Stay at Holiday Inn London - Kensington Forum for Hyde Park

A London hotel on Cromwell Road

This page is for one hotel. Ranked lists of hotels near Hyde Park already live on the booking sites. What you can check here is the Forum: the address, the walk, the car park, and a rate you can book direct.

Reception is on 020 7368 4023. Gloucester Road station is 270 metres from the lobby, about a 3-minute walk. The hotel has 906 rooms over 27 floors, so a park weekend is a normal night here, not a one-off.

Gloucester Road or South Kensington? The South Kensington station guide compares the two and lists this autumn's line closures. Here for a concert? See staying for the Royal Albert Hall, about 15 minutes on foot.

The walk to Hyde Park

From the door at 97 Cromwell Road the hotel lists 25 minutes on foot, 10 minutes by taxi, and 15 minutes by tube. Those three figures are on the Hyde Park attraction page. The 25 minutes is the western edge, where Exhibition Road meets the park. It is not a time for Hyde Park Corner, and it is not a time for the far side of the Serpentine.

The daytime route, the same streets the Winter Wonderland guide uses:

1. Leave 97 Cromwell Road and walk east for two blocks.
2. Turn left up Exhibition Road, past the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the V&A.
3. Cross Kensington Gore into Kensington Gardens at Prince's Gate. That point is about 20 minutes from the door.
4. Continue east past the Albert Memorial and into Hyde Park.

The south side of the park

The south side is that same walk, carried on east. After the Albert Memorial the south paths run toward Knightsbridge and the Serpentine. The hotel has not published a separate minute count for South Carriage Drive. The next door-to-gate time on file is Green Gate: 1.6 miles, 30 to 35 minutes from 97 Cromwell Road. Green Gate is the west entrance of Winter Wonderland, further east than the Exhibition Road edge of the park.

Kensington Gardens closes at dusk. Hyde Park itself stays open until midnight. After dark, do not try to retrace the garden path. Walk back by Kensington Gore, Knightsbridge and Cromwell Road, or take the Piccadilly line from Knightsbridge to Gloucester Road.

Parking

The hotel has an on-site car park. The charge is £35 a day, and the space has to be reserved before you arrive. That figure is on the hotel FAQ. It is not included in the room rate.

Street parking nearby is a different system. Kensington and Chelsea does not take parking payment by QR code. A sticker on a sign is the scam described in the parking warning. Pay a council bay with PayByPhone, or use the hotel car park. Kensington is outside the Congestion Charge zone but inside the ULEZ. The congestion zone guide has the details.

What the room costs

The cheap version of a Hyde Park stay here is a standard room and no car. The standard room page lists from £129 a night on weekdays and from £149 at the weekend. Those rates include WiFi and the fitness centre. They are the prices printed on that page, not a quote for a date you have not picked. The live price is on IHG.

A car changes the sum. Add £35 for each day the car is in the hotel car park. A family room is a different product again, below.

Family rooms

Family rooms sleep up to 4, at 32m², with a cot for an infant on request. The bed layouts on the room page are a king plus two singles, or two queens. Breakfast for the family is included in the rate above, and children under 12 eat free.

Family rooms covers the room. The £189 and £209 figures are the ones printed on the family room rates.

Earl's Court

Earl's Court is the next district west, not a second Hyde Park. Holiday Inn Express London - Earl's Court is at 295 North End Road, one District line ride from Gloucester Road. The hotel's own comparison says to book the Forum when the trip is Hyde Park or Winter Wonderland on foot, and the Express when the lower rate is the point. That write-up is Holiday Inn hotels near Kensington.

Common questions