Value in the capital city

Combine travel costs with a meal, a show, events, accommodation and drinks and even a quick one night weekend away can quickly start to cost an arm and a leg – and probably most of the other leg, too.

So it's important to get value for your money. You can, of course, spend a small fortune on a hotel, particularly if it's to mark a special occasion, but sometimes you just want somewhere comfortable and clean.

Ibis hotels are known for being relatively inexpensive, and the Ibis Styles brand is particularly good value if you want somewhere that's not too far from the city centre and which won't break the bank.

The Ibis Styles Kensington, for example, is exactly three minutes' walk from Earls' Court Tube station and just 15 minutes from Embankment – which is itself only a short walk from Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the West End.

We arrived early on a Saturday morning and although check-in began at midday, the staff in the bright, spotlessly-clean reception and bar area were happy to take our bags off our hands, even though it was not yet 10am.

This gave us plenty of time to be tourists, and we walked back to Earls' Court to catch a train to Baker Street and Madame Tussauds. I've been to London countless times but I'd never before been to one of the most famous attractions in the city.

As it was still early we avoided the worst of the queues and were inside within 45 minutes. And it was actually worth the wait. True, some of the waxworks are so-so (George Clooney does not look like George Clooney and The Beatles appear more Gerry and the Pacemakers) but some are so realistic it's almost frightening.

Had the Helen Mirren waxwork started talking to me I wouldn't have been in the least bit surprised.

Despite being in one of the more upmarket parts of the city, rooms at the Ibis Styles Kensington begin at £90, according to the Ibis website. The hotel is set off the main road, with its many pubs and cafes and along a quiet street of four storey terraced homes. Several of those terraced homes have been knocked together to form the 116-room hotel, and as a result the accommodation is not huge, but not cramped, either.

And the facilities are good, too, if basic.

But the bed – king size, I think – was extremely comfortable, there was an air conditioning unit above the door and a flat screen television fixed to the wall.

The decor was pleasingly original, too; there cannot be many hotels where a wall is decorated with a huge picture of a parrot riding a bicycle.

And, despite being so close to Earls' Court, it was quiet. After an afternoon in the city and an evening in the theatre, we returned and had no trouble sleeping whatsoever.

The following morning we had the buffet breakfast in the basement level dining room. There was a good choice of cereals, jams, toast, croissants, fresh fruit and yoghurts all included in the price of the stay. It's unlimited, too.

To sum up, there are certainly more expensive hotels than the Ibis Styles Kensington, and there are some that are cheaper, but for value for money and proximity to the city centre, this is a hotel that's pretty hard to beat.