A district that keeps railway hours
Paddington has been a place of arrival since the railway reached it in the nineteenth century, and the hotels around it still work to the timetable. The Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line bring in the flights; Great Western trains bring Bristol, Bath, Oxford and Cardiff; the Night Riviera sleeper leaves for Cornwall late in the evening. People check in at midnight with luggage, check out at five for an early flight, and ask for breakfast at hours most hotels would find odd.
For an evening guest that is ideal. A night desk that has already handled three arrivals and a lost suitcase since ten o'clock does not look twice at a visitor at eleven.
The grades, from A to C
The desk grades Paddington hotels on a single question: how easy is a late visit after a delayed train, or a flight that landed an hour behind?
- Grade A, station side and staffed all night. The house at W2 1EE was built as the railway company's own hotel and still connects to the station, so you can step off a train and be in the lift within minutes. The block on the canal side at W2 6BD is newer and very used to red eye guests.
- Grade A, the park towers. The tower at Lancaster Gate, W2 2TY, rises high above the park with long views, a busy lobby and conference traffic that barely pauses. The one on Bayswater Road, W2 4RJ, is smaller but just as used to late arrivals.
- Grade B, the big conference house. The house on Edgware Road, W2 1JU, is one of the largest hotels in London, efficient and anonymous, a few minutes' walk from the station.
- Grade C, the Sussex Gardens terraces. The small hotels along the long terraces north of the station are charming and good value, but not every one keeps a desk staffed through the night. Check before planning a midnight visit.
Asking for the right room
Station hotels have one weakness, and it is the station. Rooms on the track side of an older building can hear the first departures, and the last trains pull in after midnight. When you reserve, request a room turned away from the platforms or, at the Lancaster Gate tower, one on the park side, where the view over the trees is worth the request on its own.
For an evening guest the ideal room is high, quiet and away from the lift. None of this costs extra, and all of it makes the knock, and the evening after it, easier.
When the train runs late
Delays are the real test of a Paddington booking, and they are simple to handle. Send the desk three things as soon as the delay is announced: the train, the new time, the hotel. Henrietta moves the arrival rather than cancelling it, and the companion adjusts her journey. Nothing is lost when the change comes in good time; the cancellation rules only bite when a booking is dropped at the last minute, or when nobody is there to open the door.
Should the delay land after she is already at the hotel, she keeps a seat in the bar for a quarter of an hour; beyond that, Henrietta agrees a fresh start time with you instead of cutting minutes from the evening. The easiest plan on a travel day is to book loosely: give the desk your train, and let the arrival follow it.
From Heathrow to the room
For a guest landing at Heathrow and sleeping in W2, Paddington is the natural base. The Heathrow Express covers the run non stop in roughly a quarter of an hour, while the Elizabeth line is a little slower because it calls along the way. Either way, write from the baggage hall: she needs about an hour once the desk confirms, which is roughly your own ride plus the check in, and her minute reaches your thread as she sets off.
Prefer to be met at the airport itself? The travel companion format covers that, with the three hour minimum that applies at Heathrow. For a straightforward knock in W2, a Paddington booking is Zone 1, travel included, from £250.
The basin and the canal
Behind the station, Paddington Basin has become a quarter of offices, moored boats and restaurants on the water, and the towpath leads west to Little Venice in a few minutes on foot. For an evening that includes dinner, the basin has tables within sight of the hotels, and the walk back is flat, lit and short. On a summer night the canal is the best short stroll in W2; in winter it is a reason to stay in and order upstairs.
Little Venice itself, where the Paddington arm of the Grand Union meets the Regent's Canal, has a café on the water, a puppet theatre on a barge and a waterside pub or two. On a light evening the walk there and back takes about half an hour, which is exactly the right length for a conversation before dinner.
On the rota, in W2
Three companions live in Paddington. Laura, green eyed and athletic, likes the district because every good trip seems to begin there. Nora, honey blonde and adventurous, is sometimes up before dawn for the flower market at Nine Elms. Vanessa cycles the canal from Little Venice and knows every short cut in W2. Laura and Nora both appear on the toned and athletic shortlist.
Fill in the hotel, the train or flight and the time using the message on the booking page, and the desk will match the knock to your arrival.
Quick answers
Not at all. Tell the desk once the delay is confirmed, the arrival shifts to the new time, and a change made in good time costs nothing.
The one at W2 1EE, built as the original station hotel, which connects directly to the station.
Nearly. Send the details from the plane or the baggage hall, an hour or more before you expect to reach the room, and the desk times the knock for just after you get there; the chat confirms the minute when she leaves.
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