The best boutique hotels in London
While some of the glitziest, best hotels in London will forever be on a pedestal, offering elevated experiences, celebrated afternoon teas, sweeping suites and state-of-the-art spas, there's also a host of beautiful boutique hotels in London that deserve a special mention. For many, staying somewhere intimate, that feels hidden away from the madding crowds, actually holds more appeal. These are the places that feel like home from the minute you arrive and suit staycations as well as international trips. Interiors are bespoke, service is personal, and dining is a moment in itself. From converted townhouses in central Soho to spots on west London's residential streets, this is our pick of the loveliest boutique hotels in London.
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How we choose the best boutique hotels in London
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve. For more information on how we review hotels and restaurants, please look at our About Us page.
hotelBeaverbrook Townhouse
A smart offshoot of the Surrey Hills original, this property has taken over a pair of restored Georgian townhouses in a prime position near Sloane Square. It feels like a joyous and timely celebration of the capital – especially on the stairs where an extraordinary collection of artwork has been cherry-picked by creative director and advertising legend Frank Lowe: old posters for the Boat Race, Brooks’ Peckham Brewery and Kew Gardens. Just as bedrooms in the country mansion pay homage to former owner Lord Beaverbrook’s friends and guests, here each one is named after a London theatre, with framed programmes of past productions and books on opera and Laurence Olivier. Interior designer Nicola Harding, who previously worked on the estate’s Garden House, has used a bolder, more playful palette for this spin-off, lending it a grown-up urban edge. Four-posters and fringed velvet sofas sit alongside antique desks, patterned lampshades and cushions made from vintage fabrics by Penny Worrall; bathrooms are equally colourful, with glassy tiles in rich apple green and bottle blue. On the ground floor, a Japanese apothecary cabinet at the entrance of the arsenic-hued, Art Deco-detailed bar marks a shift to the East. The best spot in the Fuji Grill restaurant, helmed by ex-Dinings SW3 chef Alex Del, is at the counter, where a sensational 20-course omakase supper is prepared, combining traditional techniques with modern European elements for dishes that might include tuna dry aged in house and hamachi sashimi with smoked aubergine. This standout addition to the area – where the Cadogan reopened under Belmond in 2019 and Hotel Costes is slated for late 2022 – is part of a new chapter for Chelsea. Emma Love
Price: Rooms from around £500 per night
Address: 115-116 Sloane St, London SW1X 9PJ
hotelThe Hari
You learn a few things once you’ve done luxury in London enough times: the marble is always grand, the lobbies know how to make an entrance, and, for luckiest travellers, a fresh bottle of Moët with every turnover. The Hari politely declines all the pretension (except the Moët), and that's precisely why it works.
Nestled on an unassuming street in Belgravia, this boutique hot spot is for travellers who prefer chic subtlety over ostentatious spectacle. Think: more soft coolness, less peacocking. Stepping inside, you feel you've been personally invited into a style savant's private home. The decor is mid-century and tasteful, juxtaposed with a radically unexpected contemporary art collection, featuring edgy paintings and experimental digital photo manipulation courtesy of local artists and winners of The Hari’s annual Arts Prize. The lobby is intimate and warmly curated with comfy seating and just enough leather-bound classics to spark conversation.
The rooms follow the same pattern: deeply comfortable, quietly opulent, and thoughtfully functional. The space is perfect for business travellers, with built-in work nooks judiciously partitioned with gorgeous curtains, so you can tuck your work away when it comes time to relax in the living area. Large picture windows with touch-screen-automatic shades open to Belgravia's rooftops, while Calacatta marble bathrooms invite peaceful, hour-long soaks. In some suites, the tub sits right by the window — because why not pair your bath with a London Eye view and a sip of that Moët? The complimentary bath products are all ecologically stable and sustainably sourced. It's the version of quiet luxury designed for aesthetes looking for responsible relaxation, not just an Instagramable moment.
The Hari delivers with Il Pampero, its modern Italian restaurant that feels like a well-kept secret. The pasta is fresh, the seafood is succulent, and the ossobuco is so tender that it could easily ruin you for all future versions. The atmosphere is adorned with library-esque emerald tones, rich leather banquettes, and lighting made for lingering.
While many five-star hotels in London excel at formality, The Hari's real strength is its staff's ability to make luxury feel personal. The service is anticipatory but never scripted. The doorman remembers your name like you’re an old friend; nothing here feels transactional. You’re known here, and it shows. Erin Parker
Price: Rooms from around £300 per night
Address: 20 Chesham Pl, London SW1X 8HQ.jpg)
James McDonaldhotelTempleton Garden
On the quiet residential street where Templeton Place sits, there’s a surprising sense of calm and quiet. It is central London, after all. But here, white, pillared townhouses line the street and at its centre is Templeton Garden, the hideaway haven that should be on everyone’s radar. Perhaps it goes without saying, but this was once a London townhouse and the lower levels (there are now seven) maintain the original features of a traditional ‘upstairs, downstairs’ residence. Bedrooms are adorned with woven terracotta and taupe furnishings that go well with the natural lighting. There are 156 rooms in total, and eight different room types, each designed to suit a different traveller. Start the day at Pip’s cafe with freshly baked goods and the scent of rich coffee, and book the on-site restaurant, Pippins, for dinner, where classic dishes are followed by creative cocktails that are hard to resist. An asparagus take on a Piña Colada, anyone? A watermelon radish Margarita? After a dinner so delectable, why not? Megan Wilkes
Price: Rooms from around £150 per night
Address: 1-15 Templeton Pl, London SW5 9NB
hotelBroadwick Soho
Two enormous elephants in top hats and bow ties peep over a red awning on a Soho corner. In a city where hotels tend to be either
palatial grandes dames or discreet unmarked townhouses, Martin Brudnizki’s latest 57-room project is an attention-seeker. His trademark opulent interiors – clashing leopard print and zebra stripe; DJ booths jutting up against silk walls; flamingo-pink parrots
floating on green panelling – draw comparisons to his other projects, especially Annabel’s, but Broadwick Soho is a one-off. That’s partly down to the vision of owner Noel Hayden, a tech entrepreneur inspired by the 1970s Bournemouth hotel he grew up in, playing Space Invaders on the arcade machine while his glam mother and magician father entertained guests. That vaudeville spirit survives here. A barman whips up cocktails in the gold-dipped café-bar that spills onto the street, and there’s art by Francis Bacon, Bridget Riley and Andy Warhol on the way to rooms that feel almost pared back compared to the textural riot elsewhere. Wallpaper embroidered with elephants and tigers shimmers in the chandelier light. The enormous brass minibar is shaped like an elephant, handmade by craftsmen in Jaipur. The rooftop bar, Flute, has cork panelling, sequins, geometric lines and stellar views. The vibe is sultrier at basement restaurant Dear Jackie, named after Hayden’s mother, with crimson walls, intimate blue booths and a menu that transcends the trad Italian vibes. Finally, a hotel worthy of the madcap fun of Soho. Sarah JamesPrice: Rooms from around £464 per night
Address: 20 Broadwick St, London W1F 8HT
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hotelChelsea Townhouse
If you know London, you also know how prized its private communal gardens are to the residents lucky enough to live by them. The Cadogan Place Gardens in Sloane Square, with their mature trees and gated railings, are among the most prestigious – and the newly opened Chelsea Townhouse gives its guests access to that rarified local perk. The 36-room hotel – the third London property and the sixth hotel in the Iconic Luxury Hotels collection—sits across from three redbrick Victorian townhouses and includes roomy, ground-level suites with French doors that open directly into the garden. The decor here leans antique but is light-touch and chic – think botanical prints, pleated lampshades, velvet headboards, and the odd porcelain figurine. Much of the period furniture has been repurposed from its predecessor, the Draycott Hotel, but the redesign has breathed new life into its spaces, which are bathed in restful shades of grey and cream. Its communal areas include a fire-warmed dining room and bay-windowed library, made cosier with staff who anticipate your needs. Once nestled in this cocoon, it’s easy to forget the abundance at your doorstep: Stylish sister property 11 Cadogan Gardens – with a clever little gym that’s available for Townhouse guests – is around the corner, as is Pavilion Road, a pedestrian mews street with indie restaurants, bars, and design shops. Further out in Chelsea and Kensington, opportunities abound for a great night out; but as you wind your way back to this comfy, tucked-away sanctuary, you’ll be ever glad to be home. Arati Menon
Price: Rooms from around £455 per night
Address: 26 Cadogan Gardens, London SW3 2RP
Jake EasthamhotelLime Tree Hotel
This Ebury Street townhouse conversion is a masterclass in how to maximise eclectic style in a small space. It also delivers on a hard-to-keep promise: an elegant hangout that feels like home, in a great location, at an affordable price. Owners Matt and Charlotte Goodsall opened the property in 2008, quickly turning it into the area’s loveliest little boutique hotel and the best affordable hotel in London. They reframed challenge as opportunity during the 2020 lockdown, overhauling the interiors and adding a new café. The couple enlisted Fraher & Findlay architects, whose previous projects include Wolf & Badger in Coal Drops Yard, but relied on their own taste for the decorative details, sprucing up corners with Sanderson wallpaper and Pooky lampshades. The 28 bedrooms range from minuscule to moderately sized, but this only contributes to the country-cottage cosiness. Clever design ensures that even the tiniest space is optimised, with teal velvet headboards, mountains of ikat pillows and marmalade-coloured armchairs (thoughtful reading material is provided – ours was Aesop’s Fables). Single rooms come at a keener price, so solo travellers are well looked after. The Buttery kitchen is helmed by Stefano Cirillo, previously at Notting Hill spot Beach Blanket Babylon. Breakfast is made up of perfectly executed classics – avocado on sourdough with runny eggs, chocolate-spread-layered French toast topped with berries, a full English with halloumi – accompanied by the smell of freshly ground Gentlemen Baristas beans and crunchy pastries from the bakery down the road. The back garden is a tiny pocket of quiet for chatting late on summer evenings. Just like the rest of the house, it’s a sweet miniature that has all the elements needed and charm in spades. Katharina Hahn
Price: Rooms from around £200 per night
Address: 135 - 137 Ebury St, London SW1W 9QU
Simon BrownhotelThe Soho Hotel
Cleverly converted from a multi-storey car park, the Firmdale Group's Soho property remains one of London's most fashionable hotels. There's a great big fat Fernando Botero bronze sculpture of a cat in the lobby, probably contemplating his next saucer of milk in the adjacent Refuel bar, even though he could clearly do without it. The rooms are a celebration of colour and pattern, richly varied, in designer and co-owner Kit Kemp's characteristic eclectic-English style. There is a Soho Residence which can have up to three bedrooms and its own private entrance. You know you're in Soho when there's not one but two screening rooms in the basement.
Price: Rooms from around £564 per night
Address: Soho Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews, London W1D 3DH.jpg)
The Twenty TwohotelThe Twenty Two
This previously residential Edwardian manor house has been turned into a 31-room hotel and member’s club by former Blakes owner Navid Mirtorabi, with the help of business partner Jamie Reuben, a scion of a family that owns swathes of Mayfair. In a marble-floored lobby that smells of churchy frankincense, guests are greeted by a cape-wearing doorman and a row of staff in Charlie Casely-Hayford suits. A pervasive friendliness cuts through the velveteen quality of a place that feels more like a louche Parisian hideaway than most smart new London hotels, which tend to fit into Hoxton or Heritage pigeonholes. Most rooms are understatedly plush, painted an elegant blue that’s on the sensual side of Edwardian; former Arbutus chef Alan Christie hits the key modern British notes in the dining room. Some of the prices are shiver-inducing, but then this is Mayfair, and The Twenty Two is offering something different – something sexier and more fun, which might just be a marker point for the area’s future.
Price: Rooms from around £540 per night
Address: 22 Grosvenor Sq, London W1K 6LF
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hotelAt Sloane
It’s only the doorman who signals that the lovely red-brick townhouse of 1 Sloane Gardens is actually a hotel. Originally built in 1888 by Liberty department store architect Edwin Thomas Hall, the building was turned from flats into a 30-room hotel on the instruction of the forward-thinking Earl Cadogan. He enlisted the French duo of iconic hotelier Jean-Louis Costes and interior designer Francois-Joseph Graf, best known for his private homes for the European elite, from Yves Saint Laurent to Valentino. Connoisseurs will get it, and the rest of us will simply sense a rarefied quality in spaces where hidden doorways add playfulness but also maintain precious symmetry. For all the refinement and implied opposition to cheap design and big-brand conformity, there’s also a carnal undercurrent that recalls the spirit of Paris’s game-changing Hotel Costes (don’t call it a sister hotel).
Price: Rooms from around £600 per night
Address: 1 Sloane Gardens, London SW1W 8EA
Soho HousehotelDean Street Townhouse
Boutique hotels are often compact, but those in the know will book one of Dean Street Townhouse's so-named ‘small’ rooms instead of the ‘tiny’ or ‘cosy’, as most come with four-poster beds and vast rainforest showers. Every detail is chosen with care: the mirrors, the lighting, Johnstons throws, Marshall radios, retro alarm clocks, hair straighteners in the bathroom and digital everything. It's touches like this that add signature Soho House flair (it is one of the group's lesser celebrated London outposts, after all). The food is also worth a mention. The restaurant here is filled with locals as well as guests – a winning sign considering the wealth of options on its doorstep. Tables are filled with plates of dover sole, rib-eye steak and sharer sides, as well as icy cocktails shaken with premium spirits. Needless to say, everyone is having a lovely time, and it all takes place in a pair of converted 18th-century townhouses, rather conveniently located in the heart of the thrumming West End district, but with a lovely old-world glow about them that feels oh-so quintessentially London.
Price: Rooms from around £250 per night
Address: 69-71 Dean St, London W1D 3SE
