Covent Garden, Mayfair or Kensington? It depends on your evenings

On a first visit it nearly always comes down to three areas, and the deciding question is what you want to do after dark. Covent Garden is for theatre and late dinners, Mayfair for galleries, shopping and calm nights, and Kensington for museums, parks and children. The comparison below draws on our own listings plus public transport and food data.

Kensington is the cheapest of the three, starting at about £175 a night, and has the most variety, with plenty of three-bedroom apartments. Mayfair has about as many residences and starts a little higher. Covent Garden has fewer than ten and they cost a bit more again, so its best dates, and its weekends in particular, go first.

All three are on the Piccadilly line from Heathrow with no change: South Kensington or Gloucester Road for Kensington, Green Park for Mayfair, Covent Garden or Leicester Square for Covent Garden. The Elizabeth line is quicker, stopping at Bond Street, on the northern edge of Mayfair, and at Tottenham Court Road, about ten minutes' walk from Covent Garden. With luggage and children, though, a car is simpler, so ask the residence whether they can send one.

Covent Garden for theatre and late nights

Pick Covent Garden if you've got tickets most nights. You can walk to almost every West End theatre, the Royal Opera House is on Bow Street, and restaurants are packed in round every residence. The London Transport Museum on the piazza is the rainy-afternoon answer if you've got children with you.

Expect crowds by day and some street noise at night, which is the price of being this central; an upper-floor flat takes the edge off.

Mayfair for galleries and shopping

Mayfair suits a first trip built round Bond Street, the Royal Academy and long walks in Green Park and Hyde Park. The Wallace Collection is a short walk north across Oxford Street, and you're spoilt for Tube lines, the Elizabeth line among them. The streets empty after dinner, which some first-timers find too quiet and others book Mayfair for.

For a first-night dinner that feels like London, Scott's on Mount Street is ten minutes from almost any Mayfair residence, and in summer it's worth asking for a pavement table.

Kensington for museums, parks and families

Kensington puts the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum within easy reach of many residences, with Kensington Palace at the edge of Kensington Gardens and the newly renewed Diana Memorial Playground beside it. You also get more flat for your money than in either of the others. The catch is the West End: allow fifteen to twenty minutes door to door by Tube for a show, and longer coming back if you're waiting for a late train.

Wherever you look, postcodes cover more ground than people expect. W1 takes in Mayfair, but also bits of Soho, Fitzrovia and Marylebone; SW7 covers South Kensington and part of Knightsbridge; WC2 runs from Covent Garden down to the Strand and the river. So before you decide where to stay in London, ask for the exact street and check the walk to the nearest station.

Kensington especially is big. A residence near High Street Kensington, one by the South Kensington museums and one near Earl's Court are three quite different stays, even if every listing says Kensington, so if the museums are the point, ask for somewhere you can walk to Exhibition Road from.

If you're still torn over where is the best place to stay in London for you, match the area to the shape of the trip.

• Three or four nights, theatre most evenings: Covent Garden.
• A week of shopping, galleries and restaurants: Mayfair.
• Children, museums, or more than a week: Kensington.
• Lowest starting price of the three: Kensington.