Corinthia London

Character and identity

Set on Whitehall Place in a grand former Ministry of Defence building, Corinthia London is unapologetically opulent: gold leaf, chandeliers, soaring lobbies, and 283 rooms (including 62 suites and seven two-storey penthouses) done in muted greys, greens and dusky blues. The address puts you minutes from Trafalgar Square, the Thames and the South Bank. Dining runs from Tom Kerridge's British cooking at Kerridge's Bar & Grill to Italian at Massimo, the seasonal Northall, and The Garden's Mediterranean-to-Alpine seasonal switch. The four-floor, 35,000-square-foot ESPA Life spa, with amphitheatre sauna, pool, thermal suite and 17 treatment rooms, is the property's anchor.

Who's it for

Bottom line

What you're really buying here is the spa and the scale: four floors of ESPA, oversized rooms by London standards, and service pitched at guests who expect everything done properly. Book a courtyard-facing room with a Juliette balcony if quiet matters more than a view, a city-view room if it doesn't, and build in at least a half-day for the thermal floor.