Hotels in London

Choosing where to sleep in London matters more than in almost any other British city, because the transport network is what you will spend your holiday inside if you get it wrong. A room that looks like a bargain in Zone 3 can cost you two hours a day and thirty pounds in fares, and a central room at a higher nightly rate often works out cheaper once you stop paying for travel and start walking home from dinner. The first question is not how much, but which part of the city you actually intend to spend your time in.

For a first visit of two or three nights, Zone 1 is worth the premium. Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and Victoria put the major sights within walking distance and let you drop bags at lunchtime and change before an evening out. If you are here for theatre, base yourself in the West End; for museums, South Kensington; for food and bars, Shoreditch or London Bridge. Families often do better slightly out - Greenwich, Richmond, Hampstead - where rooms are larger and parks are on the doorstep.

London rooms are small by international standards, and it is better to know that before you book. A comfortable double in a period townhouse conversion may be twelve or fourteen square metres. Compact-format hotels have made a deliberate model of this, trading floor space for a good bed, a proper shower and a central postcode at a fair price. At the other extreme, the grand hotels of Mayfair, Belgravia and the Strand offer real scale, service and history, and charge for all three.

Rates move a long way with the calendar. January and February are the cheapest months by a clear margin; the City is dear midweek and cheap at weekends, while the West End works the other way round. Booking six to eight weeks out and checking whether breakfast is included will save more than any amount of comparison shopping. Check the aspect too - a street-facing room on a bus route is a very different night's sleep from one over a courtyard.