Review: InterContinental London Park Lane by IHG

Published May 6 2025, 8:10 AM, Updated May 6 2025, 11:04 AMThe InterContinental London Park Lane is an elegant luxury hotel right in the heart of London. It offers rooms of varying sizes with incredible views across Regent’s Park and Green Park, as well as the Hyde Park Corner roundabout. It also has a great gym, Elemis Spa, two excellent restaurants, and an unbeatable location.

Interestingly, the hotel is situated on the site of Queen Elizabeth II’s former residence (145 Piccadilly) and was opened in 1975. This means that this grand hotel, like the Four Seasons opposite, is amazing, but is not historic.

The communal areas and rooms have huge windows and immense views across London’s parks, as a result of the hotel’s more modern design, but if you are looking for a historic London residence, this is not the hotel to pick. We love it here. The views are unbeatable, the pricing is reasonable for a luxury hotel in London and the club lounge is incredible.

My favourite thing about this hotel is that it has, in our opinion, the best executive club lounge in London. The view from this Club Lounge is out of this world, the staff are unbeatable and full of personality, the food and drinks array are excellent, and it really is a great place to spend the entire day. Read about all the benefits of this lounge in my more detailed review of the InterContinental Club Lounge.

What Is The Best Club Or Executive Lounge In London?

Tips

What is the best club or executive lounge in the top luxury hotels across London? The club lounge at the InterContinental London has the best club lounge for views (pictured above), and the Langham hosts the best club lounge for food in London. Book a standard room at the InterContinental London Park Lane via our luxury travel concierge (rates tend to range from £400 GBP to £600 GBP depending on the day and the season), and you will get a guaranteed room upgrade and Club Lounge access free. This has got to be one of the best hotel deals in London!

Location

The location of the InterContinental Park Lane itself is fantastic, just a short walk from Knightsbridge and its designer shops. In the other direction, you can stroll to Regent Street for the Apple Store, Hamley’s toy store, Selfridges, and the lively bars and Michelin Star restaurants in Soho and W1.

The InterContinental is directly across the Hyde Park corner roundabout from the new Peninsula Hotel London, a couple of doors down from the boutique hotel The Wellesley. A minute further into Knightsbridge, you reach the Mandarin Oriental, which looks out upon Regents Park and is opposite the SPG hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower.

The entrance of the InterContinental is directly opposite the Four Seasons Park Lane in London and about a 30-second walk from the tower that is the Hilton Park Lane and a few blocks down from the Hilton is the Sheraton Grand. The JW Marriott Grosvenor hotel overlooking Hyde Park is also a short walk up Park Lane and features their excellent JW Grosvenor House Executive Lounge.

So you can see that the Intercontinental is slap bang in the center of all the luxury hotels in London, and from the Club Lounge, you have an ever-changing view of it all!

Style & Character

The reception is at the far end of a spacious foyer, which is reached by stepping down a few steps. The paintings behind the reception desk make you feel like you’re in a London Park. Their green hues give a vista of parkland behind the reception staff.

To one side of the reception is the entrance to Theo Randall’s restaurant, and to the other is an open space with a concierge desk that leads to the hotel bar, afternoon tea area, and lifts to the rooms.

There is often a really stunning flower arrangement in this reception area, which makes the hotel feel very luxurious and also green and natural. I love the flowers this hotel displays for its guests. They are ever-changing and hugely uplifting.

The overall style of the hotel is modern rather than historic, as the building was built in 1975. There is definitely a great deal of grandeur downstairs with plenty of chandeliers and long marble halls. The care taken with the flowers downstairs always makes the communal ground floor area of this hotel feel loved. It’s always immaculate and sweet-smelling.

Upstairs on the top floor is the modern club lounge, which has extensive seating areas, a large buffet, more or less unlimited food and drink, and double-height windows. The sun beams through these windows, be it winter or summer, and this lounge has some of the best views in London. It’s a fabulous space.

Review: Club Lounge At InterContinental London Park Lane

Reviews

The Club InterContinental lounge at the InterContinental Park Lane in London has the best views of any club or executive lounge in London. It also has a great breakfast with a buffet and an à la carte egg menu, a delicious afternoon tea served in three courses on three tiers of plates, and a decent evening spread with two hot dishes and plenty of canapés. The InterContinental Park Lane partners with our luxury travel concierge.

Service & Facilities

Beyond the club lounge, the restaurants, and the bar, this InterContinental has a great gym and a small but excellent Spa. The Spa is next to the large and stylish gym and is dimly lit. This atmospheric Elemis Spa offers BIOTEC anti-aging facials along with more standard massages, etc. There’s no pool here, but we have outlined the best London hotels with pools if that’s what you’re looking for.

Best Luxury Hotels In London With Pools

Tips

It's good to know which luxury hotels in London have the best pools, particularly if you like to relax in a spa or are traveling with your family. It's always nice to hit the pool with the kids. The Corinthia, Peninsula, Langham, Mandarin Oriental, and Berkley pools are perfect for spa lovers and for families, these hotels have a central location within walking distance of Hamleys or Harrods Toy Department. Whichever hotel you choose, get free benefits like breakfast on your next luxury hotel booking by contacting our luxury travel concierge.

Rooms

As with most luxury hotels in London, the views differentiate between the 387 rooms, and the Intercontinental wins over almost every other hotel in London in this respect. The direction your room is facing will dictate your view.

To the South is my favorite view, and also the view from the Club Lounge. You look down on Hyde Park, and Green Park, with Buckingham Palace hidden in the trees beyond. You are literally looking down on the King (assuming that he’s in residence).

Beyond, you can see Big Ben and the London Eye in the distance, along with the spires of Battersea Power Station. This unique bird’s eye view of the skyline, with the poetic dance of London double-decker buses and the old-fashioned black taxi cabs below, all circling the Hyde Park corner roundabout, is unbeatable.

If your room faces west or north, you will be looking out upon Regent’s Park and Park Lane. To the east, you look down upon the Four Seasons hotel opposite. There are also some internal rooms that miss out on the view.

If possible, my tip is to request a room facing South. These are the best rooms. Avoid rooms with internal courtyard views. The rooms themselves are the same in decor and design, but the view is missing.

The newly renovated “Mayfair” rooms are particularly special, and these are the rooms pictured and featured in the video above. The decor is a mix of creams and browns, which seems to bring the feel of the London Parks in the autumn into the room.

There is also a hint of oriental in the rooms with pretty blossom designs on the headboards. Loads of mirrors and subtle lighting bring a sense of space to the rooms, and the bathrooms are tiled. You should request a room with a bath if you like a tub, as rooms with smaller bathrooms have had their baths removed and turned into huge shower areas.

These newly refurbished rooms are stunning. The remaining non-refurbished and more traditional in design.

If you want to splurge, we recommend The Capital Suite. The first business suite of its kind, The Capital Suite, offers intelligent design, allowing various suite areas to be separated based on the guests’ needs and desires, and a separate entrance into the hotel and a private lift. This suite has a full-size boardroom, a luxurious private office, and multiple en-suite bedrooms.

The 335m² draws inspiration from Hyde Park, nature, and the history surrounding the hotel and features two private, spacious en-suite bedrooms complemented by interconnecting living spaces. In the master bedroom design, touches include decorative bronze panels, which frame the bed by resembling windows with climbing foliage and songbirds. This suite’s guests also enjoy a complimentary personal Butler Service and luxurious toiletries.

Restaurants & Bars

Hotel guests can enjoy the award-winning restaurant Theo Randall at the InterContinental and afternoon tea in the Piano bar, as well as drinks in the main hotel bar, which is on the ground floor and has iconic views of the traffic, including those iconic double-decker buses passing by.

Theo Randall at the InterContinental offers mouth-watering seafood plates of pasta that are so good that I could eat a barrel of the stuff! I am not alone. Apparently, Sir Paul Smith, Agyness Deyn, and Theo Randall’s former River Café bud Jamie Oliver are all fans of Theo’s Italian cuisine.

Theo’s restaurant is located at the main entrance of the hotel. In my opinion, He serves the best pasta in the world. Theo consistently delivers some of the best Italian food you are ever likely to eat.

The Linguine con aragosta and the Piccione al Forno are particularly delicious, and the amazing desserts are just yummy. The Amalfi lemon tart is also out of this world!

The setting is casual with a hint of Italian, and the restaurant is a nice place to spend the evening.

Also on the ground floor is the main bar area, which merges with the afternoon tea area and is edged by floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the roundabout. The aspect looks south over the Park and roundabout, both the bar and lounge have a buzzing atmosphere in the afternoons and evenings.

This is very much a foyer bar, but because it is set off to one side of the foyer and is spacious with loads of natural light, it is a great place to spend the afternoon or evening.

There’s a piano to one side of the afternoon tea area, suggesting that a pianist tinkles on the ivories from time to time, although we didn’t experience this as we had our afternoon tea upstairs in the brilliant executive club lounge.

There is also one long bar on the ground floor looking south over the Hyde Park roundabout with a buzzing atmosphere and a sumptuous afternoon tea.

Conclusion

So there you go. The InterContinental London offers my favorite views, the best pasta, a great spa, an increasing number of newly refurbished rooms, and my favorite Executive Lounge in London, which is free if you book your stay via our own luxury travel concierge. This is the hotel you have been looking for in London!

Worth noting, if you have status with IHG and the InterContinental Ambassador Club, you can collect points at the same time as getting our concierge benefits.

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