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Taking the kids (age 7, 4) to London in June.
Obviously the simple tourist things are obvious, but any top tips for fun stuff/urgent toilet locations(!), etc!
Thinking of heading out to Legoland Windsor on one day – is the public transport straightforward?
Thanks.
Took my 6 year old niece to London in August last year.
Highlights of the day for a 6 year old. Being on a train for the first time. “Massive” escalator to the “amazing” underground. Sitting on the front seat of the upper deck of a double decker bus.
You might need to pre-book Dippy if he’s still there in the summer.
Toilet situation in London isn’t bad. Major stores and museums all have plentiful facilities. Hotels are a good option too.
Legoland is easy. Train to Windsor (either station) then the bus is pretty frequent. Google Maps is your friend for that.
Look up the 2-4-1 attractions with a return rail ticket.
@Andrew Dippy as in the dinosaur at the natural history museum? Dippy has gone off to do Dino stuff in Coventry for 3 years.There’s that lift at Farringdon station that is a bit different.
Kidzania!
You can include the multiple transport modes in one of your trips across the city – boat (thames clipper) to north greenwich, followed by cable car, then a dlr and finally a tube or bus. The good part is you can use contactless on all of the above. As Andrew said, get the front seats on DLR and upper deck of the dd bus.
The Science Museum interactive shows are done really well.
Do let them go mental for a bit in a playgroud – Diana Memorial one and one opposite London Eye are the best ones you are likely to naturally encounter. Kew Gardens can also serve this purpose.
Sad to report: the Rainforest Cafe is the very definition of overpriced tourist s**te … and yet at age 4ish, ours thought it was utterly brilliant.
When ours were very young we took them to Hamleys, but told them it was a museum rather than a shop, so they didn’t ask to get anything. Yes, I’m that tight 😀 😀
I think a lot depends on the deals you may find: London eye is a tourist trap but if you have a super discount somewhere, why not? Similarly, Kidzania is pretty hefty at weekends.
I’d vouch for musea as well: NHM is great, Science Museum’s basement is wonderful yet always crowded. And musea work for wet days as well. Plus, you can get a break with an hour-long quick V&M tour as well — not the most boring thing for the kids.
My kid is super-into “vehicles”, so London Transport Museum (covent garden) isn’t too bad. Unfortunately, he’s not as well behaved as Squirrel’s :), cannot imagine taking him to Hamleys..
Diana playground is great but, again, can be very crowded. Battersea Park playground is pretty wonderful, if it is not too off track.
And the London Zoo is an all-time winner.
TERRIFIC!
Thanks all – this is great.Agree with Diana + Transport Museum – especially as the latter is so central!
The Science Museum (need to book a spot even though it’s free) has a fabulous paid section, called
Wonderlab. Every single thing is hands-on, with science-y “shows” every 30 mins or so. Also Imax.
Although we haven’t been since lockdown, the Postal Museum was also fantastic – go on the postal underground, send message through vacuum tubes, etc., and there was a soft play area for smaller ones.
The London Eye sometimes appears on the train 241 deal that someone mentioned.
M&Ms store (sorry!) – in fact, the Lego store is opposite if you don’t go to Windsor! Talking
of which,our then 3-yr old was quite unimpressed with Legoland! More queueing than playing on that occasion.
There are often kids’ theatre shows on (12pm for one hour – Peppa, etc.).
Thames Clipper – if you can get on, now often full.I saw this boat https://terriblethames.com/ the other week that might appeal. Can’t vouch for it personally as my kids are a bit old now.
There’s also a direct bus from Victoria to Legoland. It’s likely slower than the train/bus combo but depending where you’re staying and how tired feet are likely to be at the end of the day, may be worth considering. When my kids were that age, they all loved the place. Avoiding July & August also means you’ll likely avoid the worst of the crowds. Do hunt out the discount coupons – certainly used to be the case that no one needed to pay full price.
The Museum of London has now closed but they have a smaller outpost over by the Docklands. Probably best to go at the weekend as by then the place will be swarming on weekdays with end of term school trips. And Pizza Pilgrims next door is brilliant. Cheap, excellent pizza and free table football to boot.
Corams Fields, near the British Museum, is free and adults must be accompanied by a child.
A strong +1 for building in a trip on the Uber boat from, say, Battersea to Canary Wharf. Cheap and you’ll pass a lot of sites.
London’s Chinatown is good for a brief wander around, lots of lanterns and so on, followed by cheap eats at that little Japanese place on Newport St I can’t remember the name of.
https://ichibanya.uk/ on Great Newport St by any chance? Another cheap and cheerful Japanese option nearby would be Misato on Wardour St (cash only).
Took my little one a few times things he loved
– the clipper especially as you can sit outside weather permitting
– transport museum is fin and has a bit of interactive elements
– science museum is a blast
– he loved the performers in Covent garden as well
– hamleys, they demo stuff and there are a few toys and simulators to play with. I just gave him a cost limit for any toy so didn’t buy anything anyway
– M&M world cost a lot in M&Ms though.
– at Xmas we went to a panto but usually a few kids things on throughout the year eg there is a monster truck show, blippy was about at some point etc.Things others have done
– there is some sort of peppa pig kids tour and afternoon tea
– the Jurassic park exhibition.https://ichibanya.uk/ on Great Newport St by any chance? Another cheap and cheerful Japanese option nearby would be Misato on Wardour St (cash only).
+1 for Misato – massive bento boxes and great VFM!
https://ichibanya.uk/ on Great Newport St by any chance? Another cheap and cheerful Japanese option nearby would be Misato on Wardour St (cash only).
+1 for Misato – massive bento boxes and great VFM!
Nope — I was thinking of Tokyo Diner! Little Newport Street. Does free extra size portions if you’re hungry and refuses tips (if you leave money on the table they go to homeless charities I think).
Going to have to check out Misato and Ichibanya now 🙂
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