Please help plan my trip to London

[Epictantrum]

Hello all,
We are taking DCs, aged 4 and 2, to London for a couple of nights in feb half term. It is on the way from south London up to Leicester, as we are visiting relatives first, but they are going away so can't stay with them the whole time. We will have the car with us.
I was thinking of staying either in Greenwich or hampstead as have found reasonable hotels with family rooms.
I thought if we did that we could spend one day in central London and one near our hotel.
Any ideas or thoughts about which area to go for? Thanks

Given the choice I would stay in Greenwich. I was there last night and it is great there. My best tip for you is to get everyone an Oyster card. Transport for London will screw you over if you don't.

Oh just seen you'll have the car. Ignore me it's still early

Seriously though Greenwich is fab. Lots of great things to see, canary wharf, the o2, there's cable cars there too that give great views of the area.

Even if you have a car I wouldn't think of driving around. It is so busy and stressful and there is almost no where to park in Central London.

I'd go for Greenwich. The day you spend in Central London you should buy a day travel card or pre pay oysters and get the boat from Greenwich up the river to, say, Westminster. You can see Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, then walk to Buckingham palace through green park. Go to Hyde park and have lunch at the cafe by the boating pond (feed the ducks) and then on from there.

The day you spend in Greenwich there is the lovely park, a nice covered market for a spot of shopping and the curry sark.

Have fun!

*Cutty sark (sorry spell check gave you a curry!).

Thank you. Good advice, I was leaning towards Greenwich. Definitely no plans to drive into central London!
I've never done the cable car, I think the kids would love it.
I can't quite work out how to get back up to the m1 from there, would you cross London skirting the congestion zone, or head south again to the m25?

Has anyone been to the London Observatory and seen the Space Safari (sorry, slight hijack but still in Greenwich)? I would like to do a day trip with a 4-year old and a 7-year old and was wondering how good it is. Would the inclusive London Transport SW Trains ticket take you out that far? Is it still true that children don't pay on London Transport?

From Greenwich I'd go through the Blackwall tunnel then up the m11 to the m25.

Thanks girlsonfilm. That sounds interesting belle.
Also interested in the free London transport, ds is huge and almost 5, will a passport be ok for proof of age (I think 5+ children have to carry a special ID card to get free travel, but not sure).

Oh, and looking at 2 for 1 tickets for things with national rail offers, will a ticket for the docklands light railway suffice or is this more transport for London rather than national rail?

Still true, children don't pay on London Transport. Ticket hall staff just ask for age of children.

When I took my DD2 on the cable car we had travel cards, which allowed us a discount. The cable car is brilliant, you don't have to 'go' anywhere. You can do a complete loop (ie buy a return ticket) and get off again. A one way trip takes about 10 minutes at off peak time.

If you go to the Observatory, please book on line first. And the hill up there is evil. There is a hand rail to get up that hill. Then again I'm not very fit have a dodgy knee and painful feet.

DRL doesn't count for the 2for1 tickets. But a cheap ticket for example London Bridge to Charing Crosss or similar is valid.

I like Greenwich and its great with children. The Observatory: we saw the Teddy show and I found it very confusing. The rest of the museum is a bit advanced for this age. But the Maritime Museum at the end of the park is good with children (and free). When DD was this age we also went:

Transport Museum - children are free
Science Musem - they have a basement area with water play and lots to do.
Natural History Museum - but be very early
These two are free so you can stay as long or short as you want.

Kensington Palace has free entry for children.

The M&M world in Leicester Square is new.

Running around South Bank, you can visit the Golden Hinde

The Diana playground in Kensington Garden should be ok if the weather is dry, in Summer it is crowded.

Everything noramum said...did most of these when dds were younger ..also London eye.

Take either 9 or 15 bus old style route masters.
Get the dlr ride up the front. It like driving the train yourself. Wander up the mall. See the out side Buckingham Palace but pass the soldiers standing to attention on route. Second the Diana gardens /playground.
If you are out of the school holidays worth giving natural history (dinosaur) museum and science museum a go but the get very crowded in the holidays. Some theatres do kids shows, unicorn, polka ,lyric hammersmith. Worth looking out for.

Also the bus and boat tour is good fun. Freezing cold but fun

Greenwich is brilliant for small children. In greenwich Park there's a lovely playpark and pedalo boating lake if it's fine. Beside it is the Maritime museum which has a fantastic children's section with a toy boat and dock where they can load and unload cargo using a crane, flags to pull up the pole, warships to zap, and morse code, as well as a lovely craft room if they like making things.
You can get the boat from Greenwich all the way into central London. It passes loads of sights like Tower, Bridge, Tower of London. Houses of Parliament, London Eye etc. If you use the Clipper boat you get a discount if you have already bought travelcards.
If they are brave, they can walk through the (but spooky) tunnel under the Thames at Greenwich and come out on the Isle of Dogs where they can pretend to drive real trains if you sit at the front of the DLR.

In central London, at that age my DCs loved best the interactive museums, like Science museum which has two main interactive areas, one specially for pre-schoolers featuring A LOT of water :) and the transport museum where they can 'drive' trains and buses.
There's also the Duck Bus - the bus that becomes a boat and slides into the water right by MI6 where all the spies work - bit expensive but fun.

sorry for typos!