[Travel Advice] London family trip
[Travel Advice] London family trip
London Day trips - Great for kiddos
Random Observation/Comment #845: I’m happy the window of travel with young children is really only 3 years of pain and 5 years of mild inconvenience. After that is 5 years of indifference?
We had 8 days in London (which was in retrospect way too long), so we didn’t try to cram too many activities into each day. Read this list if you’re just looking for some fun playgrounds and mini half day activities.
Lessons Learned from London with a kiddo
Don’t try to pack the schedule - You’re not a backpacker with infinite energy for walking along the Thames and checking off 5 tourist attractions like a maniac. Just go with the flow.
Bring a stroller or be prepared to carry your child. I’m a huge proponent of walking a city.
Early June is not as warm as we thought. Long sleeves and hoodie/jumper needed. We got lucky with weather, but expect some overcast and rain.
Find a kid’s playground for a break. There are quite a few creative ones strewn across the big parks and attractions.
Oyster cards aren’t really needed because you can just use visa/mastercard/apple pay tap.
It would have been nice to align with the weather and just do a day at the park with a picnic blanket, some wine, and sandwiches.
Stuff to see
Matilda: The Musical - 90GBP/ticket, 2.5 hrs - I personally loved it (Evie had fun too). The kids were so talented. Note to get here 20 minutes before your time. They will start exactly at 7:05PM. They also offer kids a booster seat. The intermission is around 15 minutes.
(What I wanted to do this whole trip)
Westminster Abbey - 50GBP, 1 hr - Evie surprisingly liked the audio tour for this one. She walked through all the different areas and had a grand time listening to the family version. I can see it getting boring for younger kids.
St James Park Playground - free, 30 min - There was this really poorly designed sand crane that winds up just being pulled to the top and getting sand in the kids’ faces. It really doesn’t have anywhere else to go. This was designed by a parent that chuckled at its uselessness. The boulders are extremely slipper, so definitely be careful.
(Since we couldn’t photograph the inside, there were some AI generated images of the crown jewels)
Tower of London & Crown Jewels - 35GBP per ticket, 3 hrs - Evie wanted to put on the jewels and this was obviously not possible.
Tate Modern - free, 1 hr - Highly recommend having a quick lunch or desert at the top restaurant. It’s a beautiful view and great for just hanging out. We wound up doing a lot of creative coloring and drawing. The store also has some toys and blank sheets for people to draw on. Wine o’clock.
Hyde park children's playground - free, 1 hr - There’s a few pretty spots here. Pretty hiding spots and walking paths in the middle.
Boat ride feeding ducks - 25GBP, 30 minutes - Borderline too expensive, but it was fine. We paddled across the lake and snuck some bread to the ducks.
Windsor wandering - free, 1 hr - Windsor is easy to get to and a great day trip. We were waiting for our timed entry and wound up just walking around and seeing different views in town. Lots of little shops and cute side streets.
Windsor castle - 30GBP per ticket, 3 hrs - Highly recommended walking through the castle itself. The royal doll house was really intricate (at one point had running water!). The apartment suite rooms themselves were covered in paintings and was a mini art gallery embedded into the tour.
Afternoon tea at The Brasserie at Sir Christopher Wren - 70GBP, 1 hr - Highly recommend coming here at 2:30PM for some afternoon tea. Make a reservation if you’re in the middle of tourist season.
French bros boat tour in Windsor - 12GBP per ticket, 40 min - If the timing lines up then why not? I actually wound up taking a nap on this boat ride because we had walked around the castle all day. The pre-recorded talking points were very soothing.
Regents park playground (Marylebone Green) - free, 1 hr - This playground has sand and a huge slide. There’s also a water pump which is ideal for any kid who likes going to the beach making sandcastles. I would recommend bringing baby powder to get that sand out before putting the shoes back on.
London Eye - 30GBP per ticket, 30 min - If you get a lucky clearish day, then definitely book this. The day-of ticket is 10GBP more. The fast track is unreliably useful (sometimes there’s just no line).
London Eye children’s playground (Jubilee Gardens) - free, 1 hr - This was a perfect post-London Eye experience to get some energy out. There’s a huge ship obstacle course that even I would love to climb around.
Science Museum - free (+12GBP per person for Wonderlab), 2 hrs - The Wonderlab was definitely worth the extra cost. All of the interact exhibits were so much fun even for the adults. I would do this over the IMAX experience. We attended the live 20 minute demos for chemistry and fire/explosions/boom, which were super engaging.
Shopping around Covenant Garden and Harrods - expensive, a lot of time - It’s never a bad idea to walk around some pretty department stores to look for good deals.
~See Lemons Love London with Family