Where to Stay in Victoria & Westminster: The Best Hotels Near Buckingham Palace and Big Ben (2026)

Victoria station and Buckingham Palace Road. This is the part of the area for anyone arriving on the Gatwick Express or leaving from the coach station, and within a few hundred metres it runs from a Michelin-starred grand hotel to a nine-square-metre room with no window. The Goring is the one I'd book for a special occasion. From Victoria station it's a four-minute walk to Beeston Place, a quiet side street behind Buckingham Palace, in a hotel that one family has run since Otto Goring built it in 1910. It has a private garden, the Michelin-starred Dining Room and afternoon tea on the Veranda, and the palace is a ten-minute walk. Google has it at 4.7 across more than 1,500 reviews.

The price is for the service and the setting, not the square metres. On the Tuesday in November the entry Superior (25 square metres) was £765 on the non-refundable rate or £900 flexible, room only, and it faces away from the garden; for a garden view, book a Deluxe Garden View room. Wellness means a fitness room, not a spa or pool. Families can ask for the Superior Family Connecting Rooms. Big Ben is 24 minutes on foot, or take the District or Circle line two stops to Westminster.

The Rubens at the Palace is the hotel for people who want to say they stayed opposite Buckingham Palace, and it more or less delivers: it faces the Royal Mews across Buckingham Palace Road, three minutes from Victoria station and seven from the palace gates. It's a 161-room Red Carnation hotel with the English Grill, the Curry Room, several bars and a Royal Afternoon Tea, and its own site lists a 2026 Junior Travel Awards gold for best city hotel for families. Google has it at 4.5 from about 2,400 reviews. The Classic Double started at £312 non-refundable for the November Tuesday.

It's an old building and some rooms show it. One recent two-star Google reviewer got a room whose window was "completely permanently blocked" and a bathroom up two steps, so ask for a room with a real window when you book, and pay the extra £14 or so for a Royal Mews View. Breakfast adds £45 to the room-only rate. For families, the interconnecting rooms make it easier than most hotels this close to the palace.

Hotel 41 is the Rubens' small, grown-up sibling next door, with 28 rooms and suites and an Executive Lounge that only residents can use, stocked with drinks and snacks around the clock. Its own site cites a Forbes Five-Star rating, and it holds 4.8 on Google from about 440 reviews, level with the July. The Executive King (22 square metres) was £522 on the prepaid rate for the Tuesday, £580 flexible. It's three minutes to Victoria station and seven to the palace.

This is a couples' hotel rather than a family one, although family wings of four to eight guests can be arranged direct. The lounge is the point: a Google reviewer wrote that after check-out the staff kept serving drinks and snacks while they waited for updates on their flight. The trade-off against the Goring is space and a garden; against the Rubens, about £200 more a night for a much quieter house.

The Resident Victoria is my value pick for being near the palace. It's a 73-room hotel on Palace Place, six minutes' walk from Buckingham Palace, four from Victoria station and nine from St James's Park station, and every room has a mini-kitchen (microwave, sink with a filter tap, Nespresso machine) so you can eat breakfast in your room and save money. The lower-level Snug was £279 for the Tuesday and a 16-square-metre Double £298. It rates 4.7 on Google across nearly 1,000 reviews.

It deliberately has no restaurant, and there's no gym or pool. Two four-star Google reviewers flag the catches: one found the rooms small and some showers narrow, and a wheelchair user found the lifts too small for a chair plus luggage, so check the accessible room's details before booking. Skip the lower-level Snug unless the price is all that matters.

The Clermont London, Victoria is the station hotel, built into the side of Victoria station in 1862 and Grade II listed, with a one-minute walk to the concourse and six to the coach station. The Gatwick Express takes about 30 minutes, as the hotel's own FAQ points out, and it stores luggage free before check-in and after check-out, so it works well around an early or late flight. Inside there's the Soak restaurant, a Tea Lounge for afternoon tea and the Réunion Bar, once the first-class lounge of the Brighton Belle. The Classic Double (18 square metres) was £347 non-refundable.

The hard limit: its own site says it can't accommodate wheelchair users. It holds 4.3 on Google from more than 3,100 reviews, a notch below the Goring and the Rubens, and the recent reviews run from a clean, spacious room to one guest who found mould. It's a practical choice more than a charming one. Big Ben is 24 minutes on foot, or two Tube stops.

citizenM London Victoria Station is the modern, tech-first hotel on Vauxhall Bridge Road, three minutes from the station and 22 from Big Ben. The rooms are small, identical and controlled from a tablet, with an iPad for the lights and blinds, and downstairs there's a lounge, a bar, a restaurant and a coffee shop. It holds 4.6 on Google from about 1,100 reviews. The King Room was £234 non-refundable for the Tuesday.

The brand now belongs to Marriott, so book through Marriott for the points. The trade-off is the room: a recent three-star reviewer found it very small for the price, with the bed pushed right up against the window and the sink outside the bathroom. If you want a mini-kitchen and a little more room, the Resident's 16-square-metre Double was about £64 more.

The Z Hotel Victoria is a cheap, decent bed near the station: £140 for a windowless double on the November Tuesday. It's a 106-room hotel on Lower Belgrave Street, four minutes from Victoria station and seven from the coach station, with a café-bar downstairs, a lift, air conditioning and a round-the-clock front desk. It rates 4.2 on Google across about 1,800 reviews.

The rooms are very small (9 square metres) and the cheapest have no window at all. A four-star Google reviewer summed it up as "Tight quarters for 2 people" and said upgrading to a window room made it feel less claustrophobic, even with nothing to see outside. For one or two nights before a coach or a flight, it's fine. For a week, pay more.

Hotel Riu Plaza London Victoria is the big, efficient all-rounder two minutes from the station, and the best-value family hotel on this side of Victoria. Breakfast was included in every rate for the Tuesday: £237 for a Deluxe room without a window, £246 for a Deluxe Queen with one. There are family triples of 25 square metres and quads of 30, air conditioning throughout, a gym and underground parking at extra cost. Google has it at 4.6 across nearly 3,300 reviews.

Read the room name carefully, because the cheapest rooms are windowless. A one-star reviewer described a windowless room as feeling like a bunker, with the sound of the Tube underneath. Pay the small extra for a window. Big Ben is 24 minutes on foot; Buckingham Palace 15.

The July London Victoria is the apartment-hotel option, and the one I'd pick for a family or a week-long stay. It opened in July 2025, four minutes from Victoria station, and every unit has a full kitchen: the Studio is 19 to 22 square metres with a king bed, and family apartments run to 47 to 51 square metres, with two- and three-bedroom suites above that. There's a gym and a restaurant and bar, The Idler. It has 4.8 on Google from about 280 reviews. The Studio was £308 for the Tuesday.

For one night, a Studio costs more than a hotel room nearby. The saving comes on longer stays, when you're cooking breakfast and some dinners yourself. It's new, so the review count is still small. Big Ben is 22 minutes on foot.

Premier Inn London Victoria is the dependable budget chain option, in a Grade II listed building off Eccleston Square, three minutes from the station and seven from the coach station. Every room has air conditioning, which matters in a hot London summer. It's £189 for a non-refundable Standard room for the Tuesday, £242 on the flexible rate, and it rates 4.2 on Google across about 1,760 reviews.

It's a Premier Inn: consistent beds and blackout curtains, nothing special. It sits on the Pimlico side of the station, 25 minutes on foot from Big Ben, so take the District or Circle line for Westminster.

Room Mate Lime Tree is the boutique pick on the Belgravia side of the station: a townhouse hotel on Ebury Street, formerly the Lime Tree Hotel and now run by Room Mate, with a walled garden and The Buttery, a café and bar for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Rooms have air conditioning. Victoria station is five minutes' walk, the coach station three and Sloane Square nine. It's 4.7 on Google from about 310 reviews, level with the Goring.

There's no lift, breakfast isn't included, and the smallest Cosy Double is just 10 square metres, so ask for a Generous Double (21 square metres). The hotel sets a two-night minimum on some dates, including Tuesday 10 November: for two nights from then, a 17-square-metre Comfy Twin was £465 room only on Room Mate's own site (about £232 a night, with its members' 10% off), and a Generous Double about £375 a night. Big Ben is 32 minutes on foot, so take the Tube to Westminster.

St James's Park and Westminster Abbey. East of the palace, around Buckingham Gate, Caxton Street and Broadway, is the quieter government quarter, with St James's Park station (District and Circle lines) in the middle. It's the best-placed part of the area for doing the palace, the park, the Abbey and Parliament on foot. St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel is the big hotel here, with 329 rooms and suites in a Victorian building on Buckingham Gate. It has the Michelin-starred Quilon restaurant, a Chinese restaurant and a spa. The palace is seven minutes' walk, St James's Park station four, Victoria seven and Big Ben 16. The Executive Room was £362 non-refundable. It rates 4.5 on Google from nearly 3,400 reviews.

With 329 rooms, it doesn't feel intimate. The hotel doesn't publish room sizes. For a family who need a kitchen and space, the Taj group's all-suite Taj 51 Buckingham Gate next door (Kings Junior Suite from about £630 that night on Booking.com) is the upgrade.

St. Ermin's Hotel is the one I'd pick in this group for a first trip with some character. You arrive through a tree-lined courtyard past a sweeping staircase and a ballroom, two minutes from St James's Park station, 13 from Big Ben and ten from the palace. There's the Caxton restaurant and bar, afternoon tea using produce from its rooftop kitchen garden and beehives, and family rooms of 36 square metres. It holds 4.6 on Google across about 2,700 reviews. The cheapest queen room was £447 non-refundable for the Tuesday.

The entry rooms are small for the price (16 to 18 square metres for a Superior Double), and it's a busy wedding and events venue with 15 meeting rooms. A four-star reviewer who came for afternoon tea found the drinks slow. It's a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, so Bonvoy points count.

Conrad London St. James is Hilton's luxury hotel in the 19th-century Queen Anne's Chambers on Broadway, with 256 rooms and suites, right beside St James's Park station. It's ten minutes on foot from Big Ben and from Victoria, with the Blue Boar pub, The Pem restaurant, the Hedgerow cocktail bar and afternoon tea in the Orchard Room downstairs. It rates 4.6 on Google across more than 2,400 reviews. The Deluxe King was £553 non-refundable.

It's the pick for Hilton Honors members; for anyone else, St. Ermin's has more character for about £100 less. One three-star reviewer was kept awake by noise from the next room through thin walls and found breakfast weak for a five-star, so ask for a room away from the lifts and connecting doors.

The Guardsman is a small, club-style townhouse hotel on a quiet side street, three minutes from St James's Park station, seven from both the palace and Victoria, and 16 from Big Ben. It has a Drawing Room with a bar, a Dining Room, afternoon tea, a lift, dog-friendly rooms and six self-contained residences for longer stays. It holds 4.7 on Google across about 460 reviews. The Superior Double was £358 room only for the Tuesday on Booking.com, and breakfast is included if you book on the hotel's own site.

A one-star Google reviewer complained of a room with no air conditioning and locked windows; the hotel's site doesn't list air conditioning, so ask before a stay in July or August. For quiet and service at this price near the palace, it's a strong choice.

hub by Premier Inn London Westminster Abbey is a cheap way to sleep nine minutes' walk from Big Ben: £226 non-refundable for the Tuesday, nine minutes on foot from the clock tower and two from St James's Park station. The rooms are hub's compact 11-square-metre design with a double bed, air conditioning, underbed storage and touchscreen controls. It rates 4.5 on Google across more than 3,500 reviews.

Eleven square metres is small for two people and two suitcases, so pay £19 more for the 14-square-metre Bigger room. The sister hub round the corner on Dacre Street (hub St James's Park, £224 that night) is a like-for-like alternative; one reviewer there compared the room to a cruise-ship cabin. Victoria station is 12 minutes on foot.

The Sanctuary House Hotel is a Fuller's pub with 35 rooms above it on Tothill Street, and the most London-feeling stay in this group: a proper pub downstairs serving food from breakfast to 10pm on weekdays, one minute from St James's Park station and nine from Big Ben. Breakfast comes with every rate, and there's a lift, air conditioning and a Deluxe Family Room with a sofa bed. The Small Double was £379 including breakfast for the Tuesday. It rates 4.3 on Google across about 1,800 reviews.

The pub is busy, so noise from below is the obvious risk: ask for a higher floor. It's not cheap for a pub room either. If you want a pub downstairs and Parliament a short walk away, it's the one to book.

Whitehall and Millbank. North of Parliament along Whitehall, and south along the river at Millbank, are the grandest and the most practical hotels near Big Ben. Raffles London at The OWO is the grandest: the Old War Office on Whitehall, used by Churchill and, in the 20th century, by MI5 and MI6, now 120 rooms and suites with a Guerlain spa and more than half a dozen restaurants and bars, including a Michelin-starred restaurant by Mauro Colagreco. Big Ben is nine minutes on foot, and Westminster station six. It rates 4.7 on Google from about 1,070 reviews.

At £1,078 a night for the entry Superior Double (non-refundable, room only), it's the most expensive hotel in the area by a distance, and the hotel doesn't publish room sizes. Victoria is 25 minutes away, so it's a Westminster stay, not a Victoria one. For a milestone trip that's mostly about the building and the food, it's the one.

The Royal Horseguards Hotel is the Victorian riverside hotel on Whitehall Court, open since 1884 and sharing its building with the National Liberal Club, and it's the more affordable way to stay in grandeur at this end of Westminster. Rooms have air conditioning and there's a lift, the One Twenty One Two restaurant, the Equus Bar and a terrace, and the river-view rooms look across to the London Eye. Big Ben is 11 minutes on foot and Embankment station four. It rates 4.4 on Google across nearly 3,400 reviews. The Standard Double was £376 non-refundable.

It's 27 minutes from Victoria, so it's a Westminster and Covent Garden base rather than a Gatwick one; the Covent Garden hotels page covers its neighbours around Trafalgar Square, including the Corinthia. One guest who otherwise loved it noticed old, stained carpets in their room. Pay for a river view.

Hotel Riu Plaza London The Westminster is good value for a full-service hotel 16 minutes' walk from Big Ben: £230 for a Deluxe Queen with breakfast for the Tuesday. It sits on John Islip Street behind Millbank, near Tate Britain, 16 minutes on foot from Big Ben and ten from Pimlico station, with a buffet restaurant, a lobby bar, a 24-hour gym and paid parking. It rates 4.3 on Google across more than 2,400 reviews.

It's a walk to any Tube (Pimlico is ten minutes, Westminster 16) and 19 minutes from Victoria. A three-star reviewer found the rooms small and the breakfast average. For breakfast included and a walk to Parliament along the river, it's good value.

Pimlico. South of Victoria station, the white stucco streets of Pimlico are where most of the area's cheaper hotels are, on Belgrave Road, Warwick Way, St George's Drive and around Eccleston Square. Pimlico station is on the Victoria line and Victoria station is five to ten minutes' walk from most of them. It's quiet and residential, but the hotels vary a lot, so stick to the ones below. Artist Residence London is the design choice, and my pick if you'd rather stay somewhere with personality than near the palace. It's a ten-room townhouse on Cambridge Street with the Cambridge Street Kitchen, an all-day restaurant and cocktail bar, downstairs. Every room has air conditioning and dogs are welcome. Victoria station is seven minutes' walk. It rates 4.5 on Google from about 340 reviews.

It isn't cheap: the Small Double was £468 room only for the Tuesday on Booking.com, more than the Rubens. There's no lift, and recent Google reviews are mixed on the restaurant: one regular says the service has slipped, another was unhappy with the food. Big Ben is 29 minutes on foot, so plan on the Tube for Westminster.

Eccleston Square Hotel is the couples' boutique pick near the station: two Grade II listed Georgian townhouses on the square where Winston Churchill lived from 1909 to 1913 (there's a blue plaque), with Hästens beds, air conditioning and a lot of in-room technology. Victoria station is six minutes on foot and the coach station four, and guests get into the private square garden. It rates 4.3 on Google across 740 reviews. The Small Queen was £274 non-refundable for the Tuesday.

It's strictly two guests per room, with no twins, no extra beds and no pets, so it's out for families and friends sharing. The rooms are compact. For a couple on a short stay, it's the most polished hotel on the Pimlico side.

The Windermere Hotel is the Pimlico townhouse I'd book on a mid-range budget, because it has two things most of its neighbours don't: a lift and air conditioning in every room. It's a family-run hotel in a building from around 1857 on Warwick Way, seven minutes from Victoria station and six from the coach station, with its own brasserie, the Pimlico Grid, for breakfast. The Standard Double (13 square metres) was £220 non-refundable. It rates 4.5 on Google from about 400 reviews.

Some rooms are a few steps from the lift, and the cheapest singles are just 8 square metres. Warwick Way is also the street with some of the area's worst-rated hotels, so check the name before you book. Big Ben is a 30-minute walk; take the Tube.

Luna Simone Hotel is proof that Belgrave Road can be a good address if you choose the right door. A few doors from hotels rated 2 and 3 on Google, this family-run bed and breakfast holds 4.5 from about 600 reviews. Mr Desira opened it in 1970 and his two sons have run it since 1980; every room has its own bathroom and breakfast is included, served 7 to 9am. Pimlico station is six minutes away and Victoria eight, and the number 24 bus stops outside for Westminster and Trafalgar Square. On the hotel's own site a double was £249 with breakfast for the Tuesday, before its 10 per cent direct-booking code; a quad for four was £339.

There's no lift, so it's stairs to every floor, and the rooms are cooled by fans rather than air conditioning, so a hot July week can be uncomfortable; ask for a lower floor. The rooms are small, as a five-star Google reviewer noted before praising the shower, and check-out is early, at 10am. For a budget first visit with breakfast included, I'd book it over anything else on Belgrave Road.

The Belgrave is the smartest renovation on Belgrave Road: a Thomas Cubitt terrace from the 1840s, taken over in 2013 and completely redone, with a 24-hour reception, a breakfast restaurant (cooked or continental) and luggage storage. It's five minutes from Pimlico station and nine from Victoria, and it rates 4.5 on Google from more than 1,000 reviews. The Small Double was £164 room only for the Tuesday, £183 with breakfast.

The Small Double is tight; one four-star reviewer said it was fine for one night. Ask about a lift before booking if stairs matter. Big Ben is 26 minutes on foot, so this is a Tube-in, Tube-out base, which is why it costs about £200 less than St. James' Court.

The Melita is the budget family choice in Pimlico. It's been family run since 1972, it has air conditioning with air filtration in the rooms, and it sells family rooms for three (£241) and four (£261) as well as the Classic Double (£169 non-refundable for the Tuesday). Coffee and pastries baked in-house are free in the lounge each morning. It's on a quiet side street six minutes from Pimlico station and nine from Victoria, with a 4.5 Google rating from about 440 reviews.

There's no lift, and the free pastries aren't a full breakfast. Luggage storage is available before and after your stay. For families who want a safe, quiet street and a sensible price, it's the one I'd send them to first.

Georgian House Hotel is the cheapest of the good Pimlico townhouses: £155 for a Pimlico Double in its Bower House building for the Tuesday, with breakfast included if you book on the hotel's own site. It's an 1851 building on St George's Drive, seven minutes from Victoria station and six from the coach station, with triple and quad rooms for families and a set of wizard-themed rooms. It rates 4.4 on Google across more than 1,300 reviews.

It says it plainly: no lift and no air conditioning, only fans, and it isn't suitable for guests who use a wheelchair. A four-star Google reviewer on the top floor wrote "Those stairs are KILLER!" and still enjoyed the stay. Ask for a lower floor, and avoid it in a heatwave.