Two days in London with an 8yo!

[SirSamVimesCityWatch]

I've just booked a couple of days in London with DH and DD. She's never been, he's barely been, I used to live in the home counties and visit occasionally but not been down south in years. So I'm after some up to date advice!

We're going down by train on Friday morning, getting into Kings Cross about midday. Leaving Sunday early pm. So not a lot of time!

Going to do a few Harry Potter related bits: the luggage trolley and shop at KX, and a trip to the house of Mina Lima in SoHo. Not going to do the studio tour this trip, want to focus on central London (and DD hasn't gone past book 3 yet so leaving it for a couple of years).

So far, in addition to the HP stuff above, I've got:

London Eye
Natural History Museum
British Museum (not all of it, just the mummies and Romans)
Go look at Buckingham Palace from the Mall

Wondering about the Tower of London but concerned DD might be a bit over walking around and looking at stuff she can't do.

Any good suggestions? Central London, accessible via tube and minimal walking ideally.

we did exactly this trip with our 8 & 7.

We walked from London eye to tower bridge and back very popular but our pair are obsessed with map men!

disney store was very popular with my Mickey obsessed 7 year old.

nhm wasn’t as popular as the science museum.

The Cauldron for afternoon tea/potion making if she's a HP fan?

I'd second the #15 bus route. #11 is another good one. Or #9 if you are going from the Westend to South Kensington/"the Museums".

Natural History Museum, definitely. Science is great too, but if you're pushed for time, save this till she's a bit older.

The Tower is fascinating but, again, I'd save it for a later visit. It and the nearby places of interest would take the best part of a day. Also, she'll appreciate it so much more once she understands all the history - lady Jane Grey, sir Walter Raleigh, Anne boleyn, the princes in the tower....,,,.

Taking the boat down to Greenwich is great on a fine day, and a nice way to relax and recharge them batteries. Greenwich itself has much to see and do, but can get incredibly overcrowded in the summer, especially at weekends.

Alternatively, if pushed for time, there's a riverboat that runs from Tate Britain to Tate Modern and vice versa. Tate Modern is another great place to bookmark for a future visit.

My kids always - from the age of about 3 or 4 - enjoyed the Impressionists at the National Gallery, especially van Gogh's sunflowers and Seurat's bathers. It's a great way to catch your breath as well, and they sometimes have activities for children.

All the free museums need to be booked though!

Take her scooter if she's got one. You will get loads more miles out of her.

We loved science museum with DS 7.

My 6 and 8 year old boys loved Tower Bridge a few weeks ago. You go up inside the towers and walk across the top in enclosed walkways. Great view down the river and their are glass floor sections which make for great photos of kids above red buses. Price is really reasonable compared to similar things.
As others have said the Thames Clippers are great and South Bank can be fun for a stroll. Mine like the bubbleman.
Don't forget that 8 year olds go free on the bus and Tube and any of the TfL badged rail lines inside zone 6.

Place marking x

Lots of the these have been mentioned already, so I'm just putting an extra vote in for them!

*Princess Di playground
*Thames clipper is cool way to travel - combine with cable car.
*A bus route is a great idea. Either hop on/off tourist style or just a normal bus (a pp mentioned the number 15?)
*I would avoid any tourist hotspot - I've never seen london so crowded. Its insane. So around Buckingham Palace is seriously not fun. You have to be comfortable with large crowds and possible disappointment. I would also avoid west end without good reason.

• London Zoo is fabulous - though pricey and would take a large junk of your day. My kids def preferred LZ to museums at that age.

Have a great time.

I'd go to see a show, and I'd walk all along the South Bank from Waterloo to London Bridge as there's so much to see.

I would stay in central London if it is the first trip and you only have a short amount of time.

River cruise - takes ages
Greenwich - great but again, takes time to get there
London orbital - fair amount of travel from central London

The London Eye is boring as hell. Sky Garden is free, you need to book in advance, takes not long and you have a nice view.

DD loves the Tower but she loves all kind of history so it really depends on your child. If you go, be there when it opens and go straight to the Crown Jewels otherwise you will be queueing for ages.

Diana playground - we only tried once and they were only letting a limited amount of people in, after some time we gave up and just let the kids run around in the park

British Museum - if you want to see the mummies, again, be there when it opens to be actually able to see anything.

When are you going? At the. moment everything around Whitehall and the Palace is cordened off, so you need to see how to get around.

I brought my six year old for a day out recently and we did this:
Into Paddington soon after nine
Tube to London Bridge
Get the boat (using oyster) to westmister pier. Walk up past big Ben, houses of Parliament t etc, across Whitehall, to watch the changing of the guard at 11.30
Looked at the ducks and parakeets in St james' Park, and got a coffee.
Walked up towards Buckingham Palace and looked around there for a while
Tube from green Park to Leicester square, where we looked at the statues and then went to the lego shop.
We then met friends and went for lunch.
After that we went to the imperial war museum (his choice not mine but!) but obv there's many alternatives to that! Then a really cool bus ride all the way back through London, a quick burger in McDonald's and back to Paddington.

If we were staying overnight I'd definitely have tried to go to a show. Really wouldn't bother with the London Eye, really boring for a kid. It's just a slow view. Would defo do a good tower of London tour if you can afford it, if just give a good chunk.of time for a visit, it's really cool.

Definitely a show.

@SirSamVimesCityWatch - see if you can get tickets for Matilda. Unfortunately very expensive but the reviews are great.

If your daughter is a fan, there's also Frozen...

Alternatively, there's the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon. A bit off the beaten track but they put on some great shows for children.

Tube from green Park to Leicester square

🤔 it's a 10-minute walk!!!? If really tired, take any bus down to Piccadilly Circus...

Princess Diana playground? Meh
There's much better things than that.
You say you are staying in King's X? You will find it a fun and lively area to go back to, lots going on

We went recently with 7 and 11 year old. Mine love the Wonderlab at the Science Museum - probably more than NHM, but enjoy both. We went on to the Ampersand Hotel for a science themed afternoon tea which was great. My 7 year old was desperate to go on the London Eye. But neither of them seemed to really enjoy it.

They enjoyed the planetarium at Greenwich, but weren't particularly into the observatory.

I'd go to a musical if you can. Matilda is fantastic. We went to Six this time and loved it.

I know! But he was loving the Tube and it was right there, so we hopped on. It is definitely very walkable.

I agree with pp London Eye is dull , I’ve done it with ours a few times when they were small and my youngest definitely thought the Shard was more fun . I would drop the British museum and do either the Tower of London or the Maritime museum at Greenwich - go on the clipper and you could also get off at the O2 and do a return trip on the cable car .

My kids loved the Diana Memorial Playground at that age

Go see a show

M & M World & Lego Shop in Leicester Square

London Transport Museum

I wouldn’t bother with the London Eye

She might like the Museum.of Childhood in Bethnal Green.
Bus to Tower Bridge as others have said
District Line from Tower Hill to Monument (worth a look) then tootle.down Bishopsgate to Leadenhall Market for the HP vibe.
I'd get a bus back over the river to Southwark where there's a little Market and then have a wander along the South Bank and have a late lunch.
You can get the river boat to Westminster to have a look at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
Westminster to St James's - a beautiful park to walk through. Walk up St James's Street and turn right onto Piccadilly - Fortnums is always worth a peep.

Then I'd either head to Covent Garden for a mooch/dinner or weave up through Carnaby Street (some fab antique toy shops that route) and have dinner in China Town.
The next day I'd probably do the Natural History and Science Museums and go to Harrods.

I'm so disappointed. I thought there was a Marmite museum in Greenwich. Not wearing my bins 👓 or thinking straight!

That's what I read too!! And I am wearing my glasses, more worryingly!

Thanks for all the ideas. Going to have a go at planning a bit of an itinerary, definitely adding the m&m store!

London Eye has to stay as DD has specifically requested it. Plus I've done it before and liked it!

Thanks all - loads of good ideas here.

www.marmitemuseum.co.uk/

www.missourimarmitemuseum.org/

sadly not in London though

I wouldn’t be going anywhere near a Marmite museum , I’m definitely in the hate camp

The Tower bridge experience is great, lots of fun and cheap!

Most of suggestions have already been listed, but wanted to put in an honourable mention for the Clink Museum. Not free but DD and I really liked it.

You have to booked the Science museum and it is best to book the British Museum too.

It's very annoying as you never had to pre-Covid.