London with teenagers

[georgeclooneyfan]

Myself my dh, dd(15),ds(13) are going to London mid October for 5 nights.I am looking for any recommendations for possible places to visit, and places to eat not too posh.I have been looking at going to top of the Shard, MandM world, Madam Tussuads, Duck tours (may be too old now).To eat maybe Ed's diner, Planet Hollywood etc.Thanks in advance

We've just been with two dds aged 15 and 12 (nearly 13 though).

They loved wandering down the Embankment which always has loads going on. We also booked to see a West End show (Phantom) just for the experience, and a circus/acrobat type show which went down very well. We also went round a few locations for shows (esp Sherlock) that they're fans of. Borough Market, Chinatown and a walk down Brick Lane for food/market experience - we'd have gone out to Camden if we'd had the time. We also went on the London Eye, which is down by Embankment so worked well with that. The Egyptian room at the British Museum was great and really interested them, although they weren't so impressed with the Tower of London (apart from the Poppy display which they talked about for ages). On a previous trip they were fascinated by the Natural History Museum. They wanted to go to Harry Potter Studios but we didn't have time.

I didn't book Madam Tussaud's as I'd heard it was tacky, crowded and not really worth it, but others may know otherwise. M&M World we had a look at but it was overwhelming and we couldn't wait to get out. Complete sensory overload and (speaking as a chocolate fiend!) the smell of chocolate being pumped out was absolutely nauseating. We stopped to have a look at something and a person immediately thrust a Pic N Mix bag into our hands. It felt a bit like a production line for extracting money and we didn't buy anything at all.

Have fun! We came away with a list of the things we plan to do next time.

Thanks for your post Hamuketsu.Sounds like you had a good time! We are all into all the musuems so we will be doing that, really like the Natural History Museum.I agree with the thought of too much chocolate (even though I love it too) think smell would get sickly it was my dd that was thinking of that hopefully I will talk her out of it.London Eye sounds good as well, hadn't thought of just wandering around the Embankment and Brick Lane.Lots of ideas thankyou, looking forward to going.

We always avoid Madam Tussauds!

My two are younger, but we love South Bank.

Tate Modern is fantastic (great view from cafe) and you can walk across the Millenium Bridge to St Pauls and eat at One New Change (loads of restaurants and fairly quiet compared to south bank).

Marylebone High Street is a nice wander, up to Regents Park. Lots of window shopping.

Clipper boats are good value, and you can go down to Greenwich and the O2 if you have time.

Dont forget Top Shop and Selfridges! My younger cousins used to love a stroll around the designer shoes etc.

How about the Imperial War Museum? I haven't been since it reopened but it was really good before and thought provoking for teenagers.

My two are older, but they loved Spitalfields market and wandering around the Brick Lane area.

Wahacca might be a nice place to eat. We like Las Iguanas on the South Bank too, for their good value pre-theate menu.

Deffo go to the booth in Leicester Square and get tickets for a show.

Madame Tussauds is awful - avoid.

See the poppies at the Tower too - truly amazing.

Did The Shard for the first time yesterday and it was breathtaking. I hadn't at all anticipated being so impressed, but I fell in love with London a bit more from such a height. Definite recommend. If you do go, allow enough time - you get quite a long slot with the ticket, and it takes a while to do enough staring.

Camden market
Hint Hunt