Visiting London with kids

[Girlsworld92]

I'm considering a mini break in London with my kids. Age 3 & 5. The 5 year old is desperate to go and I would love her to see it.
We will arrive into Euston so would probably get a taxi to the hotel.
Thinking of staying Southwark and maybe one day on an open top bus so she can see all the sights (minimise tired legs & grumpiness) and one day at Natural History Museum.
I'm a bit nervous about it with everything that's been going on but we live in Manchester and we are clearly no safer here than London and I don't want to pass my fears on & I realise millions of kids are in London every day.
I'm just not sure if it's a crazy idea with them at this age as we would have a push chair for the youngest. Any suggestions on how to make it stress free?

The only thing that might be difficult is pushchair on the tube I think - others might have advice. You might need child Oyster cards (which you can get from info office at Euston, not online unless you want to pay for a picture one)

Diana memorial fountain is lovely to do with kids your age on a nice day.

I'd put a wrist bracelet on with your mobile too. Some places can get sooo busy. I lost my 7yo son outside Buck palace for about 10minutes and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life

I wouldn't be going to London at the moment. I just don't see the point of putting myself in a more risky situation.

Ooh go to the South Bank. Me and the kids always go there on a trip to London! Lots of things happening, buskers, street theatre type stuff. People sprayed gold and being statues. I love it! Plenty of places to watch and drink, and have a look at what is going on in the Sotuh Bank Centre, which is super kiddie friendly.

London is full of brilliant things! Check out the grant museum of zoology, its free to get in and there are some great things to look at!

I've done London with 3 kids including a pushchair (one year I did it with baby in sling, toddler in push chair, and walking 5yr old! I'm not going to pretend it was stress free but it was worth it!), but the pushchair might be a hinderance for some things. I'd suggest M&M World, for example, but not sure how easy it would be with a pushchair!

I never had too much trouble with pushchair on the tube, though id advise taking a super lightweight one so if it is busy you can fold it up and hold it if there isn't space.

London is brilliant. We will do our annual trip there this summer too. We stay outside of London though and just travel in each day.

Thanks everyone
Holly I know what you are saying and I am currently having conflicting views but I also don't want to put my life on hold because of what ifs.
Littlepond, where do you stay? I was wondering about staying outside of London but I don't know the surrounding areas v well.
I am keen to avoid the tube as much as possible hence taxi to the hotel.

The Diana Memorial playground was a hit for my two. We did the morning at The Natural History Museum and then tube to Kensington, picked up a picnic lunch then through to gardens to the park. I imagine you could also get a taxi but I'd think that's going to add up if you use taxis the whole time you're there.

We've stayed at the Premier Inn at County Hall which is perfect for the Southbank as mentioned by a pp above.

Travelling on the tube can be ok - check and see which stations have step free access (see tfl.gov.uk) and avoid travelling at peak times.

You can walk to the bottom of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens from the Science and Natural History museums. Honestly, it's a straight 5/10 minute walk up Exhibition Road. We did it a few years ago when my DDs were about the same age as yours. We stayed in a hotel just opposite Gloucester Road tube.
What is your DD so desperate

Oops, hit post by mistake!
What is your DD so desperate to see? I have taken my older DD to London lots of times, mainly to a museum, picnic, bit of sightseeing, child friendly meal out and then back on a bedtime train home (we live just under 2 hours out of London)
Would definitely recommend a boat trip so they get to see the main sights!

She wants to see where the Queen lives 😀 that's why I was thinking the bus might be a good option. My youngest would love the bus too and we would get a whistle stop tour quite easily. Think she would love Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and the London eye too. They've been doing about London at school which is why she's interested. They've also been doing Australia but that's slightly out is budget unfortunately
We wouldn't be going until October time

with the bus tour you can do hop on/hop off so that means if the youngest stops wanting to be sat down you can at least get off and see something.

If you can do a weekend in October rather than half term things will be a bit quieter. The natural history museum is rammed at half terms, if you can't do a weekend either go when it first opens or towards the end of the day, especially if you want to see the dinosaurs.

If you're going to do the London eye you can get combined tickets with that and the London aquarium, and also Shreks journey attraction (which is okay but not amazing). They're all walking distance of one another on the south bank, and there's a nice playground there too which is good for a picnic if the weather is decent.

Just to point out that with travel cards/Oyster Cards you can hop on and off the normal red buses too, and it's a lot cheaper than the tourist buses. But manoeuvring two such small children up and downstairs might be a bit too much.

www.tfl.gov.uk, the Transport for London site, has a lot of advice about travel around London, route planning, fares, etc.

My mum used to take three of us up to London when we were small. I loved the Tube.

Another thing your 5yo might like is to go down to the embankment near the Tower of London. You can see the outside of the Tower, watch traffic on the river, and watch Tower Bridge go up - the Tower Bridge website will tell you when that's due to happen.

You don't need oyster cards for the children, they travel free. Also if you have a contact less debit card you can use this to touch in and out of the tube and you won't need an oyster card either. My tips on where to go would be Sky Garden (it's free - added bonus), the cable cars at the 02 arena, the bus tour is great and if you are on wowcher sign up for london as they often do bus tour discounts. I also find the river cruise on the Thames really good value and I think your 3 year old would go free. The southbank is very near loads of attractions and Westminster station is step free access with a buggy.

Thanks for the wowcher tip. I'll check that out. We've booked 😀

The Tube is a bit of a hassle with a buggy but in my experience, some kind soul always offers to help bring it down/up the steps.

It sounds like a great idea and such a nice thing to do for your five year old.

Where did you book to stay? I live in west london and use the tube loads. I have a 2 year old and use my buggy, I get loads of offers of help. As others have said avoid 7-9 am and 5-7 pm and look out for the stations with step free access. Have fun