The best hotels in Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney

Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney are the creative traveller’s mecca when visiting London, bringing together some of the city’s best restaurants, gorgeously tempting shops, classic British boozers, fun nights out and above all, a neighbourhood community feel thanks to plenty of green space and a focus on independent businesses. If you’re looking to hunker down in London for a few weeks, these are the areas to do it in – and there are plenty of lovely places to stay to make your decision even easier.

Where to stay in East London

Shoreditch is better connected and more centrally located, but the trade-off is that it’s also busier and feels less like a quaint neighbourhood. That being said, it’s home to a clutch of some of London’s best hotels (and is a renowned area to explore if you’re looking for a late night) and sociable co-working spaces. The jewel in its hospitality crown is The Hoxton, which, as you might expect from the name, sprang into being in EC2, followed by Soho House opening what is arguably its most well-loved London members’ club space here in the 2000s.

Further afield, Hackney’s restaurants are a springboard for exploring the neighbourhood charms of this vast borough, from flower markets and canal strolling to cute Sunday roasts at a classic pub. Dalston, centred on the highs and lows of Stoke Newington High Street, is also packed with places to eat and drink (new-school ocakbasi Mangal 2 plays host to the cool crowd every evening; pair it with pints at Red Hand or cocktails at High Water and you’ve got yourself a slap-up night on the cards).

Whether you’re after an affordable, centrally located base or a spacious apartment suitable for longer stays, our pick of the best East London hotels in Shoreditch, Dalston and Hackney will have you covered.

Shoreditch

Redchurch Townhouse

Best for: A luxurious, relaxing hotel in the thick of the action
Location: 25-27 Whitby Street, London, E1 6JU
Price: Rooms around 270 GBP / 351 USD

All the design, service and comfort of Soho House, without having to be a member. What’s not to like? Redchurch Townhouse is Soho House’s sister hotel on Redchurch Street, just round the corner from Shoreditch House. Enter via the graffiti-coated Whitby Street and into the velvet-ensconced 1970s interior, where you’ll find 37 rooms ranging from tiny to very large, all kitted out with the usual Soho House trimmings, including Cowshed bathroom products. For dinner, you could head to Cecconi’s on the ground floor, or any number of excellent restaurants nearby – Bao, Lyle’s, SMOKESTAK, to name but a few. And in the morning, you can head straight onto Redchurch Street for its excellent boutiques, including House of Toogood, Labour and Wait’s beautiful enamelware, and Blue Mountain School. From location to stylish interiors, Redchurch Townhouse is one of the best places to stay in Shoreditch.

Shoreditch House

Best for: Soho House members
Location: Ebor Street, London E1 6AW
Price: Rooms from 170 GBP / 221 USD

If you do have Soho House or Soho Friends membership, you can book a room at Shoreditch House. Hotel guests can enjoy access to all of the members’ club facilities, including a gym, four restaurants, a rooftop pool, and the Cowshed Spa on the ground floor. If you like a party, stay here at the weekend and head to the club on the top two floors (Maribou State played recently, and Jamz Supernova DJs here a lot), and when you’re done, just get the lift down to your room. Ideal – especially if you’ve enjoyed a cocktail (or several, no one’s judging). Then in the morning, you can recuperate with a swim on the roof, or a treatment at the Health Club. No matter how you feel about Soho House, Shoreditch House is one of the neighbourhood’s best places to stay.

The Hoxton

Best for: A classic, relaxed night in the centre of Shoreditch
Location: 81 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3HU
Price: Rooms from 209 GBP / 272 USD

This is the original Hoxton that started the whole thing – a hotel group that now spreads from Downtown LA to Amsterdam – and it’s just as fresh as it was when it opened in 2006. The rooms are well-appointed with parquet flooring and big round mirrors and start at ‘shoebox’ size for those on a budget. You can rent these out for day use only as well, which could work well for remote workers looking for a few hours of quiet concentration. Little touches like choosing when your check-in and check-out times are, and the option to eat breakfast in bed, in the restaurant, or as a takeaway, make staying here particularly flexible and hassle-free. There are two great restaurants to choose from too: Hoxton Grill, on the ground floor, and a modern Peruvian restaurant on the rooftop.

One Hundred Shoreditch

Best for: A boutique hotel with two destination bars
Location: 100 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JQ
Price: Rooms from 175 GBP / 228 USD

Formerly the Ace Hotel, One Hundred Shoreditch has been sensitively transformed by Lore Group, keeping many of the design details of the popular former iteration. The bedrooms are lovely, with soft, creamy carpets, floor-to-ceiling windows and curtains, and tasteful chairs, lightshades, and contemporary vases. The hotel has two destination bars: nestled in the basement is Seed Library from cocktail maestro Mr Lyan, which is considered one of London’s best cocktail bars for its botanical libations and sultry furnishings. Or head up to the roof for drinks overlooking east London’s skyscraper-studded skyline at Mediterranean bar and kitchen Kaso.

Boundary

Best for: Design obsessives
Location: 2-4 Boundary Street, London, E2 7DD
Price: Rooms around 220 GBP / 287 USD

Boundary is arranged around a rooftop restaurant and bar, right on the junction with buzzing Redchurch Street. The hotel was designed by the late Sir Terrence Conran, and each room is themed around a different design school or designer that influenced him, from Bauhaus to Scandinavian minimalism, and Le Corbusier to Eames and Mies van der Rohe. Pick your favourite designer and book that room for a truly immersive stay. On street level, the all day bar and brasserie is an excellent place to grab breakfast, meet for lunch, or work during the day, and the rooftop bar and grill offers lovely views over the city.

Mama Shelter Shoreditch

Best for: Budget-conscious travellers looking for some lighthearted fun
Location: 437 Hackney Road, London, E2 8PP
Price: Rooms from 94 GBP / 122 USD

Mama Shelter Shoreditch is in fact located closer to Hackney, perched near Oval Space and within walking distance of Broadway Market. The Parisian brand’s outpost in London maintains all the quirks you can expect from this irreverent, affordable lhotel group: mismatched patterned armchairs and lampshades, brightly coloured interiors, casual food and drinks, and a real focus on fun and informality – all for a reasonable price, too. With a vibrant cocktail bar, table football, a built-in Twister game area, and vintage arcade games, there is plenty to entertain. It is also one of the most popular co-working spaces in the area for laptop-yielding creatives. The loud design isn’t to everyone’s taste, but for this price point, you can’t really beat the energy, and it’s undeniably one of Hackney’s best and most popular places to stay.

Z Hotel Shoreditch

Best for: Those on a budget
Location: 136-144 City Road, London, EC1V 2RL
Price: Rooms from 50 GBP / 65 USD

For bang for your buck, it doesn’t get much better than Z Hotels. Rooms start at 50 GBP on quieter nights like Sundays, which is pretty reasonable considering how nicely kitted-out the rooms are: there’s free Wifi, coffee and tea, toiletries, a TV, an ensuite, under-bed storage, hanging space, and a comfy double bed. Z Hotel Shoreditch is conveniently located too, just up the road from Old Street station, making most of central London an easy tube ride away. If you’re looking for a private place to crash that has everything you need, for a price that can compete with Airbnb, Z Hotel Shoreditch might just be the place for you.

Dalston

Kingsland Locke

Best for: Long stays, particularly with remote working involved
Location: 130 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2LQ
Price: Rooms from 124 GBP / 161 USD

With textured walls, tiled bathrooms, and mossy green banquet sofas, the Dalston outpost of the Locke apartment hotels is just as thoughtfully designed as its other locations. Kingsland Locke is one of the best places in Dalston for an extended stay, especially if you book one of the larger apartments with a kitchen and lounge area, and with a co-working space offered on the ground floor, it would make an ideal place to work remotely from. The co-working space doubles as a cafe and a microbrewery (convenient, right?), so you could get some work done during the day, then stay for a pint and meet the other guests at sign-off time.

Bethnal Green

Town Hall Hotel & Apartments

Best for: Spacious, luxe rooms, and exploring Hackney
Location: Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, London, E2 9NF
Price: Rooms from 185 GBP / 240 USD

Housed in the grand structure that was originally Bethnal Green Town Hall, this hotel benefits from suitably luxurious volumes and design details befitting such a building. Ranging from small rooms to whole apartments with kitchens and lounges, there’s a perfect room for every budget and length of stay. It is also home to two Michelin-starred restaurant Da Terra, captained by Brazilian chef Rafael Cagali. Town Hall Hotel is well positioned for exploring some of the highlights of Hackney, with Regent’s Canal, Victoria Park, and Haggerston Park all nearby, as well as the markets, shops, cafes and restaurants of Columbia Road and Broadway Market a short walk away. For a lively neighbourhood away from the bustle of the centre, Town Hall Hotel is hard to beat.

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