London mumsnetters, I need help!

[Madwife123]

We are visiting London this December (first time) and finding it hard to work out via Google what is close to each other to work out activities.

If I list what we plan to do can a kind mumsnetter tell me the best way to plan them to make the most of being close by?

Friday - Arrive. Hotel in central London. Going shopping, is London eye near shopping area?

Saturday - Hyde Park. Is Buckingham Palace near? If not how about London eye?

Sunday - Harry Potter studios. Free afternoon so anything child friendly worth visiting?

Monday - Either London dungeons if kids will brave it or wax works if not. Head home

That’s the rough plan but I don’t know if that means lots of back and forth and it’s better being re-jigged?

if it's got a driveway, it's more likely to be farther out.

Look at how much advice I’ve received from locals that wouldn’t be available on google. Google tells you the distance from place to the other but doesn’t tell you what areas are a nightmare to drive in which I wouldn’t have known to google if someone hadn’t mentioned it etc

yes but this is fairly obvious. All of London is a nightmare to drive in if you don’t know the area and are staying central. Saying you don’t know where you’re staying or where it’s at in relation to central London or bloody Watford which is miles away is just looking at a basic google map.

the fact that a ‘trip to London’ even includes Harry Potter World beggars belief. I live in London and would consider it a mission to get to.

And also, yes, having lived in Islington and also in Highbury no-one has driveways. Can you link where you’re staying so we can see?

That's nonsense. Lots of driveways in the nicer areas. I think being closer to Highbury and Islington would be better than Angel. It's not as central but Angel is on the City branch of the Northern line so doesn't go anywhere touristy without having to change whereas Highbury and Islington is on the Victoria line so much quicker to get down to Oxford Circus (for Regent St - agree Oxford St not good) and Green Park.

Plus there are more choices from Highbury & Islington - if the Victoria line’s down there’s the overground, and if both of those are down it shouldn’t be that far to Finsbury Park.

Well when they call themselves Warner Studios London you can be forgiven for thinking it’s in, or near, London.

We found out the distance later but we had already bought tickets and booked other events by this time so made it work.

I know- it's not really fair. Just like "London Stansted" and "London Gatwick" it's nonsense.

Air BNB

www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/42328579?adults=2&children=2&location=Highbury%20%26%20Islington%2C%20London%2C%20United%20Kingdom&source_impression_id=p3_1668181683_Qf3oAG6kMm0y%2Bo%2Bd&guests=1

Okay so you're staying in Finsbury park which is in the borough of Islington but is a different neighbourhood. And off street parking! You're outside zone one so if your car is ULEZ compliant, you won't have to pay to drive it from outside London to the Airbnb or back out to get to Harry Potter.

Finsbury Park is really convenient for the tube as it's in both on the Piccadilly and Victoria lines.

You’ve had some great tips here OP.

my schedule would be - get to Oxford Circus tube on Friday and walk down Regent St, diverting around Bond St/New Bond St and Carnaby St which are the best for Christmas decorations. Work your way to Piccadilly Circus/Trafalgar Square and wander around Covent Garden - it is quite lovely at Xmas . Get dinner there or in Soho (Pong Pong is v popular with most kids I know but choice is vast) head home.

Saturday - why Hyde Park? Will be winter wonderland, big chunk or time HUGE chunk of cash. If not, head to the South Bank and wander, take a trip on Thames Clipper, maybe do Tower Of London, or London Eye. There will be Xmas market stalls and a fair. South Bank alone could use a whole day if you look at HMS Belfast, Borough Market, Golden Hind etc. I think kids too young for Dungeon. OR museums in South Ken

Sunday - dedicate to HP

monday - if you like the sound of Camden that is easy from Islington. Canal boat trip up to Maida Vale is nice, there is also the zoo if you have time. Otherwise museums for a few hours?

Also download Citymapper as it will give you all your options for getting where you want to go and is v clear, shows time/price and any current issues with delays. Play with it before you go to help plan

If you go to Camden Market make sure you go to CyberDog, unless they hate v loud music the kids will love it

Finsbury Park is not the same as Islington. It’s a lot less fancy and salubrious and further out although well connected on tubes. Which road is it on?

How about the cinema on Sunday afternoon? You'll be knackered. Screen on the Green in Angel is near your b&b and lots if places to eat in Angel. Or the Imax in Waterloo is great.

You should pop to coal drops yard in kings X to shop too it's down the rd from you.

Because the kids will love outdoor ice skating so I am prepared to be financially flinched for one day.

The address literally says Islington.

You have criticised me repeatedly for my lack of knowledge and then told me I should know these things and google should answer them yet here you are telling me the address that says Islington isn’t Islington. That Harry Potter that says London isn’t London etc. Again THIS is why I asked local mumsnetters because it may not seem it to you but London is a very confusing place for those of us nowhere near it when this is the information we get!

Ah ok..maybe look at Somerset House for ice skating, will be much nicer than at WW!

Have you booked the ice skating @Madwife123 Somerset House skating is nice. However, I don't understand the hate for WW. dd and her chums still go every year and they are 24/5 now. They've done it since they were 11.

If you aren't used to driving in London, I,'d leave the car at home and do HP World on the train. London driving is a skill in itself. To put it in perspective, I am happy navigating the periphique around Paris.

Also Somerset House easy to incorporate into South Bank, (it’s just on the North side of the river)

Winter wonderland already booked now.

Im sure we will survive. Plan is ice skating, ice slide and the ice sculpture walkthrough thing and then leave while I can still afford the mortgage.

Google literally tells you how much traffic is on a particular route, and shows you public transport options.
As PP have said, Finsbury Park is on 2 useful tube lines for the places you want to go.

I agree if you can go ice skating at Somerset House or the Natural History Museum that would be lovely and less hard work than Winter Wonderland, but you won't get all the other rides and stalls.

No more ice skating at NHM unfortunately 😕

I live very rural so I drive over an hour just to visit the cinema. It doesn’t seem that far to me on a map.

Hello I hope you have a fab trip to London.

I’d forget about London Dungeons unless your children love life-sized plastic models of people torturing each other (think moving models ripping out intestines and roasting them in front of the still-living victim) while a sadistic actor tries to upset the kids and keeps saying “this really happened!” I found the place absolutely disgusting as a teen.

London Eye is fabulous, the museums (particularly Natural History Museum, and Science Museum) are wonderful. The Shard and St Pauls Cathedral also great as is Harry Potter. The best way to get around will be tube. I strongly recommend you don’t drive at all in London except to Harry Potter Studio and allow a lot of time as people drive very aggressively in London and navigating London while watching the drivers is exhausting. London is huge: there are more people in London than in the whole of Scotland. Use google maps directions function to measure walking distances.

If I was staying in Islington and taking a friend to London for the first time then I would…

DAY 1 get the tube to London Bridge, have coffee in the Shard cafe (amazing views), walk to London Eye and do that, then get a speedboat or Thames Clipper to Embankment, grab lunch there (eg pizza express near Trafalgar Square), walk up to Buckingham Palace via Trafalgar Sq and St James Park (pop into National gallery at Trafalgar to see a Van Gogh), get tube from Victoria to Oxford Circus, do some shops including Hamleys, then tube back home.

DAY 2 drive to Harry Potter Studios, spend morning there, drive to Legoland afternoon there if have energy, drive home.

DAY 3: tube to National History Museum, walk to Science Museum next door, soend morning there and perhaps walk up to Hyde Park. Then get tube to Covent garden, have lunch and do shops there (watching out for the pickpockets!) then walk to Back to the Future musical which is epic and perfect for children that age. Then is only a few minutes walk to Charing Cross station from where tube home.

Obviously adjust depending what cjildren are interested in.