Free / very cheap things to do in London with teens / pre-teens?

[parttimeweddingplanner]

We're going to be in London for a couple of days this half term, it's a last minute thing, and not something I've budgetted for.

What free or very cheap things would you suggest for an 11yo & 16yo?

We'll have easy access to Central, North & East London.

They love the Science & Natural History museums, but I know they'll absolutely mobbed at half term and would rather not!

Leake street tunnel!

National gallery is free and lots of rooms that are quiet. You can book in advance to get it quicker.

British museum also free and good stuff to see. Lots of bits are not packed.

A lovely little gem of a museum which is free and not at all busy is the Wallace collection. My teen/tween loved it there.

This place also great https://www.horniman.ac.uk/

Wellcome Collection is free and has some good stuff for older kids. Nice cafe and shop as well.

Take the cable car across the Thames

London Monument,

walk along the south bank and see the Golden Hinde (you don't need to go on it) also see the clink museum

. The Liberty shop.

St James park to see the pelicans.

London Mithraeum

Arcelor Orbit

Sky Garden

Maritime museum at Greenwich, have one leg in the east hemisphere and the other in the west. Get there by river taxi.

Young V&A

Changing of the guard

Have lunch at the Indian YMCA, amazing quality and cheap meals in central London.

Ooh, that looks amazing - never heard of it!

The DC would love the grafitti workshops - but at £40 a go, definitely out of budget this time, sadly :(

From the website, it looks like there's not much there for DC - apart from looking at the amazing grafitti of course - the rest of it seems to be mainly bars?

So is it somewhere you pass through and have a look, and then go on to something else?

The butterfly trail is really nice and free

Sky garden

Street acts in Covent Garden often a magician great to watch

Horizon 22 viewing platform

do try both museums.. could always leave if too much

Too late to book Skygarden https://tickets.skygarden.london/WebStore/shop/viewitems.aspx?cg=SkyGarden&c=Tickets or Horizon 22 https://horizon22.co.uk/book/ unfortunately.
But you might be able to get free tickets for 8 Bishopsgate.
https://booking.8bishopsgate.com/book/the-lookout/4

DD has been asking to do the cable car for ages, that's a great idea!!

Just looking at it, it's £30 round trip for the 3 of us. Our travel around London will be just under £30 if we reach the cap.

Goodness, £60 and we've not even eaten anything, and only done a 20 minute cable car! I always forget how expensive London (and everything!) is.

Maybe we can just do it one way, so £15, bringing our running total to £45. DD's been on about it for ages as we can see it when we drive into London, but she's not been on it yet.

What else is easy to get to from the cable cars?

Do the cable cars one way. The DLR line back is a nice ride as it goes in & out of the docks lands building, if I remember correctly.

If you want to do the City then do go to Leadenhall Market, climb the Monument (cheap-ish), gawp at the fishtank at Heron Tower, go to the Mithraeum and the gladiators arena under Guildhall if your DC are at all keen on Ancient Rome, and have a streetfood lunch at Spitalfields market if your budget will stretch to it - very teen friendly (allow a tenner per head if you bring your own water).

Walk across Tower Bridge and check out HMS Belfast.

I like getting up somewhere high and taking in how big London is. If the London Eye and/or the viewing platform at the Shard are out of budget you could try Primrose Hill (Regent’s Park) or Parliament Hill (Hampstead Heath).

With Primrose Hill you can walk down the hill then along the canal which cuts through London Zoo - sometimes you can see some of the animals or birds in the Zoo enclosures without having to pay to go into the Zoo itself - and then go to Camden Market which can be fun for teens.

Ooh yes, 8 Bishopsgate looks great.

Both DC are into Harry Potter, so we could combine that with Leadenhall Market,

Tate modern gallery, followed by walk along the river? Bring a picnic, there's plenty of places to sit. Greenwich park is nice, and there's the cutty sark. I think there's an Uber boat that's not that expensive.
Hoxton square, white cube gallery, walk by the canal? You could get rental bikes for a few quid?

Some of these look great- I’ve been holding onto this in case we get back there anytime soon! Some street art and graffiti, all looks very instagrammable if your DC are into that.
https://fullsuitcase.com/london-hidden-gems/

Buses are much cheaper than the tube, and can be a good way of seeing the sights.

The Bank of England museum is free and really interesting. You can hold a gold bar. Would combine well with 8 Bishopsgate and Leadenhall. It rarely gets very busy as not many people know about it.

The Museum of the Docklands is great too and I think that's free as well.

Garden at 120 Fenchurch St is free and you don't need to book tickets

Sky garden is great, definitely see if you can book that

If you're in London on Thursday or Friday, and into football, there's going to be lots of Champions League stuff happening in Trafalgar Square and Regent Stree ahead of the final on Saturday. Most of it free I think.

number 9 bus goes from Tower Bridge/ Tower of London all the way to Knightsbridge - Hyde Park,Harrods - Exhibition road - Science and Natural History museum. Also in Hyde Park there is the Diana Memorial and playground.
The Number 9 also goes along The Strand to Trafalgar Square. There are a lot more supermarkets in central London now so it's easier to pick up lunch and snacks.
Central London is also I good place to pick up Too good to go bags.

I hope you have fun.

Personally I can happily wander London all day and not get bored. I would walk through Hyde Park or cycle on Santander bikes (first 30 mins free). Go to Diana Memorial Fountain for a wade around. Cross over to Kensington Gardens and look for parakeets to feed.

Head to St James Park - it's just such a beautiful place but go early or later in the day when it is quieter.

Walk along South Bank from the London Eye to Tower Bridge (stop at Borough Market). Check out if Tower Bridge is opening any times you are in town. Cross over London Bridge to go to Garden at 120. Walk up to Liverpool Street and check out Eataly then go over to Spitalfields Market. If you are doing this at a weekend go to Brick Lane Market and check out all the vintage places.

Have a wander around Covent Garden and the local area. Go see a cheaper show like The Play that Goes Wrong (so funny). There is an app called Tix and you can enter a lottery each morning to get cheap show tickets (good seats as well usually).

Go to Oxford Street/Regent St and look around Carnaby/Outnet opposite Tottenham Court Road tube. The teens will love the big Lush store on Oxford Street (most of Oxford St is rubbish now though so don't stay too long).

China Town is ok for a quick wander through.

Camden Market is a fun stop for teens - if they are on SM they'll likely have seen all the viral food spots (mostly rubbish but they all seem to love them 😄)

South Kensington for Natural History and Science Musuems and V&A. Wander down the road to window shop in Harrods.

This is just a small amount of the many things you can do in London for free/cheap. It's actually an easy city to have fun in and not spend too much.

Keep checking Horizon 22 as cancellations come up. We got same day tickets during Easter holidays. Also there are apparently walk up tickets available each day if you go early and scan the QR code outside.

Hire a rowing boat or pedalo in Regent’s Park (check website for happy hour - think it’s around 11am).

The Outernet at Tottenham Court Rd.

Pergola garden Hampstead Heath and then walk from there through to the free zoo in Golders Green Park.

Highgate Cemetery for famous and interest graves and architecture.

Magna Carta at the British Library (free).

Postman’s Park memorial to human self-sacrifice. The memorial to Sir William Wallace is just around the corner at St Barts on the spot he died.

Jump on a bus for a great way to see the sights. If you get the TfL app you can see real time bus info based on your location.

God’s Own Junkyard.

Feed the green parakeets in Kensington Gardens (can usually find them in the flower garden walk on the south side.

At the entrance of Horizon 22 is a QR code you scan for same day tickets. This is the only way to access those particular tickets, also free. So if you come into London, scan the code and book for later maybe sunset time then train home. Or sky garden at the walkie talkie building.

Start at St Paul's, walk across millennium bridge to Tate Modern. Could have a look around and picnic there. Walk along the river to south Bank.

Also worth looking at Ian Visits website, we use a lot of his recommendations.