The 25 Best Luxury Hotels in London (2026)

The grand dames: old, famous and formal. These seven are what most people picture when they say a London luxury hotel: a historic building, a doorman out front, afternoon tea and a bar worth dressing for. Claridge's is the one I'd book first. The Art Deco hotel on Brook Street has more going on downstairs than most hotels manage in total (Dante Mayfair for dinner, the Fumoir for a late drink, tea in the Foyer), and every guest gets the spa and its indoor pool. From the door it's a two-minute walk to Bond Street, where the Elizabeth, Central and Jubilee lines stop. The AA gives it five Red Stars, its highest award, and it holds three Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. For the rest of the neighbourhood, see our Mayfair hotel guide.

What £1,173 buys on an off-peak Tuesday: a 40-square-metre (430 sq ft) Mayfair Room, room only and non-refundable, looking into the inner courtyard; the flexible rate was £1,380, and a discretionary 5 per cent goes on the bill. By London standards that's a roomy first category, but not a bright one. If light matters, pay for the Mayfair Balcony Room at 45 square metres. There's no car park of its own; guests are sent to one nearby.

The Savoy is the grand hotel for people who want to be in the thick of things rather than tucked away in Mayfair. Open since 1889, it sits back from the Strand in Savoy Court with the river behind it, and it still has the American Bar, an indoor pool and the Savoy Theatre next door, with the Adelphi and the Lyceum a short stroll away. The nearest Tube is Embankment, five minutes on foot, and Trafalgar Square is ten. It has five AA Red Stars, three Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating, and the AA notes that its bedrooms and suites are being refurbished in stages from 2024 to 2026. There's more around it in our Covent Garden and West End hotel guide.

The river is the upsell. The entry Superior Queen is 27 square metres (290 sq ft) and looks at the courtyard or the city; it was £941 non-refundable for Tuesday 10 November on Booking.com, £990 flexible, and breakfast is £45 a person. Thames views begin with the Junior Suite River View, about £1,568. I'd take the cheapest room, enjoy the bar and the pool, and put the difference towards dinner.

The Ritz is where you go to dress up, and it's independent: nothing to do with the Ritz-Carlton chain. It has looked over Green Park from Piccadilly since 1906, and the money mostly goes on what happens downstairs, in a dining room the hotel says holds two Michelin stars and at an afternoon tea that starts at £95 a head plus 12.5 per cent service. Green Park, on the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, is a two-minute walk. The AA grades it five Red Stars, and the Michelin Guide gives it two Keys. Neighbours are covered in our Mayfair hotel guide.

Of the grand dames, this one costs the most to get through the door. For Tuesday 10 November the cheapest room on the hotel's own site was a Grand Deluxe of 55 square metres (590 sq ft) at about £1,550 including taxes; on dates when the smaller 42-square-metre Deluxe is on sale, it costs less. You won't find a pool, spa or gym, and the dress code is enforced. Stay for the food and the service, not for a workout.

The Dorchester is freshly renovated, after a top-to-bottom renovation that took four years and wrapped up in 2026. From Park Lane it faces Hyde Park, and it's built for eating: Alain Ducasse's restaurant (three Michelin stars, according to the hotel), The Grill, Cantonese cooking at China Tang, and tea in The Promenade. There's a spa and gym, and guests swim in the pool at 45 Park Lane next door. Hyde Park Corner station, on the Piccadilly line, is seven minutes on foot. It holds five AA Red Stars, two Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. See our Mayfair hotel guide for nearby alternatives.

The lead-in room doesn't come with the view that Park Lane is famous for. A Classic Room, 34 square metres (366 sq ft) and about £1,400 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, faces Mayfair; the park begins with the 40-square-metre Deluxe Park View, and that's the one I'd pay for. A busy main road also runs between the hotel and the grass. Families are looked after, with free cots, and small dogs can come for a daily fee.

The Connaught is the quiet one, on Carlos Place just off Mount Street, and my pick if the trip is really about eating well. Hélène Darroze's restaurant holds three Michelin stars, the hotel says; Jean-Georges runs from breakfast to dinner, there's the Connaught Grill, and the bar's martini trolley is worth a detour even if you're sleeping elsewhere. Guests use the Aman Spa, which has a pool. It's a seven-minute walk to Bond Street and ten to Green Park. The AA gives it five Red Stars and its restaurant five AA Rosettes, the AA's top food award, and the Michelin Guide gives it three Keys. Nearby options are in our Mayfair hotel guide.

The cheapest room is small for what it costs. For Tuesday 10 November, Booking.com's lowest price was about £1,170 for a Courtyard Superior of about 29 square metres (312 sq ft) that looks inward. For an outlook, ask instead for a Superior on the street side (30 square metres), or a Deluxe with a bay window. Rooms at the bottom of the range don't connect, so families should price a suite.

The Langham is the grand hotel without Mayfair prices, where Regent Street ends at Portland Place. It opened in 1865, it bills its Palm Court as the room where afternoon tea began, and there's the Artesian bar, The Wigmore for pub food, and a 16-metre indoor pool in an old bank vault next to the Chuan spa. Oxford Circus, on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines, is five minutes' walk, and Regent's Park is 15 minutes north. The AA grades it five Red Stars, and the Michelin Guide gives it two Keys. More in our Marylebone and Fitzrovia hotel guide.

It's a few hundred pounds cheaper than the Mayfair names. On the hotel's own site a 28-square-metre (301 sq ft) Superior was £850 including taxes for Tuesday 10 November, or £788 for members, and the Deluxe, at 33 square metres, only £42 more. Outlooks differ a lot from room to room, so ask what yours faces. Children can swim only at set times.

The Goring is the family-run grand hotel. Otto Goring built it in 1910 on Beeston Place, a quiet street behind Buckingham Palace, and his family still runs it. You get a private garden, afternoon tea on the Veranda and the Dining Room, which holds a Michelin star. The palace is ten minutes away on foot and Victoria station four, so if you land at Gatwick, this is the luxury hotel I'd send you to. It holds five AA Red Stars and a Forbes Five-Star rating. Other hotels nearby are in our Victoria and Westminster hotel guide.

It's the least expensive way into the old guard: £765 non-refundable, room only, on the hotel's own site for Tuesday 10 November, or £900 flexible, for a 25-square-metre (269 sq ft) Superior. You're paying for the service and the setting rather than the floor space, and the Superior doesn't look onto the garden. There's a fitness room but no spa or pool. For families, ask about the Superior Family Connecting Rooms.

Modern luxury: big rooms, big spas, international names. These five belong to the global luxury groups, and on the whole they give you more room and more wellness for the money than the grand dames. The Peninsula is the one I'd book for space. It's a new building next to Wellington Arch, and its cheapest room, the Deluxe, is 51 to 53 square metres (about 550 to 570 sq ft). Downstairs there's a 25-metre indoor pool and a spa; Canton Blue does Cantonese, and on the roof Claude Bosi's Brooklands holds two Michelin stars, according to the hotel. Hyde Park Corner station is a three-minute walk. It holds three Michelin Keys, the guide's top hotel award, though it has no AA star grade. Its neighbours are in our Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia guide.

On Booking.com that Deluxe was about £1,190 for Tuesday 10 November, £1,400 flexible, and it faces the courtyard: for a Belgravia outlook ask for a Premier, and for a balcony, a Grand Premier Terrace. The hotel promotes booking direct alongside Peninsula Time, which lets you arrive at 6am and leave at 10pm without paying extra: worth a lot after a night flight from the States. Reviews of the service are more mixed than reviews of the rooms, so have your room type confirmed in writing.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park has the park on one side and the Tube on the other. Knightsbridge station, on the Piccadilly line that runs straight to Heathrow, is a minute from the door, and Harrods is six. The building began as a gentlemen's club in 1889, but what you get is thoroughly modern: a 17-metre indoor pool, a spa, a gym that never closes, and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which the hotel says has two Michelin stars. It holds five AA Red Stars, three Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. Nearby hotels are in our Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia guide.

The cheapest Superior is 34 square metres (366 sq ft) and looks into the inner courtyard. Booking.com priced it at about £973 for Tuesday 10 November, while the hotel's own rate for that room type was about £1,330, so check both for your dates. With two lanes, the pool is good for laps, not for distance. Dogs and cats are welcome, and families can book connecting rooms.

Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane is the family pick when money is no object: anyone 18 or under sleeps free in their parents' room, and you know what you're getting with the brand. It has 196 rooms and suites over 11 floors at the Hyde Park Corner end of Park Lane, a spa up on the top floor, Bar Antoine, and Yannick Alléno's Pavyllon London, which the hotel describes as Michelin-starred. The Tube at Hyde Park Corner is four minutes away and Green Park nine. The AA gives it five Red Stars, and it has two Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. The rest of the area is in our Mayfair hotel guide.

Skip the cheapest room. On the hotel's own site the 25-square-metre (269 sq ft) Superior was £1,024 for Tuesday 10 November, the 35-square-metre Deluxe just £42 more, and a Premier Park-View Room, facing Hyde Park, £1,181. The hotel adds a discretionary 5 per cent fee. Of the Mayfair hotels it's also the furthest from the Bond Street shops, about 19 minutes on foot.

Raffles London at The OWO is the luxury hotel closest to Parliament. It fills the Old War Office on Whitehall, where Churchill worked, with 120 rooms and suites, a Guerlain spa and a long run of restaurants and bars, among them Mauro Colagreco's Michelin-starred dining room. From the door it's nine minutes to Big Ben, and six to either Westminster or Embankment station. The AA gives it five Red Stars, and the Michelin Guide gives it three Keys. See our Victoria and Westminster hotel guide for the neighbours.

The building and the food are what you're paying for. Booking.com had the Superior Double at about £1,078 non-refundable for Tuesday 10 November, £1,135 flexible, with breakfast £45, and since the hotel doesn't publish room sizes, ask what you're getting. Think of it as a base for a history-heavy trip rather than nightlife.

Corinthia London is the West End's spa hotel, on Whitehall Place between Trafalgar Square and the river. The Biome spa, with its indoor pool, comes with the room, Tom Kerridge cooks at Kerridge's, and the bars are Georgie's and Velvet. Embankment is three minutes away and Trafalgar Square seven, so it's a calmer base for the theatres than the Savoy. The AA grades it five Red Stars, and it holds two Michelin Keys. More in our Covent Garden and West End hotel guide.

The Superior King measures 32 square metres (344 sq ft); on the hotel's own site it was £1,020 for Tuesday 10 November, room only, or £1,104 with breakfast. It faces either the inner courtyard or the city, and the courtyard side is quieter. Family Rooms have two double beds, rarer than it should be at this level.

River and views: rooms with London in the window. These four trade a Mayfair address for the Thames or the skyline. Shangri-La The Shard is the obvious pick. The hotel starts 34 floors up inside the Shard, every room is walled in glass, and there's TĪNG for dinner, GŎNG for drinks and an infinity pool that the hotel says is higher than any other in London. London Bridge station, on the Jubilee and Northern lines, is a minute away, and Borough Market four. It has a Forbes Five-Star rating and one Michelin Key, but no AA grade. Nearby hotels are in our London Bridge and Borough hotel guide.

It's cheaper than a view like this suggests. Entry room sizes aren't published; the lowest price for two on Booking.com was about £670 on Tuesday 10 November and £540 on Sunday 15 November, before breakfast. Which side of the tower you're on decides whether it's worth it, so book a City View room looking north over the river. The pool is small and busy, and one guest who had stayed at other London luxury hotels felt the room fell short of the price.

Four Seasons at Tower Bridge is the grand hotel of the east, in the 1922 Beaux-Arts building at Ten Trinity Square that once housed the Port of London Authority, a five-minute walk from the Tower of London. Tea is served in the Rotunda beneath the glass dome, and there's an indoor pool and spa, a steakhouse called Cooper's Cut and Mei Ume. Tower Hill station, on the District and Circle lines, is a minute away. It holds five AA Red Stars, one Michelin Key and a Forbes Five-Star rating. More in our City of London hotel guide.

Be sure of the view before you book for it. The entry rooms are low in the building, and the Tower Bridge panorama belongs to the Hotel Residences. For about £740 on Booking.com on Tuesday 10 November you got a Premier Room of 33 to 49 square metres; at the weekend, a Superior (28 to 34 square metres) was £625, and the hotel's own weekend deal knocks off 15 per cent and adds a 4pm check-out. Its site adds a discretionary 5 per cent fee. Dogs are welcome.

Sea Containers London is the river hotel for a couple who'd rather have a great cocktail bar than a butler. It stands on the Thames between Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges, a 1970s block dressed inside like a 1920s ocean liner, with Lyaness on the ground floor, the 12th Knot bar on the roof facing St Paul's, a small Curzon cinema and the Agua spa. Tate Modern is a seven-minute riverside walk, and Southwark and Blackfriars stations are both within about nine minutes on foot. It has no AA grade and no Michelin Key: think of it as a stylish hotel with a luxury view rather than a graded five-star. More along the river in our South Bank and Waterloo hotel guide.

It has the lowest starting price of the river hotels, as long as you skip the river. A Standard room, not sold as river-facing, was about £394 on a Booking.com deal for Tuesday 10 November; the water starts with the Riverview Deluxe at about £495, which is what I'd book. No pool, a gym open around the clock, and dogs of up to 9 kg (20 lb) allowed with a £100 deposit.

Park Hyatt London River Thames is the newest-feeling of these river hotels, on the south bank at Nine Elms, upriver from Vauxhall Bridge. Rooms begin at about 33 square metres (355 sq ft) with a walk-in shower and a bath, there's an indoor pool and spa, and the right rooms look straight onto the Thames. Vauxhall station, two stops from Victoria on the Victoria line, is six minutes' walk. The AA grades it a five-star hotel, without Red Stars, and Forbes gives it four stars. More in our south London hotel guide.

It's the cheapest AA five-star with river-view rooms. A Twin Room was £524 non-refundable on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and a High Floor King went for the same money that night, so ask for height and a river-facing room. Flexible was £655 and breakfast £38. What you give up is the neighbourhood: new towers instead of old streets, and a Tube ride to almost everything.

Design-led luxury: the hotels with a scene. Less marble, more bar, and rooms people photograph. Rosewood London is my pick of these, and the design hotel I'd book with children. You walk in through a carriage arch off High Holborn into the courtyard of an Edwardian building that holds Scarfes Bar, a spa, a gym open day and night, tea in the Mirror Room, and the Holborn Dining Room with its Pie Room. Holborn, on the Central and Piccadilly lines, is a two-minute walk, and the British Museum about ten. It has five AA Red Stars, two Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. More in our Bloomsbury and Holborn hotel guide.

For 10 November the cheapest room was an Executive King of 31 square metres (334 sq ft), £735 in advance on the hotel's own site, £864 flexible or £928 with breakfast. Families do unusually well: a 36-square-metre Family Room with two double beds was priced the same as the flexible Executive King, and children up to 16 stay free. The catch is the address, a busy main road rather than a garden square.

Ham Yard Hotel is the Firmdale hotel three minutes from Piccadilly Circus yet set back around a planted yard of its own, with Kit Kemp's colourful rooms, a spa, a roof garden, a bowling alley from the 1950s and a theatre that seats 190. For a Soho night out that ends somewhere calm, this is my luxury pick. It isn't AA-graded, but the Michelin Guide gives it two Keys. More in our Soho hotel guide.

The Superior, 31 square metres (334 sq ft), was about £624 on the hotel's own advance rate for Tuesday 10 November, £690 flexible, room only: a larger first room than most Soho hotels sell. Don't count on silence, though. One reviewer found the rooms over the yard noisy at night, so mention it when you book.

Bvlgari Hotel London is the sleek one, on Knightsbridge between Harrods and Hyde Park, and the best of it is underground: a 25-metre pool lined in Vicenza stone inside the Bvlgari Spa. Upstairs there's Italian cooking at Sette and Nolita Social, a lounge and a private cinema. Knightsbridge station is four minutes' walk, Harrods six. It holds five AA Red Stars, two Michelin Keys and a Forbes Five-Star rating. More in our Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia guide.

On Tuesday 10 November it was the cheapest of the big Knightsbridge hotels, about £780 for a Superior King (size not published) on Booking.com, but that was the non-refundable price; the flexible one was £918, before a £36 breakfast. It's modern and glossy from top to bottom, so if you want chandeliers and history, stay with the grand dames. For a long indoor swim in November, though, this is the one.

The London EDITION is the lobby-bar hotel: 173 rooms in a restored building on Berners Street, just north of Oxford Street, with a big, sociable lobby, cocktails in the Punch Room and Jason Atherton's Berners Tavern. Tottenham Court Road, on the Elizabeth, Central and Northern lines, is three minutes on foot, and Oxford Circus seven. The AA grades it a five-star hotel, without Red Stars, and Forbes gives it four stars. More in our Marylebone and Fitzrovia hotel guide.

A Deluxe King (size not published) was about £830 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, much the same as the Langham, so you're choosing a scene over a grand hotel's hush. The ground floor is busy late, and one guest was kept up by mechanical and shower noise, so tell the hotel if you sleep lightly.

The Ned is a members' club with bedrooms, in the Midland Bank headquarters that Sir Edwin Lutyens designed in 1924, beside Bank station. The old banking hall now holds seven restaurants and three bars, and booking direct gets you into Ned's Club Gym and Spa. Bank, on the Central and Northern lines, is a minute away, and St Paul's eight. It has no AA grade and no Michelin Key; Forbes gives it four stars. More in our City of London hotel guide.

I'd save it for a weekend, when the City empties and prices fall. On its own site a Cosy room (20 to 30 square metres, 215 to 323 sq ft) was £626 on Tuesday 10 November but £383 on Saturday 14 November and £421 on the Sunday, and a discretionary 5 per cent is added. The rooftop pool is for members only, which surprises some guests. Small dogs can stay in the rooms.

Best value at the top end: about £420 to £540 a night. These four give you real service and a good restaurant for around half a grand dame's rate. The Milestone is the one I'd book, and the best-value family choice at this level. This Red Carnation hotel faces Kensington Gardens across the road, with 62 rooms, suites and residences, Cheneston's restaurant, a spa and afternoon tea, and it's thoughtful with families: rooms that interconnect, a suite with bunk beds, cots, and free breakfast for under-12s. High Street Kensington station is seven minutes on foot, and the Royal Albert Hall eleven. The AA gives it five Red Stars, its top award. More in our Kensington hotel guide.

A Superior Queen was about £455 non-refundable on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, or £505 flexible, without breakfast (listed at £50); the hotel doesn't publish its size. The park isn't part of that price; it starts with the Park Facing Deluxe. The building is old, and the hotel says so plainly: steps at the main door, a ramp at the side entrance, and only one accessible room.

COMO The Halkin is the calm, modern choice in Belgravia: 41 rooms and suites a block from Belgrave Square, an all-day bar, and access for guests to the square's private gardens and tennis courts. Hyde Park Corner is a six-minute walk, and Harrods 16. It isn't AA-graded, but it holds one Michelin Key. More in our Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia guide.

A Garden Room of about 34 square metres (366 sq ft) was about £526 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, £619 flexible: less than half the Peninsula's rate for a room about two-thirds the size. The saving shows in the extras. The gym is small, the spa and pool are at COMO Metropolitan about ten minutes' walk away, and breakfast costs extra. An extra bed for a child under 13 is free.

Bankside Hotel is the design choice south of the river, part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, where Blackfriars Road meets the Thames. Its 161 rooms are full of art, the Art Yard does food and drinks, and Tate Modern is six minutes away. Blackfriars, with District and Circle line trains and Thameslink, is an eight-minute walk. It has no AA grade and no Michelin Key, so book it as a design hotel rather than a five-star. More in our South Bank and Waterloo hotel guide.

The entry Modest Collection room measures 21 to 25 square metres (226 to 269 sq ft) and was about £539 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, with breakfast £28. For four, the 31-square-metre Family Collection room with two queen beds was £629. You won't get a river view, so treat it as a stylish base near the Tate rather than the full grand-hotel package. Pet-friendly rooms cost £75 extra.

Pan Pacific London is the weekend bargain: a modern tower on Houndsditch, by Liverpool Street, with 237 rooms by the designers Yabu Pushelberg, an 18.5-metre infinity pool on the spa floor, a gym open around the clock, and Deluxe rooms of 37 square metres (398 sq ft), big for London. Liverpool Street station, with the Elizabeth and Central lines among others, is two minutes away. The AA grades it a five-star hotel, Forbes gives it five stars, and the Michelin Guide added it to its Key list in 2026 with one Key. More in our City of London hotel guide.

Book it for a Saturday or a Sunday. Midweek it's priced for business travel (the cheapest room on Tuesday 10 November was a Premier at about £666 on Booking.com), but a Deluxe was £446 on Saturday 14 November and £421 on the Sunday. Breakfast is £44 a head, so check the hotel's own Weekends in London deal: 15 per cent off, with breakfast, a cocktail and the spa included. It runs until 17 December 2026, has to be booked a week ahead and carries a 5 per cent service fee.