One day in London with a 6 year old - itinerary!

[musicmummytobe]

Hello! Any help would be hugely appreciated! My six year old DD has never been to London but my husband and I are taking her for a day trip in the summer holidays. Getting in on the train to Kings Cross at 10 am and heading home at 4/5pm. Been a while since I have been so could any helpful souls out there advise on how best to travel, where to head to first from Kings Cross, lunch recommendations etc. From my recollection, I think she’d love the South Bank walk as always lots to see, somewhere like Borough Market for lunch, Covent Garden for street entertainers etc and maybe the free museums but she is desperate to see all the sights she’s learned about at school - the gherkin, Big Ben etc. Don’t want to make the mistake of spending the whole day travelling between destinations so any advice on where to go first, how to combine things etc would be very welcome. Thanks so much in advance!

I took my 6 year old for a day a few months back. We saw Matilda in the west end and we went to the massive toy shop hamleys which she was just amazed by! I would def recommend going there!

Ooh thank you, totally forgot about Hamleys! Remember being entranced by that as a child!

You're going to have a very busy day if you're only in London for 6 hours and presumably need to eat and drink in that time.

From Kings Cross I would head for London Bridge on the northern line and base your day around the South Bank. You can see Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Globe Theatre and all the other local sights and maybe you'll also have time to cross the river on the foot bridge for a trip to the Sky Garden at the top of the Walkie Talkie building.

There's not really a way to cram in Covent Garden, Big Ben, Westminster, Horseguards, Trafalgar Square etc also in your time frame.

This is the perfect itinerary. Tower of London and Sky Garden were big hits with my 6yo recently. Walking across any of the bridges is fun.

There's fountains to run around in and ice cream vans at Granary Sq next to Kings X, might be a nice way to end the day before hopping on the train (if it's sunny).

I'd skip the West End this trip, it's too much to fit in all in one day.

Find the memorial tower in pudding lane. Great Fire of London is on the yr2 curriculum if I recall correctly so she'll love having seen that.

Another hit for us was the cable car out from Royal docks to greenwich - its cheap and you can see loads from up there!

Might be worth doing The Mall / Buckingham Palace as they will feature on the TV alot over coming weeks.

Have fun. I really want to organise this for mine- did it a few years back but trains so expensive from here now.

Natural History Museum for the Dinosaurs! It's free! It's massive though, and overwhelming, so I'd spend a few hours there to do the main big things, then do something else.

Big Ben is visible from South Bank. Trafalgar Square is fab with the fountains and the Lions and Nelson's Column.

I wouldn't bother with Covent Garden - it's just a load of shops. There are street entertainers around Trafalgar Sq too.

If she wants to see famous landmarks then I would book day tickets on a hop on, hop off bus tour. The red route on big bus tours looks like it will cover most of the stuff your dd will want to see.

I would look at the route beforehand and plan in three destinations where you will get off and wander. Looking at the route now, it stops near most of the places you mentioned

Sky Gardens (lunch?)
Southbank for walk/London Eye
Convent Garden

It also goes past 3 parks - I would def be planning in one stop to a park.

I would skip the museums. They're quite far out and not really close to any of the other places you've mentioned (20 mins or so on the tube from Big Ben/London Eye). Go and do the museums on another day when you can spend a few hours and not have to rush around to go to the next thing.

My 5 year old liked the London Eye and there's a nice park and play area right next to it.

I recommended going up Tower Bridge on a thread the other day. You you go across the top walkways and get a great view down the Thames. There are glass floor sections so you can look down on the red buses.
I have a 6 and an 8 year old. They love a ride on the double decker buses. Preferably front seat on the top deck.
Take a Thames Clipper. They go along past all the sights and there is a spotting book. Kids can say they've seen things without the sore legs and loss of attention of a 'proper visit'

This is all extremely helpful, thanks so much. And I will cut out Covent Garden as suggested and big museums. Can I ask whether you can see The Gherkin easily?! Sounds ridiculous but my DD is desperate to see it for some reason! Also, are visitor Oyster cards the best way to go for travel on the day? Hop on/hop off buses looks very expensive so just wondering if they’re worth it. Thanks for all your help! Lastly, any lunch recommendations of should we go for South Bank street food? 😊

There's a street market behind royal festival hall (non river side) - I'd get a picnic from there

Don't do museums, you won't have time. Northern line to London Bridge and walk along south bank is a good shout. You can see the gherkin and the shard and the Houses of Parliament.

If you cross the footbridge at embankment, you can walk to Trafalgar Square and get the number 91 back to kings cross. If you sit on the top deck, you get a great view

We did this when my kids were in year 2. We started off at liverpool street station and walked through the city area via the gherkin, then walked to pudding lane. There are loads of cafes for a quick snack at this point. We then got the tube from monument directly to embankment. You can stop at the Thames here and do some sight spotting. We walked from embankment to Trafalgar Square and had a quick look in the national gallery. Then nearby pizza express for lunch. That felt like enough for one day!
the river cruises are really good too from the London eye. You see all the main sights

I was going to recommend brunch at Aqua Shard then the walk up to Tower Bridge which is nice. Great view of the gherkin. But I've just looked it up and it's gone up from £10-20 to £49. Yikes.

Getting (free) tickets for the Sky Garden is a good shout or book a meal at the Darwin Brasserie in there.

My kids are older but we enjoy walking round the city. If she likes mini golf, PuttShack by Bank station is fun (very high tech).

South Bank from Waterloo to Blackfriars has plenty going on for a stroll. My kids like the Leeke Street graffiti tunnels under Waterloo but she may be a bit young. They also like watching the skaters on the South Bank and there's a nice view of the City as you get towards the Oxo Tower.

The clink prison museum is good for kids. Doesn't take too long to go round either.

I think with London it’s easy to get carried away and do too much, but it’s better to just focus on a couple of things. I second the great fire of london bits for a year 2 child - we went up the monument which has a good view (lots of stairs). I agree that museums need a trip all of their own. You could spend a whole day on the south bank and environs if you want. And the west end probably needs its own day too. You do have time often to bolt something on with a trip on the tube eg a quick look at Buckingham Palace, or the Houses of Parliament but actually it’s best to plan less and do a bit more if time allows than cram it all in.

I would suggest northern line from Kings Cross to Monument. From there you can wander up to the City if you really want to see the Gherkin up close - these days it’s a bit overshadowed by taller buildings! Personally I’d look at the Monument (especially if they’re doing the Great Fire) then walk along the Thames path to the Tower of London and get a boat from Tower Pier to Westminster - you get the best views from the river without the crowds or the sore feet! You can then cross the river to the South Bank. From memory there’s quite a nice play park near the Eye.

I had my cousin when he was about 10 for a couple of days in London.

He wanted to go to the top of a tall building, luckily I had a friend working in CenterPoint tower (this was pre gherkin).

We did the HoHo bus but it was expensive and public transport is an adventure in itself, my cousin wanted to go everywhere on the underground but he would have seen more on the busses.

I took him to the rainforest cafe which was a hit, more for the unlimited refills of coke than anything else. Ed's diner was also a hit.

With the train times, your 4/5 pm home is going to be expensive, trains leaving between 5 and 7pm are usually at a premium.

How far are you travelling? If it's more than an hour then I'd suggest bringing PJs or joggers for your DD. She is almost guaranteed to fall asleep on the way home, Kings X has left luggage so you could pack a bag with PJ's, a book, maybe some wine for you and DH.

Oh and of course there is platform 9 3/4, you can't miss that.

I live in London with a 7 and 11 year old and I would…
junp on the Victoria line to Vauxhall, then take a Thames Clipper (boat bus) up past the Houses of Parliament, London eye all the way to London Bridge. Get off there visit borough market, The Golden Hinde ship, or cross over and go to the Monument (on pudding lane as a reminder of the great fire of London), walk a bit further up and there are parts of the original London Wall and St Paul’s Cathedral is close by (it has a five guys, cafe rouge, wagamamas and yo sushi- which my kids love) so can grab lunch there.
You can also head to the sky garden from there and then meander down to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. You could get back on the boat and go up to North Greenwich to go on the cable cars. Have a wiz around the O2 (avoid build-a-bear) and then either boat back to London Bridge (and tube to Kings X) or tube from North Greenwich.
if you wanted a different route, Knightsbridge, Hyde park, Buckingham palace, down the mall, Trafalgar Square and the down to parliament square is also a good one (lots of restaurants between Victoria and parliament square.
have fun! Xx

These suggestions are all a million times more helpful than any guides I’ve found! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer! You’re all stars!

Having spoken to DD this morning, it appears Buckingham Palace is very important too! So I think we’ll go straight from Kings Cross to Green Park for the changing of the guard and a snack and then head back to South Bank as you’ve all suggested and just walk along there, lunch, pick some of your suggestions of the monument or sky garden, Tower of London etc and possibly Thames clipper but scrap the museums and Covent Garden. Do you reckon that sounds doable?! Fingers crossed!