Day trip to London with DC

[Zoommeout]

hello all, I have been finding it difficult to find something that all my children want to do for a family day out on a budget (late teens and older primary school aged children)
I thought I could take them by train to London sight seeing (to keep costs down - unless anyone can suggest anything cheap that is worth doing whilst we are there?)

we definitely want to go see Buckingham palace and Big Ben.

my questions are:-
-what other things could we go see that is not too far from the palace and Big Ben (or short hop away)
-what time should we arrive in London and what time to leave London? I was thinking 10am arrive leave at 8pm - or will this be too tiring on the kids? Should I consider an overnight stop and if so where ? as it would need to be cheap so might not be an option as I have 4 dc. )
Which London train station Shoikd I book our tickets to? (sorry for potential stupid questions)
if I can’t get tickets cheap enough it will be a coach trip - just worried will be long and tiring and take the joy out of it.

im sorting this a bit last minute so if anyone has got any suggestions for London then I would really appreciate it.

(any any other day trips out for all ages that won’t cost the earth)

many thanks 💐

It depends where you live as to which station you should book to. Look for any offers for families that you could take advantage of. If you put your start station on here people may be able to help.

If you want to see the Palace and big ben you could work in a good walk through the Royal parks. The Diana memorial fountain is good.

Science museum/natural history is free and both are good depending on your children's interests. Book a time slot. Not been with teens but late primary enjoyed.

Teens might prefer Camden. This is a tube ride away

Many of the museums are free in London - Natural History Museum and Science Musuem are great with kids.

I recently did train into London, Tube to Imperial War Museum for around 2 hours, then walked down to the Thames, along to Big Ben, Downing Street, BP, then Oxford Street. Tube from Oxford Street back to the station for the train home at around 6pm. It was a lot of walking so I was glad that the train wasn’t any later.

I have done natural history museum a very long time ago and had gone by coach. I loved the little of London I saw ! I would be leaving from near Birmingham but I don’t know which train station in london I should select when booking tickets

You should come into Euston from Birmingham. You can jump on the Victoria line from there to Victoria and walk to Buckingham Palace.

You might be able to make use of the kids travel for £1 deal

https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/tickets-discounts/discounts/london-family-travelcard

We're off over the coming weeks. Imperial War museum, possibly history museum and walking around in search of Morphs which are out and about.
The usual big Ben, Buckingham Palace but we've done them a few times so will be lower on our list.

Depends where you’re coming from regarding London station, you can normally select ‘London terminals’. I’d guess Euston, then Victoria line to Victoria which is close enough to Big Ben. I’d probably do a bus and or boat trip. Don’t try to do too much though.

You can get afternoon tea at Buck Pal apparently 😍 no idea on details/teen suitability

From the palace you can walk to Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, up regents st (hamleys) to oxford street? I think Oxford street might have got a bit depressing lately though.

Dopamine Land?
Crazy ice cream at anya hindmarch land? https://secretldn.com/the-ice-cream-project/

I haven’t done either of those but on my list for as the kids grow.

You’ll see so much getting place to place so you don’t need to plan every minute.

I think there’s a bus route that does a lot of the sights round there (normal bus not the expensive tour buses) - google should help you find it. Westminster abbey and London eye are near there too.

also look up the 2-4-1 attractions tickets with national rail - then you might be able to do one paid thing cheaply

Wev just been with same sort of ages. We did natural history museum, Hyde park with an ice cream, harrods (fantasy shopping) and a restaurant. They loved it.

You can get afternoon tea at Buck Pal apparently 😍 no idea on details/teen suitability

There's a Garden Cafe but you have to do a tour of the palace first to get to the garden.

https://www.rct.uk/visit/buckingham-palace/buckingham-palace-garden-cafe#/

Leicester Square for the Lego Shop and the M&M shop, then a walk to Covent Garden - where there used to be a lot of street entertainment, although I don't know if that's still the case.

When I was in London a couple of weeks ago, we kept coming across models of gorillas around Covent Garden. I think there's about 15 or so - might be fun to hunt them down. They're raising awareness for gorilla conservation.

Don't bother doing Dopamine Land or the palace tour if you want to keep costs down, both quite pricey and neither are an amazing day out.

South Bank is great to walk around and there is almost always something going on for free. The South Bank centre is a good stop off for lunch because you can bring your own food in and there are toilets etc free to use. It's quite a nice space to chill out in the middle of a busy day. You can also get the boat to/from there if you fancy a boat trip. The Uber boat is cheaper than a tourist one.

Lots of museums and galleries are free.

Something like Hidden City or Treasure Trails can be really good fun, great way to see things and cost effective. Treasure Trails is a bit cheaper, Hidden City is a bit more interactive.