Ham Yard Hotel

Downstairs invites you to stay put. The Library, lined with books and run on an honesty bar, is built for an idle hour; the Drawing Room is where you'd take a pot of tea and a long conversation. The restaurant leans into the seasons, and the bartenders make their own syrups and bitters, so the cocktails taste of somewhere specific. On a fine day, the oyster cart trundles out and the whole place spills happily outdoors.

The rooms are where the look really lets loose. Each is its own composition - bold colour, layered pattern, fabric-covered walls and a headboard you'll want to photograph - and yet they stay warm and easy to live in rather than precious. Beds are big and properly comfortable; the bathrooms a generous, characterful affair. For longer stays or family trips, the residences throw in sitting rooms and kitchens. Few London rooms can match it for personality.

You're slap in the middle of the West End, so the hardest part is choosing. The theatres are a short walk, with Carnaby Street's boutiques and Regent Street's bigger names just beyond. Spend a morning at the Royal Academy or the National Gallery, an afternoon grazing Soho's cafés and record shops, an evening wherever the night takes you - then a short stroll back to your own quiet corner of it all.