Built in 1889 by the theatre impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, the Savoy has sustained that famous, glorious sense of enjoyment.

First opened in 1865, the Langham’s original palm court still serves an elegant afternoon tea, but this hotel now blends its Victorian history with 21st-century levels of pampering, including cutting-edge treatments at the Chuan spa and a 21-metre swimming pool.

While The Ned was once the Midland Bank’s headquarters, the focus is now on fun. Head downstairs to find a cocktail bar, which was once the bank’s safe deposit vault.

The glass and steel pyramid of the Shard, the tallest building in western Europe, can be seen across the city and beyond. When they check in on the 34th floor, guests at Shangri-La hotel can strike lucky with views of the Thames and out towards the hills of Surrey, Kent and Sussex.

You won’t be the first to discover this luxe address midway between Chelsea and Knightsbridge. It’s been a socialites playground for years; The Cadogan was where Oscar Wilde was arrested in 1895 and actress Lillie Langtry wined and dined.

Like a warm but wonderfully elegant godmother, Claridge’s does indulgence in a superbly entertaining fashion. This hotel has been a home-from-home for royalty, fashion designers and celebrities since 1850.

This 19th-century building was once the National Liberal Club. Today it’s a luxury hotel in London’s most power-packed area, with Downing Street and the Cenotaph a few moments away. The Thames is just as close, separated only by the trees of Whitehall Gardens; the best rooms and suites make the most of this view, including the London Eye.

This posh pad impresses from its postcode alone, backing onto Hyde Park and facing Harvey Nichols. Of all the luxury hotels in London, this is the foodiest, headlining with Heston Blumenthal’s two-Michelin-starred, molecular-minded Dinner.

Luxury doesn’t get much more central than this plush West End hotel near Hyde Park and Oxford Street. You’ll be welcomed into the grand, marble-clad lobby where nods to Churchill quickly become apparent; prints of his artwork are donated by the former prime minister’s grandson.

Art-lovers flock to this five-star favourite on South Bank — and it’s not just because it’s five minutes from Tate Modern and the South Bank Centre. Interiors have been curated to create a living gallery that shouts “art school without the dust”, while Brutalist grey concrete pillars juxtapose colour-popping prints of classics with a twist; think a skateboarding Shakespeare in a pair of box-fresh Stan Smiths.

The Standard, near the Eurostar terminal and the trendy Coal Drops Yard, may be cool, but it’s comfortably so, with lashings of 1970s-era statement furniture. The 266 rooms and suites are similarly informal, featuring Bang & Olufsen speakers and custom-made dressing gowns.

The Stafford is the soul of discretion; understandable given that its neighbours include Clarence House, and the Foreign Office round the corner. The American Bar celebrates the hotel’s past as a Second World War billet by the US army and is filled with memorabilia.

A cart of champagne greets every guest when they come through the mahogany doors of this 30-bedroom hotel, dressed in black and white and with its own signature scent.

This Covent Garden hotel was once the Bow Street magistrates’ court where Pankhursts, General Pinochet and Oscar Wilde stood in the dock. Now it’s the NoMad group’s first transatlantic outpost.

This 1960s building on Cadogan Place has had £100  million spent on it in an upgrade for the 2020s. There are 17 floors of full-on luxury, including bigger rooms and more suites; the choicest have balconies with views of Cadogan Square or Hyde Park.

You’ll find the best spa and wellness facilities by the Thames here; there’s a sculptural indoor swimming pool, full gym, hamman and treatments. Staying here is more about privacy than partying and, with 100 cosy rooms plus 41 serviced apartments, it is equidistant between the City and Canary Wharf.

The light-filled 1970s building makes a happy marriage with the Nobu brand and its pared-back interiors, which are overseen by the David Collins Studio, with natural materials and Japanese-influenced art.

With just 44 rooms, 12 suites and a handful of apartments, the Milestone offers luxury on an intimate level, including a resistance swimming pool, sauna and spa. It’s opposite Kensington Palace, and while guests have plenty to explore in the neighbourhood, this is a hotel that seeks to cosset.

This was formerly one of London’s most famous nightclubs designed by Walter Gropius. Now it’s a townhouse-style hotel sibling to the Dorchester. All 45 rooms and suites overlook Hyde Park.

This hotel reopened in August 2021 after an 18-month renovation project and the Beaumont’s fans will be happy to hear it has kept its early 1930s joie de vivre.

The Berkeley is famed for its afternoon Pret a Portea, iced and fondant-led homages to fashion icons including Anna Wintour. It has always been a cool hotel; it was the first to introduce air conditioning in the 1920s and is one of the only places in the capital to have an open-air swimming pool.

This five-star favourite opened in late 2019 and sits just off Whitehall. The 152 rooms and suites, including a townhouse, have a gentle Edwardian take on decor.

Britain’s pre-eminent hotel designer Kit Kemp has eight luxury hotels in the capital, all filled with colour and art. Ham Yard may be just off Piccadilly in central London but feels serene with 91 light-filled rooms and suites, plus long-stay apartments.

A bastion of luxury in Mayfair, the Connaught stands just apart from Mount Street’s serious money boutiques and galleries. In situ since 1897, this is a hotel that aims to get things right and then stick to them.

Now owned by the fifth generation of the Goring family, London’s only privately owned luxury hotel welcomes a steady stream of royalty and the discreetly ultra-rich through its doors. They're lured by its Michelin-starred Dining Room, cocktail bars and one of London’s most charming afternoon teas, available in the hotel’s garden in summer.

No other central London hotel embraces nature quite as much as this one. It overlooks Hyde Park and the architecture has a modernist sensibility.

This plush grade II listed Victorian pad in the City is ideal for business travellers. It’s not all about location, though there are plenty of reminders you’re in East London with fun books and quirky prints in each room.

The Laslett, named after one of the founders of Notting Hill carnival, spreads decorously across five townhouses in Pembridge Gardens. The buildings may look the same, but when inside you’ll find the hotel delightfully individual and packed with style, all of it reflecting west London’s most desirable locale.

Immaculately dressed doormen welcome you into this former Victorian railway hotel that’s been transformed into one of London’s grandest places to stay.

ME London is in the heart of theatreland and, like its neighbours, it certainly knows how to put on a show. Architect Norman Foster designed the hotel from the inside out and each area leaves something to talk about.