London at Christmas?

[Potentialmadcatlady]

Thinking of taking kids ( 14+ years) to London over Christmas weekend...any suggestions on how/what to do to make it an extra special Christmas after a very horrible year?

The Parlour restaurant in Fortunum and Mason for an ice cream sundae or mulkshake. Beautiful to look round the shop but Parlour is used to kids.

Walk along Bond/Regent Street for the lights.

I've not rtwt so apologies for any repetitions. If possible, try catching the bus as it's the best way to see the sights quickly and will save your feet. The number 23 goes from
Regent st to Liverpool street station and goes past quite a few tourist sights. Grab a coffee and sit on the top deck to view the christmas lights properly. The 23 & 24 shares the same routes as the tour bus companies for a fraction of the ticket price.

www.timeout.com/london/christmas

Check out the time out link above for more ideas over the Christmas weekend.

How are you planning on getting to London? So many trains aren't running over Xmas....

Oh bus number perfect was trying to find that one out...fortumum is on list too...
Travelling there is looking like it's going to be problematic....there's a plane and airport strikes involved (trying not to cry)

I'm sure you'll make it, but sorry for the additional stress. It will be worth it.

One more thing to throw into the pot is Chinatown behind Leicester Square. Well worth a wander around poking into all the Chinese supermarkets and looking in windows. If you are veggie then Chinese restaurants are a good and cheapish way to eat.

Here you go, a link with the best London bus routes to go on for tourists. Don't pay £12 for a tourist bus when you can go on an ordinary London bus.

londonist.com/2016/10/london-s-best-bus-routes-for-tourists

Thanks improvising- both teens love Chinese so that would work well
High..brilliant thanks.off to look at that now..

Anyone know if the Christmas lights are on all day or just once it gets dark? Can't remember & don't want to go in too early & miss them!

Just wanted to say a big Thankyou to everyone who helped me on this thread. The kids and me had a great time...saw loads, did loads and managed to get our first difficult Christmas without Mum/Granny over in what ended up a lovely way....I had a few private tears and sad moments but the kids didn't see those and they had a ball. Infact we had such a good time we are already talking about going back to see the things we didn't have time to do this trip.
The hotel was in the perfect location and the kids loved the tube so it was easy getting around. Even the weather was kind to us. Thankyou again and if you want to know all about what we did/favourite things than just ask

Which hotel did you stay in & what were the favourite parts of the trip for everyone?

We went full on tourist mode.
Stayed in Covent Garden-just a basic hotel but all we needed- kids loved it- loved the street entertainers/food places.
Also saw/did ( not in this order)
Tusands
Dungeons
Ripleys ( kids favourite)
Hamleys
Boxing Day sales (awful)
Lego store/m and m store
Trafalar Square
Leicester Square
Big Ben/parliament/Downing Street/mall/palace in dark ( favourite)
Changing of the guard (not enjoyed at all)
Science Museum
West end show (amazing)
China town
Ate in kid friendly places so nothing high end or massively expensive.
Lots we wanted to do but just couldn't fit it all in..