rewrite this title Shangri-La The Shard, London: A Sky-High Splurge – NerdWallet

Staying at Shangri-La The Shard, London, means you get to sleep in one of the world’s most iconic buildings.

Renzo Piano’s 1,016-foot glass pyramid is the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe, and The Shard occupies 19 of its 72 floors: The lobby starts at level 34, and the rooms (and the famously high pool) climb all the way to level 52.

I stayed in London for one night as part of an extended layover on a rather long flight back from my honeymoon. It was just enough time to experience nearby tourist attractions like the Tower of London, as well as the hotel’s best offerings, including an afternoon tea high up on level 34.

There’s also the hotel’s expansive one-of-a-kind sauna, its most impressive amenity (more on that in a bit). Fair warning: Staying at this opulent hotel might spoil you for life.

While the hotel covered the cost of my one-night stay in May 2026, the views here are my own.

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The Shard’s signature pyramid shape means the walls of every room slope inward as the building rises. The result is a layout that seems a little odd at first, with wasted space near the windows that doesn’t seem to serve any function. But once you gaze out those floor-to-ceiling windows at the views, you realize it was clearly built for the wow factor, not space efficiency.

The bathtub is set up directly in front of the big windows, making it one of the most epic bathtub setups I’ve ever experienced.

Other in-room extras include binoculars and heated bathroom floors.

The Sky Pool is located on floor 52, which the hotel says makes it the highest hotel pool in Western Europe. It’s an infinity pool set behind floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the Thames toward St. Paul’s, the Tower of London and the rest of central London.

While I enjoyed the pool, I was more impressed by the sauna. I have only ever sat in saunas that were enclosed dark wooden boxes (aka, the default sauna experience). The Shard’s Sky Sauna is built right up against the same wall of windows as the pools, so you sweat while staring at Westminster in the distance.

Note that in busy seasons, pool and sauna times are sometimes reservation-based to keep the space from getting crowded, so plan ahead.

The hotel has three dining and drinking venues: TĪNG Restaurant (where breakfast and afternoon tea happen), Sky Lounge and GŎNG.

GŎNG is a sushi and cocktail bar located on the same floor as the pool, which means the highlight here is the view. But I thought the food was genuinely good, and the sushi platter felt pretty reasonably priced given that you’re getting high-quality sushi and (if you time it right) a 52nd-floor sunset view.

Breakfast at TĪNG Restaurant runs on a hybrid format where you order your main, hot plate (such as omelets or congee) from a waiter, and then you also have access to a continental-style buffet for pastries, breads, jams, fruit and yogurt.

I loved this approach. It wasn’t the typical unfortunate hotel breakfast scenario where you’re scooping limp eggs from under a heat lamp. The hot entrees were fresh and cooked to order, and you could eat as many cold entrees as you wanted.

Most luxury London hotels cluster in Mayfair, Knightsbridge or around Hyde Park. The Shangri-La is on the south bank in Southwark.

It’s a short walk from Borough Market, one of London’s best food stops. It’s a longer but still very doable walk to the very hip neighborhood of Spitalfields. A stay here means you’re in an area where Londoners actually live and eat, not in a zone optimized for first-time visitors (the only major tourist attraction nearby is the Tower of London).

Transit is also a win. The Shard is built directly on top of London Bridge Station, where you can catch a direct, fast train to London Gatwick Airport.

A couple of timely offers are worth knowing about if you’re planning a 2026 trip; you can access them when you book directly with the hotel online:

A stay at Shangri-La The Shard means you’re getting a luxurious night’s sleep in one of Europe’s most architecturally distinctive buildings. You’re definitely paying for the views, but their one-of-a-kind nature may be worth it.

When you’re there, definitely make time for the pool and sauna (as long as you’re okay being disappointed by all future saunas going forward).

If you can’t afford to spend the whole night, at least snag a reservation for a sunset sushi visit to GŎNG.

About the author

Sally French is co-host of the Smart Travel podcast and a writer on NerdWallet’s travel team. Before joining NerdWallet as a travel rewards expert in 2020, she wrote about travel and credit cards for The New York Times and its sibling site, Wirecutter.

Outside of work, she loves fitness, and she competes in both powerlifting and weightlifting (she can deadlift more than triple bodyweight). Naturally, her travels always involve a fitness component, including a week of cycling up the coastline of Vietnam and a camping trip to the Arctic Circle, where she biked over the sea ice. Other adventures have included hiking 25 miles in one day through Italy’s Cinque Terre and climbing the 1,260 steps to Tiger Cave Temple in Krabi, Thailand.

She lives in San Francisco.