What is now a massive financial centre, was in the 19th century the world’s largest port – and between the great glass skyscrapers, old warehouses still stand, creating an absorbing architectural mix. The best hotels in Docklands enable you to explore an area stretching from St Katharine Docks and Tobacco Dock in the East End to beyond the Thames Barrier.

The Museum of London Docklands will give some flavour of what this part of London was like, while more modern pursuits such as wakeboarding and stand-up paddleboarding are on offer with Wake Up Docklands by Royal Victoria. If you’re feeling extra brave, join a London Royal Docks Open Water Swimming session. The DLR will take you right to places like Greenwich and the City – nab a front seat and pretend you’re the driver. In the meantime, take a look our pick of the best hotels in Docklands.

The best hotels in Docklands, at a glance:

How we curate our hotel lists

Headed up by editor Joe Mackertich, our team at Time Out London spend their time reviewing hotels all over the Capital – new openings, old classics and everything in between – to bring you fresh, honest recommendations, all year round. Along with our pool of trusted hotel experts, every hotel on this list has been individually reviewed and selected for a reason: we’ve been there, we think it’s great and we’d genuinely recommend it. By the way, this article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

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