Knightsbridge and Belgravia

Two postcodes that share a border and almost nothing else. One is a shopping district that happens to have houses in it; the other is a residential quarter that happens to be in the middle of London. Which you want depends entirely on whether you would rather be somewhere or be nowhere.

Knightsbridge

Harrods at one end, Hyde Park along the top, and Brompton Road running through the middle with a great deal of traffic on it. Busy, international, and awake later than most of central London.

The hotels are the reason most bookings happen here. Large, well staffed, used to guests arriving at odd hours from odd time zones, and entirely incurious. If you are staying in one of them, an outcall is about as frictionless as this gets.

What Knightsbridge is not is quiet. Sloane Street on a Saturday is a crowd, and the streets immediately behind the shops carry more foot traffic than people expect at ten in the evening. See Knightsbridge.

Belgravia

Cross Sloane Street heading south and the volume drops by half within two minutes. White stucco, garden squares, embassies, and streets that lead to other streets exactly like them.

The thing that makes Belgravia work is that there is no reason to be there. No shops to speak of, no destination restaurants, nothing to walk through it towards. The people who live there are diplomats and the people who work there are staff, and both groups are professionally uninterested in who is going where.

It is the most discreet postcode in central London and it is not particularly close. Our post on the quietest parts of central London explains why through traffic matters more than anything else. See Belgravia.

What they cost

Both sit in the upper half of what we list, Knightsbridge slightly above Belgravia in practice because the hotel bookings pull the average up.

Neither is Mayfair money, and Belgravia in particular is better value than its reputation suggests. If you want the character of Mayfair without the Mayfair rate, this is where to look. What a London booking costs covers what moves the figure.

The practical difference

Knightsbridge for an outcall. If you are in one of the hotels, stay there. The lobby is busy, the lift is anonymous, and nobody at the desk is counting.

Belgravia for an incall. The flats are in mansion blocks and porter buildings on streets nobody walks down. It is the version where you arrive, nothing happens, and you leave.

Our guide on incall or outcall weighs the two properly.

Eating and drinking

Knightsbridge has the restaurants, mostly hotel dining rooms and a handful of long established places on and around Beauchamp Place. Calm, well spaced, and used to two people who want to talk. Exactly the shape our post on choosing a restaurant argues for.

Belgravia has almost nothing, which is the point of Belgravia. A few pubs that are better than they need to be and one or two dining rooms. If dinner matters, eat in Knightsbridge and walk south afterwards, which takes about eight minutes and is one of the more pleasant walks in London.

Getting there

Knightsbridge station on the Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner and Sloane Square either side. Belgravia sits between all three and is a five to ten minute walk from each, which is part of why it stays quiet.

Cabs are easy on Knightsbridge, awkward inside Belgravia. If you are leaving late, walk to Sloane Square or Grosvenor Place rather than waiting on a garden square. See getting around London late at night.

The short version

Knightsbridge if you are staying in a hotel and want everything within reach. Belgravia if the point is that the evening leaves no trace.

Browse both areas, or ring +44 20 7846 3480.