London with teenagers

[DangerFrog]

Looking for recommendations for a week in London please! Staying in Camden, near the tube station. DH, me & 3 teens: 17 year old son and 15 & 13 year old girls.

I absolutely want to visit the Natural History Museum, DH wants to visit the Science Museum & Greenwich Observatory, and we want to see various shows in the West End (have already booked the absolute must-sees, happy to buy tickets on the day for other evenings).

Kids happy with those suggestions but struggling to decide what they want to do. We're coming from rural Scotland so I think they're just a bit overwhelmed with the options! What do you think are the best things to do with teens in London? Monopoly Live has been suggested, and they seem keen on that - is it worth it?

Also, I'm celebrating my 50th this year and our oldest will be 18 this summer (after our London trip). I'm thinking it might be nice to celebrate in London - we'll be able to do things that we can't do at home but, again, the options are overwhelming!

Thank you for your suggestions!

I’d book the sky garden for birthday breakfast!

There’s an amazing shopping mall at Stratford which you can get to on the DLR

mine have also enjoyed

Madame Tussauds
Tower of London
Boat trip on Thames
Hop on Hop off bus
London Aquarium
London Eye

depends on your budget and how much time you have

We did Monopoly Live and Crystal Maze with DT10. Whilst Monopoly Live was good, Crystal Maze was outstanding.

Other than what you have already planned the hits with my teens were:
The Imperial War Museum
London Eye
Arsenal Stadium Tour
Tower of London
Greenwich Observatory Planetarium Shows - I had to book in advance for these and they were a sell out.
Harrods
My teens liked to chose where we ate each night, usually some tik tok or instagram phase restaurant or pop up, but they enjoyed having the responsibility and we just went along with it as we don't have access to those types of places where we live.

We added a couple of nights to our trip and went to Thorpe Park staying in the Premier Inn at Addlestone. Thorpe Park was a huge hit we bought the fast passes so they could get on all the rides which was well worth the price and was the highlight of the trip for them.

Have a fantastic trip.

Are you planning to have a wander round Camden Market itself? I did that with my 2 teens (17 and 13) and younger DC last summer and it was enjoyed by all.

I just asked my 17yo DS what his favourite things to do in London are and his response was “go for food!” 😂 Hope that helps!

My suggestions would be…
Boat trip on Thames
Tower of London
London Dungeon
London Eye

It may or may not be your thing, but as a family we did one of the Mystery Guide tours where you kind of go on a treasure hunt looking for clues but also go on a wonderful walking tour. There are a few London ones and the one we did took us to some lovely parts that we’ve never been before having lived in London for over 20 years.

Ooh, that's interesting to hear. I did see something about the Crystal Maze but wasn't sure about it. Would it be ok for a 13 year old? She will be almost 14, scarily smart and enjoys escape rooms.

I was looking at Sky Garden too - will look into breakfast there!

Does it matter which hop-on, hop-off bus company you use? Or are they all much and such the same?

Was debating booking an afternoon tea on the London Eye, or is that just too gimmicky? Also looking at the Java cat cafes as I know they would love it.

Thank you all!

@CoffeeChocolateWine I feel your 17yo DS would get on very well with my 17yo DS - that's exactly his thoughts!

Greenwich Observatory Planetarium Shows - sounds fab, I'm off to investigate that!

I do want to try different food places and I think a wander around Camden market is essential. I'm sure the kids will like it too. I have warned them that London will involve a lot of walking 😂

The Mystery Guide things sound great, to me at least. Will definitely suggest it to them.

Thank you!

There were lots of groups of adults there. You would all enjoy it.

Obviously you want to plan events but don’t over schedule because it can be knackering. Leave a bit of free time for wandering around. I’d also co-ordinate your visits to the specific parts of town so you’re not pinging back and forth across town on the underground ( which will be hot )

without wishing to sound patronising or over alarming are you familiar with London? Camden has a very lively music scene and can be a little rowdy. I also be careful around the tube station - it can attract rough sleepers.

Here’s the link to the Mystery Guides…
Mystery Guides

I think (although not 100% sure as it was a while ago) the London one we did was the Great Coin Heist.

I’m pretty sure you can take a canal boat ride in camden also to regents park (although i did this to London Zoo so might be lumped in with that it was a long time ago)

Theres loads of escape rooms to choose from, theres usually something going on along the Southbank, lovely to walk along and see the houses of parliament. There’s also the british museum and the national gallery.

Covent garden is nice to walk around and have some lunch and it’s close to Trafalgar and Leicester square and China Town.

Loads to do in Greenwich, the museum the Cutty Sark, the market, loads of great food spots.

Horizon 22 in the city is free and has amazing views across London in almost every direction. You look down on the Shard.

Anytime we've had visitors from overseas we've taken them there and it always goes down well. It also puts you right near Leadenhall Market and across the river from Borough Market.

You do need to book a time slot, but there's no cost.

horizon22.co.uk/

Warning appreciated, thank you. No, we don't know London. I've visited a few times, but never with the kids or DH. It's going to be an experience, one way or another. Every city has it's downsides, but I think London offers so many experiences that my 3 will love and that they just can't do up here. I also think it will open their eyes as, really, they've been very sheltered just by living where we do.

Good advice to just plan for some wandering, and I'm definitely going to plan things in similar locations for the same day.

Thank you.

If your kids are on social media then they will have probably seen the viral places in China Town to get some food. Get them to do the research so that they can tick off the right places.

I remember going to London as a teen and my parents taking me to the London dungeons. We still talk about it !

Sky Garden restaurant is actually not that great! It sits inside the building and the windows are looking down on the atrium not outside and the outside view is sort of indirect.

If Gordon Ramsey has opened his new restaurants yet I’d try there.

Spitalfields market on a Sunday morning is fab.

Maybe add on a Buckingham Palace, changing of the guard, Westminster abbey, Big Ben to that. You can then also do Trafalgar Square with the fountains (nice to stop for ice cream or iced coffee) or lunch. St James’s Park is nice to walk through and you can walk to Covent Garden from Trafalgar Square. If you go to Greenwich get the Thames clipper boat from Westminster to Greenwich, cost of Oyster card for each of you, bar/cafe on board. Weekends there’s food stalls as well as other stalls in the main old covered market. Greenwich also has maritime museum, painted hall in royal naval college , Cutty sark and Greenwich park, observatory is up the hill. Deptford next to it is trendy and diverse. Climb up stairs to the Monument at London Bridge. London mithraeum (Roman temple and museum) is free and is in Bank, Bank of England nearby. There’s a bookstore on a canal Words on the water at King’s Cross, coal drops yard nearby might appeal. Harrods/hamleys/Fortnum and Mason, first Knightsbridge, second regent street, third Piccadilly Circus (Eros nearby). You can tube/walk/bus. Might be nice to do open top bus tour or you can do river boat tours. St Paul’s cathedral, Tower of London. The list is endless! If you want to save Greggs does cheap hot drinks, you could get a Waitrose card and then if you bring a reusable cup you get free tea/coffee with any purchase with the card.

Don’t forget brick lane market and Columbia Road market (flowers).

Don’t use the tube map to judge how close places are to each other!
you’ll be surprised how much you can do just walking. As pp has said, look at google maps and choose and area per day would be my suggestion.
Covent Garden, Leicester square , Trafalgar Square , then walk along the river to Westminster/Big Ben is all easily done in a day.
Another day Tower of London , sky garden (tickets released 3 weeks in advance and go quickly as it’s free so put reminder in your calendar to book!) then across London Bridge to borough market for lunch , just wander the area is another day done.

if your hotel is Camden that’s a bit of a trek to go back to hotel , change and get back into central London for a show, so if it was me I’d be thinking that once out in the morning not going back to hotel until night. (loads of places in Camden to get a nice breakfast before heading off to the tube)
Download the Tube Map app, very useful for route planning and telling you if any issues on lines. Remember on the tube you can tap on and off using bank card, but you need a card person, so for 4 of you 4 different bank cards. It doesn’t charge you until the next day as there’s a max charge per day so it uses your card details to work out your charge for the day depending on what journeys you’ve done. If you not got 4 bank cards then you’ll need to buy tickets.

Just thought of something else if time and budget allows…go up the Shard or do Lift 109 at Battersea power station. The views are incredible 😊

If you're looking for something a bit different then ClueQuest escape rooms in kings cross are brilliant! (Kings cross is a cool place to visit anyway, fountains you can run in and out of in Coal Drops Yard to keep cool, loads of cool eateries).

There are tons of viral cake places too. The kids will find them on tiktok.

Seven dials market is a hit with my teens, we go often.

Tower of London, sky garden (book a meal - we always do breakfast -and that way you skip the queue), we also like HMS Belfast, love the hop on off bus for a tour.

didn’t enjoy made tuesauds or the London eye, the teenager did but it’s not for me. London zoo was great for us all, and if you see one show I’d book something by mischief! They are AMAZING

DD who is 15 loved the jellycat experience in aldridge’s when we were in London last summer - mentioning it as you have daughters a similar age so might appeal. If it does you can book at selfridges….

Some of the bus tours include a river boat ticket to Greenwich - so do the tour one day and then take the boat to Greenwich the next - it has a nice covered market with street food near the cutty sark and you can wander the grounds of the naval college. The trafalgar pub on the river is nice so you could have an early evening drink/supper there. One the way back walk through the foot tunnel under the Thames and get the DLR to bank and then up the northern line to Camden. There's loads to do in Greenwich depending on interests - queens house/fan museum/maritime museum/cutty sark/observatory and planetarium plus shopping.

Borough market is also fun and you could walk along the southbank from there to waterloo for the London eye or even head on to the Tate if you like art.