It's all about location, location, location - and you'd be hard-pushed to find a better situated central London hotel.

The Tower Hotel is a stone's throw from Tower Bridge, but still manages to be ever so slightly tucked away down a quieter side road.

Five minutes' walk from Tower Hill tube station, it's easily accessed via a quick walk around the Tower of London. But head around the back of the hotel and you're in St Katharine Docks, a delightful haven of a marina surrounded by a varied array of restaurants.

Our room isn't quite ready when we arrive a couple of hours ahead of check-in time, so we leave our bags with the friendly concierge and head out to explore.

Wandering around the dock, we are spoilt for choice with the restaurants, but end up at the typically British Dickens Inn pub, which features three floors each serving a different range of food.

After a huge portion of cheesy garlic bread and a warming bowl of soup, we head back to the other side of the hotel to see some sights.

As well as London's most famous landmark, the location boasts a great view of the Shard, the "Walkie Talkie" building, the "Cheese Grater" and the rest of the city, and is just a couple of minutes' walk from Embankment, with its riverside restaurants, bars and street entertainment.

A visit to the capital is not complete without taking in a tourist attraction, so we decided on the Tower Bridge Experience - reasonably priced at £9 per person, and even better when we used our two-for-one voucher courtesy of South West Trains.

The tour includes a walk behind the scenes of the bridge, with lots of reading and a couple of films to watch, but the highlight is undoubtedly the glass walkway, where you can see straight down to the traffic crossing below. A slightly surreal experience, and probably best avoided if you don't like heights, but otherwise well worth doing!

Heading back to the hotel, we planned to dump our bags and go straight for a hot chocolate, but were waylaid by the room's incredible view.

With the sun setting, Tower Bridge was bathed in an orangey glow and, rather than checking out the bathroom, mini bar and TV channels, we spent a good ten minutes taking photos and marvelling at how close we were to the iconic landmark.

Our executive room, which featured luxury extras including a Nespresso coffee machine, bathrobes and slippers and a Bose docking station, also included access to the hotel's Club Lounge, offering complimentary breakfast on weekdays and refreshments all day.

We enjoyed a muffin and hot chocolate before popping back to the room for a freshen ahead of our evening out on the town.

Jumping on the tube, it was just a few stops to Piccadilly Circus for drinks, dinner, and a spot of late-night shopping. But the day's sightseeing had taken its toll and the crowds became too much to handle, so we returned to the peace and quiet of the hotel, and a visit to the cosy Xi Bar & Lounge.

The area features a dark wooden bar, soft cream walls and taupe leather armchairs but the main attraction - yet again - was the stunning view of the bridge in all its twinkling glory against the night sky.

We enjoyed a restful night's sleep in high, comfy beds with heavy, white duvets before heading down to the Brasserie restaurant for a slap-up breakfast.

Seated, and served with tea and coffee, we were left to help ourselves from the extensive buffet, which included everything for a full English, as well as fruit, yoghurt, cereals, waffles and muffins.

Feeling full, it would have been all too easy to accept the late check-out option and chill out in our room for a while but, determined to make the most of every moment in the capital, we packed our bags and headed out for retail therapy.

We couldn't find many shops in the vicinity, but it was no trouble to take the tube to nearby Covent Garden, from where we headed up to Leicester Square for lunch, which left us in a perfect spot to take the the tube the three short stops back to Waterloo to catch the train home, still marvelling at how the Tower Hotel sits alongside one of London's busiest landmarks, yet still provides a peaceful retreat.

Factfile

Prices start from £160 inclusive of VAT and breakfast for two adults in a standard double/twin room (0)207 523 5063, guoman.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/the_tower/

Offers: The Refresher package for meetings and events - details from guoman.com/en/hotels/united_kingdom/london/the_tower/hotel_offers/the_refresher.html