The Langham, London

The Langham opened at the top of Regent Street in 1865 as the first grand hotel in Europe, and a great deal of what that phrase now means was settled here. Portland Place still gives the arrival its ceremony, while Marylebone, a minute away, returns the day to a human scale.

What saves the formality from stiffness is the wit underneath it. Palm Court sets the standard for afternoon tea in a city that treats the subject as a competitive sport, and Artesian answers after dark with showmanship of an entirely different order. The Wigmore keeps a British tavern going at the back of the building, and Sauce runs a cookery school for guests who would rather be behind the counter. Few London hotels offer so many ways to spend an evening without going out.

Portland Place, then Marylebone

The address does two things at once. Regent Street and Oxford Circus put the shops, the theatres and the crowds within a few minutes on foot, which is the London most visitors come for. Turn the other way and Marylebone begins almost immediately: lower buildings, better coffee and a high street that still behaves like a village. Very few hotels sit on the seam between those two cities, and the walk home from either takes about the same time.

From a room to a residence

Superior and Deluxe categories look either into the courtyard or out at the city, so the choice is really between quiet and spectacle. Family Rooms take a more sociable line with two queen beds and a sofa bed. At the top of the range, the Club Residence Suites add a kitchen and a separate living room, which changes the arithmetic of a long stay in London: the shopping comes home, and dinner becomes optional rather than inevitable.

Palm Court and after

Afternoon tea at Palm Court is the fixture around which everything else arranges itself, served at a pace that makes three hours pass as one. Artesian takes the evening in a more theatrical direction, with a bar list the cocktail trade has been quoting for years. The Wigmore supplies the British tavern counterweight, all beer and comfort. Sauce by The Langham puts guests on the working side of the kitchen instead, which is the one ritual here nobody expects.