quite as discreet. –Toby SkinnerPrice: Rooms from around $1,303 per nightAddress: Old Barrack Yard, London SW1X 7NPClosest tube station: KnightsbridgeRead Full ReviewMandarin Oriental MayfairTop amenities: Signature wellness and spa treatment packages, Technogym equipment, access to designer shopping, world-class restaurantsMandarin Oriental’s second London opening, in a corner of the capital’s most sought-after neighborhood, was the talk of the town long before the doors opened. Leading designers captured the brand’s Asian heritage in haute couture hideouts in emerald green, with considered splashes of turquoise and sheeny metallic finishes throughout. Kaleidoscopic floral arrangements greet guests—who range from families utilizing interconnecting room arrangements to suited visitors dropping in for fizzy, informal meetings—in the lobby.Signature suites are Mayfair pied-à-terres, where hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper lines the walls, Natura Bissé products scent the bathrooms, and classic English novels adorn the coffee tables—ready and waiting for Champagne-sipping, kimono-wearing guests. Experienced hands soothe aching muscles in the subterranean spa’s cozy treatment rooms as other guests break a sweat on the gym’s Technogym equipment. Beside the 82-foot pool, the hustle and bustle of Oxford Circus feels a million miles away, rather than the stone’s throw it is. –Connor SturgesPrice: Rooms from around $1,302 per night.Address: 22 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JPClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full Review1 Hotel Mayfair, MayfairTop amenities: Co-working space, non-toxic toiletries, views across Green Park and the city skylineThis nine-story hotel is a sustainable sanctuary, fitting naturally among London’s oldest hospitality icons just across the road from The Ritz and The Wolseley. Inside, you are greeted by a giant suspended plant chandelier, a reception desk hewn from the trunk of a giant oak tree in a Sussex forest, and a wall of Yorkshire stone, tactfully slotted together with no additional materials by a father and son carpentry stonemason duo. It’s an unexpectedly soothing space amid London’s busiest shopping district; inside, the noise of Piccadilly fades away, absorbed by thousands of plants (1,300 to be exact—including 200 local and regional species) and raw materials sprinkled throughout the hotel.The reception’s tranquil aesthetic extends into each of the 181 bedrooms. Sandy hues and creamy tones come in the form of linen-covered cushions, soft furnishings, and oak flooring. Not to mention, each room has a living moss wall, further emphasizing the hotel’s dedication to bringing the outdoors inside. Downstairs, the hotel also has a café and co-working space by day, which transforms into a wine bar by night, as well as an elegant, low-lit cocktail bar area leading to one of London’s most talked-about new restaurants, Dovetale. —Olivia MorelliPrice: Rooms from around $577 per nightAddress: 3 Berkeley St, London W1J 8DLClosest tube station: Green ParkRead Full ReviewNoMad LondonTop amenities: Library bar, courtyard restaurant, clawfoot tubsThere’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 bar, The Library, has shelves and shelves of books, though the prominent criminology section can’t match a tour of the adjacent 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. —Rick JordanPrice: Rooms from around $634 per nightAddress: 28 Bow St, London WC2E 7AWClosest tube station: Covent GardenRead Full ReviewRosewood LondonTop amenities: 24-hour in-room dining, butler service, valet parkingWith their first foray into London, Rosewood has created not just a magnificent new hotel but a whole new neighborhood: “Midtown,” previously known 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: 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. —Laura GouldenPrice: Rooms from around $778 per nightAddress: 252 High Holborn, London WC1V 7ENClosest tube station: HolbornRead Full ReviewThe Mayfair TownhouseTop amenities: Pet-friendly, tour and ticket assistance, speakeasyThe 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 Cobb salad and steak frites. If you can pry 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. —Katharine SohnPrice: Rooms from around $687 per nightAddress: 27-41 Half Moon St, London W1J 7BGClosest tube station: Green ParkRead Full ReviewThe SavoyTop amenities: Dry cleaning and laundry services, in-house restaurant and bar, luggage storageThough 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. 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.” —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $905 per nightAddress: Strand, London WC2R 0EZClosest tube station: TempleRead Full ReviewThe LanesboroughTop amenities: Butler service, award-winning spa, fitness center with daily classes, babysitting servicesMinimalists, 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 is supposedly the most expensive in London—guilty as charged—but 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—a 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 via a gorgeous sky dome. —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $1,182 per nightAddress: Hyde Park Corner, London SW1X 7TAClosest tube station: KnightsbridgeRead Full ReviewThe Twenty TwoTop amenities: Private members club, partnership with BXR Marylebone gymThis previously residential Edwardian manor house has been turned into a 31-room hotel and members club by former Blakes owner Navid Mirtorabi, with the help of business partner Jamie Reuben, a scion of a family that owns swathes of Mayfair. In a marble-floored lobby that smells of churchy frankincense, guests are greeted by a cape-wearing doorman and a row of staff in Charlie Casely-Hayford suits. A pervasive friendliness cuts through the velveteen quality of a place that feels more like a louche Parisian hideaway than most chic new London hotels, which tend to fit into Hoxton or Heritage pigeonholes.Most rooms are understatedly plush, painted an elegant blue that’s on the sensual side of Edwardian; former Arbutus chef Alan Christie hits the key modern British notes in the dining room. Some of the prices are shiver-inducing, but then this is Mayfair, and The Twenty Two is offering something different—something sexier and more fun, which might just be a marker point for the area’s future. –T.S.Price: Rooms from around $687 per nightAddress: 22 Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 6LFClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full ReviewRaffles London at The OWOTop amenities: Hydrothermal facilities, butler service, state-of-the-art gymThe War Office is not the War Office anymore. It’s now the OWO (a.k.a. “The Old War Office”). It consists of Raffles London at the OWO, which takes up about half the building, along with some mighty luxe private residences and various other restaurants. It’s hard not to overemphasize how little other London hotels can touch what Raffles has been lucky enough to tap into here. Historically, the building has been perched at the very hub of the establishment. A hefty $1.9 billion restoration investment, over seven years, included an 82-foot downward excavation to create the wellness levels of the hotel.Nine restaurants and three bars join the 27,000-square-foot Goddard Littlefair–designed Guerlain spa (with three subterranean levels) and 65-foot pool. The final shimmering product has 120 rooms and suites, with an entry-level rate of more than $1,400 per night. All is presided over by the suave, somewhat slinky French hotelier Philippe Leboeuf, the managing director, Anglophile, and self-professed Churchillphile. —L.B.Price: Rooms from around $1,399 per nightAddress: 57 Whitehall, London SW1A 2BXClosest tube station: Charing CrossRead Full ReviewThe HariTop amenities: Pet- and family-friendly, complimentary bicycles, outdoor terraceWith the flurry of London openings in recent years, you’d be forgiven for overlooking hotels such as The Hari, but this is a contemporary bolthole with an artistic temperament and loft-style bedrooms that are a pleasure to dawdle in. And while many of London’s classic hits are a stroll away, staying in for an evening isn’t to be sniffed at either, drifting on a little stroll from the bar, with its riffs on classic cocktails, down to the restaurant for authentic Italian dishes.There’s a real sense of being tucked away here, of bedrooms being chic dens from which you can peek out at London, with decor mixing Starck-like polish with just a little burlesque (a waft of gauze, a lingerie-clad portrait) and lithographs such as Tracey Emin’s “She Lay Down.” For a personable, well-connected London base tucked away in Belgravia, this feels like a secret hotel for romantic liaisons or a weekend break taking in a show or exhibition, shopping on Sloane Street, then stretching out for an indulgent Sunday morning. —R.J.Price: Rooms from around $481 per nightAddress: 20 Chesham Pl, London SW1X 8HQClosest tube station: KnightsbridgeRead Full ReviewThe London EditionTop amenities: Activities for kids, on-site nightlife, custom furnishingsA 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 marvelously quiet, a perfect antidote to the hubbub below. —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $520 per nightAddress: 10 Berners St, London W1T 3NPClosest tube station: Tottenham Court RoadRead Full ReviewBeaverbrook Town HouseTop amenities: Tennis courts, playground for kids, complimentary minibarA 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. 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 theater, 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 colorful, 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 eggplant. —Emma LovePrice: Rooms from around $507 per nightAddress: 22 Portman Square, London W1H 7BGClosest tube station: Bond StreetRead Full ReviewThe Standard, LondonTop amenities: State-of-the-art gym (with Pelotons), dog-friendly, weekly eventsA colorful, convenient stay in London that somehow manages to feel both high-energy and laid-back. It’s a place where design, culture, and personality intersect; where Brutalist architecture meets disco lighting; where a solo traveler can feel at home in a city of millions. It’s stylish, yes—but more than that, it’s smart: environmentally conscious, beautifully designed, and instinctively in tune with what any traveler could possibly request. Stay at The Standard, London, if you want the city at its most vivid—the buzz, the art, the rhythm of the streets—with a room you’ll actually want to come back to.The Standard, London, has 266 rooms spread across nine floors, each one balancing comfort with character. Floors one through seven feature rooms in varying sizes—from compact, cocoon-like private pads to more generous king and queen layouts, all unified by midcentury lines and that signature blue-and-red carpet that plays off the concrete façade outside. —Jessica ChapelPrice: Rooms from around $304 per night.Address: 10 Argyle St, London WC1H 8EGClosest tube station: King's CrossRead Full ReviewThe Ritz LondonTop amenities: Michelin-starred dining, butler and chauffeur service, afternoon tea offeringsThere 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.Price: Rooms from around $1,270 per nightAddress: 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BRClosest tube station: Green ParkRead Full ReviewMandarin Oriental Hyde Park, LondonTop amenities: Marble bathrooms, award-winning spa, bespoke experiencesReopened after an extensive (and expensive) renovation in 2019, the Mandarin Oriental is nothing less than stunning. The hotel’s Edwardian footprint interplays with tranquil, quirkily contemporary interiors and bright colors; the suites and rooms, finished in sparkling Art Deco style, are by designer Joyce Wang; and there’s an exceptional basement spa with an added Philip Kingsley hair and scalp bar, plus a mani-pedi studio by celebrity French podiatrist Bastien Gonzalez. The exterior is all iconic red brick and cream, while the interior is restrained yet innovative, with added floral displays and fun 1920s-style pendant lights created from equine hair culled from the Horse Guards’ stable. Naturally, Heston Blumenthal’s near-perfect molecular restaurant is packed almost every night. —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $1,182 per nightAddress: 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LAClosest tube station: KnightsbridgeRead Full ReviewChelsea TownhouseTop amenities: Complimentary mini-bar, access to the private Cadogan Gardens, dining salonIf you know London, you also know how prized its private communal gardens are to the residents lucky enough to live by them. The Cadogan Place Gardens in Sloane Square, with their mature trees and gated railings, are among the most prestigious—and the Chelsea Townhouse gives its guests access to that rarified local perk. The 36-room hotel is stitched across three red brick Victorian townhouses, and includes roomy, ground-level suites with French doors that open directly into the garden. The decor here leans antique but is light-touch and chic—think botanical prints, pleated lampshades, velvet headboards, and the odd porcelain figurine.Much of the period furniture has been repurposed from its predecessor, the Draycott Hotel, but the redesign has breathed new life into its spaces, which are bathed in restful shades of gray and cream. Its communal areas include a fire-warmed dining room and bay-windowed library, made cozier with staff who anticipate your needs. Once nestled in this cocoon, it’s easy to forget the abundance at your doorstep: Stylish sister property 11 Cadogan Gardens—with a clever little gym that’s available for Townhouse guests—is around the corner, as is Pavilion Road, a pedestrian mews street with indie restaurants, bars, and design shops. Further out in Chelsea and Kensington, opportunities abound for a great night out; but as you wind your way back to this comfy, tucked-away sanctuary, you’ll be ever glad to be home. —Arati MenonPrice: Rooms from around $579 per nightAddress: 26 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3 2RPClosest tube station: Sloane SquareRead Full ReviewThe DorchesterTop amenities: 24-hour fitness center, Italian marble bathrooms, curated artNot to be outdone by arrivistes thudding onto the top-end scene, the Dorch has been shaking her tail feathers with the biggest refurb in three decades: public spaces supercharged, and two floors of new rooms and suites revealed. The hotel where Elizabeth Taylor signed her Cleopatra contract in the bath remains out-and-out fabulous—but with a Pierre-Yves Rochon uplift. The Artists’ Bar sparkles with a mirrored ceiling, Lalique crystal pillars girdling the bar, and Liberace’s mirror-ball-clad baby grand. This is the spot for caviar, native oysters, and Petal Head cocktails served from a trolley. A hoard of London-centric art glints on the walls: Ann Carrington’s Elizabeth II silhouette in mother-of-pearl buttons, Sue Arrowsmith’s delicate silver leaf with coral branches.Martin Brudnizki’s Vesper Bar invites intimacy with its smoked glass and scalloped armchairs, and the spa (best for Dr. Uliana Gout’s new medical-grade facials) is a pink girly haven. The Grill by Tom Booton, a fun slice of British culinary theater, has a fresh menu; don’t miss the squid bolognese à la Koffmann, given the tick of approval by Pierre Koffmann himself. The new suites have the palettes of an English garden, in leaf green, rose, and heather. If Hôtel Plaza Athénée is the American fantasy of Paris, then this Park Lane dame’s rooms are the American fantasy of Britishness—one we are happy to buy into. —L.B.Price: Rooms from around $1,146 per nightAddress: 53 Park Ln, London W1K 1QAClosest tube station: Marble ArchRead Full ReviewThe Peninsula LondonTop amenities: Two-story wellness center, signature afternoon tea, steps from Kensington GardensInside The Peninsula’s vast lobby, there’s an abstract sense that the red buses and black cabs outside on Hyde Park Corner might as well be a digital projection. All the hallmarks of one of the world’s most iconic hotel brands are here—the pristine service, the all-encompassing tech, the Rolls-Royces in brand green, the tinkly underwater music in the pool; every lion statuette, marble surface, and Japanese maple tree blessed by a hallowed feng shui master.The 190 rooms were designed by American Peter Marino, all with a prevailing sense of haute-generic seven-star neutrality, but are set apart by elaborate technology and extreme comfort. Bright walls of china plates and delicate cups are the backdrop to Peninsula veteran chef Dicky To’s dishes at The Canton Blue, which fuse Cantonese techniques with British ingredients. Downstairs is the sexy street-side Little Blue noodle bar, where ex-Cheval Blanc mixologist Florian Thireau has created a lovely cocktail list themed by the Keying junk journey (to Hong Kong, Saint Helena, New York, and London). And then there's the faintly Jetsons-styled rooftop bar and restaurant, with knockout London views from the terrace, rare Cuban cigars, and classic British food. —T.S.Price: Rooms from around $1,653 per nightAddress: 1 Grosvenor Pl, London SW1X 7HJClosest tube station: Hyde Park CornerRead Full ReviewBroadwick SohoTop amenities: Rooftop bar, maximalist decor, coffee counterThis Martin Brudzinski–designed hangout on the corner of Berwick Street and Broadwick Street is no elegant grand dame or glassy international transplant. Instead, the 57-room hotel, owned by a group of friends, throws patterns (leopard print, zebra stripe, geometric lines), textures (cork paneling, glitter DJ booths, silk walls), and colors (flamingo pink, maroon, aquamarine) together to create a joyful place to stay. As is Brudzinski's way, spaces here are hardly shy and retiring. The designer's trademark maximalist vibe naturally draws comparisons to his other projects, especially Annabel's, but Broadwick is her own person entirely. Two enormous elephants hover above the street-level entrance in top hats and bow ties, while bedrooms pick up the motif and run with it by placing handcrafted Jaipur elephant mini bars front and center—and decking the walls in shimmering elephant-print wallpaper.A hotel this fun, of course, needs sharp public spaces for merrymaking: Flute is the disco-chic rooftop bar; Dear Jackie is a sultry, dimly lit restaurant with an impeccable Sicilian-inspired menu; and little sister Bar Jackie is a more casual café with strong coffee for soothing weary heads the morning after the night before. Then there's The Nook, a guests-only den for nightcaps or afternoon snoozes. The result is a hotel that feels fresh while simultaneously fitting right into the London scene; a space that trades heavily on its glamour and distinctly Soho soul. —S.J.Price: Rooms from around $590 per nightAddress: 20 Broadwick St, London W1F 8HTClosest tube station: Piccadilly CircusRead Full ReviewThe BerkeleyTop amenities: Personalized welcome treats, made-to-order picnics, rooftop poolThe Berkeley Hotel is a must-visit, 125-year-old heritage hotel, masterfully made modern with carefully considered collaborations and a standout spa. The rooms have a spaciousness that is very hard to find in such a central London location, with a contemporary, calming East-meets-West aesthetic. As for the food: You can start your day with cake-sized cinnamon rolls and fresh-out-the-oven viennoiseries by renowned pastry chef Cédric Grolet, and finish your day at La Môme for dinner in a Gatsby-era interior humming with energy. But the real can’t-miss moment is the spa. Spanning across four floors, guests can experience a wealth of wellness, from Tracy Anderson classes to a medical-grade hyperbaric oxygen chamber. —Bridget Mills-PowellPrice: Rooms from around $1,182 per nightAddress: Wilton Pl, London SW1X 7RLClosest tube station: KnightsbridgeRead Full ReviewCorinthia LondonTop amenities: Award-winning spa, prime location, afternoon teaThis property is 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, a glass-encased sauna, and a steel-lined pool. —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $960 per nightAddress: Whitehall Pl, London SW1A 2BDClosest tube station: EmbankmentRead Full ReviewHotel Café RoyalTop amenities: Family-friendly experiences, luxe spa, personal chauffeur if you book a Deluxe Suite or higherThis revamped Regent Street landmark combines fin de siècle opulence with streamlined modernity. There are subtle references to its storied past—for example, 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 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. —Paulie DibnerPrice: Rooms from around $917 per nightAddress: 68 Regent St, London W1B 4DYClosest tube station: Piccadilly CircusRead Full ReviewThe Langham, LondonTop amenities: Daily Champagne toasts, activities and events, award-winning barIf 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. —L.G.Price: Rooms from around $917 per nightAddress: 10 Air St, London W1B 5ABClosest tube station: Piccadilly CircusRead Full ReviewFour Seasons Hotel London at Park LaneTop amenities: 24-hour room service, rooftop spa, views over Hyde ParkThis is 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 paneling in the rooms, and the large-format black-and-white fashion photos from Vogue in the corridors. The spa on the 10th floor has serene park views and perpetuates the chilled-out ambience.Price: Rooms from around $1,335 per nightAddress: Hamilton Pl, Park Ln, London W1J 7DRClosest tube station: Hyde Park CornerRead Full ReviewFAQ:What area in London is best to stay in?If you're keen to be in the midst of the city and surrounded by the sites (think: Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, and New Bond Street), then any of the Maybourne hotels are strong options. Claridge's is one of London's most historic and prestigious hotels, and it's well-placed to visit some of the best restaurants and shops in the city. If you're interested in visiting the museums and Harrods, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is just a short walk away.What are the best hotels in London at Christmas?The festive season in London is especially beautiful when experienced from one of the best hotels in the city. The Ritz pulls out all the stops, and Raffles London at the OWO is home to sprawling suites large enough for families to feel at home, even if only for a few nights.What are the best hotel afternoon teas in London?It's hard to pinpoint the best afternoon tea in London, but some of the big-name hotels present impressive creations that offer a glimpse into the five-star life without actually booking a room. The Savoy, The Peninsula, and Corinthia are among some of our editors' favorites.What are the best hotels in London for families?Some of the best hotels in London are (somewhat surprisingly) also exceptionally welcoming to children. At The Dorchester, expect babycchinos with a personalized chocolate-sprinkled note on the top, and at the Rosewood, lucky little guests will rest their heads on pillows embroidered with their own initials.How we choose the best hotels in London:Every hotel review on this list has been written by a Condé Nast Traveler journalist who knows the destination and has visited that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider properties across price points that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination, keeping design, location, service, and sustainability credentials top of mind.More great places to stay in London:The Best Family-Friendly Hotels in LondonThe Best Affordable Hotels in LondonThe Best Boutique Hotels in LondonReader-Favorite Hotels in LondonThe Best Airbnbs in LondonThis article was originally published on Condé Nast Traveller UK. It has been updated with new information since its original publish date.Lauren Burvill is the senior commerce writer at Condé Nast Traveller, where she writes and commissions hotel, Airbnb, and shopping stories and reviews. Originally from Australia and now based in London, Lauren joined Condé Nast in 2018 and has since written for British Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Brides. Prior to ... Read MoreWhere the pubs are as old as the monuments