Ended up staying at Hotel Rafayel cant fault it at all great rooms, great service and even a free shuttle service to the nearest tube station and back.
Stayed there in August the week following the riots. Never used the concierge to Clapham Junction though, it's only 15 mins walk and I'd prefer to walk if possible. Bus stop to Clapham or Victoria just outside too. We had a Thames room (No 124) but unfortunately it was the worst Thames Room they had, the view not that great which was a bit disappointing. The breakfast was good, but they ran out of hash browns on the Monday and served chips at breakfast.
Not a patch on Hilton's breakfasts though, they are the best I've had and will take some beating.
Had a nice walk to Canary Wharf one day, which is approx 20 miles, then caught the tube back after a steak at Gauchos but that's all we tend to do, walk around seeing places we haven't seen before and taking in the sights.
Have stayed in various places in Canary Wharf, which is vibrant during the week but tails off at the weekend due to the majority of the workers being absent. You can walk into "London", takes about 45 mins and can walk along the Thames most of the way. Much preferable than jumping on the tube as long as the weather is fitting, well at least once anyway as it can eat into your time on busy sightseeing days.
Went into the British museum as that's the only one we hadn't visited in the years we've been down there, but walked out after 10 mins, it was absolutely chocker and I haven't the patience to deal with that amount of people and screaming kids. Will try again at a less popular time but the thing is, you just can't rush around these places.
Loads of museums though, big and small, a great little one in the Docklands about the rise and development of the Docklands for instance.
Plenty of the Royal places to see.
You can go to Hampton Court, Kew on a 1-6 Zone Travelcard and get the boat back, takes a few hrs coming back but again, as long as the weather is fine, it's a great trip and you'll see quite a bit you won't/don't see otherwise.
Windsor Castle is about an hr away on the train and although you'll struggle to spend all day in the Castle, a walk around Windsor and Eton will eat into your time.
There's just so much to do, in 15 years of visiting at least once a year, we always find something different and always fail to do things we planned as there's just not enough time.
