Curing a hangover at Apex City of London…

The elegant modern bathrooms at Apex City of London (with walk-in showers) along with the hotel's gym and generous breakfast help to provide an invigorating start to the day

I recently experienced a Saturday night stay at the Apex City of London – previously recognised on this blog as arguably London’s best mid-price hotel in terms of value for money: free WiFi, stylish rooms, friendly service and a fabulous location right by Tower Bridge and the river.

But in this post, I’d like to focus specifically on “the morning” of my stay.

Hotel reviews do after all tend to dwell mainly on the overnight part of a hotel sojourn – the bed, the room, the hotel bar, the dinner, etc.  But surely how you feel in the morning is a large part of the experience and may often leave you with the most lasting memory?

And you may also have more time to enjoy a hotel’s facilities in the morning rather than the night before, particularly if you check in late at night.

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I felt that in no way did I deserve a Sunday morning lie-in on the comfy Apex City of London bed, so headed quickly instead to the hotel gym...

Anyway, I woke up with a bit of a hangover on the Sunday morning after a late night and decided to follow a mini-detox routine: a gym workout, followed by an invigorating shower and a late (and preferably healthy) breakfast.  I wanted to perhaps lounge around for a bit too before making a leisurely exit at around noon.

Incidentally, that’s the first morning brownie point for the hotel gained already, the fact that it offers a 12 noon check-out as standard.  Isn’t it horrendous when you are on a leisure stay at a hotel (particularly over a weekend) and feel rushed to leave your room at a relatively ungodly hour?  Or where the hotel make it sound like a huge favour to let you stay in the room an hour or two longer?  There’s no such nonsense at the Apex City.

On then to the hotel gym, nestled away in the basement of the hotel…

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No shortage of cardio machines at the Apex City of London's gym...

It was quiet as expected on a Sunday morning, but I was reassured to see a generous number of treadmills which indicated that you’d rarely have to wait around even at peak times.  Hotel gyms are often cramped, offering a token treadmill, a token bench, a token weights machine, etc. and doing the bare minimum to call themselves a gym.  Not this one.  It had all the latest Technogym gear and was impeccably maintained.

It even had a proper little weights area – which you don’t always find even in very swanky hotel gyms.  We’ll clearly have to add Apex City of London to our best London hotels for gym bunnies.   I had an invigorating stint on the rowing machine and the hangover was already starting to fade…

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A grumpy Apex duck stands guard over his domain and keeps me away from the bath...

Returning to my room, I embarked on the next phase of the morning recovery plan: the shower.

Actually I toyed with the idea of a long soak with my Apex duck but in the end was drawn magnetically to the huge walk-in shower.  The luxurious shower is designed to pound your body relentlessly and was just what the doctor ordered.  There was a generous range of toiletries too.

It was then time to head down for a nutritious breakfast in Addendum bar and restaurant where cocktails had been consumed the night before (more on that in the next instalment!)…to be greeted by a friendly waiter who mentioned in passing that he used to be a professional ballet dancer!

One of the best things about the hotel is that the staff are clearly “themselves” and relaxed in how they interact with guests, which indicates that the management do a great job in making it an attractive place to work.  This makes it more fun for guests too – a virtuous circle.

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My eggs florentine at breakfast were made to order and definitely hit the spot

Breakfast is a combo between a buffet which provides the continental basics like croissants, bread, pastries, cheese, fruit, yogurt, cereals, juices, etc. and an a la carte element which allows you to order pretty much anything you fancy “your way”.  In keeping with my virtuous mood, I opted for an eggs florentine without the hollandaise and this was presented immaculately, along with an Illy double espresso to give the day a proper kick-start.  And I did also enjoy the abundant seasonal fruit.

It was lovely too to sit in the conservatory-style area of Addendum, in a part of London which feels ever so peaceful at weekends while being only a short walk from Tower Bridge and the many attractions of the South Bank.

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Leaving the Apex City of London after a fantastic stay...but what's with the colourful, painted cow on the right near the entrance?

All in all, it was a perfect start to a Sunday…a bit of price research later confirmed my hunch that hotels like the Apex City offer a superior price to quality trade-off than West End hotels, especially for a Saturday night stay.

If you want to learn more about this well-managed 4 star hotel, you need only read some of its recent TripAdvisor reviews which use terms like “great find”, “best hotel in the City”, “stylish” and “modern” (it has been in the top 20 from more than 1000 London hotels for as long as I recall).  And if you stay there I hope you have as pleasant a “morning after” as I had!

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Photo credits: Apex City of London Hotel (Apex Hotels), London Hotels Insight photos.

Disclosure: Rajul was a guest of the Apex City of London Hotel.

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