Paddington W2 hotel rooms: an escort for the night you step off the train

Hotels on the station's doorstep

Named for orientation only. None of these hotels has any link to us; she arrives as your guest.

Hilton London Paddington, W2 1EE, the former Great Western Royal Hotel, built into the front of the station itself. Royal Lancaster London, W2 2TY, a tower at Lancaster Gate looking straight over Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Novotel London Paddington, W2 6BD, beside the canal at Paddington Basin. Hilton London Metropole, W2 1JU, on the Edgware Road, one of the largest hotels in London and a regular conference venue. Hilton London Hyde Park, W2 4RJ, on the Bayswater Road near Queensway.

With three Hiltons in one postcode, the exact name matters. So does the room number, which the desk asks for once your booking is agreed. The smaller hotels along Sussex Gardens and the serviced flats around the basin are visited on the same terms.

Paddington, Edgware Road, Lancaster Gate

Paddington station itself, seven services under one roof from the Bakerloo line to the Heathrow Express, is about 1 minute from the Hilton at its front. Edgware Road is roughly 7 minutes away and closest to the Metropole. Lancaster Gate, a Central line stop, is about 8 minutes south beside the Royal Lancaster.

From the central terminals the Heathrow Express needs roughly fifteen minutes to get here; the Elizabeth line is slower, with more stops. Either way, you can be in your room within the hour of landing.

Timing a booking around a landing

The simplest way is to message once you are through passport control. Give the hotel, your full name and a rough time for reaching the room. The desk replies with a companion and a time, usually within the hour of your check in, and asks for the room number once you have it. If your flight runs late, tell the desk and the time moves with you.

W2 lies in Zone 1, which means her cab is already part of the fee. She comes by car in the evening, dropped at the hotel entrance rather than the station concourse, and you give her the fee yourself when she arrives.

Guests flying out the next morning use the same arithmetic in reverse. The Heathrow Express leaves from the platforms beside the Hilton, so an evening booking can run until midnight and the terminal is still only a short train ride away at breakfast.

Who writes from W2

Long haul arrivals, first: people who landed at Heathrow at nine in the evening, took the train in and would like the first night in London to be a pleasant one. Business travellers on the Great Western line from Bristol or Reading with meetings in the morning. Conference guests at the Metropole with a free evening. And travellers making the opposite journey, flying out tomorrow, who chose Paddington for the short ride back to the terminals.

A first night in London

A flight lands at Terminal 5 at twenty to nine. At ten past nine, through arrivals, the guest writes: the Royal Lancaster, two hours, as soon as I am in. The desk replies with a name and asks for the room number. He takes the Heathrow Express, checks in at ten past ten, sends the number, and at 22:55 there is a knock. They order a late supper and sit by the window, the park dark below and the lights of the West End beyond it. At five to one she leaves, and he sleeps through the jet lag.

Based in Paddington

Laura, Nora and Vanessa have their home district in Paddington, and a late arrival here is often answered by one of them. Just east, in Marylebone, Liana and Rosa are a short drive away. Every other companion on the rota comes to W2 at the same tariff.

From Paddington onwards

South through the gardens lie Kensington and its garden squares. East along the park edge, Mayfair is a few minutes by car. The Elizabeth line runs east to Soho in about five minutes, and west to the Heathrow hotels if you would rather stay beside the runway.