London museums and stuff to do advice please.

[ThomasShelbysfagend]

Travelling to London with ds aged 12 for a day trip.
Its been donkeys years since we have been and our favourites were the science museum and natural history, picnic lunch at the Princess Diana memorial park, paddle in the water there between museums.
Are the museums still free and what’s fab there nowadays to visit that doesn’t cost a fortune. (Train tickets have taken a hefty wedge of the budget)

Hello.
Any suggestions gladly received.

Yes, they’re still free but I think there’s now a charge for the Wonderlab at the Science Museum (haven’t been for a while). Best to book tickets in advance if time is tight - there are large queues at the moment to get into the NHM.

Walking along the South Bank is free and fun. You can see the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, The London Eye, skateboarders under the south bank centre. There are usually free kids events at the south bank centre too for all ages.

Loads going for free or cheap - look at the Time Out website.

Also check out the clippers along the river, you can get them from Waterloo to Greenwich using Oyster / Contactless. Greenwich is decent for a mooch.

Not particularly near the museums but you can go up Sky Garden or Horizon 22 for free.

What are his interests? There is a museum for just about everything, and most of them are free apart from special exhibitions.

Go up to the big skyscrapers viewing platforms on 8 or 22 Bishopsgate. Free but needs booking online at least a week in advance. Great views of Tower Bridge/ Shard/ St Pauls etc.

The Tate can be good fun, has some quirky art for free. The Museum of London Docklands (also free) is often overlooked but well worth a visit- there was a pretty victorian street in there and some interesting London history.

Eg, if he is interested in science, but you want to get away from the crowds at the NHM or SM, try the Wellcome Collection https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/being-human

Otherwise, parks, riverside walks, some of the more interesting public transport (DLR, Uber boats to Richmond or Greenwich), one of the markets with interesting food stalls (Spitalfields, Greenwich, Borough) can all add up to a reasonably priced day out. You can also sometimes get cheap last-minute tickets to West End shows.

Both museums are still free but definitely definitely book tickets well in advance.

If you go into the City of London for the viewing platforms, you also have the Bank of England museum which is free. They let you hold a gold bar ( kind of!) https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum

There's also the Mithraeum nearby which is the remains of a Roman temple - really well presented and also free:- https://www.londonmithraeum.com/

Brilliant! Thanks all.

Central London is absolutely full of school trips at the moment so definitely book tickets in advance for everything you want to do.

Science museum is still great and free. If he likes gaming he’d love the Power Up Exhibit which is a paid for add on but well worth it. The Wonderlab is great but despite saying it’s for ages 7-14 in reality it probably appeals best to kids aged 5-10 so maybe not worth it for a 12YO. NHM is probably mostly unchanged since you last went. IDK if that has nostalgia appeal but it may be disappointing. Tate modern is good if he likes art or just anything bonkers, also free!

Planetarium
Uber boat
London dungeons

Skatepark and graffiti tunnels, Southbank. Took my 14yo cousin to the skatepark, didn’t think to bring a board. He got so many go a on other peoples who really taught him some tricks too.

Depends what you are both into but if you spend some time in the Docklands area then I second the Docklands Museam as a great free attraction and you can combine it with an explore around Canary Wharf and a trip on the cable car across the Thames (free for kids I think). Olympic Park in Stratford is free and have a good “adventure” type playground (if he is not too old for that!)

Museum of London also free and very interesting and in the same neck of the woods (City/East).