North postcodes, from the canal at NW1 to the ridge at N10

Along the canal and the Northern line

Camden Town in NW1 has the lock, the halls and a crowd that thins into something pleasant around nine. One stop north, Kentish Town in NW5 has a two thousand capacity room two minutes from a station that also carries the mainline. West of both, the gardens and terraces of Regent's Park belong to an earlier hour and shut their gates at dusk.

The hills

Hampstead in NW3 keeps village hours and rewards an afternoon start, with three small hotels and a station so deep it uses lifts. Across the heath, Highgate in N6 has no station in the village and no hotel in it either. North again, Muswell Hill in N10 has no Underground at all, and the honest journey from town is closer to an hour.

Upper Street and the east side

Islington in N1 is a mile of high street with a theatre at each end and kitchens that consider nine o'clock early. At the bottom of the same hill, Angel runs into EC1V and takes a later, smaller sort of evening. Further north east, Finsbury Park in N4 is the easiest address on this site to reach, with two tube lines sharing a platform.

The three termini

Kings Cross covers N1C and WC1X and is best met at the water rather than the concourse. St Pancras in NW1 and N1C is at its best after the last continental departure has taken its crowd away. Euston in NW1 is the least romantic and the most useful, a minute from the platforms.

All three sit within ten minutes' walk of each other, so a booking at one can be moved to another without anybody starting again. Figures on every page follow the same rates ladder, and the whole list applies in every postcode.