Stay at Jurys Inn, Chelsea, London 3*** rating: Jurys Inn Chelsea Hotel is a stunning, 172-bedroom Chelsea hotel located near the fashionable Kings Road. It’s within walking distance of Chelsea and Fulham Football Clubs and is part of the 32-acre Imperial Wharf development in London. Jurys Inn Chelsea offers bright, spacious rooms, which can accommodate up to three adults or two adults and two children in complete comfort. Our fixed rate room pricing for this London hotel offers outstanding value for money.
Address: Imperial Road, Imperial Wharf, Chelsea, London, SW6 2GA, England.
Tel: (+44 207) 411 2200.
London is split into 29 boroughs (or areas), with lots of smaller districts or towns and villages within this city. 'Visitors' London' - the bits of London where visitors will spend much of their time - extends from Kensington in the west for about five miles to the Tower of London in the east and from Chelsea in the south to Hampstead in the north which is also around on five miles. Within this 5 square mile area scarcely a hundred yards pass without encountering something of historical interest or beauty. The following paragraphs take you to a few of the areas, boroughs, places, parks and districts that make up what is modern day London.
London Chelsea Where: SW3. Nearest underground station: it sits between Sloane Square, Fulham Broadway & South Kensington stations.
Young, trendy, titled and seriously wealthy, Chelsea has the cachet of Knightsbridge and Kensington without their stuffiness. Chelsea is bordered by Chelsea Embankment and the Thames to the south and Old Brompton Road to the north. It is a hotspot for shopping. In Chelsea you'll find some of London's best boutiques. It is also the place for the young and well-to-do to be and be seen to be, with lots of trendy (and expensive) cafes, bars and restaurants. The Albert Bridge makes for a dramatic entrance into Chelsea and the College of Art and Design is located in Chelsea, which adds to its urban chic.
London Kensington Where: Centred around the Cromwell Road, SW7. Nearest underground station: Depending on where you want to be, Kensington has 5 underground stations - Kensington Olympia, West Kensington, Kensington High Street, Gloucester Road or South Kensington.
Heading west out of central London, past Mayfair and Knightsbridge, you'll find one of central London's larger neighbourhoods - Kensington. This large borough includes the very chic and moneyed Kensington High Street and the antique shops on Kensington Church Road to the north, the Museum strewn Cromwell Road to the south, lovely Holland Park to the west, and Knightsbridge and Mayfair to the east. A stroller's paradise, Kensington has some of Londons best churches, historic buildings, landmarks, shopping, museums, a palace and parks. For the shoppers, Kensington high street has the diversity of oxford street, but without the crowds, Kensington church road is lined with antique shops, and Sloane Street (although probably in Knightsbridge) is known as "designer row". Kensington and neighbouring Chelsea and Knightsbridge are two of London's most expensive addresses, and yet Kensington is also home to some great budget accommodation. On the tube line into London from Heathrow, South Kensington and neighbouring Earls Court are the home to London's main hostel and budget hotel areas. Both the High Street and South Kensington have a number of budget hotels, but Earl Court has streets and streets of them. Formerly the bolt hole of backpackers, others have cottoned on to its combination of cheap accommodation, cheap places to eat and good transport links to central London and a number of hotels have been upgraded to good 3 and 4 star facilities.
London Kensington Gardens Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: High Street Kensington, Lancaster Gate or Queensway.
Kensington Gardens covers 111 hectares (275 acres). It was originally part of Hyde Park, but was bought by William III in 1689. As an asthma sufferer, the king found the location quiet and the air comforting and so he commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to design the redbrick building that is now Kensington Palace. Queen Anne enlarged the palace gardens by 'transferring' 30 acres from Hyde Park and was responsible for the creation of the Orangery in 1704. The park is now open to the public and the peace of the gardens is a sharp contrast to the openness and activity of Hyde Park, a short walk away. In this woodland park children gather at the Round Pond to sail their boats or around the statue of Peter Pan. The Diana, Princess of Wales' Memorial Playground is located within the grounds too. It is a fantastic adventure playground for kids up to the age of 12. The Gardens are particularly popular for sunbathing and picnics in fine weather. It is also popular as a healthy walking route to work for commuters. The paths are used extensively by joggers and runners. Cycling is allowed on the designated path linking the Queen's Gate to West Carriage Drive, Mount Gate to the Broadwalk and the Broadwalk itself from Black Lion Gate to Palace Gate. The playing of games in the gardens is discouraged in view of the importance of the historic landscape and the desire to maintain their primary role as a peaceful refuge for people living, working or visiting Central London.
London Bloomsbury Where: Tottenham Court Road, Woburn Place & Southampton Row, London W1 & WC1. Nearest underground station: King's Cross, Goodge Street, Russell Square, Warren Street, Euston and Tottenham Court Road are all in or bordering London's bloomsbury.
Bloomsbury is central, without being too central. It is a quiet and pleasant district to stay in or to walk around, has 6 tube stations (which make it easy to get to from all over London), it is close to Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross mainline stations and a short walk to the west end. Accommodation is reasonable too, all of which make bloomsbury an ideal base for a stay in London. In the early 20th century the quiet squares and Georgian terraces of bloomsbury were home to the famous 'Bloomsbury Group' of writers and intellectuals, including T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Bertrand Russell, Vanessa Bell, and John Maynard Keynes. Today bloomsbury is the home to universities, colleges, and specialist hospitals, plus the British Museum and the British Library, making it London's undisputed intellectual centre. But don't expect the kind of campus atmosphere you'll fine in Oxford; Bloomsbury has a quiet and sedate pace, with fine architecture, pleasant garden squares and a few fine restaurants. Even so, it offers everything you'd expect in an area dominated by students - great bookstores, cheap food, and good shopping.
London Barbican Where: London EC2. Nearest underground station: Barbican.
A large area of post-war redevelopment within central London, designed to reintroduce a balanced residential and cultural life back into the heart of the business area of London (the 'City'). Pedestrians are segregated from traffic on elevated levels, and accommodation is grouped around squares, gardens and lakes. The historic church of St. Giles and a length of the Roman and Medieval City Wall were incorporated within this development. The area is probably best known for its Barbican Arts Centre, which was opened in 1982 and was designed to be the London equivalent of the Lincoln Center, New York or the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Facilities include the Barbican Hall, Barbican Theatre, The Pit (studio theatre), Barbican Library, Art Gallery, Cinemas, conference and trade exhibition space, a roof-top conservatory, restaurants and a car park. The Barbican area of London also includes the Museum of London, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the City of London School for Girls.
London Battersea Park Where: London SW11. Nearest underground station: Battersea (or you can walk to it from Sloane Square).
Battersea Park is just south of the thames and stretches from Albert Bridge to Chelsea Bridge. Formerly known as Battersea Fields this park was the scene of a famous duel between the Duke of Wellington and Lord WinChelsea in 1829. Battersea was laid out as a park in the 1850’s, using soil excavated from the Royal Victoria Docks. This park is popular with athletic types (lots of jogging on tracks around the park, and sports on the park itself) and includes playgrounds, boating and fishing lakes, playing fields and a children's zoo, plus a 110 ft Japanese Peace Pagoda built by Japanese monks, an open air theatre and a concert pavilion. The Festival Gardens were added for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
London Bayswater Where: London W2. Nearest underground station: Bayswater and Queensway for the western side, or Paddington and Lancaster Gate for the eastern side.
Bayswater, at the top of Hyde Park and within the circle line (the unofficial boundary of central London) has neither the fashionable status of Notting Hill to the west, nor the respectability of Marylebone to the east. The handsome early 19th-century stuccoed buildings give a glimpse of its fashionable past and whilst the area is not seedy, a question mark still hangs over it and the eyesore that is Paddington. This lack of fashionable status works to the traveller's advantage; Bayswater is an ideal base and location for a stay in London. Because of the lower property prices, Bayswater is a cheap place to stay, and yet it is with walking distance of central London. For 2, 3 and 4 star hotels, Bayswater is hard to beat. For example, you can pick up a room in a 4 star hotel with a view of Hyde Park from under £100. Move around the park (to park lane a mile to the east or Knightsbridge a mile across the park) and you'll pay 4 or 5 times the price for a similar room. Another relic of Bayswater's low cost of living is that it has always been one of the most ethnically diverse London neighbourhoods. As a result it boosts a wide array of cheap ethnic restaurants, all perfectly placed for the travellers staying nearby.
London Fleet Street Where: EC4. Nearest underground station: Temple or Blackfriars.
Named after the Fleet River, one of the many rivers that flow beneath London's streets to the Thames, Fleet Street was once the centre of the British newspaper industry. Traditionally the home of writers and printers, the UK's first newspaper, 'The Daily Courant', was published and printed in Fleet Street in 1702. Journalists made the most of Fleet Street's convenient location - it is near the City (financial centre) and Westminster, where most major stories originated. However, Fleet Street went into decline in the 1980's with the introduction of modern technology in new premises, mainly in redeveloped docklands area. All of the newspapers have now gone and Fleet Street houses some impressive office blocks.
London Covent Garden Where: WC2. Nearest underground station: Covent Garden.
Between Shaftsbury and Strand Streets is one of London's liveliest and most kid friendly areas. Covent Garden was originally a convent garden, supplying fruit and vegetables to Westminster Abbey, and then a market - Covent Garden market was given a Royal Charter in 1671 and grew into London’s largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market. The market has long since gone, Covent Garden is now a popular pedestrianised piazza with the old market buildings restored and open as a home to shops, studios, cafés, promenades, landscaped areas plus a small market with stalls selling jewellery and knick-knacks. Although you'll find many tourists there, Covent Garden is not a tourist trap; it's a place that Londoners genuinely enjoy. Tourists and locals mingle amongst the upscale shops, trendy cafes, fine restaurants, cobbled side streets, street theatre, the funky market and wooden lanes. It's a pleasant place to wander and spend an hour or two. Covent Garden on a clear day is also a great place for children. Buskers (street entertainers) perform under the porch of the Actors' Church in Covent Garden (where Britain's first Punch & Judy show was performed), and you will usually find busker's playing different styles of music dotted around the square. Each 'show' lasts about half an hour and Covent Garden actually auditions its buskers as quality control, to ensure that you'll always see something good. Kids love it and are often pulled in to the show.
London Green Park Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: Green Park or Hyde Park Corner.
The smallest of London's royal parks, green park covers an area of 53 acres. King Henry the VIII (1509 - 47) set aside this area as parkland but it was not until almost 150 years later, under King Charles II (1660 - 85), that green park became a royal park. In the 18th century ballooning, fireworks and duels were popular attractions. Named Green Park for its lack of colourful flowers, this large grassy area with its beautifully large mature trees is a wonderful spot to relax and find peace and quiet. It is said that Handel wrote the music for the Royal Fireworks that were held here to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 in green park. Green Park is a stately place, with a fine central avenue and informal groups of trees, amongst which the valley of the former river Tyburn can just be detected. There is also an avenue that runs along the eastern edge of the park that is named Queen’s Walk after George II’s wife Caroline. The avenue centres on Sir Aston Webb's 1901 round-point in front of Buckingham Palace. The fine iron gateway on the Piccadilly side is that of old Devonshire House. Its central location makes it a nice spot to escape the crowds of the shopping and dining that surround the park and just and relax.
London Hampstead Heath Where: NW3. Nearest underground station: Hampstead.
Hampstead Heath in the Hampstead suburb of North London, is a sprawling, green, tree-lined area that covers 791 acres within two London boroughs - Camden (681 acres) and Barnet (110 acres). Hampstead Heath has a variety of landscapes: heathland, meadows, hills, ponds and lakes. Popular among walkers, joggers, and sports enthusiasts, it is one of London's most popular green spaces. You can stroll, take a guided walk, jog, sun-bathe, picnic, fish, play football, tennis or bowls and swim in one of the ponds or Parliament Hill Lido. Other facilities include a horse-riding circuit, adventure playground, play equipment and activities for under-fives. There are also deer and animal enclosures with a variety of animals and birds, including flamingo's. In the summer there are shows for children with clowns, puppets and magicians. Funfairs are held at the upper and lower ends of the Heath on the Easter, May and August bank holidays. It is also home to Kenwood House, which holds a large collection of paintings and fine furnishings and hosts summer lakeside concerts. It seems further, but it is only 4 miles from central London. Parliament Hill, to the south of Hampstead Heath, has magnificent views over central London.
London Hyde Park Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, Lancaster Gate or Marble Arch.
Hyde Park is probably the best-known and most popular park in London. One of London's Royal Parks, Henry VIII 'acquired' it in 1536 for hunting grounds (it had been owned by the monks of Westminster Abbey before that). Now it forms a large area of open space in the city centre, some 350 acres with a perimeter of around 4 miles. On the south side from Hyde Park Corner westwards is Rotten Row, the fashionable riding track through the park, popular for an early morning horse ride. The Serpentine, a large lake in the centre of the park, provides boating, and is one of London's Lidos (open from the last Saturday in April until the second Sunday in October). And at Speaker's Corner, near Marble Arch, you can hear many a mad Briton exercise his or her right to free speech. There is usually a dozen or more 'speakers', each standing on a soap box or a small step ladder and spouting (shouting) controversial views on any topic you can think of - religion, politics, war, peace, trade unions, Europe, tourists...... A bandstand and various statues add interest. During the summer the park hosts regular music festivals and concerts, and, on a hot day, it can get quite busy.
London Knightsbridge Where: Centred around the Cromwell Road, SW7. Nearest underground station: Knightsbridge.
Flanked by Gloucester Road to the west, Kensington and Knightsbridge Roads to the north, and Brompton Road to the east, Knightsbridge is a stylish area with plenty of historic attractions and shops. Knightsbridge has synonymous with wealth. Serious wealth. Centrally located in the city of Westminster and bordering Belgravia, it has been one of London's most desired addresses for the last two centuries. The home of London's social elite, Knightsbridge is an oasis of haute couture calm within this busy capital city, attracting the rich, the royal and the celebrated from all over the globe. One word; shopping. Knightsbridge is home to two of London's shopping legends, so popular they have become tourist attractions: Harvey Nichols and Harrods'. In addition, all of the big-name fashion designers can be found in Sloane Street or, if you prefer equally elegant shops on a smaller scale, head for Beauchamp Place. The former home of the Duke of Wellington (now the home of the Wellington museum) Apsley House (or 'No. 1 London') is also in Knightsbridge.
London Leicester Square Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: Leicester Square.
Leicester Square was built between 1635 - 70 and named after the Earl of Leicester, whose residence was on its north side. Sat between Piccadilly to the west, Covent Garden to the east, and Soho directly to the north, some suggest Leicester Square is the centre of London, with the rest of the city spiralling out from this hub. Visited or crossed by 22 million people a year, within a block or so of the square you can find many of London's theatres, nightclubs, the top jazz club, lots of cheap restaurants, Soho, Eros (and Piccadilly), Regents Street and Covent Garden. So if it's not the heart, it's at least a hub. It is perhaps best known for its film premiers - major cinemas stand on three sides of the square offering all of the latest releases in state of the art screening rooms. The square is busy during the day and can be wild at night, with young people ready to drink the place dry and party until dawn. On the square the usual mix of portrait artists and buskers (outdoor entertainers) try to catch the attention of the passing public. In the centre of the square is a copy of the Shakespeare memorial in Westminster Abbey, with busts of Sir Isaac Newton, Joshua Reynolds and William Hogarth (famous former residents) and a modern statue of Charlie Chaplin (1981) by John Doubleday. The square also houses 'tkts' ticket booth. Founded in 1980 as the Half Price Ticket Booth, tkts is London's official half price and discount theatre ticket booth.
London Mayfair Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: Green Park or Bond Street.
Mayfair is probably the most exclusive neighbourhood in central London, and includes some of the finest 18th century homes in the city. Flanked by Oxford Street to the north, Park Lane to the west, Regent Street to the east, and Piccadilly to the south, some of London's most exclusive shops and hotels are to be found here. Oxford Street, one long row of shops and the home of London's mass market fashion, or the upmarket Bond Street, Regent Street and Saville Row. Mayfair is also the home to Christie's and Sotherby's auction houses, the royal parks Green Park and Hyde park and London theatres are a walkable distance.
London Regent's Park Where: Marylebone and Prince Albert Roads, London NW1. Nearest underground station: Baker Street or Regent’s Park.
Its proper name is "The Regent's Park". One of London's Royal Parks, the 'The' and the apostrophe are usually dropped; it's more commonly referred to as 'Regents Park'. Regents park is one of the largest of London parks, covering an area of 472 acres. It is the largest grass area for sports in central London and offers a wide variety of activities including an open air theatre, London Zoo, cafes, restaurants, and a large boating lake. On a hot summers day it can feel like the whole of London is there and on cool evenings the two-mile Outer Circle acts as a promenade for local residents. Like many of the other Royal Parks, Regents Park formed part of the vast chase 'appropriated' by Henry VIII. Then known as Marylebone Park, it remained a royal chase until 1646. It was in the early 1800's that John Nash, architect and friend of the Prince Regent, developed Regent's Park as we know it today. He created a vast rounded park, surrounded by palatial terraces, a lake, a canal, 56 villas and a second home for the prince. It soon became known as the 'jewel in the crown'. Over the succeeding years the park became the home of several organisations like the Zoological Society (more commonly known as London Zoo) and the Royal Botanic Society. It wasn't until 1845, during the reign of Queen Victoria, that the general public were actually allowed into the park, and then only for two days of the week. The main development in the 20th century was the creation, in the 1930s, of Queen Mary's Gardens. Today, of the buildings and monuments within the park, only two villas remain from John Nash's original conception of the park.
London Soho Where: W1. Nearest underground station: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus or Tottenham Court Road.
Nestled amongst London's swanky shopping districts, with Oxford Street to the north , Piccadilly Circus to the south, Regent Street to the east and Covent Garden to the west, Soho is the grungy but newly hip neighbourhood where trendy young Londoners head for a late night. Formerly London's seedy red light area, over the last few years it's had a bit of a transformation and become a trendy place to live, eat and be. There are still a few strip joints, but if you are looking for rowdy bustle, London's Soho has it in spades. Eateries and clubs are numerous, and, in good weather, the restaurants take over the footpaths for al fresco dining, adding to the party atmosphere.
London St James's Park Where: SW1. Nearest underground station: St. James's Park.
St James's Park is London's oldest Royal Park. It is surrounded by three palaces - the Palace of Westminster (now the Houses of Parliament), St James's Palace and Buckingham Palace. The Park, once a marshy watermeadow, takes its name from a leper hospital founded there in the 13th century. Like many of London's other parks, it was 'acquired' by Henry VIII in 1532 as yet another deer park. He built the Palace of St James's and when his daughter, Elizabeth I, came to the throne she indulged her love of pageantry and pomp, and fetes of all kinds were held in the park. Her successor, James I, improved the drainage and controlled the water supply. A road was created in front of St James's Palace, approximately where the Mall is today, but it was Charles II who made dramatic changes. The Park was redesigned, with avenues of trees planted and lawns laid. The King opened the park to the public and was a frequent visitor, feeding the ducks and mingling with his subjects. During the Hanoverian period, Horse Guards Parade was created by filling in one end of the long canal and was used first as a mustering ground and later for parades. Horse Guards Parade is still part of St James's Park, just across the road at the opposite end to Buckingham Palace. The Park changed to its current style when John Nash redesigned it and gave it a more romantic style. The canal was transformed into a natural-looking lake and in 1837 the Ornithological Society of London presented some birds to the Park and erected a cottage for a bird keeper. Both the cottage and the position of bird keeper remain to this day. The lake is home to many geese and ducks, and both locals and tourist flock here to feed the birds. A favourite for its smallish size, central location, and lovely landscaping, this park boasts perhaps the finest view of Buckingham Palace, from the bridge over the lake. A cafe provides welcome refreshment and there is a band stand which provides regular summer entertainment.
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