The white tower of the Royal Lancaster rising above the trees behind a stone alcove seat in the Italian Gardens, under a blue sky, with people walking in front

Where to Stay in Notting Hill and Bayswater: Portobello, Queensway and the Park Edge

Notting Hill and Bayswater hotels from £97 studios on Prince's Square to Six Senses in the old Whiteleys, sorted by the five pockets of the area, with the Carnival weekend explained.

Photo: Robert Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0

Updated 25 September 2026First published 25 July 2026

In this guide

Notting Hill and Bayswater are one stretch of stucco streets along the north side of Kensington Gardens, from Lancaster Gate in the east to Portobello Road in the west. Notting Hill is where the boutique hotels are. Bayswater, ten minutes’ walk east, is where most of the rooms are and where the prices drop.

The Central line runs under the whole strip, stopping at Notting Hill Gate, Queensway and Lancaster Gate, and Paddington, for Heathrow, is one stop from Bayswater on the Circle line. What decides where you sleep is the market, the park and one weekend in August.

💡 The Short Version: For Notting Hill itself, The Laslettad is about £240 in five listed townhouses a minute from Notting Hill Gate station. The Portobello Hotelad is about £260 for the round beds and freestanding baths, but every room takes two people only. On a budget, Vancouver Hotel and Studios on Prince’s Square lists studios with kitchenettes from £97. With children, Royal Lancaster Londonad sells interconnecting family rooms opposite Kensington Gardens. For the top end, Six Senses London is about £700 inside the old Whiteleys department store. And check the calendar: Notting Hill Carnival is on 29 and 30 August 2027.

Which part of Notting Hill and Bayswater

Notting Hill Gate and Pembridge is the main road and the streets just north of it. The station is here, Portobello Road starts at its top end, and The Laslett, Ruby Zoe and The Lost Poet are all within five minutes of the platforms.

Portobello and the Ladbroke estate is the grid of garden squares either side of Portobello Road. It is residential and quiet at night; the market fills the road on Fridays and Saturdays. The Portobello Hotel is here.

Westbourne Grove and the Bayswater squares runs east from Portobello to Queensway: Prince’s Square, Kensington Gardens Square and Hereford Road. This is where the hostels, the studios and the small independent hotels are, three to six minutes from Bayswater station.

Queensway and Inverness Terrace is Bayswater’s high street, with restaurants open late, the rebuilt Whiteleys at the top and Kensington Gardens at the bottom. Queensway and Bayswater stations are three minutes apart on different lines.

Lancaster Gate is the eastern edge, facing the park across Bayswater Road. It is the nearest part to Paddington and the furthest from Portobello Road, about twenty minutes’ walk.

Our Notting Hill area guide covers the market days and where to eat, and the colourful houses walk maps the pastel streets.

Hotels by Notting Hill Gate

The Laslett — five listed townhouses by the station

About £240 · 8 Pembridge Gardens, W2 4DU · Notting Hill Gate 1 min · Breakfast extra · Hotels.comad

Five Grade II-listed Victorian townhouses on the street beside the station. It is named after Rhaune Laslett, the community activist whose street festival helped start the Carnival, and the bar, The Henderson, after Russell Henderson, the Trinidadian steel pan player who led the band through it. The walls carry work by local artists, including Brian David Stevens’s photographs of Carnival sound systems.

A double room at The Laslett with grey walls, a dark leather headboard set into a wood-veneer panel, a pink and red throw, a bench at the foot of the bed, a record player on the desk and a tall sash window

A bathroom at The Laslett with a freestanding white bath, grey metro tiles, a black and white chequerboard floor, a basin on a chrome washstand and a sash window onto brick houses

A double at The Laslett.

Rooms are named like a house’s: Spare Room Singles of 16 square metres, Spare Room Doubles of 18 to 19, Doubles of 19 to 22, and Master Bedrooms and Suites of 22 to 34. Connecting rooms can be booked, and a cot or single bed fits the Master Bedroom Double or Suite. Reception is 24 hours. Dogs are £30, donated to charity. There is no parking.

Ruby Zoe — the carnival-themed one on the main road

££ · 146–164 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3QG · Notting Hill Gate 4 min · Check-in 3pm, out 11am · Hotels.comad

Ruby calls its format Lean Luxury: compact rooms, with the money spent on the bed and the bar. Here the decoration is Caribbean colour and carnival costume, with instruments and speakers placed around the building. It is sold through IHG, so IHG One Rewards points apply. The minimum check-in age is 18.

A room at Ruby Zoe with a white platform bed crossed by a red ribbon, dark slatted wood panelling behind the bed and TV, a rattan armchair by a wide curtained window and a Marshall guitar amp on the floor

A room at Ruby Zoe.

The Lost Poet — four rooms at the top of Portobello Road

£££ · 6 Portobello Road, W11 3DG · Notting Hill Gate 4 min · Breakfast included · thelostpoet.co.uk

A Victorian townhouse at the Notting Hill Gate end of the market, with four rooms done in bold wallpapers, modern art and wood panelling reclaimed from school science labs. Breakfast comes from local cafés and patisseries, in a “naughty” or a vegan and gluten-free “nice” version.

A room at The Lost Poet with a cane and mustard velvet headboard, a mustard knitted throw, herringbone floorboards and a wood-panelled nook with a yellow velvet banquette and a small round table by a window

A bathroom at The Lost Poet with grey-blue panelled walls, a freestanding slipper bath with a pewter-finish outside, a patterned tiled floor, a wooden stool and a sash window facing a turquoise-painted house

A room at The Lost Poet.

It runs like a guest house: check-in is online with keyless entry, and staff are on site from 8am to 6pm only, with phone support outside those hours. The stairs are narrow and there is no lift; The Quarters, on the ground floor facing Portobello Road, is the room for anyone who can’t manage them. The Suite is on the lower level, 20 square metres with its own patio. Children must be 12 or over.

Hotels by Portobello Road

The Portobello Hotel — the round bed in Room 16

About £260 · 22 Stanley Gardens, W11 2NG · Notting Hill Gate 10 min · Hotels.comad

Open since 1971 on a residential street of the Ladbroke estate, west of Portobello Road, and long used by musicians. The hotel repeats the story that Johnny Depp and Kate Moss once filled the bath in Room 16 with champagne.

Rooms are graded Good (15 square metres, at the front on the ground and second floors) through Better, Great, Marvellous and Outstanding to the Best Room, 36 square metres with a round bed and a freestanding Victorian bath. There is an honesty bar in the drawing room, and breakfast runs 7.30 to 10.30am, until 11 at weekends, downstairs or in your room.

A room at The Portobello Hotel with a round bed under white muslin drapes, yellow hand-painted wallpaper of birds and blossom, a yellow sofa, an oval gilt mirror and a roll-top bath standing in the bedroom beside the doorway to the washroom

A bathroom at The Portobello Hotel with lime-green walls, a white roll-top bath on claw feet with brass taps, a bowl basin on an antique wooden washstand, an ornate gilt mirror and a sash window onto trees

The Best Room, the hotel’s top grade. The bathroom photo is from another room.

Two rules decide it:

Every room sleeps two people at most, and a child of any age counts as one. A baby can stay only by prior arrangement, so families need two rooms.
A Saturday night means a two-night minimum, and the hotel may ask for three over a bank holiday, including Carnival weekend.

Hotels on the Bayswater squares

The Princess Royal — four bedrooms above a pub

£££ · 47 Hereford Road, W2 5AH · Bayswater 9 min · cubitthouse.co.uk

A Cubitt House pub off Westbourne Grove, with four bedrooms upstairs named after princesses, sold as doubles and cosy doubles. Downstairs there is a conservatory, two terraces planted by the garden designer Jinny Blom, a raw bar and a kitchen serving from 8am. It is a working pub with two private dining rooms: book it for the pub, not for early nights.

A bedroom above The Princess Royal with white panelled walls, a buttoned headboard and bed base in red and white geometric fabric, wicker lamps on wall-hung shelves and a tall window with linen curtains

A white freestanding bath with brass wall taps under a colourful abstract print, standing in the bedroom at The Princess Royal with the corner of the bed in view

A double at The Princess Royal.

Vancouver Hotel and Studios — a 1920s family hotel with kitchenettes

Studios from £97, doubles from £149 · 30 Prince’s Square, W2 4NJ · Bayswater 4 min · Hotels.comad

Opened in the 1920s by two Canadian sisters, who named it after their home city, and in only its second family’s hands since. Every room has an en-suite and a kitchenette. The Standard Double Studio is listed from £149 and the Garden Double Studio, opening onto the private garden, from £185.

For a group, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom garden apartment sleeps six from £350 a night. There is a bar, a gym, a guest laundry and a 24-hour reception, and continental breakfast is served in the bar or the garden. There is no lift, only the original staircase. No pets.

A room at Vancouver Hotel and Studios with blue walls, framed panels of monkey and palm-tree wallpaper, an orange velvet headboard, a mustard velvet bedspread, a patterned daybed and a parquet floor

A small en-suite at Vancouver Hotel and Studios with grey stone-effect tiles, a wall-hung basin on a navy cabinet, a toilet and a mirror edged with purple LED light

A room at Vancouver Hotel and Studios.

Space Apart Hotel — studios with kitchens, two nights minimum

From about £140 · 36–37 Kensington Gardens Square, W2 4BQ · Bayswater 6 min · Hotels.comad

Serviced studios on a garden square, each with a kitchen. Rates are published before VAT: Standard from £116.67 plus VAT (£140), Premium from £137.50 (£165), and Triple or Quadruple studios from £162.50 (£195). There is a lift and air conditioning, and some studios are on the lower ground floor, so ask which you are getting. The minimum stay is two nights.

A shower room at Space Apart Hotel with a square white basin, cream tiles, chrome fittings and a walk-in shower behind a glass door

A studio’s shower room.

Garden Court Hotel — a 1954 hotel with rooms for four

30–31 Kensington Gardens Square, W2 4BG · Bayswater 5 min · Hotels.comad

A hotel since 1954, in a listed Victorian house on the same square. It sells singles, including one whose private bathroom is outside the room, doubles, twins, and triples and quadruples for families. Continental breakfast and a 24-hour reception.

A twin room at Garden Court Hotel with two single beds under navy runners, green leaf-print curtains at two tall windows, a built-in wooden wardrobe and a black cast-iron Victorian fireplace

An en-suite at Garden Court Hotel with large grey tiles, a white vanity unit, a heated towel rail, a toilet and a corner shower cubicle with glass doors

A twin at Garden Court Hotel.

Onefam Notting Hill — the hostel with a free dinner

Hostel · 63 Prince’s Square, W2 4PX · Bayswater 6 min · onefamhostels.com

A hostel run around a free family dinner every evening, plus a daily outing and a night out. Dorms are four, six and eight-bed mixed rooms with curtained pod beds and a locker each, and there is a private twin and a private double, both with shared bathrooms. Sheets are included, towels rented, and there is no curfew. Our hostels guide compares it with the rest of London’s.

A dorm at Onefam Notting Hill with wood-panelled bunk beds with dark curtains on each side, blue lockers by the door and a sash window onto the stucco houses of Prince's Square

A dorm at Onefam Notting Hill.

Urbany Hostel London — ages 18 to 40 only

Hostel · 48–49 Prince’s Square, W2 4PX · Bayswater 6 min · Hotels.comad

On the same square as Onefam, from a Barcelona hostel group. The London hostel takes guests aged 18 to 40 only; anyone outside that has to contact it before booking. Dorms sleep four to eight, with a locker at every bed (bring your own padlock) and a plug and USB socket beside it. Every bathroom is outside the rooms, including for the private double and twin. Staff run free dinners, nights out and city walks.

The private double at Urbany Hostel London, with a metal-framed double bed, a herringbone-print duvet, black side tables and a large window onto trees

Shared shower cubicles at Urbany Hostel London with white tiles, a grey band, wooden dividers and green and white striped curtains

The private double at Urbany, and the shared showers.

Hotels by Queensway and Inverness Terrace

Six Senses London — the old Whiteleys

About £700 · 1 Redan Place, W2 4SA · Bayswater 5 min · Breakfast extra · Hotels.comad

109 rooms and suites inside The Whiteley, the rebuilt Whiteleys department store at the top of Queensway. The spa is the reason to pay this: it is built underground, designed to recall an old Tube station, with cryotherapy and flotation alongside the treatment rooms. Whiteley’s Kitchen, Bar and Café is the restaurant, and hotel guests can use Six Senses Place, the members’ club in the building.

A room at Six Senses London with cream walls, a herringbone oak floor, a rust-coloured throw on the bed, a blue armchair and a table for two at a floor-to-ceiling window looking across to the glass dome of The Whiteley

A larger room at Six Senses London where a freestanding white bath stands behind a black-framed glass screen, with twin basins on a marble shelf against blue tiles and the bed and a dining table beyond

A room at Six Senses. The bath photo is from a larger room, with the bath in the bedroom behind a glass screen.

Grand Royale Hyde Park — the Edwardian one on the corner

1–9 Inverness Terrace, W2 3JP · Queensway 2 min · Check-in 3pm, out 11am · Hotels.comad

A four-star from the Montcalm Collection at the Bayswater Road end of Inverness Terrace. The hotel says the building was commissioned by Edward VII for Lillie Langtry and designed by Charles Mewès, architect of the Ritz; the top suite carries her name. Rooms start at singles, and the public rooms keep their wood panelling and marble fireplaces.

A double room at Grand Royale Hyde Park with a tall cream padded headboard between mirrored panels, a striped plum and olive bed runner, wall lamps and a full-height window with red striped curtains

A suite bathroom at Grand Royale Hyde Park with a black claw-foot bath in the middle of a black and white chequerboard marble floor, white marble walls, a crystal chandelier and an arched walk-in shower

A double. The bathroom photo is from a suite.

Blakemore Hyde Park — family suites on Leinster Gardens

30 Leinster Gardens, W2 3AN · Queensway and Bayswater 5 min · Hotels.comad

A four-star on a residential street between Queensway and Paddington. Club Rooms are the entry grade, with single, double or twin beds. The Family Suite takes two adults and two children on a double and a pull-out sofa bed, and there is a Junior Triple. The Terrace restaurant has an outdoor terrace and serves afternoon tea, and there is a fitness room.

A room at Blakemore Hyde Park with a gold-patterned feature wall, a large bed with velvet cushions and a velvet bench at its foot, and a separate seating area with a round glass table and armchairs under a chandelier by the window

A bathroom at Blakemore Hyde Park with cream tiles, a bronze mosaic stripe, a bath with a rain shower and glass screen, a TV set into the wall and a basin in a dark granite counter

A room at Blakemore Hyde Park.

Inhabit, Queen’s Gardens — the wellness one

1–2 Queen’s Gardens, W2 3BA · Bayswater, Lancaster Gate and Paddington 8 min · Hotels.comad

158 rooms in a crescent of mid-19th-century townhouses on a tree-lined square, with a spa and Yeotown, a meat-free restaurant. Rooms are small: the single Sleeper is 8 to 11 square metres and the standard Cosy double 12 to 15. Family rooms sleep four in four single beds, 20 to 24 square metres, and some interconnect.

A small double at Inhabit, Queen's Gardens with pale pink walls, a grey fabric headboard, a grey throw, a watercolour print above the bed and an oak cabinet on the wall, the bed filling the width of the room up to the window

A bathroom in one of the larger rooms at Inhabit, Queen's Gardens with a terrazzo floor, a freestanding white bath, two terracotta basins on a cork counter, a wooden ladder towel rail and a walk-in shower behind black-framed glass

A small double. The bath photo is from a larger room.

Hotels at Lancaster Gate

The Columbia — 102 rooms and the avocado bathrooms

95–99 Lancaster Gate, W2 3NS · Lancaster Gate 4 min, Paddington 7 min · Hotels.comad

Five Grade II Victorian townhouses from 1856, opposite the park, that have been a Red Cross hospital and an officers’ club and were later the hotel bands on the way up stayed in. Every room keeps its original 1970s avocado bathroom suite.

Rooms are small at the bottom and generous at the top: singles and small doubles of 10 to 12 square metres, doubles and twins of 14 to 16, family rooms with two double beds and triples of 18 to 20, and quads of 20 to 22. Booking direct gets free parking when a space is free and a noon check-out. Dogs are welcome.

A family room at The Columbia with two double beds under tall scalloped green velvet headboards, striped wallpaper, a green patterned carpet and two tall sash windows

A 1970s bathroom at The Columbia with olive-green wall tiles, an avocado basin on a chrome washstand, a toilet with a separate cistern and a patterned curtain at the window

A family room at The Columbia, and one of its 1970s bathrooms.

Royal Lancaster London — 411 rooms on the park edge

£££ · Lancaster Terrace, W2 2TY · Lancaster Gate 1 min, Paddington 6 min · Hotels.comad

A tower opened in 1967 on the edge of the park, opposite the Italian Gardens, and still independently owned. The upper floors look over the park to the skyline. Classic Family rooms are two rooms with an interconnecting door and two marble bathrooms, and children’s amenities come on request; our family hotels guide compares it with the others. Nipa Thai, run by an all-Thai kitchen, is the restaurant, and there is afternoon tea; our afternoon tea guide covers where else to book one.

A double room at Royal Lancaster London with a wide bed, a green and brass padded headboard, a grey velvet sofa and a desk under a long window looking over rooftops and a church spire

A suite bathroom at Royal Lancaster London in white marble, with twin basins in a walnut vanity, a bath and a glass shower enclosure beside a window looking down over the trees of the park

A double with a view from the tower. The bathroom photo is from a suite.

Notting Hill Carnival

Carnival 2027 is on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 August, the August bank holiday weekend. The UK National Panorama steel band competition, which needs a ticket, is on Saturday 28 August. Sunday is the family day, with J’ouvert from 6am and the children’s parade; Monday is the adults’ parade. Sound systems play from noon to 7pm on both days. The official Carnival site publishes the full schedule.

At the 2026 Carnival, TfL ran these station restrictions on both days:

Ladbroke Grove: closed all day.
Notting Hill Gate: no entry from 11am to 6pm.
Westbourne Park: no entry from 11am.
Queensway: exit only from 11am to 6pm.
Royal Oak: no entry from 11am to 6pm, then closed.
Holland Park: no entry from 11am to 3pm, then closed.

TfL pointed visitors to Paddington instead, with signed walking routes to the Carnival. Road closures ran until 6am on the Tuesday, with traffic diverted onto a ring route including Holland Park Avenue and Kensington Church Street.

For where to sleep, that means:

The Notting Hill hotels are in the crowd. The Laslett, Ruby Zoe, The Lost Poet and The Portobello Hotel are minutes from the route, and their nearest station has no entry all afternoon.
For a quiet night, book Lancaster Gate. The Columbia and the Royal Lancaster are about twenty minutes’ walk from Portobello Road, and Lancaster Gate station was not on TfL’s restriction list.
Book early and read the minimum stay. The Portobello Hotel may require three nights over a bank holiday, and Space Apart takes two nights at any time.
If you are not coming for Carnival, avoid the weekend. The streets close and shops board up.

Budget rooms in Bayswater

The side streets between Queensway and Paddington are lined with small hotels in converted townhouses, and the rooms vary from building to building. Before booking on price, check three things:

The room size in square metres. Singles at The Columbia start at 10 and at Inhabit at 8.
Whether there is a lift. Vancouver has none, and neither does The Lost Poet.
Whether the bathroom is in the room. Garden Court sells a single with its bathroom outside it, and at Urbany every bathroom is shared.

Our budget hotels guide covers the cheapest options across London, and our aparthotels guide compares studios with kitchens.

Getting in and out

Notting Hill Gate has the Central, Circle and District lines. The Central line runs direct to Oxford Circus in five stops, and on to Tottenham Court Road, Bank and Liverpool Street.

Queensway and Lancaster Gate are Central line only; Bayswater is Circle and District. Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park, on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, serve the north end of Portobello Road.

King’s Cross St Pancras, for the Eurostar, is direct on the Circle line from Notting Hill Gate and Bayswater.

Heathrow: the Heathrow Express, 15 minutes, or the Elizabeth line to Paddington, then the Circle or District line one stop to Bayswater or two to Notting Hill Gate. From Lancaster Gate, walk to Paddington. Our Heathrow guide compares the fares, and the Paddington area guide covers the hotels beside the station.

For how Notting Hill compares with every other base in London, see the best areas to stay in London. South of the park, our South Kensington guide covers the museum end, and the Kensington area guide covers Kensington Palace and Holland Park.

Typical nightly rates for a double, or each hotel’s own published from-rate where it gives one, checked 24 September 2026. The £ symbols mark a price band where a hotel publishes no rate. Carnival dates from the Carnival organisers; 2026 station arrangements from TfL. Prices move nightly, so check your own dates.

Common questions

Is Notting Hill a good area to stay in London?

Yes, if you want a residential base with a direct line into the West End. Notting Hill Gate station has the Central line, five stops from Oxford Circus without changing, plus the Circle and District lines, and Portobello Road starts a few minutes' walk north. Most of the hotels are converted Victorian townhouses. For more choice and lower prices, Bayswater starts ten minutes' walk east.

What is the cheapest place to stay in Notting Hill?

The two hostels on Prince's Square in Bayswater, Onefam Notting Hill and Urbany Hostel London, both a few minutes from Bayswater station. Urbany takes guests aged 18 to 40 only. For a private room, Vancouver Hotel and Studios on the same square lists studios with kitchenettes from £97 a night and standard doubles from £149, and Space Apart on Kensington Gardens Square lists studios from about £140 including VAT, with a two-night minimum.

When is Notting Hill Carnival in 2027?

Sunday 29 and Monday 30 August 2027, the August bank holiday weekend, with the ticketed Panorama steel band competition on Saturday 28 August. Sunday is the family day and Monday the adults' day. In 2026, stations near the route closed or ran exit-only on both days, and hotels on the Notting Hill side are inside the crowds. The Lancaster Gate hotels are about twenty minutes' walk from Portobello Road.

Which tube station is best for Notting Hill hotels?

Notting Hill Gate (Central, Circle and District lines) for The Laslett, Ruby Zoe, The Lost Poet and The Portobello Hotel. Bayswater (Circle and District) for the squares around Prince's Square and Kensington Gardens Square and for Six Senses. Queensway (Central) for Inverness Terrace and Leinster Gardens. Lancaster Gate (Central) for The Columbia and the Royal Lancaster.

Which Notting Hill and Bayswater hotels suit families?

Royal Lancaster London sells family rooms of two interconnecting rooms with two bathrooms. Inhabit, Queen's Gardens has Family rooms of four single beds, and The Columbia has family rooms with two double beds and quads. Blakemore Hyde Park's Family Suite takes two adults and two children, and Vancouver Hotel and Studios has a three-bedroom garden apartment for six. Rule out The Portobello Hotel, where every room takes two people and children count as one, and The Lost Poet, which takes children aged 12 and over.

How do I get from Heathrow to Notting Hill?

Take the Heathrow Express or the Elizabeth line to Paddington. From there the Circle or District line is one stop to Bayswater and two to Notting Hill Gate, and the Lancaster Gate hotels are a six- to seven-minute walk from the station. The Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to Paddington.