The 32 Best Hotels in London

"As delicious as the huge slice of cake that it resembles when seen from the right spot by the Thames. No fewer than 1,001 Baccarat crystals illuminate the double-height, Victorian-pillared lobby, whose parquet floors and elegant palette of creams, caramels, and charcoals with splashes of lime-green hint at the splendors beyond. Guests with a list of London landmarks to be checked off will find this a convenient base, within striking distance of Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Theatreland, and the South Bank (if you take one of the top-floor suites with a terrace, you can save yourself some time and see all of them at once). The ESPA Life spa occupies four levels, with 15 treatment 'pods', a marble-and-leather spa lounge, glass-encased sauna and steel-lined pool. Price: Rooms from around $960 per night.Address: Whitehall Pl, London SW1A 2BDClosest tube station: Embankment" - Condé Nast Traveller, Steve King