The Top Hotels in London: 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards
Now in its 36th iteration, our annual Readers’ Choice Awards continues to capture the travel experiences our readers love best, from the best hotels in the world to the top airlines, cruises, islands, and luggage. This year, you traveled farther and deeper; seeking out remote properties; sailing on smaller, more intimate ships; and prioritizing destinations you’ve been waiting years to visit. At least that’s what a staggering 526,518 of you told us in our annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey. Now, you can use the results to decide where you’re going next. Here are the top hotels in London, as voted by Traveler readers.
View this gallery as a list of the top hotels in London with scores here, or visit our editor-selected best hotels in London here.
All listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you book something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Anthony Parkinsonhotel20. The Carlton Tower Jumeirah
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Readers' Choice Awards 2022, 2023A cravat’s-throw off Sloane Street, footsteps from Harrods and eyeballing the private, pristine 14,000ft Cadogan Gardens directly opposite—which guests have access fobs to—The Carlton Tower Jumeirah is in one of the most prestigious locations in London. Its clientele, therefore, reflects the city’s eclectic elite, with exquisitely dressed Indian wedding parties (one of which set off brilliant orange flares outside the entrance during our stay) rubbing shoulders with Mediterranean football managers (José Mourinho was at the next table with his grown-up children during our Friday-night supper); business people talking shop over Americanos at breakfast and well-to-do octogenarians sipping afternoon tea alongside deliciously fragranced Middle Eastern twenty somethings. Fans of supercars will want to loiter outside with the exceptionally smart and friendly doormen.
Courtesy The Red Carnation Hotel Collectionhotel19. The Milestone Hotel and Residences
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023Located just off Hyde Park and across from Kensington Palace, this 19th-century Victorian prides itself on its 2:1 staff-to-guest ratio. A butler pours guests a glass of Champagne upon arrival, and housekeeping comes twice a day, leaving a different bag of candy each time—butter fudge, toffee whirls, Turkish delight. Design includes tapestry sofas and pictures of horses at the Stables Bar. Themed guest rooms—including The Meghan Suite (named for the Duchess of Sussex), the Venetian Suite, the Tudor Suite, and the Hermes—have a large variety of Penhaligon’s toiletries.
Courtesy Oeker Collectionhotel18. The Lanesborough
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Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023On Hyde Park, The Lanesborough is an unashamed concoction of gilding, trompe l’oeil, and marble that has all the interior oomph of a palace hotel—and, with a butler for each room, service to match. A tip-to-toe renovation has celebrated the original style of the building so enthusiastically that you half expect Jane Austen or Lord Byron to come tripping in for tea. The building is a former hospital, but you wouldn’t know that either—this is the least utilitarian of all London’s hotels, with ornate cornicing, frescos, and tinkling chandeliers. It’s so fancy that wearing jeans feels disrespectful, so bear that in mind when checking in. You won’t find the Snapchat generation here—rather, those longing for a time gone by, one with on-the-button service, proper curtains, and landlines.
Jack Hardy/Nobu Hotel London Portman Squarehotel17. Nobu Hotel London Portman Square
Readers' Choice Awards 2022, 2023After the rollicking success of their East London location, the team behind the celebrity-magnet sushi bar and hotel brand—including chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Robert De Niro—brought their signature Japanese-inspired minimalism to tony Marylebone, transforming an old business hotel into something at once familiar and brand new. On the familiar side, you’ll still find all of Matsuhisa’s classics at the restaurant, including miso black cod, rock shrimp tempura, and yellowtail sashimi with thinly sliced jalapeños. For something uniquely London, the hotel has also put together an afternoon tea ceremony, inspired by the East-meets-West artworks of Gavin Mitchell, with a menu that includes Canton Teas (in flavors like lychee-rose and genmaicha) and snacks like beef tataki sandos and miso caramel éclairs. Upstairs, guest rooms are slick and stylish, with leather headboards, yukata robes, heavy Japanese tea sets, and Grown Alchemist toiletries that smell good enough to eat.
Richard Waitehotel16. JW Marriott Grosvenor House
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023The historic Grosvenor House on Park Lane emanates a cocooning atmosphere of well-trained professionalism, where the rare glitch finds rapid remedy. Only some vestiges of its glamorous Jazz Age heyday have remained intact—most visibly the classic entrance colonnade joining two towers housing 494 rooms—while spacious rooms and bathrooms are styled for mainstream appeal: patterned carpets, thick drapes with swags, and English bath salts for the tub. The more formal dining option is Corrigans, but allow time for the truly excellent English tea in the Park Room, overlooking Hyde Park.
Courtesy Langham Hotelshotel15. The Langham, London
$$$ | Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023The Langham has kept up with the times admirably, adding a stylish pub and cooking classes while maintaining a reassuringly old-school swish of palm-court elegance. This great big castle of a building is less than five minutes' walk from Oxford Circus, but still far enough away for the noise of crowds to have dissipated. The Langham first opened in 1865, so it’s self-assured, yet more modern than most hotels of its age. The vibe is opulent without being ostentatious—the lobby is all dramatic marble columns and a dripping chandelier—while the Artesian Bar next door has a touch of Alice in Wonderland about it, with purple sofas and work-of-art cocktails.
Courtesy The Landmarkhotel14. The Landmark London
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2019, 2023The especially refined high tea, tropical lobby sprouting towering palm trees, and harpist plucking chords in the afternoon are just a handful of the touches that make the Landmark London so grand. Originally a railway hotel servicing Marylebone station in 1899, the property has played many roles in its lifespan, from a convalescent home during World War II to headquarters of the British Railways Board, until it opened under its current name in 1995. The famous afternoon tea is an indulgent yet dainty affair. The menu features gems like Coronation chicken finger sandwiches, freshly baked raisin and apple scones with Cornish clotted cream, your choice from a rainbow of unique jams—like blood orange and Campari—a variety of champagne, and blueberry macarons with lemon cream for dessert. Pinkies up.
Courtesy Maybourne Hotel Grouphotel13. Claridge's
$$$ | Gold List 2019, 2024 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023Founded in 1812, frequented by Queen Victoria and listed by 1878’s influential Baedeker’s guide as “the first hotel in London”, Claridge’s could easily rest on its storied laurels. But it has always kept ahead of the rest, enlisting the likes of Guy Oliver and Diane von Furstenberg for face-lifts over the decades to ensure it bestrides the classic and modern in a way few hotels manage. The lobby captures the art deco glamour of the Jazz Age, when flappers hobnobbed with royalty. Its checkered-floor expanse buzzes with an international motley crew of Hollywood stars, brides and business types catching up over zesty Ginger John cocktails in the 1930s-style Fumoir bar. The pick of the new suites is the Georgian, an impeccable meld of English heritage and subtle chinoiserie. There’s a Steinberg baby grand piano, silk de Gournay panels in the dining room and a kitchen with a 24-hour butler. The hotel’s expansion into the next door building created space for suites such as the Mayfair, where designer Bryan O’Sullivan (The Berkeley Bar) has ingrained modernity through scalloped mohair furniture in coral and pastel-green palettes. Claridge’s has also dug deep to impress guests with its subterranean spa. Designed by André Fu (the Maybourne Bar in Beverly Hills), its limewood and stone textures and dreamy peachy hues are the backdrop for bamboo- stick massages and Cryo Oxygen Shot facials. The pool ripples beneath a vaulted ceiling, surrounded by stone columns and cushy cabanas. Claridge’s is no longer the only show in town, but it’s with good reason that every other heritage hotel in London still sees it as the benchmark.
Courtesy Rocco Forte Hotelshotel12. Brown's Hotel, A Rocco Forte Hotel
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023Brown’s has all the cachet of London’s better-known five-star hotels, but feels far less formal—you could nip down to the lobby in your slippers without raising too many eyebrows. It’s also got (whisper it) a bit more personality. The place oozes history—Agatha Christie once stayed; Rudyard Kipling finished The Jungle Book here—without feeling the remotest bit stuffy, thanks to the imaginative Olga Polozzi interiors. Antique rugs, bright upholstery, and modern art offset the weighty mahogany paneling. For five-star charisma, Browns wins hands-down.
Niall Cluttonhotel11. Sea Containers London
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023This hotel is a glamorous riot of copper and brass marooned on the South Bank. The location is extraordinary—you can tick off Tate Modern and The London Eye before the rest of the tourists have finished their morning tea and toast. Upon arrival, you get the message that this is a hotel that doesn’t take itself too seriously—a great copper hull, based on the 19th-century clipper the Cutty Sark, has crashed into reception, which is next door to Lyaness bar with mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana A.K.A Mr Lyan at the helm.
Nick Rochowski Photographyhotel10. One Aldwych
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2021, 2023This luxury hotel places an emphasis on wellbeing, with fresh fruit and flowers that are replenished every day, in every room—and the cute baggie they leave for you on the day of check-out, in case you want to swipe your bathroom toiletries. The huge underground pool is superb, room service specializes in healthy options, and the on-site restaurant Indigo is seasonal and entirely gluten- and dairy-free.
Will Prycehotel9. Kimpton Fitzroy London
Readers' Choice Awards 2021, 2022, 2023Opened in 1900 as the Hotel Russell, this landmark building in Bloomsbury remains beloved for its ornate architecture by Charles Fitzroy Doll, the man who designed the dining room on the Titanic. The property reopened in 2018 as the UK’s first Kimpton, but it retains many of the design elements that have made it a favorite over the past century: a thé-au-lait terracotta façade, statues of four British queens watching over the entrance, a zodiac mosaic on the lobby floor. The elegant guest rooms, all calming creams and beiges, feature subtly whimsical touches, such as colorful pillows by textile designer Kit Miles, depicting “Lucky George,” a bronze dragon found on the second-floor staircase—a second, less lucky cast of the same mold was on the Titanic. As enticing as the rooms are, you’ll want to spend all your time in the hotel’s common spaces, including the disco-ball-bedecked cocktail lounge Fitz’s and the glass-ceilinged Palm Court for afternoon tea (and bubbly).
Courtesy Mandarin Orientalhotel8. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
$$$ | Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023Reopened after an extensive (and expensive) renovation in 2019, the Mandarin Oriental is nothing less than stunning. The hotel’s Edwardian footprint interplays with tranquil, quirkily contemporary interiors and bright colors; the suites and rooms, finished in sparkling Art Deco style, are by designer Joyce Wang; and there’s an exceptional basement spa with an added Philip Kingsley hair and scalp bar, and a mani-pedi studio by celebrity French podiatrist Bastien Gonzalez. The exterior is all iconic red brick and cream, while the interior is restrained yet innovative, with added floral displays and fun 1920s-style pendant lights created from equine hair culled from the Horse Guards’ stable. Naturally Heston Blumenthal’s near-perfect molecular restaurant is packed almost every night.
Courtesy Hotel Café Royalhotel7. Hotel Café Royal
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023You wouldn’t suspect the likes of Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, and David Bowie to have much in common, but it turns out all three have passed through an institution where writers, politicians, and rockstars alike have been fraternizing ever since the 19th century. This five-star hotel on Regent Street in Piccadilly lives up to its past even after a modern redesign in 2012. Legendary features like the helical staircase and notorious, rococo Grill Room—now called the Oscar Wilde Lounge—remain where they belong, even alongside the shiny, new 700-plus-pound Murano glass chandelier that cascades from the lobby ceiling like a glimmering sun shower. Rooms live up to expectations, with beds dressed in Frette linens, Carrara marble bathroom floors, and Bang & Olufsen entertainment systems. A stay at Hotel Café Royal isn’t just about travel. It’s about living in the now for today and being part of history come tomorrow.
Courtesy Ham Yard Hotelhotel6. Ham Yard Hotel
$$$ | Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023Snug within its own Soho enclave, Ham Yard still feels as fresh as when it opened in 2014, with its procession of fabrics, textures, and fizzy commotion that rebooted the whole concept of the boutique hotel. The most recent offering in town from the popular Firmdale hotel group, this outpost was placed in a brand-new building, which means the exterior is office-block bland but the entrance is saved by an impressive, gloopy bronze sculpture by Turner prize-winning artist Tony Cragg and the green leaves of surrounding oak trees. Once inside, things get much more exciting, with bright art on the walls and owner-designer Kit Kemp’s signature playful prints splashed across the furniture and walls. The open-plan layout means that the reception segues into the bar—a nice way to get straight into the swing of things.
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Benoit Linerohotel5. NoMad London
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Hot List 2022 Readers' Choice Awards 2023Just across the road from the neoclassical oomph of the Royal Opera House, the NoMad is set in a former court. Center stage is the courtyard restaurant, a three-story glass atrium rising like a Victorian greenhouse and dressed with hanging plants. There’s a sense of theater throughout the hotel, draped with velvets and lit by vintage chandeliers. The rooms reflect a mix of 1920s Art Deco and Victoriana: faded Oriental rugs, sofas the color of peach Bellinis, scatterings of portraits and exhibition posters, and bathrooms filled with rippled glass, mosaic tiles, and lamps—the sort Mae West would emerge from in a mink dressing gown.
Courtesy The Ritz Hotelhotel4. The Ritz London
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023The Ritz London is the ultimate spot for the uninitiated London tourist: Its décor is quintessentially English—flowery, refined, and a little bit quaint—and the hotel is within walking distance to must-see neighborhoods like Soho, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden. The Michelin-starred Ritz restaurant does a sumptuous three-course Sunday lunch (the roast sirloin should make every traveler's London to-do list), and the opulent dining room, outfitted in dreamy frescoes and gilded statues, is Insta-heaven.
Courtesy Rosewood Hotels & Resorts/Durston Saylorhotel3. Rosewood London
$$$ | Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023The Rosewood London has brought a neglected Edwardian pile back to life—the Mirror Room is fabulous—but it’s also helped put Holborn back on the map for Londoners. The most fun you might have at this hotel is with your entrances and exits—both require skipping across an expansive cobblestone courtyard formerly used for horse-drawn carriages, a reminder of the hotel’s grand origins. The vibe here is unrestrained luxury for traditional taste buds: Communal spaces are all marble and mahogany with a neutral color palette, and the crowd is a mature, tasteful set with plenty of cash to spare. There are four restaurants, but the one meal you really shouldn’t miss is that quintessentially British dish, a pie, consumed on a plump red banquette seat in the Holborn Dining Room.
Courtesy Four Seasonshotel2. Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square
$$$ | Hot List 2018 Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023This is a hotel for grownups that manages to be at once grandly historical and unshowy. Credit the muted palette of greiges and modern-leaning decor that cut the Neoclassical and Art Deco interiors down to size. The rooms, with a houndstooth-and-leather, men’s club vibe, and one-touch everything wired via a bedside iPad, feel a bit like James Bond’s lair, while the location, across from the Tower of London in the city’s untouristed financial district, is pretty damn perfect. And naturally, being a Four Seasons, the service is impeccable. A super nice, super modern spa with a lovely lap pool adds to the charm.
Oliver Messel/The Dorchesterhotel1. The Dorchester, Dorchester Collection
$$$ | Gold List 2024 Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023The Dorch has been shaking her tail feathers with the biggest refurb in three decades: public spaces supercharged, and two floors of new rooms and suites revealed. Penthouses and a rooftop remain under lock and key until later in 2024. The hotel where Elizabeth Taylor signed her Cleopatra contract in the bath remains out-and-out fabulous—but with a Pierre-Yves Rochon uplift. The Artists’ Bar sparkles with a mirrored ceiling, Lalique crystal pillars girdling the bar and Liberace’s mirror-ball-clad baby grand. This is the spot for caviar, native oysters and Petal Head cocktails (Stoli Elit vodka, kumquat, Aperol and passion fruit) served from a trolley. A hoard of London-centric art glints on the walls: Ann Carrington’s Elizabeth II silhouette in mother-of-pearl buttons, Sue Arrowsmith’s delicate silver leaf with coral branches. Martin Brudnizki’s Vesper Bar invites intimacy with its smoked glass and scalloped armchairs, and the spa (best for Dr Uliana Gout’s new medical-grade facials) is a pink girly haven. The Grill by Tom Booton, a fun slice of British culinary theatre, has a fresh menu: don’t miss the squid bolognese à la Koffmann, given the tick of approval by Pierre Koffmann himself. The new suites have the palettes of an English garden, in leaf green, rose and heather.
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