First day out in London for 6-year-old

[frodo23]

Hi all,

We're taking our 6-year-old son on his first day trip to London on a Saturday next month, and I'd really appreciate some advice from those of you that have done something similar recently (or know the logistics well).

Our plan is to drive early morning (from our home in Somerset) and park somewhere outside of the city, and then get the train into town. I have friends who live in Twickenham and I could possibly park there, but are there any places outside of the congestion zone (and to the west of London) that would offer a quick and easy park/ride solution? We will want day passes for the tube anyway.

Things that we are considering for the day include:

- London Eye ride (must)
- See Buckingham Palace (must)
- Visit to Hamleys (must)
- Space Safari show at Greenwich Planetarium?
- Science Museum?
- Some sort of child-friendly site-seeing thing?

Any advice/thoughts/suggestions would be most appreciated. It's been a few years since my last London visit and I want to make this as special for him as possible. My plan is to be there from perhaps 10am until about 7pm.

Thanks in advance.

f23

[surveyor]

In all honesty?

I'm not sure about bits of your itinerary...


- Visit to Hamleys (must) - will be mobbed. Full of kids screaming I want, and parents desperate to escape. It really is jut a very busy toy shop...
- Science Museum? Mobbed again....
- Some sort of child-friendly site-seeing thing?

One of the things I have done with my daughter is DLR to Royal Victoria, then Emirates Cable Car across the Thames, and River Bus back to the City.

Daughter enjoyed a look around HMS Belfast. Also the Shrek tour on Embankment is good fun...

[lucido grigio]

You don't need to worry about congestion zone as it's not used on weekends.

[orhan]

I wish you luck with all that.
I live on border of Chiswick/Hammersmith and around my way parking is free at the weekend and one bus in to town no 94 takes you oxford street/regent street from there you can do the palace and the eye but for the rest you either won't see much or won't get the chance to do it at all. Whatever happens have fun.

[Cold]

Pre-book the London Eye or you'll be queuing for hours. Two steps from London Eye is https://www.shreksadventure.com/london/ which is good fun. (Pre book that too.)

[Black can man]

M&M world seems to go down a treat with the younger folk

[towser44]

We're taking our 5 year old daughter next month, but we're staying the Saturday night and are on the train from Cheshire.

I'm waiting til next week for them to release the next batch of tickets for the Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building as it's free entry

https://skygarden.london/

[jimmytheone]

Train ride might be an event in itself for a 6yr old (mine are 7 & 5).
If you're travelling in from south-west to Waterloo then the south bank is your friend - there's loads of stuff going on (jugglers and street "artists") plus lots of places to eat, there's all the stuff on the river, houses of parliament, London eye etc

Another option is a Thames clipper down the river either from way out west to centre or centre to east, down to canary wharf (and thence a magical driverless train round docklands) or even the thames barrier, cant remember how far it goes....?
And there's a cable car out east I think?

My humble advice would not to pack too much in, tempting though it may be if you're making the effort of coming from Somerset. I could spend an entire day at natural history museum or science museum with the kids.

[toastyhamster]

Did this last week (our half term). DEFINITELY book what you can, we have Merlin passes so get fast tracked to the Eye (5 min queue), Dungeon (dodgy for a 6 yr old, ours just about survived it but our 8 year old had a bad nightmare that night), and Tussauds (no queue for pass holders and surprisingly the kids loved it, did nothing for me though). Queues were epic for all of them, if you go to Shrek you can book a showing, then go do something else. Sealife is nearby too, queues might not be as bad for that.

Sky ride/river taxi is a good shout, plenty of places to eat at the O2 as well.

Avoid Rain Forest cafe, food is crap and over priced, both Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock are better (relatively, YMMV).

Don't do Ripleys, by far the worst 80 quid we've ever spent, kids ran round it in about 45 minutes.


From the grim North we drove to Luton for a change, disaster- M1 accident, then trains delayed, doing our usual HST from Grantham next time.

Would recommend the Merlin passes, but you've just missed the sale.

[Bill]

towser44 said:

We're taking our 5 year old daughter next month, but we're staying the Saturday night and are on the train from Cheshire.

I'm waiting til next week for them to release the next batch of tickets for the Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building as it's free entry

https://skygarden.london/

Much better than the eye IMO, not least because you can stay as long as you like. The South Bank is good, as is St Paul's. Personally I found the Science and Natural history museums too busy. The British Museum is good though.

I quite enjoyed Hamleys in a manic, rammed, slightly masochistic way.

[towser44]

Bill said:

towser44 said:

We're taking our 5 year old daughter next month, but we're staying the Saturday night and are on the train from Cheshire.

I'm waiting til next week for them to release the next batch of tickets for the Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building as it's free entry

https://skygarden.london/

Much better than the eye IMO, not least because you can stay as long as you like. The South Bank is good, as is St Paul's. Personally I found the Science and Natural history museums too busy. The British Museum is good though.

I quite enjoyed Hamleys in a manic, rammed, slightly masochistic way.

Ah, excellent, thanks for the confirmation. Just hoping I can book it for when we are there, the places seem to fill up quickly at the weekend! Only knew about it as I caught an item on daytime TV with Simon Calder a few weeks ago.

[toastyhamster]

There's a small Hamleys in St Pancras, I hate the main shop with a passion.

We too gave up on the Science Museum, free but kids couldn't get on anything due to the crowds, probably walk round the good bits of the NH museum next time we go.

[oldbanger]

Another vote for the river bus or one of the river sightseeing tours. They are fab.

The museums are all good for kids, but will be very busy right now. London, however, appears to have had half term last week, so you might be better off than you think as local kids will be back at school again.

Pelican feeding at St James Park is free and very close to Buckingham Palace
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st-jamess-park...

[towser44]

Looks like the cable car is closed for annual maintenance from Monday 13 March to Monday 20 March :-(

[ClaphamGT3]

If the weather is good, walk "ceremonial London"

Tube to Victoria and walk to Buckingham Palace
Down the Mall taking in Lancaster, Clarence and Marlborough houses and St James's Palace
Admiralty Arch and down to Horseguards Parade
From Horseguards onto Whitehall taking in the cenotaph, Downing St and Big Ben
Into Parliament Sq for Churchill's statue and Westminster Abbey
Over to the Embankment and Statue of Boudica where you can either cross WB to the South Bank or get the river taxi to Greenwick

Will take an hour and cost you zero pounds and zero pence

[Speed 3]

A bus ride from the South Bank is one of the best museums in London for kids that many have never heard of - the Horniman:

http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit

Check out the Google reviews.

At his age and given your long trek into the capital I wouldn't be too ambitious or adult thinking in your itinerary, he'll be knackered by teatime. My guess is he'll get a kick out of tubes, trains & buses more than landmarks given you'll be doing BP and Eye anyway. South Bank is a good shout for street stalls/ents right next to the Eye but may be a bit limited at this time of year. Buses are a good way of taking a rest and seeing sights from the top deck, Route Number 11 is probably the best to take in the most iconic landmarks.

[Tony Angelino]

My lad was (a fairly young 8) when we first took him to the smoke. We got into Kings Cross early doors for him to do the Harry Potter photo op before the shop opened and the queues formed. Made our way to the riverboat and went towards the city, made our way back along the South Bank to the Eye, me him and his mother did the Eye and then while they went in the Sealife centre I went in the Dungeon - unlike the fella earlier on the thread I wouldn't dream of taking my lad in there until maybe 12 ish.

We had Merlin passes so didn't really cost us anything at the time.

Then made our way back to the Natural History Museum and did the dinosaurs etc, very busy getting in but once in other than the bottlenecks for the main exhibits it was OK.

Last time we went we did the Lego store (including the mosaic maker - but you must book in advance for this), MM world and Nickelodean store went down well too. We've been on open bus tours and he enjoyed these for a good couple of hours and also the toyshops but as previously mentioned it's not all that cracking in Hamleys.

Always something going on in Leicester Square and Covent Garden, there were magicians, street dancers and jugglers when we went and even though they can get a bit arsey asking for money it's pretty entertaining for the kids and adults alike.

[orhan]

I wish you luck with all that.
I live on border of Chiswick/Hammersmith and around my way parking is free at the weekend and one bus in to town no 94 takes you oxford street/regent street from there you can do the palace and the eye but for the rest you either won't see much or won't get the chance to do it at all. Whatever happens have fun.

[surveyor]

Covent Garden has the transport museum too

[Spare tyre]

Get the city mapper app, it's really good

Take the public transport boat from embankment upto the o2

Walk over the 02 if the tickets are available

See if you can get the free tickets for the sky garden at the walkie talkie

Hop on and off buses using oyster / debit cards, ride along the busy routes sitting up stairs