Euro Hotel

Would definitely stay here again

by TripAdvisor Member WalesGirlsontour

We have just returned following a two night stay at the Euro Hotel. Had a great time, room clean and comfortable, ensuite well maintained and clean. Breakfast excellent, location fabulous - located between two tube stations, Russell Square tube less than a 10 minute walk.

The staff were very friendly and helpful. Would definitely stay in this hotel again and would have no hesitation recommending it to friends.

I'd stay here again!

by TripAdvisor Member Varryl

My husband and I have just returned after a 5 night stay in the Euro Hotel in Sept 2007. On arrival we were met by pleasant staff but who wanted cost of our stay paid in full. Once we explained that the booking form said we paid at the end of our stay, they were fine with that. We had a room on the ground floor with an en-suite. The room was huge and it had a double bed as well as a single bed. The bathroom was spotless and the shower was excellent with plenty of power. TV was small but worked perfectly and the tea and coffee making facilities all worked too. Our room was cleaned daily with more than enough fresh towels, soaps, shower gels and shampoos to last you. There was no hairdryer in the room which was a nuisance but I asked at the reception and they gave me one from a drawer full which they said I could keep until the end of my stay. The breakfasts were very good, choice of cereals and juices and hot tea and coffee. Breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and beans and white or brown toast all made to order. The location was excellent, a 5 minute walk to Russell Sq and near to Kings X and St Pancras tubes too. Pleasant neighbourhood with several good pubs and bars nearby but locality of hotel was in a quiet garden area. All in all, good value, we had no problems and I'd definately stay here again no question. P.S. The double bed had 2 pillows on each side and an extra 2 in the cupboard - this never happens - I was well pleased!

Perfection In Bloomsbury

by TripAdvisor Member CanuckTraveller07

I had the pleasure of using The Euro Hotel in the Bloomsbury area for my home base during a recent stay of 7 nights/8 days in London. What a joy this place is!

Room rates were good - as I was staying for a week I got a slightly reduced rate of £52.25 per night for a single room with no ensuite (be forewarned: the single rooms are *very* small!). The hotel is exceptionally quiet and well soundproofed; as far as I could tell the walls were made of concrete and I never heard anything from neighbouring rooms during my stay. In fact, my room was located directly over the main entrance to the hotel so I initially expected to hear doors slamming and people yelling at all hours, but there was mostly silence instead. I felt very safe during my stay at The Euro - the front hotel door is locked at all times and guests must use their foyer key to enter. There are security cameras focused on this front door and throughout other parts of the hotel as well. An English breakfast is included in the room rate and is actually pretty good - you help yourself to a buffet of cereals, juices, milk, coffee, tea, etc., and the staff take your order for eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, beans and toast.

The rooms - and the entire hotel for that matter - are absolutely spotless. Towels were changed daily and bed sheets seemed to be changed about every two days or so. Small bottles of shampoo and shower gel were replenished daily. As a solo traveler, I chose the economic option of the shared WC and shower. Having no prior experience with shared bathrooms I was very leery about this fact, but the shared facilities at The Euro proved to be absolutely immaculate. There were two shower rooms and 2 WCs on my floor, but they were not busy - in fact I never heard or saw anyone else using them during my entire stay. Each room is equipped with a phone, clock radio, TV, a kettle and coffee & tea supplies. The staff had also created a very helpful little book which provided information about the hotel and surrounding area (where to eat, what to see, etc.). If you travel with a laptop computer, as I did, you'll be pleased to know that free in-house WiFi is provided (very strong signal; access point on each floor). If you don't have your own computer, there's one in the hotel's dining room for guests to use. This computer was usually fairly busy, with people checking emails and surfing the web for travel info, etc.

The location of this hotel is fantastic. It's located on a very leafy and quiet crescent, and the hotel – and its immediate area - created a calming, restful and welcoming return after a busy day of touring hectic London. There are tennis courts just opposite the hotel and you can book these via the hotel’s reception desk if you wish. The London Underground and railway systems are very close to the Euro: Euston station and King’s Cross/St. Pancras are each about a 5-6 minute walk, while the Russell Square tube station is about an 8 minute walk away. Peaceful Russell Square is a few minutes walk, and you can reach the British Museum on foot in about 10-12 minutes. There is a street called Marchmont adjoining Cartwright Gardens. Marchmont has pretty much anything you're going to need during your stay - post office, coin launderette, a Boots pharmacy, the Brunswick Shopping Centre (mall), tons of small restaurants/pubs with great food, a grocery store and a digital photo/camera store, just to name a few. Further over on Bernard St. there's a large 24/7 convenience store called Tesco which also has a cash machine. Nearby Leith St. also has lots of food takeaway options - Tandoori, Chinese, fish, burgers, etc.

The staff at The Euro during my stay were excellent - highly attentive, efficient and pleasant and, I felt, went over and above the norm to ensure that everything was perfect for my visit. If you need a cab during your stay, the hotel is contracted with a very professional service called Plaza Executive Cars, whose drivers wear uniforms and use higher-end, large, immaculately clean cars. They charge a flat rate for your destination depending on the zone of the city you're traveling to.

About the only negative things I can think of to say about the Euro Hotel was the heat of my room, and the occasional noise from the other side of Cartwright Gardens. As this is a very old building, the (non-insulated) hot water pipes run up the wall *inside* the rooms (at least in the room I was in). This makes the room brutally hot, especially in the middle of the night. My room had a shared balcony with two other suites, so for security reasons I was not comfortable leaving the large windows open all night. A few days into my stay, however, the maintenance people had visited and had shrouded the hot pipes in insulation, which helped reduce the heat problem immensely. As for noise, be aware that directly across the gardens from The Euro are the student residences for the University of London. If you are in a garden-facing suite as I was, you will hear the students making noise (shouting, music) into the wee hours of Friday and Saturday nights. This occasional street noise certainly has nothing to do with the quality of the hotel nor does the hotel have any control over it.

In my personal opinion, you just simply can't do any better than The Euro Hotel if you're looking for a safe, clean, restful, charming, European-style, centrally located budget hotel in London. There's probably about 1001 bad, over-priced hotels in London but the Euro is definitely not one of them. I'll be back!

Quiet, comfortable, and safe

by TripAdvisor Member Gypsy64

We stayed here two nights in late March 2007. It was quiet, comfortable, and safe. About a five-minute walk from the Russell Square tube station. Breakfast, included in the price, was tasty, but we had to leave early to catch a flight and asked the night before if we could have a little something for the morning, and they said no, they couldn't provide breakfast that early. Otherwise an adequate place to stay.

Bedbugs

by TripAdvisor Member traveler0017

On our first night in London, we arrived late at the Euro and only had some tea in the room before going to bed. I pulled back the covers on my bed and there was a bedbug on the sheet. I was traveling with a child - I checked her bed and didn't find anything there. In any case, it was too late to try to find another place to stay since it was high season and we were exhausted from our journey. I decided to make do for the night, though sleep was hardly possible.

In the morning, I found another bedbug on the wall by my bed and it was bloody when squashed. We were supposed to stay at the Euro for 3 nights but that day we went to the TI and they found us a cheaper(!) room at the Royal National Hotel nearby, which turned out to be not only bedbug-free, but much nicer and more spacious, with a proper bathroom. (Our en suite room at the Euro was quite shabby, though it would have been tolerable if not for the bedbugs.)

I did get a full refund from the Euro. Later, after we had left, the owner e-mailed me saying that they noticed the infestation the morning after we arrived and sprayed the room. But clearly they weren't going to tell us anything.

In other ways, the Euro also fell short of my expectations. We stayed in four other establishments on this trip and all were nicer as well as less expensive (though not all were in London). There were some good points about the Euro - the staff were easy to deal with, the breakfast was nice, and the location convenient. They mattered little, however, after the run-in with the bedbugs. It was a very rude welcome to London for us.

Great staff

by TripAdvisor Member wantatravelmore

Our first visit to London ,and after all the horror stories we heard of dirty accomodation,poor staff and cramped rooms ,we were highly delighted with our room which looked out over the trees of the park
We arrived at approx.9.00am and our room was ready for us. a real bonus after the trip from Aus.The room was clean and the breakfasts were a real treat.
I'ts central location was ideal for us to use public transport to see the sights.
The staff were efficient and friendly without imposing.
We had a great stay.

Pleasant, value hotel

by TripAdvisor Member AJM7

Pleasantly surprised to find a comfortable, value for money hotel in London!

Spacious, clean room with pleasant views over the square ( but quite a few stairs up to the top floor). Very helpful staff and a good breakfast to start the day.

Our First Trip To London

by addot

"Introduction"

This is a report of the trip my wife and I took to England and Scotland in May, 1999. We live in Michigan, USA and this was our first trip to the UK (my wife's first trip to Europe).

I write this report for two reasons. Mainly, I enjoy recording my recollections of our vacations. Just as our photographs record images, these trip reports record thoughts. I also write this report for others who enjoy reading travel logs. I am indebted to many others who gave me advice and information. By passing on my thoughts, I feel I am paying back this "debt".

All photos are taken by myself and all text is original.

"Day 1 - Westminster and Jet Lag"

When arrived at Gatwick and took care of chores (toilet, luggage claim, passport check, cash from a money machine, buy tickets for the train to London). We took the Thameslink train to King's Cross as this was close to our hotel. It was about a 15 minute walk to the hotel which, given the unseasonably muggy weather and our level of jet lag, was about all we could handle.

We checked into the Euro Hotel on Cartwright Gardens. The staff was very friendly but the accommodations were a bit more "rustic" than I had anticipated. We wanted to sleep, but conventional wisdom says that you must keep moving to reset your biological clock. We walked south from the hotel and found a sandwich shop for lunch.

We had intended to take the tube to Westminster but couldn't find the station so we took a cab instead. The cab ride also let us see a bit of central London that we would have missed on the tube. We got to the Abbey, just in time for our 2:30 PM tour reservation.

The Abbey was spectacular, not only because of the beautiful building, but also for the tremendous history of the place. Gothic cathedrals are marvels of engineering even by today's standards. How it was done 700 years ago is beyond me. The only drawback was the crowds who milled through like rats on a treadmill. I was glad we paid extra for the private tour.

Outside, we took some pictures of the Abbey (see intro page) and the clock tower of Westminster Palace (Parliment). Our fatigue from jet lag was so severe, we decided to just go back to our hotel after a leisurely stroll to Trafalge Square via St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, and Pall Mall.

We took the tube back to our hotel for another rest and then forced ourselves to get up and go out for dinner. The Hotel is in the Universtiy neighborhood so there are many reasonable dining options. We had Cumberland sausage with mashed potatoes and onion gravy at a nearby pub.

I also had my first ever cask conditioned ale. I have been a home brewer for some time so frequent samplings of "real ale" was a major priority for me. After dinner, we went back to our room and collapsed.

This picture was taken from the same spot as the Westminster Abbey picture above. This part of the Parliment building is Victorian, but other parts of the palace are as old as the Abbey. The famous parliment clock tower is perhaps the most recognizable icon of london. The term "Big Ben" technically applies to the bell in the clock tower.

"Day 2 - Windsor and Tea With the Queen"

We were up early due to a combination of jet lag, adrenaline, and the early May sunrise. We ate our first full English breakfast in the Hotel breakfast room. On the way to the tube station, we walked by the home where Yeats used to live (Susan is a big fan). Plaques on the walls mark homes in Britain which housed famous residents. We rode the tube to Paddingdon and then caught the train to Windsor.

Windsor is an upscale, quaint, and touristy town on the outskirts of London. The castle is right in the town center. Even though we arrived about 20 minutes before the gates opened, there were already hundreds of people waiting to get in. There are no guided tours at the castle. Instead they give you a pamphlet with a map showing a suggested tour route. We ignored the suggested route in order to see the changing of the guard in the lower ward.

Tourists seem to love guard changing ceremonies. We knew that we would not be around to see the more famous Buckingham Palace cermoney so we were glad to see Windsor's version. There really isn't much to see. The new guards marched in, a band palyed, a couple of guys march back and forth, repeat this 10 times, and eventually everyone but the new guard marches off. The highlight for us was the band's rousing rendition of the theme song from Hawaii-5-O.

After the show, we headed up to the top of the hill to see the State Apartments. The opulence of the palace was astounding. We were particularly impressed with the art work on display, especially the portraits of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. A highlight of the tour was St. George's Hall and the Lantern Lobby, both rebuilt after the 1992 fire. On the balcony was the stunning armor of the King's Champion.

Walking back down to the lower ward we saw a Concord fly overhead. The Castle is just a few miles from Heathrow. We then toured St. George's Chapel (in the foreground of the picture). This magnificent work of perpendicular gothic architecture is the Royal family's personal chapel and final resting place of many Kings and Queens. The medieval quire stalls, decorated with regalia of the Knights of the Garter were very interesting.

We left the castle by early afternoon and went to the Royal Windsor Horse Show which was taking place just outside the castle. We saw a junior jumping competition and a sheep dog demonstration. The most charming event was the kiddy steeplechase where little girls raced ponies around the main arena, jumping over "hedges" along the way. The main event of the afternoon was the final round of a jumping competition with teams from British Military units. For this event, the Queen and her entourage showed up (with much fanfare). At the end, the Queen walked out onto the muddy field to award the trophies. I suppose most tourists feel it would be exciting to see the Queen but few actually do.

On the way back to the train station we stopped for tea. Like the pubs, tea is another British institution all visitors should take the time to experience. Back in London, we ate diner at a traditional English restaurant recommended by the hotel desk clerk. I had the three course fish and chips meal. Back at the hotel, Susan was content to rest and watch the BBC, but I was intent on doing some more ale research so I went to the pub at the corner for my pint of the day.

The Queen (in blue) is awarding trophies to the winners of the military jumping competion. We were quite some distance away so the image had to be enlarged and cropped.

"Day 3 - The Tower"

Today's plan was to see the Tower of London in the morning and take a train to York in the afternoon. Having encounterd large crowds at Westminster and Windsor, we figured we should get and early start. We checked out of the Hotel, but left our luggage so we could pick it up on our way to the train station. We took a rather long tube ride to the Tower of London. When you come out of the tube station at Tower Hill, you are right next to the spot where public executions took place. There is also a section of the old medieval and Roman city wall.

We arrived at the tower 20 minutes before opening only to find hundreds in line ahead of us (just like at Windsor). After entering the first gate, we waited by the sign that indicated a free guided tour would begin shortly. Soon, one of the Yeoman Warders (a Beefeater) showed up and gave a lively, humorous, yet often dark overview of the Tower and its history. The tour is really a brief overview of the history and the grounds but is the highlight of any visit and should not be missed!. After the tour, there are many different building to look through on your own.

First we went through the crown jewel display, which includes not only were the jewels, but also an elaborate preview explaining their history. I was surprised to find that there isn't just one crown, but many. It seems that each King or Queen makes up a new crown. Next we went through the White Tower. This is the oldest and most famous part of the Tower. Inside was an incredible display of armor, swords, guns, and items of military history (be sure to check out Henry VIII's armor). The building itself was interesting. The austere Norman chapel made an interesting contrast to gothic Westminster Abbey. Details of castle life are still evident in things such as fireplaces and the king's toilet.

The Beauchamp tower had ancient graffiti carved by condemned prisoners. A walk around the outer wall gives great views of the Tower Bridge and the waterfront. There was also an interesting display of the restored royal apartments. We also did quite a bit of shopping in the various gift shops. We both really enjoyed the Tower and didn't leave until mid afternoon.

We had a couple of hours to kill before our train to York, se we took the tube to the British Museum. You could easily spend a whole day at the British Museum but we only had a couple of hours. Our intention was just to see a few of the most noteworthy galleries, including the Elgin Marbles (from the Parthanon), the Egyptian Sculptures (including the Rosetta Stone) and the early British collection (including the Sutton Hoo treasures). From the British Museum, it was a reasonably short walk to King's Cross Station, via the Hotel to get our luggage and a grocery store to get some food to eat on the train.

Our 6:30 train to York pulled out of the station at exactly 6:30 and we said good bye to London. We really enjoyed our visit and planned to return with the whole family when the children were a bit older. The city is so historic and so ancient. It is unlike anything we have in the U.S., but that is why we travel - to do things we can't do at home.

The Raven is sitting on a fragment of the 1700 year old Roman wall that was incorporated as part of the original Tower Wall in 1066 AD. A legend says that the Tower will fall if the ravens leave. Today the raven's wings are clipped to be sure the Tower is safe. Notice the fragment of a large animal spine to the right of the sign. The ravens are fed carrion.