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The Gore ★★★

A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The restaurant at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London, The Gore, London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
An original Thomas Crapper wooden throne toilet in a room at The Gore Hotel, London, The Gore, London (Photo © Reid Bramblett)

A gloriously funky hotel just off Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, London

The Gore Hotel in London
A room at The Gore Hotel in London
The Gore Hotel in London
The restaurant at The Gore Hotel in London
A room at The Gore Hotel in London

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A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
The restaurant at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
A room at The Gore Hotel in London (Photo courtesy of the hotel)
An original Thomas Crapper wooden throne toilet in a room at The Gore Hotel, London (Photo © Reid Bramblett)

The Gore is eclectic and proud of it, a cozy über-Victorian mishmash of rich tastes and quirky details. The current owners are a pair of antiques dealers, and they could easily stop taking guests and just hang price tags on all the remarkable pieces that fill the hotel, including the 5,500 prints carpeting the walls.

The inn opened in 1892 under the auspices of two spinster sisters, Miss Ada and Miss Fanny. They lived in the hotel in corner rooms 208 and 308, respectively, which are preserved in all their dark wood glory—narrow four-poster beds, heavy gold-trimmed burgundy drapes, one-foot-wide shower heads, and original Thomas Crapper wooden throne toilets. But no two rooms are alike.

The "Dame Nellie" is a tribute to Hollywood boudoir, with a massive canopy over the bed and a mirrored bathroom with a deep, statue-flanked tub.

The "Major Cooke" is done in full-fledged Scottish tartans.

The "Venus Room" sports a stained-glass window, fainting couch, a carved and gilded Italian bed that once belonged to Judy Garland, and a marble bath big enough for four, flanked by statues of children, and graced with a campy Grecian chariot scene mural on the wall.

Even standard rooms are funky and large, like no. 309 with its four-poster bed.

But the pièce de grace is the "Tudor Room," like something out of a Gothic German castle reinterpreted by Romantic Victorians: Working stone fireplace, 16th century four-poster, blood red walls, somber mahogany woods, oriental rugs, and a genuine throne in the bathroom.

The restaurant downstairs is renowned for its fine seafood, while the airy ground floor "Bistrot 188" with its tin ceiling and swirling fan does a better job at recreating a Jazz Age French bistro than most in Paris (the menu is light Mediterranean). Honeymooners get champagne in their room.

All that and you're right off one of Europe's loveliest city parks: Hyde Park.

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