Where to take 14-year-old French exchange student on first visit to London?

[anyquestions]

Think the thread title sums up the question! Will be 2 adults and 3 secondary school age children, DS, his (male) French exchange partner plus DD. We have only been to London once before as a family. Visited the Tower of London so don't really want to do that again. Will be there early October, from lunchtime on Saturday until early evening on Sunday. Staying near Greenwich. Happy to pay some entrance fees but not ??????, eg approx ??130 for half hour London Eye trip struck me as a bit much!! TIA

[PrincessHairyMclary]

If your staying in Greenwich get the waterbus into London. Maybe get off at the London eye walk past Big Ben, horse guards parade and Buckingham palace. Go to Leicester square for M&M world/Piccadilly Circus. Then you could see if you could get cheapish tickets for Stomp there isn't any speech init and it's very good.

[PrincessHairyMclary]

You could also do a trip to Knightsbridge and do Harrods/museums

[FloraFox]

Camden Market, Inigo in Soho, the gondola thing, walk along the South Bank, Tate Modern (free), Covent Garden. I'd rather do an open top bus than the London Eye.

[LIZS]

Covent Garden , Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square(m&m world). Maybe a red bus tour to take in Big Ben and Buck House or river us. Any particular interests like football or athletics(Olympic park)

[anyquestions]

Wow! Thanks all for coming back with suggestions so quickly! RE the river bus, how does it work with tickets? Can you use an Oystercard? Do you have to buy tickets before you board? If so, are there machines to do that at each pick up point?

[PrincessHairyMclary]

If you did the river bus from Greenwich to Canary wharf you can then get the DLR to Stratford for shopping/Olympic stadium. You can but tickets (about ??7 each) for a family swim at the Olympic swimming pool but that'll take a large chunk of time to do. The Olympic park is lovely but perhaps better if you made a repeat visit.
If you are travelling by train it's worth looking at Getting a Family an Friend railcard you would it will probably pay for itself in that one trip.

[anyquestions]

Thanks! Tickets bought in advance with F&F railcard to avoid otherwise eye watering expense! I had also wondered about the Olympic Park, but I'm thinking it's probably not one to do on a short first visit.

Hop on hop off bus is coming in at almost ??100 unless I can find a 2 for 1 offer. Would take a lot of convincing that it's worth it at that price. Anyone got any suggestions for good ordinary bus routes that would take in a decent number of sights?

[anyquestions]

Thanks TheDrugs, that's great!

[jalopy]

Climb the monument. £4.00 for adult, £2.70 for kids. Great views.

[MNWestminsterCityEd]

You could try our MN Local site for Westminster & City, which has a talk board where you can ask locals for advice & recommendations, plus thousands of listings including a What's On guide, attractions, restaurants... local.mumsnet.com/westminster-and-city

[HeighHoghItsBacktoWorkIGo]

The skygarden is free, but you have to book in advance. It's a fun thing to do because you get a fantastic view. It only fills up an hour, but you could then walk to St Paul's and then across the bridge to the Southbank.

skygarden.london/plan-your-visit