Visiting London - this week, with kids?
Discussion
Thinking of taking the kids for a trip to London this week, probably Weds to Thurs. Just me and my older two, who are 7 and 5 (they're country bumpkins, never been to a big city before), travelling from the south west. I don't think it's going to be practical to try and get up there and back in a single day, so expecting to stay overnight somewhere.
So far, plan is to drive up (A303 or M4) to arrive mid morning. Will need accommodation for one night (relatively cheap, AirBnB or similar), near tube, and with parking would be ideal. Otherwise park on outskirts somewhere near a tube, but that'll mean lugging overnight stuff around, so not ideal.
Thinking of doing typical tourist stuff for kids - changing of the guard, Natural History Museum, Hamleys, somewhere high up (Tower Bridge, London Eye, Shard)? I had previously ruled out the Shard as too expensive due to the cost of their kids tickets (at least £20 each), but I've just seen they have a 'kids go free' offer on this week, making it much more reasonable. Any other suggestions (I'm sure there's loads of cheap, simple 'off the beaten path' things that most of us don't know about). Equally, anything/places to avoid?
Will be travelling back evening/night of the second day (Thursday), don't want to try and squeeze too much in. My youngest would probably be entertained just jumping on and off the tube all day anyway!
So far, plan is to drive up (A303 or M4) to arrive mid morning. Will need accommodation for one night (relatively cheap, AirBnB or similar), near tube, and with parking would be ideal. Otherwise park on outskirts somewhere near a tube, but that'll mean lugging overnight stuff around, so not ideal.
Thinking of doing typical tourist stuff for kids - changing of the guard, Natural History Museum, Hamleys, somewhere high up (Tower Bridge, London Eye, Shard)? I had previously ruled out the Shard as too expensive due to the cost of their kids tickets (at least £20 each), but I've just seen they have a 'kids go free' offer on this week, making it much more reasonable. Any other suggestions (I'm sure there's loads of cheap, simple 'off the beaten path' things that most of us don't know about). Equally, anything/places to avoid?
Will be travelling back evening/night of the second day (Thursday), don't want to try and squeeze too much in. My youngest would probably be entertained just jumping on and off the tube all day anyway!
Can't believe I start this thread over a year ago - finally got round to taking the kids to visit London last week! The whole day went really well, managed to fit a good amount of stuff into it, traffic was light, and no queues anywhere. I think the kids would have been happy just getting on and off tube trains and riding the escalators all day!
Started at the Mall in with changing of the guard, walked through Trafalgar Square and then down to Embankment, went up the Monument and Tower Bridge. Also had a ride on DLR (right at the front), and went over the Air Line (still impressive, even in the dark), and then managed to squeeze in a visit to Hamleys (at 8pm an hour before closing, and it was almost empty). Doesn't sound like that much, but we walked 9 miles in totall, so the kids were exhausted (youngest is only just 4).
Wanted to do the Postal Museum with the ride on mail rail, but that was closed for maintenance, next time.
Started at the Mall in with changing of the guard, walked through Trafalgar Square and then down to Embankment, went up the Monument and Tower Bridge. Also had a ride on DLR (right at the front), and went over the Air Line (still impressive, even in the dark), and then managed to squeeze in a visit to Hamleys (at 8pm an hour before closing, and it was almost empty). Doesn't sound like that much, but we walked 9 miles in totall, so the kids were exhausted (youngest is only just 4).
Wanted to do the Postal Museum with the ride on mail rail, but that was closed for maintenance, next time.
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