Is Canary Wharf a good place to stay in London?

Canary Wharf is a practical base for business travellers and for weekend visitors looking for a good hotel deal. Its big, modern hotels often drop their prices at weekends, and rooms tend to be more spacious than in central London. The Elizabeth and Jubilee lines are fast, and the Elizabeth line reaches Bond Street in under 20 minutes.

The area is clean, modern and orderly, built around glass office towers, dockside promenades and shopping malls. There are plenty of waterside restaurants, especially around the newer Wood Wharf district, and a free roof garden on top of the station. Limehouse, with its canal basin and old riverside pubs, is one DLR stop away, and Greenwich is a short DLR or river-bus ride.

The downside is the lack of character. Canary Wharf has little of London's historic feel, and it empties out on weekday evenings once the office crowd heads home, so it can feel quiet. You can't walk to the main sights, and you'll take the Tube for almost everything you came to London to see.

What makes Canary Wharf worth considering is the value you get for your money. You can stay somewhere modern, spacious and calm, often for less than a smaller room in the West End, and still reach central London quickly. If you're happy to travel in for sightseeing, it's one of the smartest weekend deals in the city.