Apex Wall Hotel, London, UK

The fact that the Apex London Wall Hotel is tucked away on a backstreet between St. Pancras and Bank means that weekends in the immediate vicinity are quiet, but you’re only 10 minutes’ walk from Spitalfields Market, and a bit further to Brick Lane.

What you get as the tradeoff for a few minutes’ walk is an extremely comfortable and stylish hotel – the kind of place that I’m happy to hide away in when I need a break from the outside world.  Staff are very friendly and helpful, and the breakfasts are well above average.  A lot of modern ‘design hotels’ start to look pretty rough even after a year or two, but the folks at Apex are keeping right on top of maintenance – things are looking just as fresh as they did a couple of years ago.

With advance deals, rooms can be had for around £100, a great deal for London, and for such nice rooms.