Day trip to London tomorrow

[whojamaflip]

Dd has a German exchange student staying with us and she's just announced that they would like to go to London tomorrow for the day.

We would travel down by train to Paddington but that's a far as I've got!

Girls are 14 and neither have been to London (apart from the science museum when dd was little)

Any ideas of what would be good to see or the best way to plan the day? So far I'm thinking of using the open top buses to see round the city but beyond that I'm stumped. I've only visited London myself a handful of times so know nothing about making best use of our time

Really would like to give our student a feel for the city while showing her the iconic sights as well.

Any help or ideas gratefully received Thankyou

The South Bank is a good spot to visit. There are some really cool giant curtain-like sculptures at the Tate Modern atm.

I would suggest taking in some of the sights London is known for - south bank and maybe a boat ride down the river - get some history and see houses of parliament, the globe, London eye etc.

Wander over to covent garden for some street theatre and then onto trafalgar square.

If they just want to shop maybe Oxford/carnaby street or Camden

My girls like Southbank as lots to see and do.Cross the Thames and go to Covent garden for shops.Get a river uber.Or theTate modern and cross the Thames to St Pauls Or walk from Trafalgar Square into St James Park and down the mall to Buckingham Palace.Could pop into the National gallery 1st and just look at the Monets if they like art (it's free).Markets -Spitalfields at Liverpool Street and brick Lane if they are into that sort of thing.So much to do but it depends what they like.Wrap up warm though...it was freezing in London today

Bus are slow and the open top ones are expensive.

Personally I'd jump on the Circle & District line from Paddington to Victoria

Walk to Buckingham Palace, then through st James park to Westminster / Big Ben. Past parliament square for historical statues (red phone boxes here too for photos) then past 10 Downing Street and horse guards parade for a nice pic of a guard on a horse. Through Trafalgar Square, over to Leicester Square big M&M store and Lego shop here usually london Lego available there's a fun statue trail like Harry Potter and Mary Poppins in the middle of Leicester square, then walk to china town for bubble teas and bubble wrap waffles. I'd walk up Shaftesbury avenue to the forbidden planet shop then down to Covent Garden (go into the royal opera house and up the escalators to the top and there's a view over Covent Garden. Then I'd walk to the massive Primark at Tottenham Court Road that's open til late and then get back on the Elizabeth line to take you back to Paddington. Should fill up your day and keep two teens happy!

My German visitors always wanted to go to Karl Marx's grave oddly.

See the sites - Big Ben, Tralfager square, Harrods, etc

Ask her what she wants to see?

I wouldn't bother with the open top buses - better to just walk around. Definitely Covent Garden, Southbank and Piccadilly Circus - that's where the London flair is. Borough market is also great fun and interesting. You can walk over London Bridge to get to it and see the Tower Bridge in all its glory.

I did the open top buses with younger DC last summer. Painfully slow. With teens I'd def walk, and boat.

I wouldn't bother with the open top bus, they're expensive and one of the normal buses (sorry can't remember what number) goes past the main sites, trafalgar square etc so you can just get that and sit upstairs. It's nice to walk around Buckingham palace and St James's Park and also Westminster & Big Ben and walk by the river

The south bank gives views of some of the big sights like Tower Bridge and St Paul's. Get an Uber boat down the river.

Other than that it depends whether they're into the idea of shopping or sights. Big Ben/Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Horseguards, St James park and Buckingham Palace are pretty easy to do in one walk. Or head for Oxford Street, Harrods or Covent Garden.

Huge thanks to you all - we had a successful (but tiring) day out.

The bucket list was Buckingham Palaces, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge.

So we followed @nervousskier24 suggestion and headed to Buckingham palace via Bakerloo and Victoria lines as Circle was suspended.

Walked up to Big Ben and Houses of Parliament through St James park and then took the river boat from Westminster to Greenwich which was pretty awesome to be honest and showed her loads of other landmarks.

Lunch in Greenwich and then the girls were knackered so we headed back to Paddington.

Thankyou all so much for your suggestions - we do have another exchange student arriving in May so we can do it all over again!

Instead of the bus could you do a boat trip on the Thames? The clipper is fairly priced and you can hop on and off where you like