Romantic Hotels

With Valentine’s falling on a Thursday this year, it’s the ideal time to make a weekend of it. Book a couple of nights away at one of these luxury hotels and you’ll have three or four days flirting around London’s hot spots, just the two of you. For all hotels on LondonTown.com go to our London Hotels page and you’ll find something to suit all tastes and budgets.

Andaz Liverpool Street

40 Liverpool Street, EC2M 7QN
Opening to great fanfare in November last year, the Andaz takes over from where the Great Eastern used to be. Andaz Liverpool Street is the first of a new breed of hotel from the Hyatt group, aiming to offer five star luxury, personalised service and eco-friendly touches in a sleek, boutique design. Look out for further ANdAZ hotels opening in New York and Texas in the next three years with others under discussion for Beijing and Moscow. It’s not as if the Great Eastern needed a revamp but Hyatt has taken the smart boutique hotel and added some more designer art work, the result is a super swish place to stay. Everything in this former Victorian railway hotel is brand spanking new – except the façade which thankfully retains its original red brick charm – right down to the Bose iPod docking station and eco-friendly toilets which vacuum flush like a loo on an airplane. Weekdays it caters chiefly for the business user, you can however get some great rates on weekends when Spitalfields Market nearby and Hoxton within walking distance make this a good base for going out. The hotel also has its own Wild at Heart florist and – if you suddenly decide your Valentine is for life – it even has a licence to marry couples on site.

Andaz Liverpool Street

Athenaeum Hotel

116 Piccadilly, W1J 7BJ
Cashmere, chocolate and Champagne are the ways to a girl’s heart, or so the cupids at the Athenaeum Hotel believe and their indulgent Valentine’s package delivers all three to your room. You don’t just get a place to stay when you book into one of the Athenaeum’s luxury apartments, their special offer includes chocolate-dipped strawberries, a bottle of Taittinger Champagne and a pair of hot fuschia pink cashmere and satin-bow knickers from couture cashmere label Belinda Robertson. Each apartment is individually styled so you can choose from modern, minimalist furnishings or a traditional suite with faux tiger skin and plush velvet trimmings. Some apartments have green and pleasant views overlooking Green Park which is ideal for a gentle and grassy walk to Buckingham Palace. The ‘Cashmere & Champagne Valentine's’ package is priced at £655 and includes an overnight stay for two in one of the Athenauem’s apartments and sumptuous English breakfast for two, along with your bubbly and knitted bottoms. Bookings can be made from 7th - 17th February 2008. Reservations are recommended.

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Chesterfield Mayfair

35 Charles Street, W1J 5EB
Guests who’ve stayed at this four star hotel in Mayfair consistently tell us how much they love this charming old English establishment, rating it as, “A four star hotel with seven star service”. Appropriately for Valentine’s, it’s close to Berkeley Square, made famous by that well-known romantic song, ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’: “When true lovers meet in Mayfair, so the legends tell, Songbirds sing; winter turns to spring.” Surprise your other half by booking a room at the gorgeous Chesterfield for the night and adding a personal touch by arranging for balloons to be put in your room or for some champagne to be put on ice. Sip your bubbly in the bar where the live piano music sets the romantic scene. Where the Chesterfield excels is in the care and attention paid to details – added extras, for example, include complimentary mineral water and newspapers thrown in. Just a five-minute walk to Green Park Tube and within easy walking distance of the Royal Academy of Arts and Buckingham Palace. With the excellent Only Running Footman gastro pub on the same street, that’s your Valentine’s night out taken care of too.

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Crowne Plaza London St James

45-51 Buckingham Gate, SW1E 6AF
Imposing business hotels nestled beside government offices may not sound like the most charming location to woo a lady but the Crowne Plaza London St James is a comparative oasis in this deserted-by-night area of Victoria. For your 14th February evening adventure there are two must-do going out options just beyond the plume of water cascading from the fountain in the hotel’s picturesque Victorian courtyard. Bank Westminster (Monday to Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday evenings only) and the adjoining Zander bar for a cool cocktail afterwards both have a wow factor that push-the-boat-out occasions like V-Day deserve; and both are from the same stable as the original Bank on Aldwych (sadly no longer trading after ten years serving up excellent modern European cuisine). With Westminster around the corner and Buckingham Palace, just across from Green Park, also within walking distance, you’ll soon see there’s romance beyond the office blocks and government buildings.

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Flemings Mayfair Hotel

7 Half Moon Street, W1J 7BH
Highly recommended for a romantic getaway at any time of year, Flemings is a great way to treat the love of your life to a luxury lie-in. Centrally located in Mayfair, staying at this hotel means you’re slap bang in the heart of London. Theatres, parks, restaurants and shops – Bond Street for posh, Oxford Street for less bank-breaking frocks – are all easily walked to. In fact, Green Park is just across the road with Buckingham Palace at the far end and Hyde Park is not much further. Staff are happy to help with recommendations; if you’re not sure where to go ask William, the charming concierge, whose local knowledge is encyclopaedic. The hotel itself is an amalgamation of Georgian townhouses so from the outside has a certain grandeur and historic charm while recent updates to the interior means that all rooms come with internet access, en suite marble bathrooms with power showers and air-conditioning – which may come in handy if things get all hot and steamy.

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London Park Lane InterContinental

1 Hamilton Place, Park Lane, W1J 0QY
Park Lane is one of London’s most exclusive addresses and the InterContinental occupies a prime location near Hyde Park with stunning views across Wellington Arch and Hyde Park Corner. It’s one of a cluster of imposing five star hotels centred around Hyde Park corner – the Four Seasons, the Hilton and The Metropolitan are all nearby while the Lanesborough faces the InterContinental diagonally across Hyde Park Corner. It’s a prime spot. The U-shaped layout means that some rooms look in on fellow guests; better to request a room with a view and you’ll wake up looking over one of London’s largest royal parks. Following last year’s £76 million refurb, everything at the InterContinental looks brand spanking new. Studio suites come with Bose Sound System and Bang & Olufsen flat screen television while bathrooms are stocked with delicious Elemis toiletries which are replaced daily. Elemis also runs the spa on the first floor where treatments include detox, relax and recharge therapies. If, for some reason, she's not already impressed by being treated to a sleepover at the InterContinental, booking your other half a spa treatment in advance will only help endear you to her even more. Alternatively, join in the fun and get a treatment for two. You’ll be steamed and mud wrapped, finishing off with a wash down in the his and hers side-by-side showers. To reserve spa treatments call London Park Lane on 020 7318 8691. Come evening, Theo Randall's restaurant downstairs offers the most elegant dining while the Cookbook Cafe has a weekly changing menu where a different celebrity cook book is chosen and served up each week. Five star luxury in London doesn't get better than this.

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Mandeville Hotel

8-12 Mandeville Place, W1U 2BE
The Wallace Collection, mere minutes from the Mandeville Hotel in Marylebone, is arguably the most romantic art gallery in London. The former home of the Marquesses of Hertford is a favourite with art lovers and has a ‘secret’ feel, tucked away as it is on Manchester Square, which makes it ideal for lovers too. A Valentine’s stay at the funky, fashionable Mandeville Hotel wouldn’t be complete without a cup of tea and a croissant in the Wallace’s glass-covered restaurant and a look at their ‘Masterpieces from the Louvre’ exhibition (begins 14th February). The Mandeville Hotel is well-positioned too for the village-like Marylebone shops and restaurants. Head out from your hotel in the opposite direction and you’ll pass the pretty St Christopher's Place and bump headlong into Oxford Street – not recommended for romancing but great for every branch of high street shop you can think of. If you don’t want to venture too far, the hotel’s own deVigne bar is an elegant place to perch on a bar stool and the adjoining restaurant is offering a three course Valentine's Menu for £65 a-head, whether you’re staying here or not.

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The Milestone Hotel and Apartments

1 Kensington Court, London, W8 5DL
Opt for the Midnight Lovers Feast package at The Milestone and you get a hamper full of goodies to enjoy, a red rose on your pillow and mood-enhancing aromatherapy oils. If that’s not enough to tint your spectacles a delicate shade of rose the complimentary welcome drink on arrival will help create that warm fuzzy feeling. Arriving at this traditional hotel overlooking Kensington Gardens should in itself be enough to send her heart a-flutter. It’s a seriously indulgently romantic night out – at these prices – and one that even the most demanding, I mean discerning, date will appreciate. Staff go above and beyond the standard levels of service – need a prescription, they’ll get it for you – ensuring that your red rose day goes without a hitch.

The Milestone Hotel and Apartments

The Rembrandt

11 Thurloe Place, London, SW7 2RS
Just across the road from the Victoria and Albert (V & A) Museum, The Rembrandt is perfect for a romantic break tied in with some cultural exploration this Valentine’s. Think Knightsbridge and you’re probably thinking designer, posh and pricey. Thankfully, when you book through LondonTown.com, the savings you make means that only two of those three words apply to The Rembrandt and the last isn’t one of them. With up to 44 per cent off the list price, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best deal – or we’ll give you your money back. Knightsbridge has everything a cosy twosome could need – from live concerts at the Royal Albert Hall to a hand-in-hand stroll around Hyde Park. It’s also home to two of London’s most famous designer department stores, Harrods and Harvey Nichols, with plenty of more affordable high street shops in between and right on your doorstep. Head in the opposite direction, walk past Brompton Oratory, a fine and imposing Early Baroque Catholic church, and you’ll come to the boutique shops of Brompton Cross – Joseph, Chanel, Paul Smith – as well as the delightful Walton Street. For romantic dining options Daphne's is an Italian classic and, if you want to show you’ve put a bit of thought into proceedings, you can even arrange for flowers to be laid on for your lady love.

The Rembrandt

St Martins Lane

45 St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4HX
The achingly hip St Martins Lane is more of a place to be seen than somewhere to hide away on a cosy date. No dimly lit or dusty corners offering the chance of a discrete tete-a-tete here. Instead you get bright lights – which you can change to suit your mood in your room – pop art prints and outsized furniture. Pass the chaise langue in the hotel’s lobby and you’ll arrive at the Light Bar – great for people watching and a real party place Thursday to Saturday nights – while in the basement, Bungalow 8 members’ club is a favourite with celebrities. Hardly the place for shrinking violets but just right for fully blooming roses. If you really want to impress a girl, treat her to St Martin’s Lane and even if she doesn’t turn out to be forever yours she’ll remember the Valentine’s night you spent here together in 2008.

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