dd's first trip to London ....recommendations please

[mosschops30]

I have finally booked a decent hotel for £193 for 2 nights for me and dd, which I thought was quite good.

I normally go to London with dh so do the nice restaurants and bars etc so would like some recommendations of what me and dd can do together.

So far she wants to do:
History museum
Jack the Ripper Tour (can anyone recommend one and are they suitable for 14 year olds?)
Shopping in covent garden

She will not do:
London Eye
Madame Tussauds
London Dungeon

So would be really grateful for any ideas of things we can do (staying sat-mon) and nice places for us to eat in central london (we are staying near oxford circus). Would also like to know where to get cheap 'on the day' tickets for a show on saturday night?

Many TIA

Show tickets are available at a booth in Leicester Square or returns at the relevant box office. Top Shop Oxford Circus and Selfridges would be an easy hop. Stroll along the Southbank from Royal Festival Hall/London Eye to the Globe at Southwark (lots of street artists), river boat back ?

she said she wants to do the Tower of London. Could we do the history museun and tower of london in one day or best to do one on the saturday afternoon and the other on the sunday?

Thats for all that lizs whats the globe? Will I find the booth easy in Leicester square? What are the chances of us getting any seats on a saturday night? Do they do shows on a sunday?

I'd do them separately, get to the Tower early. Is it the Natural History museum (Kensington) or British Museum she wants to see ? The Globe is the recreation of Shakespeares's theatre on the Southbank, you can have a backstage tour on some days, see a play, exhibitions and take a tour of local area which includes excavations of original 16th century theatres. I think some of their performance tickets are only sold on the day. The Leicester Square booth here but the area isn't that big (mainly cinemas and restaurants). Not sure about availability though.

we have saturday afternoon and all day sunday so need to do the British History museum on one and the tower on the other. Not sure how we're gonna do it but one must take less time than the other?

How much of the British Museum does she want to cover ? It is vast so best to limit yourselves to what is really of interest or having a guided route. tbh I found a couple of hours there enough last time, might be worth looking online and narrowing things down. Likely to be less crowded than the Tower. National Gallery, Tate (Britain and/or Modern) or Royal Academy might be worth a visit too if she likes art.

To cut down on walking etc, how about doing the museum on Saturday morning, then a few hours shopping (as much as you can stand!) on Sat afternoon around Oxford Circus, Top Shop, Selfridges, Apple store etc.

Eating-wise there's a little courtyard around the back of Selfridges with things like Carluccios. Or you could go to Soho - I used to love Busaba Eatthai (Wardour St) and lots of Italians, or China town. Then you should be nice and central for a show.

Then Sunday go East to the Tower. Pop up to Spitalfields for some market browsing and lunch / brunch (The Luxe is nice), then Jack the Ripper Tour around the Tower/Whitechapel (there are lots in the area, no idea about suitability though!).

Re: food

Depends how adventurous she wants to be, but if she's up for it, you might enjoy a Chinatown restaurant like Ba Shan (Szechuan food, a bit spicy, but really tasty); or a Charlotte Street restaurant like the Gaucho Grill; or if you fancy being a bit glam, you could have a lot of fun in somewhere like Bocca di Lupo or Cocoon. These are all pretty near you.

Right I have itinery sorted as the hotel are letting me leave our luggage on the monday so:
saturday afternoon is shopping in covent garden and pinapple dance studios, followed by dinner (thanks for those recommendations 30andmerkin and slhilly I will have a look at where they are and what we like, dd loves chinese and italian food.
then sunday is tower of london and mayeb the spitalfields market if you think its worth a look (is it just a sunday morning market or all day?)
Then monday we will do british history museum, shes a bit of a history bod so thats the reason we're going there.

Keep flooding me with ideas, thank you so much this is fab

Glad to be helping with ideas re food.

If you google, you'll find lots of reviews of Ba Shan, Bocca di Lupo and Cocoon, plus their own websites, so you can see what the damage is likely to be. BdL and Cocoon both look super-cool and quite "London" IYKIM they are definitely a la mode! Ba Shan is a bit less exciting but the food is great. Other Chinese places that you could try include Bar Shu and Leong's Legends. I really like Leong's Legends and it does some v interesting / unusual stuff oyster omelette is fab.

Other places to consider are Covent Garden, including Neal's Yard -- always stuffed to the gills with teenage girls.

From the Tower of London, I'd consider a walk: go across Tower Bridge, walk along the South Bank, and you can stop at Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, etc -- and you can cross at the Millenium Bridge and have a look at St Paul's.

Enjoy!

mosschops - what are you planning to do at pineapple??

the ticket booth in leicester square is very easy to find and is called TCKTS - you should be able to get something for Saturday night on Saturday morning, but you might need to queue for a bit.
If you can get it - I would recommend Wicked.

I sent a funny lighthearted email to pineapple and had a lovely reply from Luke Long saying that we were welcome to call in an have a look around dd is beside herself (and so am I )

Am definately going to do the Apple store too as it looks fab on the website and is close to where we are staying so can walk past it on way back to hotel.
Thanks for the booth info, would love to see Wicked, think it would be a good one to see with dd too, Ive heard good things about it.
Gonna do a ripper tour on the sunday evening as its at Tower Hill which is where we will be for the Tower of London anyway.

slhilly if we are eating in covent garden area saturday night, and tower hill area sunday night what would be our best bets for food. I dont really want to have to do a long trek for a restaurant.

Thanks again for all your info

I cant find a website for Ba Shan do they have one? A lot of the reviews are pretty poor, do you like it there?
Bocca di Lupo looks lovely so thats a possible.
Cocoon, not for me and dd I dont think, maybe if I was with dh.

Just want somewhere simple, nice, good value and close to where we are

Depending on how serious you are about the shopping you might want to swap over your timings a bit and shop on Monday morning when the shops will be a less crowded than Saturday - but on the other hand DD might enjoy the fact that every other teenaged girl in London is there - extra atmos.

There's a load of fairly nice chain restaurants near the Tower of London in Tower Place (Wagamama would be a good, reasonably priced bet) and a couple more on the other side of Tower Bridge (area called More London), or The Dickens Inn in St Katherine's Dock is beautifully located though a bit of a tourist trap. But if you're Rippering the obvious place to go for dinner would be Brick Lane - very exciting (but perhaps gets a little too exciting as the evening wears on).

If you are in the west end and like chinese food - I would def recommend going to China town and grabbing a meal!!!

I would try and book tickets before hand - lastminute do £10 tickets.

Jack the ripper walk, I've been before and this company are really good -
www.walks.com/London_Walks_Home/Jack_the_Ripper_Tour/default.aspx

Lots of nice places to eat off Oxford St - Wardour St, Greek St, Poland St or really nice down by the Southbank just by the river and really easy to get to from Covent Garden. St Christophers Place just off Oxford st (2 minutes from Selfridges) also has loads of restaraunts and quite buzzy. Also if ice cream is your thing try The Parlour at Fortnum and Mason - it's really nice.

Hi Mosschops30:

1. Covent garden is about 5 to 10mins walk from Chinatown, depending on precise destination. If that's an OK distance for you, then maybe you'd like Leong's -- pretty simple, nice, definitely good value.

Here are walking directions from Covent Garden tube

1. Not sure where you found poor reviews for Ba Shan. Here are some positive ones:

Giles Coren Matthew Norman amusingly eats in both Ba Shan and Bar Shu Fay Maschler I don't think Ba Shan has a website of its own.

1. If you want to stay in Covent Garden, then another option is La Perla, which does pretty reliable Mexican food in a lively spot on Maiden Lane.
2. Bocca di Lupo is fab but is not particularly cheap...
3. There's a Strada near the Tower of London. They're pretty nice.
4. I'm now starving!

thanks for that dilys strangely dd mentioned wagamama last night so the Tower Hill one would be a good bet on sunday night.

stokey thats the one we are going with the London Walks, they have very good reviews and when I emailed them they sent me a very speedy and detailed reply which was good.

slhilly youre an absolute star thatnks for all your input on this thread. Leongs sounds a good bet. We just want something relatively cheap but nice IYKWIM.
I think I need to get a map and plan everywhere Im walking to.

I might do PDS on monday morning rather than saturday but deffo want to have a wander round in the hoards on saturday. When I went recently we had to queue at the Covent Garden tube lifts for ages but its all part of the fun

just had a look at your map slhilly is chinatown just off shaftsbury ave? If so I know where it is

DD is thirteen and loves Camden Lock

Hi Mosschops, glad to be helpful

Yes, Chinatown is just off Shaftesbury Ave (and indeed spills on to it). You can always wander round and choose somewhere to eat, of course, but I do think a recommendation or two is useful. Leong's is a good bet, I reckon. I was in Wagamamas today -- it's really perfectly good, but it's not as excitingly authentic, tbh. Altho it's difficult for me to put my 13yo hat on again and remember what was important then!

BTW, if you wanted to do something v London and v grownup afterwards, you could always go for a wander round Soho at night. It's vv safe, extremely camp (of course), a bit blatant in some places but in a OMG rather than yikes way, IYKIM, and you could finish up for a coffee in Bar Italia (where I met my DP, so always fond memories for me) -- a 24hr proper Italian coffee bar on Frith Street. I would think a frothy cappuccino while watching the extraordinary characters in that part of town go by at 10 or 11pm on a Saturday night would be v thrilling and glam for a 13yo girl.

slhilly thanks again. Do you think soho would be ok for a 14 yr old? I know she would probably love it, she loved mardi gras
The coffee place sounds fab, could you show me on a map (sorry dont want much do i ) wheres the nearest tube back to oxford circus from soho or is it walkable on a saturday night?

I think Soho would be fine for a 14yo. Not as full-on as mardi gras, that's for sure! Of course, no point in going if you object to her seeing men walking hand-in-hand, neon signs say "Mags, vids" etc...but that's only a small part of the atmosphere in any event.

Oxford circus to Soho is easily walkable -- you can see it on that map I linked to if you just scroll north and west a bit. About 15mins, or a £5 cab fare, depending on your starting point.

As for Bar Italia, it's literally on the opposite side of the street from Ronnie Scott's, which you can also see on the map just a little bit north of point B (Leong's). No distance at all, as you can see -- a couple of minute's walk.

we did mardis gras in cardiff so not on a large scale but i have no problem with it and a walk through soho for coffee souns fab

i think i will have to print out a guide style itinery or else im gonna forget all this stuff and where im supposed to be going.

thanks for that map i'll deffo print it out

Good-oh. Enjoy! And let us know how it all went.

My 15 year old loves Hoummus brothers on Wardour Street for lunch. Also the Sacred cafe just off Carnaby Street, behind Liberty, for pots of Earl Grey in vintage teapots surrounded by incense and statues of Budda!