Anyone been to the Sky Graden in London with kids?

[eelbecomingforyou]

Kids aged 11 and 14.

Is it worth it? How long can you stay? Can you recommend anywhere nice to eat near by (but cheaper than the Sky garden restaurants)?

Thanks!

It’s great! There are lots of chain places around, like Eat/Pret/Costa. Also M&S, Wasabi, so many places to choose from.

Thanks! How long do you think we'll need to spend there? Am booking other stuff for the day too...

Also, if you don’t want to que and watch the sunset, book a visit to brasserie, but choose an option without table, that way you don’t have to commit to a big expense, walk in without queuing and usually there is always a place available in the next few days as opposed to a regular visit. You can book a breakfast too, but I find the sunset time is the best! This a photo from my last visit.

I think you should allocate an hour or so.

We took ours aged 10 and 8. They enjoyed it, but we only spent an hour or so and had coffee and cake in the cafe. Take coats as it is not heated! The views are amazing, the gardens are interesting but not particularly impressive (apart from being up so high). We filled the rest of the day with a visit to Monument (nearby) and Tower Bridge - you can get a joint ticket. St. Paul's, Millenium Bridge, Tate Modern are other options nearby.
Oh and we didn't book tickets just got there at opening time and went straight up no queues. Was a big queue by the time we left.

Sky garden is beautiful. I'd stay for a drink and that's probably enough. If you didn't have the kids I'd say go on a Friday night where they have a live band and it's just incredible!!!!

You can stay as long as you want, we stayed just over an hour. It was pretty cold outside!

They have great cake and drinks options at the cafe up there if you go mid meal time, all reasonably priced considering we paid nothing to get in.

Enjoy, we preferred the Sky Garden to the Gerkin.

Great - thank you :)

I went with a friend and thought it was lovely (we are middle aged) - the views are amazing and the feeling of looking out over the city. We didn;t buy from the cafe as it was very expensive, and i think we spent about an hour or so there - looking round the garden bit and admiring and photographing the views. we did it as a sort of fill in thing for days when we had other activities planned for later, and we pre booked a slot (I think you have to, but not sure).
There were families with children there when we went and they all seemed to be enjoying it.
There's plenty of places to eat nearby.

I will go again when I'm next in London.

The sky garden is a great place to visit, but tickets go quickly, especially for school holidays.

We often visit the viewing platform on the 10th floor at Tate Modern. it is opposite St. Paul’s, so although you are not as high up as in the sky garden, there is still a good view. Biggest plus is that you just turn up, no need to prebook or show ID.

An hour should be long enough. Not much for children, except for spotting the landmarks. We enjoyed it, but would have liked more information about what we were seeing out the windows, as we could only identify the obvious ones.