Visiting London with family newbie

[Newnamefor2021]

I haven't been to London for the best part of two decades and never with my husband and children. I'm at lost at how best to approach it.

1. On a budget
2. Family of six
3. We drive a van which makes parking a challenge due to height restrictions.

I don't mind staying outside if there is easy and not too expensive travel. How far does the tube spread out and how's the producing work? I looked it up and I'm really confused. Can I buy I pass for a day or two?

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. Thanks so much.

Easiest to use contact less debit card than buy a pass. Just remember to tap in and out, even if the barriers are open. Don't know what you mean by producing??

A van in London would be a nightmare. ULEZ is very pricy.
I’d go to Watford and train in personally.
Just use a contactless card for travel, it’s capped.

visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/help/travelling-with-children/

You can just use contactless debit card for adults and older teenagers. Tap in/tap out and it automatically charges you the lowest available price.

Children under 10 are free on the tube and bus.

Children 10-15 are free on the bus, but have to pay 50% fares on the tube. You need a young person's Oyster card, can get this from any tube station I think. And maybe online.

You definitely don't want to drive a van round London. Find somewhere to leave it and use public transport.

Try and make your itinerary full of free stuff -
Museums, parks etc. Maybe a self guided walking tour?
Stay slightly further out and travel in!

What are you going there to see/do? This might determine where is best to park. I wouldn't take a van into central London! Does your hotel have parking? ULEZ and/or congestion charge might need paying, pending where your hotel is?

How long are you going for?
Where are you coming from?
What are you hoping to see?

I wouldn’t drive in, if you’re on a budget, the ULEZ, Congestion and Parking is very expensive. Wouldn’t be hard to spend £100 on that all and lots of places have time restrictions so you can only be in that space for max 3hrs. So many restrictions, such as you can’t drive through Bank junction. Lots of roads closed at present too.

Use the app just park to get a parking space for your van near a tube station on the outskirts - so much easier and cheaper. You really don't want to drive.

@skippy67

Easiest to use contact less debit card than buy a pass. Just remember to tap in and out, even if the barriers are open. Don't know what you mean by producing??

Sorry pricing. No idea where producing came from.

Thanks everyone. Van is euro 6, although I would prefer not to take in.

Nothing booked.

I am interested in the museums specifically. I used to go when we had to pay and it's great it's free now but heard the queues are long to get in and it's really busy inside. I have two Children with autism, so the time slots due to Covid would work really well for us. So that was the thought. A train costs £366 for the day for us, so I'd rather spend that towards a hotel but like you say van might be a nightmare. I gave up trying to park in Bristol the other week as couldn't find anywhere without a 1.9 or lower height restriction!

Might just have to plan a proper break there with train and hotels etc, in the near future but can't afford to be spending £1000 upwards right now.

@tinselvestsparklepants

Use the app just park to get a parking space for your van near a tube station on the outskirts - so much easier and cheaper. You really don't want to drive.

Yeah I thought that might be a better way but looked up tubes and got all confused hence this post. 😂

Looks like I might need an Oyster card for the children and they are £15 each and I guess may take a few weeks to come. £60 for them to get a card to travel free for one or two days seems a lot.

Think I'll need to rethink London. We had to change the van last month so our savings are gone, but equally loving new van so enjoying the travelling. 😆

Have a look at q-park. We sometimes used to park in their Chinatown carpark but they're all over the place. The website will tell you the height restrictions and you can also pre-book (probably cheaper than the train even if you have to pay congestion charge etc - though the zone you have to pay for is not actually that large).

I definitely wouldn't rely on being able to find on street parking. There are spaces available but they're rare and you normally can't park there for long before you have to move to a different space (probably in a different borough but I'm not sure of the exact rules).

Premier inn at archway has parking with 2.3m height restriction. £12 a day for parking.
It's very close to the tube.
I'm sure there must be other hotels with parking that are not too far out.

If you go to any of the South Ken Museums ( Vand A, Science, Natural History) it’s a short walk to Hyde Park and you can see the new counterpoint installation, the Diana Fountain and playground are now open and there are nice cafes along the waterside. Another walk through the lovely Green Park to Buckingham Palace. A good day out without spending a fortune.

OP why don't you stay at an Air BnB on the outskirts- Watford for example as a pp said, or somewhere in South London- that's near a tube or overground station, and then just use public transport. Just make sure you get a place with street parking so you can leave the van at the house/flat.

Download City Mapper app on phone to help you get around.

Where do you live/where are you coming from? Might make it easier to suggest areas to stay.

Loads of London families rent out their homes in the summer and its much better value than a hotel for a weekend, especially for a family of six.

Depending on how many you need to pay for, just use contact less cards, one for each adult/older child, and tap in/out. No need for oysters.

Museums as you say are free. If you're at an Air BnB you can get a supermarket delivery to arrive so you have enough food for the weekend and can take packed lunches/snacks out with you in the day and then eat at home instead of eating out.

Loads of wonderful parks and free things to do in this amazing city, you just need to know where to look. All the big museums are bunched quite close together which makes planning a day out reasonably straightforward.

With some careful planning London doesn't have to cost the earth . London is great, especially in the summer, and as you say the covid time slot system means many places aren't as busy/stressful as they usually are.

To give you an idea, we have family that have stayed in a 3 bed garden maisonette in zone 2 South London - 150 a night, parking out front, and 3 stations in 10 mins walking distance. Big spacious home with everything you need.
Trick is to find the right area - where are you driving from? Crossing London is a pain so staying on the same side that you are coming from is key.

There might have been long queues to get into museums before but now everything needs time slots booked

Even though it is free you still need to book a time slot

Hence queues are reduced as you can't just turn up and queue to get in.

I had a look on the q park website and you could park in their Victoria car park with a height restriction of 2.1m. Does that work? Couldn't see anything higher than that. It's much cheaper than the train and although it is inside the congestion zone the congestion charge is only £15 so still cheaper than the train.

If tube day passes are too expensive you can use the buses which are capped at £5 I think. You'd want to plan your itinerary in advance though and know which bus and which bus stop you want to be at as it can be confusing to work it out on the fly if you're not used to it, especially with kids in tow.

Check out the train prices into London with a family and friends Railcard.
Railcard is £25 I think, lasts a year and can significantly reduced the price even taking into consideration the initial outlay.
You can also exchange Tesco points for the rail card and it costs so little.

Where in the country will you be coming from?

You and DH can get a two together train pass. Costs £30, lasts a year but saves 1/3 train fares. DH and I did London-Edinburgh and made the savings back in a single trip.

Richmond hill hotel has a non height restricted car park. You could do a few things around Richmond (the park, Kew Gardens, Hampton court is palace). Easy enough to travel into central from there for the museums but try and plan so you’re minimising back and forth.

If you are skint you could camp somewhere like crystal palace (I'm sure there are others).

You don't need to send off for oystercards you can get one in London and then find a member of staff to make it a child one (I'm pretty sure they're free under 11 when you just go through the luggage/family gates with them).

Plan in advance and take packed lunches and it's easy to spend very little -- as long as your kids are not easily seduced by all the snackage and merchandise around.

@Chihuahuacat

Richmond hill hotel has a non height restricted car park. You could do a few things around Richmond (the park, Kew Gardens, Hampton court is palace). Easy enough to travel into central from there for the museums but try and plan so you’re minimising back and forth.

Yeah the OP is on a budget. Richmond Hill Hotel is unlikely to come within budget.

We often go to London for a day trip. We have a van and park in Westfield shopping centre...height restriction is 2.1m. If you were staying somewhere overnight, you can leave your car for up to 72 hours there.

uk.westfield.com/london/access

You can get on the train or tube, or bus from there, or walk to Notting hill... you can get the kids Oyster cards at the station pretty easily.