The Best Bed & Breakfasts in Camden, London

This inviting Gordon Ramsay gastropub near Regent’s Park also has eight plush rooms decorated in lavender and taupe – some with four-poster beds and working fireplaces. As you can imagine, breakfast is no mass-produced buffet affair; the top-quality full English is worth spending a little extra on. Afterwards, seek out the rose garden, Open Air Theatre or London Zoo – then have a browse of Marylebone’s chic boutiques.

This classic Georgian townhouse, in Bloomsbury, is rich with literary meeting places, leafy squares and majestic museums. Inside are chunky oak bookcases, mosaic-tiled bathrooms and relatively basic, functional bedrooms – expected, given its nice price tag. Single, triple and family rooms work around your party size; and you’re a 15-minute stroll from the British Museum and pretty, pubby Lamb’s Conduit Street.

Choose this recent opening and you’re within running-for-the-train distance of St Pancras, King’s Cross and Euston stations. Step in and you’ll find snug but stylish monochrome rooms with flatscreen TVs, large rain showers and decent hairdryers. Downstairs is a modest yet chic cafe-bar area, serving pints as well as morning pastries, and the friendly folk at reception are quick to help out with a map or a local tip.

On a residential street between historic Russell Square and restaurant-stacked Fitzrovia, the Staunton channels its Georgian roots with painted wainscoting, paisley fabrics and dainty chinaware. Single and triple rooms work for business travellers and families, and the location is fantastic for sightseeing (Covent Garden lies within a 15-minute walk). Everything feels high-quality, from the bedding and breakfast to the warm welcome at the reception.

The smart Grange brand has waved its biz-hotel wand over this central London stay, where spacious rooms – including top-value ones with two double beds – stick to a soothing palette of greys and golds. Its restaurant and bar are on the corporate side, but the location – nudging both Russell Square and the British Museum – is fabulous for the West End’s dazzling theatres and historic pubs.

Central, efficient and affordable, the Thistle has uniformly simple, comfy rooms and a great location – even though the pride-of-place conference and meeting rooms should tip you off that it’s not the hippest place to hang out. Down the grand staircase is a marbled reception desk, where no hour is too late and nothing is too much trouble; just on your doorstep are Covent Garden, Soho and Fitzrovia for cocktails and charisma.

This Fitzrovia pub has 11 prettily done-up rooms in demure grey and biscuit hues. Bookshelf wallpaper and oil paintings of uniformed dogs keep things warm and quirky, and its location – just south of Regent’s Park – hits that sweet spot between “quiet” and “close to the nightlife”. Downstairs, it’s less fish’n’chips and more wok-fried prawns and steamed dim sum, eaten under ornate gilded ceilings and periwinkle-painted walls.

Set in constantly-evolving King’s Cross, this “poshtel” has set up a bold and artsy hangout for younger and solo travellers, with mural-splashed dorm rooms and funky mingling spaces. As starting prices are so low, superior doubles (with private bathrooms) are a steal, even when you factor in hot-pink feature walls. This former police station has a little character, too – chalet-feel wooden walls, a pool table and a graffiti-scrawled piano all spruce up the basics.

Another Bloomsbury townhouse with affordable rooms, the 100-year-old Penn Club is a member’s establishment and guesthouse with Quaker connections (check out the literature in its red-carpeted living room). The handy location is the main draw – rooms are slightly old-fashioned, in a mismatched-furniture, school-carpet sort of way – but there’s a homey feel to its thick bedspreads, quiet rooms and heaving bookcases.

Set between the Victorian facades of West Hampstead and village vibes of Willesden Green, OYO has surprisingly cosy, bohemian rooms with quirky details (tartan rugs, velvet chaises, imitation frescoes) and great-value family rooms for groups. Basic bathrooms reflect its low price tag, but owner Brigitte is friendly and full of tips for London’s central sights, which are only a 20-minute Tube journey away.