Romantic getaways: where to stay

A city page gathers what we have published on one destination: its lists, hotel reviews and guides, then a section that says which neighbourhood each hotel stands in, and a short FAQ, airports included. In London it begins with our list of the best hotels for couples, where Sofitel London St James comes first for a one-MICHELIN-star dinner and a spa with a couples' suite under one roof.

The neighbourhood section is the quickest way to narrow a trip for two. The 12 London hotels stand in 11 neighbourhoods, and Bankside is the only one with two, The Hoxton Southwark and Novotel London Blackfriars. Some neighbourhoods get a line of context: Canary Wharf, for one, is a privately owned business district on the Isle of Dogs, with London City Airport about 5 km to the east. The page also shows which hotels sit close together: Sofitel London St James, Raffles London at The OWO, The Savoy and St Martins Lane London all stand between St James's and Covent Garden, within reach of the theatres and of three starred tables.

Read each distance with its basis, because two kinds appear. A walking time or a distance the hotel publishes is copied as written, such as 300 m and a 5-minute walk from Sofitel London St James to Piccadilly Circus. Where a hotel publishes nothing, the page gives a straight-line distance and says so: Novotel London Excel is 7.7 km from Bank in a straight line, which is not a travel time.

Hotels and Accor do not always agree, and when they differ both figures are given. Accor puts King's Cross St Pancras 200 m from Pullman London St Pancras, a 1-minute walk, while the hotel's own site says five minutes on foot to St Pancras International. Accor's pages give 3 minutes on one page and 9 on another for the walk from Novotel London Tower Bridge to Tower Bridge, so allow for the longer one. Novotel London Excel calls itself the closest hotel to the ExCeL exhibition centre, yet its own access list prints 3.38 km and a 15-minute walk.

Heathrow lies 23 km west of central London and London City Airport about 10 km east of the City, so the airport you land at shapes the first evening. From Heathrow, Sofitel London Heathrow says the Heathrow Express reaches Paddington in 21 minutes and the Elizabeth line reaches Bond Street in 40; that hotel is joined to Terminal 5 by a covered walkway of about five minutes. Sofitel London St James puts Heathrow 50 minutes away by Underground. Novotel London Excel is 320 m from Custom House, where the Elizabeth line runs direct to Heathrow.

London City Airport is the short hop for the Docklands hotels: 1.77 km from Novotel London Excel, about a five-minute drive, and about 30 minutes by DLR from TRIBE London Canary Wharf. Eurostar trains arrive at St Pancras International, and Pullman London St Pancras is the closest hotel on our list, 200 m from King's Cross St Pancras on Accor's figure. Sofitel London St James publishes 12 minutes by car to St Pancras International, and TRIBE London Canary Wharf about 35 minutes by Underground.