The Best Family Hotels in London (2026)

The museum quarter: South Kensington and Kensington Gardens. This is the base for a museum-heavy trip. The Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the V&A are free, they sit side by side on Exhibition Road, and they're the easiest rainy-day plan in London. Kensington Gardens, with the Diana Memorial Playground, is the fine-weather one. The Ampersand is my pick for a museum trip: a Victorian hotel whose rooms take their themes from the museums next door, with a Science Family Suite made for exactly this trip. The children's bedroom has a rocket-shaped bunk bed and connects to the adults' room. The Natural History Museum is five minutes' walk and the Science Museum seven. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

The suite was £771 a night for two adults and two children on the hotel's own site for Tuesday 10 November, so book it well ahead. Children under four get the continental breakfast free, and on request the hotel lays on child-size robes and slippers, activity packs and babysitting. There's a kids' menu, a games room with a full-size ping-pong table, and science- and dinosaur-themed afternoon teas for children. Without the suite, a family of four needs two connecting rooms, because the other rooms take one cot or one fold-away bed at most. There's no pool and no parking.

The Kensington is the one to book when the Ampersand's suite is gone. It's a Doyle Collection hotel on Queen's Gate with a Family Room of about 33 square metres, two double beds and room for two adults and two children, so four of you share one door without a suite price. The hotel adds play tents and a milk-and-cookies turndown for children. The Natural History Museum is seven minutes' walk and the Science Museum twelve. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

The Family Room was £599 on the hotel's own site for Tuesday 10 November, a rate quoted for two adults, so confirm the price with the children added. Its family package has offered free evening meals for children up to eight when they eat with an adult before 7pm, plus half price on a second bedroom, but it's pitched at the school holidays, so check it's on sale for your dates. There's no pool and no car park, and the entry Cosy Rooms are far too small for a family.

The Royal Garden is the practical choice for a family that wants the park more than the museums. It's a big hotel on Kensington High Street, beside Kensington Palace and its gardens, which the hotel puts two minutes away; the Diana Memorial Playground, with its pirate ship, is a 14-minute walk through the gardens. Children 12 and under eat breakfast free, travel cots are free, and connecting rooms are available on request. The Natural History Museum is 19 minutes on foot. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

Most rooms take two adults at most, so a family of four needs a Deluxe Studio, which was about £521 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. There's a 24-hour gym but no pool. It's a large, busy hotel rather than a characterful one, and some reviewers mention weak showers. For long days in the park, the location is hard to beat.

The Milestone is the splurge. It's a Red Carnation hotel facing Kensington Gardens, and it goes further for children than most: a Family Suite overlooking the park with a main bedroom and a children's room with bespoke bunk beds, separate bathrooms, personalised amenities on arrival, a teddy-bear turndown, children's menus and afternoon tea, and free breakfast for under-12s. The Diana Memorial Playground is 13 minutes' walk and the Natural History Museum 17. It's 4.8 on Google from about 1,150 reviews. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

It costs accordingly: the Family Suite was about £1,575 room only, non-refundable, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. The hotel also offers interconnecting rooms, which may work out cheaper. It's a historic building with one accessible room and steps at the front door, and I'd book it for a special trip rather than a long one.

The South Bank and the big sights. For a first family trip, this is the stretch I'd book: the London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium and the riverside walk are on the doorstep, and Big Ben is over the bridge. Premier Inn London County Hall is my best-value family hotel in London. It's inside County Hall, the same building as the Aquarium, two minutes' walk from the Eye. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

A family room for two adults and two children was £188 non-refundable on Premier Inn's own site for Tuesday 10 November, about what a double costs, and £237 fully flexible. Two children eat the buffet breakfast free with each paying adult, and the rooms are air-conditioned. The trade-offs: no river views are sold, the rooms are plain, and there's no car park (Waterloo Car Park on York Road is £20 for 24 hours).

Park Plaza County Hall is the kitchenette option on the same block. Every Studio (about 30 square metres) has a sofa bed and a kitchenette and sleeps two adults and two children, breakfast is free for children up to 12, and the 14th-floor penthouses interconnect for bigger families. The Aquarium is five minutes' walk and the Eye six. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

A family Studio was about £268 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and the Executive Family Studio with London Eye View £298, which is the one I'd book. Despite the name, it isn't inside County Hall but behind it on Addington Street. There's a gym but no pool; its sister hotel on Westminster Bridge Road has one. The Family Experience package, with goody bags and children eating free, is sold for set periods, so check whether it runs on your dates.

Novotel London Waterloo is the hotel for a family arriving by car. It's on Lambeth Road with parking on site, and its Superior rooms (about 25 square metres) sleep four on sofa beds, so there's no need to pay for a suite. The Imperial War Museum is close by, the Aquarium is 15 minutes' walk and the London Eye 16. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

It was about £314 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and breakfast is £21. There's a gym and a sauna but no pool, and the hotel is cashless. Waterloo station is a 17-minute walk, so plan on the Bakerloo line from Lambeth North.

Novotel London Tower Bridge is the family base for the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, both a short walk away (the Tower about nine minutes). Every Superior room sleeps four on a double sofa bed, and on Novotel's bed-and-breakfast packages children up to 16 eat breakfast free. It's 4.6 on Google from more than 4,600 reviews. More in the best hotels in the City of London.

It isn't cheap midweek: about £409 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. The City empties at weekends, and on Accor's own site a Standard double was £390 on that Tuesday but £153 on Sunday 15 November (checked 25 September), so weekend family rates are worth checking. There's a gym, sauna and steam room but no pool, and some guests found the cooling struggled in a summer heatwave.

Hotels with a pool: where children can actually swim. Plenty of London hotels have a pool, but many keep children out for most of the day, so check the children's hours below before you pick one. Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge is my best overall family hotel in London, and the pool is why. The 15-metre indoor pool is open to children and adults from 8am to 8pm, the Studio rooms sleep two adults and two children with a sofa bed and kitchenette, and the SEA LIFE aquarium and the London Eye are three and five minutes' walk. It's 4.5 on Google from more than 14,000 reviews. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

A Studio for four was about £288 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. The hotel's families page says children dine free with a paying adult, and its Family Experience package adds goody bags at check-in and breakfast. The catches: pool sessions are booked at the hotel once you've arrived, so a busy weekend can mean waiting, and the cheapest rooms look into the inner atrium. Under-16s must swim with an adult.

Park Plaza London Riverbank has the simplest family pool rules of the South Bank pools: family time runs from 8am to 8pm every day, with adults-only swims before and after. The pool is small (12 metres by 2.5, and 1.2 metres deep), which suits younger swimmers. The hotel also sells a two-bedroom Family Dinosaur Suite designed with the Natural History Museum, runs a family check-in desk in the school holidays, and has Studios that take two adults and two children. The Aquarium is 18 minutes' walk along the river and the London Eye 19. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

A Studio with a sofa bed was about £347 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. It's on Albert Embankment, a longer walk from the sights than the Westminster Bridge hotels, with Vauxhall station ten minutes away. The pool allows up to two children per adult, so a parent swimming alone with three needs a second adult.

The London Marriott County Hall is the grand option on the river, inside County Hall, with the London Eye a minute from the door and the Aquarium in the same building. Its indoor pool opens 7am to 9pm, and children can swim from 8am to 8pm. Rooms with two double beds take a family of four, and the Executive Family Rooms add views, some of the Eye. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

It's the dearest hotel on this stretch: a room with two double beds was about £581 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and breakfast is £30. The pool has strict supervision rules for young children (one adult in the water for each child under five), so two parents with a toddler and a five-year-old are fine, but one parent is not.

Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge has a proper lap pool: 25 metres, indoors, with an infinity-edge spa pool alongside. Children can swim from 9am to 11.30am and 4pm to 7.30pm every day, which fits neatly around a morning at the Tower (15 minutes' walk). Rooms with two queen beds take a family of four, cribs are free for under-twos, and there's a children's menu in the restaurant. More in the best hotels in the City of London.

A two-queen Superior was about £430 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. Guests are limited to two hours a day in the leisure club, so plan the swim. It's in Aldgate, just outside the City, with Tower Gateway (DLR) four minutes away; one recent reviewer found the bathrooms dated.

Leonardo Royal Hotel London St Paul's is the weekend pool. Its 16.6-metre indoor pool has children's hours on weekdays (9.30 to 11.30am, 2.30 to 4.30pm and 8 to 10pm) and no restrictions at all on Saturday and Sunday. St Paul's Cathedral is two minutes away, and the Millennium Bridge leads to Tate Modern, nine minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in the City of London.

A Superior Twin for four was about £438 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, £488 with breakfast. It's a big, busy hotel of 432 rooms, and reviewers mention slow service in the restaurant. For a Saturday-to-Sunday trip with swimmers, it's the one I'd book in the City.

Novotel London Blackfriars is the Bankside pick: an indoor pool (1.2 metres deep) with a whirlpool, and Premium Queen rooms with a queen bed and two single sofa beds for four. Tate Modern is nine minutes' walk, and the South Bank path runs to the London Eye in 17. More in the best hotels on the South Bank and around Waterloo.

It was about £393 for four, room only, on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. Novotel doesn't publish children's swim times here, and the pool is booked by the hour, so book a slot on arrival and ask about children then. One recent guest complained about housekeeping, and the views are of the city or a courtyard, not the river.

Corinthia London is the luxury hotel for a family that swims. The Family Room has two queen beds and includes the Biome spa's pool, and children can swim from 8 to 10am and 4 to 5pm, a morning slot before the sights and an hour after them. Cots and babysitting are on request. The London Eye is 11 minutes away across the Hungerford footbridge and Trafalgar Square about seven. More in the best hotels in Covent Garden and the West End.

The Family Room was about £1,417 for two adults and two children with breakfast and free cancellation on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. The children's pool hours are short, so plan the day around them. It's a grown-up hotel in a quiet corner of Whitehall rather than a playful one.

Budget family rooms: four people, one room, under about £300. These put a family of four in one room for about what a double costs nearby, which is where London's family budget goes furthest; for more low-cost rooms, see cheap hotels in London. Premier Inn London Kensington (Earl's Court) is the cheapest hotel room for four in the museum quarter: £135 non-refundable for a family room on Tuesday 10 November, the same price as a double. The Natural History Museum is 15 minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

The chain's family rooms take two adults and two children under 16 in a king bed, a sofa bed and a pull-out bed, travel cots are free, and two children eat the buffet breakfast free with each paying adult. The standard rooms have no air conditioning, and one reviewer described two lifts and a long corridor between reception and the room. For a family counting every pound, it's the safest cheap family booking in Kensington.

Premier Inn London City (Aldgate) is the budget base for the Tower of London, about 20 minutes' walk. A family room for four was £165 non-refundable on Premier Inn's own site for Tuesday 10 November, and the rooms are air-conditioned. More in the best hotels in the City of London.

It's in Aldgate, on the edge of the City, so the Tower is a proper walk rather than a stroll and there's little for children on the doorstep. There's no parking on site. The usual Premier Inn family deal applies: free travel cots and two children eating breakfast free with each adult who pays for one.

Premier Inn London Leicester Square is the West End family room: just off the square, a short walk from the theatres and from Trafalgar Square (about seven minutes). The British Museum is 16 minutes' walk and the London Eye 21. More in the best hotels in Covent Garden and the West End.

A family room for four was £251 non-refundable on Premier Inn's own site for Tuesday 10 November, so book early for show weekends. Leicester Square is loud late at night, and there's no car park (Q-Park Chinatown is £48 for 24 hours).

The Athena is a family-run townhouse on Sussex Gardens with quads and a Family (5) Room that sleeps five, which is rare at this price. The hotel puts Hyde Park seven minutes' walk away, and the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens is about 25. More in the best hotels in Paddington and Bayswater.

A quad was about £176 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November; book on the hotel's own site and breakfast is included. There's no air conditioning, the lift doesn't reach every room, and Sussex Gardens is a busy road. For a family of five on a budget, it's one of the few one-room answers in central London.

Georgian House Hotel in Pimlico is the one for young wizards: it has a set of wizard-themed rooms on the lower ground floor, a wizard afternoon tea and Wizard Potions, which come in alcohol-free versions. The Comfy Quad sleeps four and there are family rooms in its Bower House building. Victoria station is seven minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in Victoria and Westminster.

A family room for four was about £211 room only on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and breakfast is £12. The building is listed, so there's no lift and no air conditioning, and some rooms are four floors up; staff help with luggage. The London Eye is a 37-minute walk, so plan on the Victoria line.

The Ridgemount suits a family that wants breakfast sorted: a full English is in the price, and the rooms run to triples, quads and a Quintuple Room for five. It's a family-run bed and breakfast on Gower Street, in business since 1965, with a garden at the back. The British Museum, free and full of mummies, is about ten minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in Bloomsbury and Holborn.

A quad with breakfast was about £298 with free cancellation on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and the hotel's own site has been cheaper. Only 15 of the 32 rooms have their own bathroom, there's no lift, and there's no air conditioning. For a family that wants a cooked breakfast in the price, the maths works.

YHA London Earl's Court is the cheapest way to put four people in one private room in Kensington: a four-bed en-suite room was about £115 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. It's a Victorian house with a self-catering kitchen, a courtyard garden and a 24-hour reception, and the Natural History Museum is 17 minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

Breakfast is a simple continental spread at £8.95, and the real saving is the self-catering kitchen, where a family can cook dinner every night of the trip. One reviewer found their room warm even on a mild day, so it's a better bet outside midsummer. There's no parking.

Aparthotels for bigger families: a kitchen, a washing machine and a door between you. For a week, or for a family that wants two bedrooms, these beat a hotel room. Cheval Harrington Court is the museum-quarter answer: serviced apartments two minutes from South Kensington station and six minutes' walk from the Natural History Museum, each with a full kitchen, daily housekeeping and a 24-hour front desk. The Superior Two Bedroom Apartment sleeps four. More in the best hotels in Kensington.

A two-bedroom apartment was about £627 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. There's no restaurant or bar, and breakfast is a hamper you order ahead. Over five or six nights, cooking some meals and doing a wash make the price easier to justify.

Cheval Three Quays is the apartment for the Tower of London, which the operator puts 75 metres away, with Tower Bridge 400 metres. The apartments have full kitchens, and the two-bedroom ones sleep four; some look across the river. More in the best hotels in the City of London.

A two-bedroom apartment was about £748 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. The area is quiet at weekends when the City empties, which suits a family after a long day but leaves fewer places to eat nearby on a Sunday.

Citadines Holborn-Covent Garden is the most central apartment option: a one-bedroom apartment of 50 square metres that sleeps four, with a full kitchen, on High Holborn. The British Museum is ten minutes' walk and Covent Garden about 12. More in the best hotels in Bloomsbury and Holborn.

The one-bedroom apartment was about £449 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. Rooms are cleaned weekly rather than daily, the front faces a main road, and the car park is closed for renovation. It's a practical base, not a pretty one.

Wilde Paddington is the pick for a family arriving on the Heathrow Express: an aparthotel on Paddington Basin with a full kitchen in every unit, free cots and high chairs, and One-Bedroom Apartments that sleep four. It's 4.8 on Google from about 3,600 reviews. Hyde Park is 18 minutes' walk. More in the best hotels in Paddington and Bayswater.

A one-bedroom apartment was about £435 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. There's no extra charge for children, but there are no extra beds either, so check the bed count. On stays of less than a week there's no housekeeping at all.