Shangri-La The Shard, London, Sea Containers London and The Standard, London. At the Shard, the City View categories turn the glass on the landmarks, from rooms on levels 35 to 51. At Sea Containers London, the Riverview categories look straight at the Thames. At The Standard, London, the Premium King View faces St Pancras or the wider city.
3 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: October 2026
In London the view is usually a paid step up, not something every room has. At all three of these, the entry room is not the view room, so each section below names the category where the view begins. All three also sell the view to anyone with a table: GŎNG on level 52 of the Shard, the River Terrace at Sea Containers London, and Decimo on the tenth floor of The Standard, London.
Choose by what you want to look at. Shangri-La The Shard, London is height, with rooms on levels 35 to 51 of the tallest building in Western Europe. Sea Containers London is the river, on the Thames Path beside Blackfriars Bridge. The Standard, London is King's Cross: St Pancras or the wider city from its View rooms, and the clock tower from Decimo. May to July is the sunniest run, close to 200 hours of sun a month, and the view rooms at the Shard and Sea Containers London sell out first: book them early.
Shangri-La The Shard, London fills levels 34 to 52 of the tallest building in Western Europe, and its 202 rooms and suites sit on levels 35 to 51, every one glazed from floor to ceiling, with binoculars and a skyline guide in each. What you choose between is the compass bearing. The Deluxe City View Room is where the landmarks begin, facing north and east; the Premier City View adds floor and faces north; the Iconic City View Room takes a corner with roughly 180 degrees of glass. The Superior Shard and Premier Shard rooms look south, towards Kent, Surrey and Sussex: a long way to see, but not the river, so read the category name before you pay.
Level 52 is the rest of the view: the Infinity Sky Pool, the highest hotel pool in Western Europe, with GŎNG, the highest hotel bar in Western Europe, beside it. Guests single out the city laid out from bed and bath.
The room to book
Iconic City View Room
43 to 60 m²
A corner room, so the glass wraps roughly 180 degrees around 43 to 60 square metres, and the hotel names Big Ben, Parliament, Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe among its views.
Sea Containers London stands on the Thames Path beside Blackfriars Bridge, and its river side looks straight onto the water through wall-to-wall glass. The room list draws the line for you. Standard, Superior, Superior Double Double, Superior Patio, Studio and the One Bedroom Suite all face the city; the Riverview categories, the Thames Apartment and the four Cabin Suites face the river. So the Thames is a step up the ladder, and an easy one to read.
The water carries on downstairs. The River Terrace at Gordon Ramsay at Sea Containers runs along the river's edge with Blackfriars Bridge and St Paul's to the east, Lyaness looks out on the Thames and St Paul's, and 12th Knot is the bar on the roof. The Thames view from the river rooms is what guests single out.
The room to book
Riverview Deluxe Room
32 m²£369 a night
The first category facing the river: 32 square metres, a king bed and floor-to-ceiling glass, the same floor area as the Riverview Studio Suite above it.
The Standard, London faces St Pancras International across Euston Road, so its view is the St Pancras clock tower at close range, with the wider city around it. The ladder here climbs by daylight. The Premium King has a London view without naming one, and the Premium King View, the same 33 to 37 square metres with bay window seating and a soaking tub, is the room sold on its outlook, St Pancras or the wider city. On the ninth floor, the Studio Suite puts floor-to-ceiling glass on the skyline or St Pancras. The Standard King Interior has no windows, so start from the View rooms if the outlook is why you are coming.
The best-placed seats are upstairs. A red lift runs up the outside of the building to the tenth floor, where Decimo looks across at the clock tower and Sweeties sits behind floor-to-ceiling glass, and The Rooftop on the eleventh floor opens seasonally, from about April.
The room to book
Premium King View
33 to 37 m²
The only room below the suites sold on a named outlook, St Pancras or the wider city, with bay window seating and a soaking tub in 33 to 37 square metres.
Claridge's keeps its views for the top of the ladder. The Terrace Junior Suite has a terrace over Brook's Mews and the Mayfair rooftops, and up in the roof extension The Grand Terrace looks over Mayfair to Parliament and the London Eye.
From about £750 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about London
Which rooms at Shangri-La The Shard, London face the city?
The City View categories. The Superior Shard Room faces south towards Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and the Premier Shard Room mostly south. The Deluxe City View Room turns north and east, the Premier City View Room faces north, and the Iconic City View Room takes a corner with roughly 180 degrees of glass. Among the suites, the London Suite faces across the Thames, the Westminster Suite looks from St Paul's to Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf, and the Shangri-La Suite runs along the river from Canary Wharf to the London Eye. Read the category name twice: Shard and City View are easy to confuse.
Which London hotel has a balcony over the Thames?
Among our ten, Sea Containers London. Its Riverview Balcony Suite, 65 square metres with a freestanding bath and a rainfall shower, is the only category for two with a private balcony over the river, and the hotel also sells it joined to a Deluxe Double Double as the Family Riverview Balcony Suite. For the river without a balcony, every Riverview category faces the water, starting with the 32 square metre Riverview Deluxe Room.
Which London hotel bars and restaurants have a view?
All three of these hotels have one. GŎNG, on level 52 of the Shard beside the pool, is the highest hotel bar in Western Europe; book ahead and say the window matters, since tables are held for an hour and a half. At The Standard, London, Decimo looks at the St Pancras clock tower from the tenth floor, and The Rooftop on the eleventh is a seasonal terrace that opens from about April. At Sea Containers London, Lyaness faces the Thames and St Paul's, 12th Knot is on the roof, and the River Terrace at Gordon Ramsay at Sea Containers sits on the water.
Which London hotel has a pool with a view?
Of these three, Shangri-La The Shard, London. The Infinity Sky Pool on level 52 is the highest hotel pool in Western Europe: indoors behind glass, about ten metres long, with the Sky Sauna beside it. Adults swim from 6am to 6pm and children from 9am to 11am and 3pm to 5pm, always in a booked time slot, so reserve yours when you book the room. The 6am slot is the quietest of the day.
When is the best time of year for a view in London?
For long views in daylight, May to July: it is the sunniest run of the year, close to 200 hours of sun a month, and The Rooftop at The Standard, London opens for the season from about April. January is the cheapest month across our ten hotels and June the dearest. December has roughly 53 hours of sun in the whole month, so a winter view is mostly the city lit up after dark.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The view
