Bookmark this one: a Central London hotel that’s secretly made for families

I always get asked where to stay in London and if you’re planning a trip with kids then I’d highly recommend @thewestinlondoncity.

It’s in such a central, great location {right on the Thames path, opposite the Tate Modern & Borough Market} next to St Paul’s Cathedral, with a tube station just a street away and it’s a location that’s walkable to so many places; the City, Spitalfields, Shoreditch, the Southbank, Tower Bridge etc.

Children get given a scooter & helmet at check in to use during your stay ~ request in advance to make sure they have enough. Which makes sightseeing along the Thames path - safe, away from any traffic, extra fun. This is such a nice perk!

They also get a Westin passport to collect stamps in around the hotel then they can choose a cute cuddly to take home. My children loved this! The staff were all so kind to them. This is a slick, international hotel but children are really celebrated.

Take your swim gear, the lovely basement spa pool allows children from 8-10.30am and 2-4.30pm, a real treat for a city hotel. There’s a thermal suite for adults to use or book in for treatments if you can find a window of time.
The gym is open 24 hours. I wish I’d taken my gym gear as they had peloton bikes! I also liked that the TV screens in the rooms had a clever app where you could do some HIIT or Yoga or Barre sessions with Peloton.

The rooms were super comfortable, really spacious {plenty of room for our big bike trailer and the kids scooters!} and quiet and our children appreciated the bathtub - again, a rarity for a city hotel. There was a mini fridge and coffee machine in the room. We asked for warm milk for our children at the bar at bedtime and they gave it without charge. You could request a cot if needed. We pushed the beds together and marketed it as a family sleepover to our kids which they thought was the best thing ever.

We all loved the breakfast buffet with a mix of traditional full English options, pastries, cold cuts, fresh green juice, an omelette station, chia puddings and crucially tonnes of berries and mango {if you’re new here, I often rate a hotel by how berry friendly it is for toddlers haha}. This will depend on the room rate you book as to whether it’s included or not but it’s a very good breakfast offering. There’s also an a la carte menu to order from, if you do have breakfast included then any dish is £5. We actually didn’t need to order from it as the buffet had everything we wanted. My son loved watching the London traffic out of the window as we ate.

We ate dinner in the all day dining restaurant, Mosaic, which was a hit for us all - it’s a very international menu with a kids menu and colouring given straight away - and meant we didn’t need to worry about going out somewhere busy to eat after the kids swim spot {but equally, of course you’re in London so there’s so much choice right on the doorstep!}. I really liked the focus on wellness in general in the hotel on all of the menus.
We had such a wonderful weekend in our favourite city. I’ll share our itinerary below and do check out my Ultimate London with Kids guide for more ideas if you’re visiting.
The only thing that I’d note is that, in an effort to be more sustainable, you have to request vanity kits/anything you’ve forgotten bathroom wise, I wish I’d done this earlier in the day as it took a while at bedtime and then I worried that it would disturb the kids going to sleep. Partly my fault for not bringing cotton pads but I just expected a hotel to have them.

this was an ad-pr stay but all opinions are my own

Parked in East London, free at weekends.
Walked to Horizon 22 for Europe’s highest, free view point to see the whole city - the kids loved taking photos with their cameras and spotting all of the landmarks from above. Free but requires a ticket. You can sign up in advance but we find tickets sell out fast so we just get there for 10am and scan the QR code to get walk in tickets.
Bought lunch from Itsu then Humble Crumble in Spitalfields Market and visited the vintage photo booth
Saw the Leadenhall market art installation
Walked to the hotel, our room was ready early which was a bonus. Scooted along the Thames past the tower of London to see Tower Bridge. Came back to swim then had dinner in the hotel and collected some stamps
Walked across Milennium Bridge to the Tate Modern - open late on a Saturday. Saw some art and the kids enjoyed the interactive drawing rooms. They have great Uniqlo kids sessions if you go in a school holiday or earlier in the day most weekends
Saw the city at night.
Went to bed. Woke up, gave the kids a bath and hairwash - side note the toiletries they provide smelt so good! - had breakfast, checked out,
Walked to Columbia Road Flower Market through a very quiet city. Went to the Young V&A, picked up rainbow bagels from Brick Lane then Spitalfields City Farm.