Hampton Inn London Ontario

A Logical Stop at Ontario's Midpoint

London sits almost exactly between Toronto and Detroit on Highway 401, roughly two hours from each, at the point where the 401 meets the 402 heading toward the Blue Water Bridge and the U.S. border. This Hampton Inn on Exeter Road is built around that geography more than around anything particular to its own neighbourhood: a 92-room stop for travelers breaking up a longer drive rather than a destination hotel in its own right.

Why It Works

The formula stays close to the standard Hampton script: free hot breakfast, a year-round indoor pool, a fitness centre, and pet-friendly rooms for anyone road-tripping with a dog rather than boarding one for the drive. White Oaks Mall sits about a kilometre away, close enough for an evening stretch of the legs or a meal beyond the hotel's own snack bar, without requiring a special trip off the highway corridor most guests are already following.

Why This Location

London's position at the junction of Highway 401 and Highway 402 is the entire case for stopping here rather than pushing through to Toronto or across the border to Detroit in one run. A city of more than 400,000 people sits around this exit, which means the usual chain-hotel amenities come with actual infrastructure nearby — a full mall, grocery stores, and restaurants — rather than the gas-station cluster found at a smaller highway interchange partway along the same route.

Fast Facts

• Price: Budget-friendly, standard Hampton rates

• Vibe: Practical highway stop at a genuine halfway point

• Rooms: 92 rooms

• Best For: Toronto-to-Detroit road trips and pet owners traveling by car

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: How precisely it lines up with the natural halfway point of a cross-border drive

• Dining: Complimentary hot breakfast buffet; on-site snack bar

• Amenities: Indoor pool, fitness centre, free parking, pet-friendly rooms, currency exchange

• Attractions: White Oaks Mall, the Thames River forks downtown, Western University

Built for the Overnight, Not the Extended Stay

The equipment list is short and functional rather than extensive: a 24-hour front desk with currency exchange on-site — a small but genuinely useful detail this close to the US border — luggage storage, a shared lounge, and meeting rooms for the smaller share of guests here on business rather than passing through. It's a hotel designed to be efficient for a single night, not to hold a guest's attention for several.

What London Itself Has to Offer

Guests willing to stay a second night, or detour slightly from the highway, find a city nicknamed the Forest City for its tree cover, built around the forks where the Thames River's north and south branches meet downtown. Western University, one of Canada's larger research universities, anchors the north end of the city and brings a steady stream of its own visitors and events. None of it is a reason to choose London over a dozen other Highway 401 stops, but it's enough to make an overnight here feel like more than a parking lot beside the highway. White Oaks Mall itself has shifted in character recently: opened in 1973 with roughly 700,000 square feet and well over a hundred stores, it lost its longtime Hudson's Bay anchor in 2025 and gained an IKEA concept store in its place, a swap that says something about how Canadian mall anchors have been reshuffling across mid-sized cities. For a guest killing an evening between driving legs, it's a reasonable mix of familiar retail and something newer to look at, a few minutes from the hotel rather than a planned excursion. Either way, it's close enough to reach on foot if the parking lot feels like one stop too many after a full day on the road.