You have 7 hours in London with a six year old...

[itslondontime]

What would your plans look like?

We arrive and leave from kings cross, I've been to London but not with kids, 6 year old has never been.

Extra points for step by step plans. We arrive at just after 10am, we'll probably get a picnic for the train home, so just lunch to cater for in London.

Bus tour or boat tour.
If you do a museum go to the wonderlab in the science museum, you must book it (in addition to the admission ticket).
There’s a nice creperie in south Ken, close to the science museum and you can also paddle in the princess di fountain.
There’s an excellent playground close to king’s cross- Coram’s fields- if it all gets a bit too much or you just want to be in the general area in good time.

Number 11 bus from Victoria passes lots of the landmarks

Also bear in mind that Big Ben is covered in scaffolding and silent at present...

You could get the I-spy London book so you can see how many sights you see.

I would:

Get the Northern line to London Bridge (For Tower Bridge)

Get a Clipper boat from London Bridge to Westminster to see London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.

You could have a picnic in St James's Park and see Buckingham Palace, then get the Circle / District Line from St James's Park to South Kensington for the Science or Natural History Museum. Piccadilly Line back to Kings Cross.

By the way if you end up just wanting a quick bite to eat rather than a restaurant the McDonalds by Charing Cross (just down from Trafalgar Square) is a decent size one - a lot of the others are small.

I’d go from Kings Cross to one of the Natural History Museum or Science Museum (you need timed tickets for these, plus additional bookings for some exhibits like the interactive stuff at the science museum). Late lunch somewhere round there - personally I wouldn’t waste time on anything much, it’d be a quick sandwich at the museum cafe. Then tube to Westminster on the circle/district line. Walk from Westminster tube to the Eye over Westminster Bridge. Go on the Eye (you can see absolutely loads from there). Go from Waterloo back to Kings Cross on the northern line, changing at Leicester Square for the Piccadilly line.

Other recommended things we’ve done you could do instead - Tower of London and the Crown Jewels (could take all day, could take a couple of hours depending on how interested he is in each part), clipper boat down the river (I’d probably go from Westminster to about Tower), open top bus tour, the aquarium (though as great as it is, it’s not specific to London, so if it’s London he wants I wouldn’t bother, there’s similar stuff elsewhere), Trafalgar Square/The National Gallery or just getting the tube to Westminster and walking around to see Big Ben, HoP, Abbey, Horseguards, The Mall and Buckingham Palace. There are big queues to get into the Lego shop, M&m shop on Leicester Square at peak times at the moment due to restricted numbers - I guess it’ll depend what the covid rules are by then but you could easily waste ages there.

London is huge, you could fill weeks, so I’d pick maybe two things and do them well rather than trying to cram in too much. If he doesn’t like loud noises you might want ear defenders if you go on the deep underground lines - the braking and screeching on eg the picadilly line is deafening!

London eye or rib trip...Great way to see all the landmarks..
Bus from King's Cross to Waterloo will cross the Thames...simple lunch at one the chains or picnic at Southbank usually stuff going on...possibly clipper boat to tate modern and cross the wobbly bridge to st Paul's then 'new' double decker to covent garden ...Street entertainment etc piccadily tube back to King's Cross! ..or tube from King's Cross to covent Garden/Leicester Square-lego shop walk to covent garden lunch watching street entertainment ..transport museum is there if they like vehicles then!
then river/southland and rib/London Eye...the museums are great but big n busy ..although if dc has specific interest maybe worth a short trip....or British museum has some good bits and is free!
Look out for 241 with train tickets or tesco vouchers.....
Great idea my dc love it!

Tube from Kings Cross to Green Park (Victoria Line) and the walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace. Walk along the Mall to Trafalgar Square. Double back on yourselves to walk down Horseguards to the Houses of Parliament. River Boat from Westminster Pier to Greenwich. Look at the outside of Cutty Sark and Greenwich Naval College. Pick up something to eat in Greenwich Market. Walk under the Thames via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. DLR to India Dock to visit the Docklands Museum (book the Mudlarks play centre in advance - its brilliant). DLR - try and get a front seat so you can pretend you're the driver) to Bank. Northern Line from Bank back to Kings Cross.

From King's Cross, I'd go east to west.

For maximum coverage:

• Tube to Tower Hill (one change) to visit Tower of London.
• Take westbound Thames Clipper along the river to Waterloo and do the London Eye.
• Lunch on the South Bank somewhere. There's lots of street food/restaurants there (or used to be pre-Covid ). There's usually some fun/arty stuff to look at as well.
• Cross Westminster Bridge to see Big Ben and meander up through St James's Park to Buckingham Palace. You could also jump on the 211 bus which goes past Big Ben and will take you most of the way.
• After Buckingham Palace, bus/taxi to museums. Natural History Museum and V&A are right next to each other. Both great. V&A has a nice cafe and (pre-Covid anyway... not sure whether open) an amazing paddling-pool for kids to cool their feet.
• Wander up from museums to Hyde Park and check out the Diana Memorial Playground, which is amazing (has a pirate ship!)
• After Hyde Park, Tube (circle line/hammersmith & City) from Paddington back to King's Cross.

I should caveat that this is a fairly ambitious programme for a single day and you might have to content yourselves with looking at some things (London Eye/Tower of London) rather than actually doing them! But it might give some ideas...

Does the next stage of covid relaxation mean things were totally restriction free? Because having visited the museums several times over the past year when able to we found it a bit depressing because the joy of most museums with DC is how interactive they are. We were very concious of covid while there, ditto the transport museum. But if everything is back to normal I would definitely try to include one.

Either year 1 or 2 at school cover the great fire of London and the Museum of London is great for that (and Monument). My DC loved seeing things they had learnt about.

The South Kensington museums I find a bit tiring on a day trip if you want to do anything else. Each is a day in itself. Transport museum much smaller and fits in better with sightseeing.

My DC love the Lego shop and M&M world.

London Zoo and Aquarium much more expensive options but fantastic.

Buckingham Palace and trafalgar Square for quick look. Maybe London eye? Science museum or history museum. and maybe a walk around China town - quite different and interesting to look at. Finished off with a trip to the m&m store!
If he has learned about the great fire of London then maybe go to the monument that's what my son wanted to do.

All in all, the m&m shop was one of the biggest hits 😆

All in all, the m&m shop was one of the biggest hits same with my DC!

Some fab ideas - thank you all!

I'm sure it'll be a busy and exciting day, I just want to maximise our time. It may become an annual trip if I can get tickets at a similar price!

£37 return from Hull. It's a 2.5hr train!

Definitely one of the big Bus tours - you can get on and off at the sights you want to see, learn LOADS of history from the more knowledgeable tour guides and it works out much cheaper than the tube and way less stuffy in this weather if you're up top! We did it with my 3 when they were 7 5 and 3 and it was fab x

I'd do what @Denimcutoffs has said.
The museums will be rammed during the holidays and were never much fun even outside of covid times. If you have more time then walking down the South Bank is quite fun too as there is a lot to see.

I took my 6 yr old on an open top bus tour, she really enjoyed it and still talks about it now. That's good for a few hours and you can hop on, and off again at different places.

If the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park is open - do that. The park is wonderful. There is a few museums around it which you could also do in the time.

If that fountain isnt open, and the weather is hot, head to Granary Square as soon you arrive and let the little one race around in the fountains.

I took spare shorts and shirts in a backpack and a carrier bag to dump the wet stuff in. My kid is obsessed with running around in water.

We went to M&M world in Leicester Square - hell on earth. I'd never do shops with my kids in London again. Rammed.

Seeing Buckingham Palace was good! Agree get off at Green Park and walk to the Palace.

Tower of London was just a bit dull for my kid and I'd skip that again until they ask to go as teens.

The clipper boat down the river was good but not great. But then it's essentially a water taxi so it did what it needed to do.

Oh forgot - mine also loved watching the street performers in Covent Garden.

Open top bus tour, science museum, park if there's still time

If you want a boat trip, use the Uber boat not a tourist boat, half the price. Don't bother with the maritime museum, it's half the size it was and boiling hot (in masks admittedly)

Rainforest Cafe is good fun for kids - food is fine but inevitably a bit on the pricey side, but my DD loves going there to see all the moving animals etc. However it will depend what else you decide to do and if you’re anywhere near.

If the food stall market is in outside King’s Cross I’d go there first before getting the tube to pick up things for lunch.
Then hop on the Piccadilly line (dark blue) down to South Kensington, then walk through the tunnel down to the Natural History Museum.
In normal times we book tickets for whichever exhibition is on, as it skips the queues out the front.
Then take a stroll through all the gorgeous Kensington mews streets to Harrods and go to the Ice cream parlour - ridiculously expensive, but such a special treat.
Their toy department is so much better that Hamley’s which is always over crowded and too hot, as well as being overpriced.

There are usually street performers around the science museum too.

6 hours isn’t much, so you don’t want it eaten up by travelling around London, especially not if it is hot. All of the below are 10 minutes walk from KX and not overcrowded.

Grant museum of zoology is like a mini Harry Potter styled Natural History Museum. Particularly recommended if your kid likes gruesome stuff - jar of moles! - check opening hours though.

Wellcome Museum has excellent permanent collection and a lovely cafe.

Kings’s Cross site itself is pretty magical - head up to Granary square for fountains your kid can run through, artificial turf covered steps by the canal and a bookshop on a boat. Take a look here for more: www.kingscross.co.uk/kids