Around TownNW1Platform to lobby: 2 min from Regent's Park
Regent's Park escorts for the Nash terraces and quiet gardens of NW1
Regent's Park is the most formal of London's royal parks. John Nash laid it out for the Prince Regent and ringed it with cream stucco terraces; inside are a boating lake, an open-air theatre and, within the Inner Circle, the rose beds of Queen Mary's Gardens. London Zoo occupies the northern edge, and Primrose Hill rises just beyond it.
Most bookings here come from residents of the terraces and mansion blocks, and from hotel guests on the southern side who want a slower evening than the West End offers. Below: where to stay, which platforms are closest and how an evening by the park comes together.
Stations and lit lobbies
Walking minutes from the nearest platforms, and the hotels around Regent's Park worth knowing by name. They are listed as landmarks, never as partners: any reputable hotel, serviced apartment or private address is welcome.
Nearest stations
- Regent's ParkBakerloo2 min walk
- Great Portland StreetCircle, Hammersmith and City, Metropolitan3 min walk
- Baker StreetBakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee, Metropolitan6 min walk
Hotels as landmarks
- The Landmark LondonMarylebone · NW1 6JQ
- Dorset Square HotelMarylebone · NW1 6QN
- Meliá White HouseRegent's Park · NW1 3UP
- The LanghamMarylebone · W1B 1JA
Who comes to Regent's Park
Companions whose home districts sit nearest to Regent's Park, so the ride over is short. Everyone in The Selection travels here on request.
Liana
Age 28Marylebone
Rosa
Age 25Marylebone
Tiffany
Age 24Soho
Angelika
Age 24Mayfair
Jasmin
Age 22Soho
Luna
Age 22Mayfair
Molly
Age 24Soho
Samanta
Age 27Mayfair
A park with its own ring road
The Outer Circle runs round the whole park, lined with Nash's terraces: Cumberland Terrace and Chester Terrace on the eastern side, Hanover Terrace on the west, York Terrace near the southern gates and the curve of Park Crescent at the south-east corner. The Inner Circle holds the rose garden and the Open Air Theatre, which plays from late spring to the end of summer. The gates close in the evening, earlier in winter and late in summer, and after that the terraces are among the quietest addresses in central London.
Who writes from NW1
Messages from around the park come more often from homes than from hotels: a flat in one of the terraces, a mews house tucked behind Park Crescent, a mansion block on the Marylebone Road side. Hotel guests here tend to be staying longer, for a week of meetings or a family visit, and like an evening that starts with a walk rather than a taxi. Summer brings the theatre crowd, and each October the Frieze art fair pitches its tents in the park and fills the nearby hotels with collectors and dealers for a busy week.
Where to stay near the southern gates
The Landmark London, on Melcombe Place, is the biggest hotel near the park's south-western corner, with high ceilings and a bar under the glass of its Winter Garden. Dorset Square Hotel, smaller and more private, is a Regency house five minutes from Clarence Gate. Meliá White House, on Albany Street at the south-eastern corner, fills an Art Deco block beside Great Portland Street station. The Langham, a straight ten-minute walk down Portland Place from Park Crescent, is the grand choice for an evening that begins in the park and ends in W1.
These four are named because guests book rooms there; there is no arrangement behind the list. A flat on one of the terraces is booked exactly like a hotel room.
Platforms by the park
Regent's Park station, on the Bakerloo line, is two minutes from Park Crescent and the southern gates. Great Portland Street, three minutes away, is a stop on the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City lines, and Baker Street, six minutes, adds the Jubilee line. The eastern and northern terraces sit further from any platform, so late in the evening she usually arrives by car. From Oxford Circus the Bakerloo line reaches Regent's Park in a single stop, and from the Marylebone streets it is a ten-minute walk to Clarence Gate, so the southern side of the park is never far for anyone on our list.
A terrace or a hotel room
For a home on the park, send the street, the house or flat number and whether a porter will be expecting a visitor. For a hotel, the reservation name and the room. Clementine replies with a companion and a price, checks those details on one occasion only, and most evenings see your guest at the door before an hour has passed. The fee changes hands in person, from you to her, at the start. By the park the steps run £250, £400, £500 and £700 for one hour up to three; then £900 buys the four-hour dinner date and £1,800 the overnight of ten hours. The rates page sets them out in full.
A summer evening inside the Inner Circle
In summer the park stays open late. Meet at the Park Square entrance, walk the rose garden while the light lasts, and take your seats for the evening performance at the Open Air Theatre, with a picnic or supper from the theatre's own bar before the play. The walk out after the curtain is under dark trees, and a hotel on the southern side is fifteen minutes away. In winter, swap the theatre for a student recital at the Royal Academy of Music, just across the main road, and a late dinner in Marylebone. Either version fits a four-hour dinner date.
Companions who like the park
Liana lives in Marylebone and walks up to the rose beds of the Inner Circle whenever she can. Rosa, also in Marylebone, is ten minutes from the southern gates. Cindy, from Chelsea, likes an afternoon on the boating lake and handles the oars well. Samanta travels up from Mayfair for concerts at the Royal Academy of Music, facing the park across Marylebone Road.
Leaving the park
Baker Street is the nearest exit on the west side, Marylebone lies to the south-west, and Great Portland Street is the south-eastern corner, a few minutes from Park Crescent. Euston is to the east and Camden to the north.
Regent's Park, asked
Yes. Private homes are welcome and cost the same as hotels; we confirm the address and door or flat number once.
Yes, during the season. Buy the tickets first, then send us the performance time; three or four hours usually suits an evening at the theatre.
Nothing changes for the booking, as she arrives by the street. For a winter walk before dinner, meet while it is still light, or stroll the village streets of Marylebone instead.
Not at all. It is Zone 1, one Bakerloo stop from Oxford Circus, and travel is included in every fee.
Yes. Both lie just north of the park and are covered on the same terms; travel inside Zones 1 and 2 is always included.
Read before you go
- 6 min readArtesian hours: The Langham, where Regent Street turns into Portland PlaceLondon's first grand hotel sits where the shops give way to Portland Place. Three rooms downstairs, one famous bar, and how an evening there is timed from the first glass to the last.
- 5 min readDinner in Marylebone village, ten steps north of the West EndMarylebone Lane still follows the bends of a buried river. The village kitchens along it and up the High Street, how to choose one for a date, and how the evening is timed.
Lights on in Regent's Park
Write the hotel or street in Regent's Park, the time and how long. Inside Zones 1 and 2 the ride over costs nothing.