Astor Hyde Park Hostel

This award-winning hostel offers a comfortable and affordable place to stay, moments from some of London’s top sights but also slightly off the tourist trail, meaning you get to see the more local side of the city whilst still being a stone’s throw away from the action.

It’s five minutes away from stunning Hyde Park on the affluent South Kensington side, meaning it’s within walking distance of some of the best museums in the city that are all free to visit. You’ve got the Natural History Museum, which is home to over 80 million unique objects, as well as one of the most scientifically significant collections of dinosaurs and fossil vertebrates in the world. Located right next door is the Science Museum, where interactive galleries tell the story of science in a new and innovative way. Here you can see the real spacecraft that Tim Peake flew back to earth on from the International Space Station. Lastly, right opposite these two is the V&A museum, which is the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance showcasing over 2.27 million interesting objects.

When you’re not meandering around museums, you could be chilling in the hostel lounge area, where there’s a huge projector screening movies and sports. The hostel also has its own dining room and common area so that you can grab a bite to eat and mingle with like-minded travellers.