Victoria isn’t a district of London at all! In fact, Victoria is an informal area of the City of Westminster in Central London, which consists of the few streets that surround Victoria Train Station. You’ll also find Victoria Tube Station (one of the busiest in London) and Victoria Coach Station here. Situated in Tube Zone 1 inside the Central London congestion charging zone, Victoria is surrounded by places like Westminster, Pimlico and Belgravia. It is also on the doorstep of St James’s, which is home to Buckingham Palace!

Victoria is filled with hotels and bed and breakfasts to suit your budget, and surrounded by eye catching and historically important attractions like Westminster Cathedral. Once you’ve walked to all the attractions you can, you can use Victoria Bus Station and Tube Station to get around the rest of London with ease. Alternatively, you can take day trips to Surrey, Sussex and Kent on trains from Victoria Train Station. The Gatwick Express even runs from here! As Victoria Coach Station is also located here, you can catch a coach to four of London’s major airports, or take a cheap national or European coach trip!

Before the 1900’s, Victoria (named after Queen Victoria, Britain’s longest reigning monarch) didn’t really exist. In fact, the area was overcrowded with vile, stinking slums. As Thomas Cubbit, amongst others, was developing the nearby Grosvenor Estates of Pimlico and Belgravia, and a much more direct route was needed between Westminster, Whitehall and Buckingham Palace, the slums were demolished to make way for Victoria Street, which opened in 1851. Its importance as a London street was firmly established in 1861 when Victoria Train Station opened at the end of it!

As other forms of transport crowded into the area, including a large London bus station and Victoria Coach Station, Victoria grew rapidly into an important centre of transportation in London, and the largest shopping centre in the City of Westminster. Today you’ll find that the streets are crowded with office workers, Catholics on a pilgrimage to Westminster Cathedral, tourist and backpackers. With a plentiful supply of affordable accommodation and easy access to places like Buckingham Palace, this is a really convenient place for you to stay!

As Victoria is the main terminus for trains from the South East and coaches from all over the UK and Europe, Victoria is often accused of being a transport thoroughfare and nothing else! Although this does make the area incredibly busy and often noisy, you’ll soon discover that there’s a lot more to Victoria than just public transport! You’ll find cheap London hotels and bed and breakfasts situated in the quieter, uncommercial streets behind the station and amazing tourist attractions within easy reach!