The best London hotels near Regent's Park

An expert guide to the best hotels near Regent's Park, including the best for quiet, green locations, swimming pools, spas, swanky bars, fine dining and luxurious rooms, near Marylebone Station, Madame Tussauds and London Zoo.

A boldly designed boutique hotel by Kit Kemp, five minutes from Regent’s Park. Ms Kemp's approach is so self-assured that she can handle vibrant colour and contrasting, unusual fabrics, and the place exudes energy and a sense of well-being. Rooms combine scintillating design with uncomplicated, gadget-light comfort. In the Potting Shed restaurant, an erudite lighting installation by Martha Freud delights diners with its constantly changing, luminous words of wisdom, and the modern British menu (liver, bacon, mash, caper sauce; beer battered pollock) is well executed. The hotel stands within sight of Marylebone Station.

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The listed Art Deco building, offset with a distinctive Spanish edge, is at the southern end of Albany Street, an easy stroll from Regent's Park. At times the White House feels like an outpost of Spain with its restaurant, staff and clientele all acting like ambassadors for the mother country. The décor is one of mixed moods – florid, glitzy, traditional. Many of the bedrooms enjoy good light and views. L'Albufera, the proudly Spanish on-site restaurant, serves well-executed classic dishes including paella and suckling pig.

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Ever wondered what it would be like to spend the night at Regent's Park's London Zoo? Think sleeping in a Gujarati-inspired wooden hut next door to a pride of Asiatic lions, the freedom to roam the zoo at night after it is officially closed, and feeding pygmy hippos their supper during a private tour. Private veranda and kettles in the cosy lodges come in handy – think sipping on hot chocolate while listening to the caw of the flamingos and the flutter of bats overhead. A stay includes a buffet dinner in the Terrace Restaurant to a Bollywood soundtrack.

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A magnet for media and entertainment types, darling – and just 10 minutes’ walk from Regent’s Park. Interiors are charmingly retro, service is polished, breakfasts are excellent, and the Nuno Mendes restaurant is popular with the likes of Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss, David Beckham and Kylie Minogue. As is so often the case these days, all the rooms are decorated the same. However, at the Chiltern Firehouse, their decoration is so charmingly retro, sensible and domestic, yet stylish and original, that it matters far less than in other hotels. Humour is here too: in the Ladies, 'Cigarettes and Men' is scrawled lipstick-style on a glass door.

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A hotel for cigar smokers if ever there was one, with its walk-in humidor containing a range of meticulously maintained, hand-rolled Havana cigars, which can be enjoyed on the lightly decadent Cigar Terrace. The hotel is ten minutes’ walk from Regent’s Park and sits amid handsome streets of terraced houses and venerable apartment blocks that epitomise well-to-do London. The décor of the 45 rooms is plush and quietly ritzy. There's a small lounge bar offering breakfast, snacks, afternoon tea, cocktails and dinner.

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Owners Mike and Wendy run this homely b&b ten minutes from Regent’s Park, which attracts academics, families, and tourists, as well as business people looking for something with more character than a run-of-the-mill hotel. There are two double rooms and a self-catering suite with a galley-style kitchen, and a wet room. You'll find sophisticated furnishings and thoughtful service here. The place has a very lived-in feel: expect to enter via a hallway crammed with bikes, and elegant artists' bits and bobs lining the stairwell. There is a roof garden too. Breakfast is served in bed, and can include a Full English affair.

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The Marylebone – 10 minutes from Regent’s Park on foot – is all about style and modernity. The hotel furnishings are sourced from local designers, with muted décor offset by occasional bold colouring. Guests have complimentary access to the on-site Third Space health club, which has a superb range of equipment with a retro gym (including climbing wall), 18-metre swimming pool and health and beauty treatments. Bedrooms are well appointed and a decent size, with striking furniture. Bathrooms come in Italian marble with baths and showers and Aromatherapy products.

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This grand five-star hotel next to Marylebone station is less than five minutes from Regent’s Park. At the centre of the hotel is its unique Winter Garden, a huge glass-roofed atrium with dizzyingly high palm trees. It feels like a luxurious greenhouse. The decent-sized spa is a calming, open-plan space with pool surrounded by sauna, steam room and hot tub. Star of the show is the Sunday champagne brunch: for £90 a head, diners have their glasses constantly refilled with Baron de Villeboerg, while being serenaded by a pianist and helping themselves to a huge spread including sushi and smoked salmon.

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The Langham – just over ten minutes’ walk from Regent’s Park – was one of London's earliest great hotels, built in 1865, to cater for the vast crowds the railways were bringing into London. As such it is self assured; everything feels as if it has been running the way it should for a long time. The spacious standard rooms in the Regent wing have been recently modernised: think black, faintly oriental cabinets and pops of zingy purple velvet. The Palm Court's Art Deco lamps and crystal-spangled walls are a popular spot for an afternoon tea. Artesian, winner of various best bar awards, has a zany cocktail list that is designed to entertain.