London Recommendations

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We're going on a short trip to London. We will have two full days, Monday and Tuesday.

Our son is 8 and autistic, we are mainly going because he wants to see all the tall office buildings rather than the usual sightseeing however we would like to do some more standard sightseeing too.

We also have a 6yr old daughter who's waiting to be assessed, neither is great with noise and busy places but they were desperate to go to London so we're going with it and hoping for the best.

Can I get your recommendations for places to visit? Daughter loves animals, mostly horses so we were going to go to Camden at some point so she can see all the statues and our son wants to go on the London eye but other than that no plans at all.

Suggestions for good quiet spots are very welcome too for if we need a small time out.

If anyone knows of there are any tall buildings you can go to the top of in London? That having viewing platforms and aren't crazy prices? That would be awesome!

Sky garden is free I think but have to prebook tickets.
Could also go on the cable car and Canary Wharf for the tall buildings. It's also pretty fun to go the DLR.

Bit left field but you could go to Crystal Palace. You get a great view of all the tall buildings from the high street. Plus dinosaurs in the park. There used to be a small farm as well.

Agree that the cable car is excellent.

www.thegardenat120.com was on our to-do list recently but didn't get there sadly. It's free though.

Also the Oxo Tower has a free viewing platform.

Tower bridge has a glass viewing walkway - that's fun and not too expensive. Plus south bank is nice to walk along.

The Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern is great for a bit of space and quiet (depending on what’s on!) – looks like a nice calming installation at the moment. If you walk down from the London Eye you can go to the top of the OXO Tower for free on your way.

To be honest, it they’re not great with noise and busy places I would probably avoid Camden…

And Skygarden too. It gets very crowded and noisy, even on weekday mornings. (I live nearby and walk past most days and see the huge queue, even in October).

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

We have been to Camden pre-children and I think they'd be ok. Eldest really wants to go and see the food stalls. They can handle busy places but just for short bursts so we don't expect to be there for long. Also just depends on the day, sometimes they are absolutely fine with loads of noise and people and other days they cant stand anything. It's a minefield 😂

Vauxhall City Farm. Very close to the tube, relatively central, cute animals.

If you’re on Instagram Bablands London is a great account of lots of kid friendly things to do in central London.

You could do the cable car, followed by ‘driving’ the DLR through Canary Wharf. There’s an art exhibition there for kids to play on at the moment. I love the Olympic village, and always recommend the slide at the Orbit (Orbital? I always forget what it’s called).

What sort of statues are you thinking of in Camden?

There is a city farm in Camden.

ktcityfarm.org.uk/

For tall buildings I’d go to Canary Wharf. While your there you could go to Mudchute City Farm And maybe Museum of London Docklands.

How about going on a Dockland train so that they can pretend to drive?

www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands

www.mudchute.org/

Tower Bridge experience. Although it may be worth in the future looking up when they’re open for customers with sensory issues, which is once a month on a Saturday morning. We did that with the DC and it was very quiet, it was great.

There are normally two horses on Whitehall at Horseguards Parade. You can get quite close to them.

Tbh statues was probably the wrong word. Aren't there quite a few bronze? Horse displays and statues. From memory, I'm sure there's a huge wall of them inside and a few outside. But it has been a loooong time since I went there.

Just googled. This is what I meant.

www.alamy.com/stock-photo/horse-statue-camden-market.html

You get a great view of Canary wharf from Greenwich park. And Greenwich market has stalls. Although it does get quite busy!

The Shard is right next to Borough Market for food, and its an easy walk to Tower Bridge.

OH my, that’s so funny. I walk past them so often that I don’t even think about them. Of course they’re statues.