Londoners pls help: city holiday for DC

[Liz79]

Hello
We would like to take the dc to London for a week or so next year, to do all of the major sights of their capital city. They will then be ages 9 and 11. Please help me plan where to stay and where to go. We would like a "budget" hotel or flat rental. My current to do list is
1 day Windsor
1 day Harry potter studios
1 day Greenwich inc river ferry
1 day science and natural history museum

Would like to also go to
Tower of London
Houses of parliament
Open top bus
Niiice afternoon tea
Buckingham palace
Madame tussards
Planetarium
Zoo
Hyde park
A show (cursed child?)
Covent garden
Borough market
East end market (this will be much more diverse and colourful/exotic than northern England 😀)
Hamleys
Oxford st

Please can you tell me how best to fit it in e.g. how long we should allow and what's near to each other. Should I get a book off Amazon? Do you know of any offers these places have or London pass type things. When is the best time to go? How much is this all going to cost us and how soon do we need to book stuff?
Thank you all in advance.

Personally I would book the cheapest place to stay that you can find. there is no point wasting money on accommodation in London because unless you pay serious pounds it is usually just average. have a look at Airbnb somewhere central or next to a tube line. buy oysters cards for all of you. by far the cheapest and easiest way to get around. a west end show is going to be expensive unless you pick the really cheap seats which aren't always worth it in my opinion. I would try and book as many things as far in advance as you can because this is when you should get the best choice and the cheaper prices.

Visit Hyde Park on the same day that you visit the Natural History Museum and Science museum. If I were you, I'd get to the NHM just before it opens (10am) to avoid long queues. Spend a couple of hours and then walk to Hyde Park for a relaxed picnic lunch. Stroll around the park in the early afternoon and then walk to the science museum at about 3.30. Crowds will be thinning and you can stay there until 6.

Visit Madame Tussaud's and the zoo on the same day. Visit MT first (be there when it opens at 10). Walk into Regent's Park for lunch and continue walking across the park to the zoo. Spend the entire afternoon here, it closes at 6.

On another day, go to Buckingham Palace to watch changing of the guard for free outside. Plan to be there before 10.45. It lasts until 11.30, but I wouldn't stay that long. From there, walk north to an amazing (but very expensive) food shop called Fortnum and Mason. You don't have to buy anything, just looking around is an experience! From there you can walk to Hamleys and after Hamleys it's an easy walk to Oxford Street. After oxford street, take the underground to Charing Cross for afternoon tea at the Savoy Hotel. It's really close where you can easily spend a few hours looking round and watching the street entertainment. Covent Garden is where a lot of the theatres are so you're in the perfect place to watch a show in the evening.

Planetarium doesn’t exist anymore... (it’s all madam tussauds now)

Find somewhere next to a convenient tube station and get an oyster card. Would also reccoment the Huntarian museum of your girls like things that are a little bit grim (as children often do)

There is a planetarium at Greenwich so you could do that on the same day.

For London was stay at the premier inn at Slough - Train straight into Paddington. From Slough you can also get a train straight into Windsor too

Cursed child books around a year in advance for a few months at a time so that may be hard to schedule in spending on when you are going. I took my dd age 6 and 9 to madam tussauds with our Merlin passes at the start of this year and tbh I found it a bit crap!

We don't have much interest in sport or movies so a lot of the characters we had no idea! At full price I would not say it was worth it.

Some places do 2 for 1 when you have a train ticket. If you google 2 for 1 days out there is a website you can check.

There is a historic palaces annual pass. If you want to go to Windsor castle and Tower of London that may be cost effective. (Not sure as I don't know pricing).

HoP and Buck House on the same day - you can get a tube to Westminster, have a look at the House and then stroll across St James' Park to Buckingham Palace. From there, it's an easy walk to Hyde Park Corner. You can get a bus from there along there to Harrods/Harvey Nicks where you can admire the window displays and go back into the park if you have the energy.

Tower is expensive and I would go last thing so it's quiet. You can do the Tower and Borough Market the same day. Museum of Childhood is right near Bethnal Green tube and worth a trip if you fancy an East End market (Dalston isn't bad or you could do Columbia Road if you like plants)

Tower of London is most of a day but you could include borough market as a short walk away.

You don’t need an Oyster card - you can use contactless cards on the tube (remember to use thesame one all day)

Unlikely to get cursed child tickets, but the Lion King is brilliant, an absolute joy. It’s just off Covent Garden.

Afternoon tea at The Wellesley is good value for central London and a 5 star hotel. They will also bring you more of whatever you want.

One tip, write to your MP and request a tour of the Houses of Parliament. I have lived in London for years and only did this last year fantastic and free.

Cursed child is brilliant but a) expensive b) difficult to get tickets c) two shows not one. However if you sign up for the mailing list and then when tickets are released for the relevant week you and your OH hover on two laptops and two phones there’s a good chance that you should be able to get some (though even moderate tickets are 60 quid so that’s 480 pounds for the necessary 8).

The Princess Diana playground in Kensington gardens (nearest tube is queensway) is fantastic too if they need some running around/ free play time

Harry Potter studios are brilliant but again the useful times sell out a few months in advance, so make a note of when tickets go on sale for that date and put it in your diary.

Afternoon tea I would do Claridges or Browns. You have to book in advance so they can be a bit limiting.

HP is still a hot ticket. You’ll have to go through all the step HermioneWesley outlined before but tickets start at about £15 per part if I recall.

If you are only there for a week I would cut some of those out. You will be absolutely EXHAUSTED!! I wouldn't bother with Tussauds. Avoid Hamleys. They don't sell anything special that you can't buy elsewhere and it's more expensive. However if your kids like Lego then the Leicester Square store is great and if they are into Harry Potter (or other things like Star Wars, Pokemon etc) then the shop called Forbidden Planet they will LOVE!!! It's down Shaftsbury Avenue (near the theatre showing Harry Potter). If they like books the big Waterstones in Piccadily is great. All three of those shops are within a ten minutes walk of each other and Covent Garden is close by so you can include that at the same time. The Transport Museum in Covent Garden is good but if you don't want to go there you can still go in the gift shop which is nice if your kids like trains/buses etc. Tower of London is good. Windsor is quite a journey away so I wouldn't bother with both. Do an open top bus tour to see the classic sights - Buck Palace, Tower Bridge, Parlement etc. I have heard the zoo isn't thats great. Unless they are obsessed with animals I wouldn't bother. Greenwich is great. Take the boat there then get the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) back into central London - it's the driverless train!!
Seriously don't try to do too much. London gets very tiring. If you end up trying to see too much you will just get tired and cranky!!

I personally love the zoo but I agree that it’s not unique to London and it’s a bit of a waste of a day if you’re only here for a week.

If they’re Harry Potter mad then there are walking tours you can do - either guided or just buy a special map and DIY.

Don’t stay in Slough for Christ’s sake.

There are a whole bunch of fairly new hotels around the Bankside area, just south of the river (near Tate Modern). Good tube connections for a lot of what you’re looking to do. Probably some Airbnb flats too I would imagine. It’s a well connected but central place to stay.
Alternatively you could look at more zone 2 type places on the train lines out of Waterloo and on the District and Piccadilly lines which would get you to the places you’re looking to go pretty easily.

And plan some downtime - central London is exhausting. Maybe do a nice walk along the Thames path out by Richmond for example or go to Hampton Court and then walk through the deer park or along the river. Hammersmith westwards is also a nice Thames walk.

Brilliant, thanks everyone. I have been looking on airbnb today and found a 1 bedroom with sofa bed for kids which is in Islington, that's £700/week and is cheap! 😮 Is Islington a good place to say? Which areas should I put on the airbnb search box? might be better with Edinburgh zoo and Blackpool Madame tussards!

Download CityMapper, put the full postcode of the Airbnb into it and see how long it will take you to get from there to (say) Trafalgar Square. Islington is a big place. Just outside Angel tube would be a great place to stay. Fifteen minutes dubious bus ride from the arse end of Canonbury, not so much.

You're trying to fit a lot in! The Natural History and Science museums are big and it can be exhausting trotting around on public transport. I think the four things you have listed will give you a flavour of London. I'd add in down time in the parks, London Zoo, jumping on a Routemaster bus (or the open top bus for the main sights but it's £££) and a theatre show. Play everything else by ear.

So a Londoner here who had her American teen cousin visit to “Do London” along with my much younger teen DD and I can tell you that you def aren’t going to tick all your wish list places off in a week. We did 3 weeks and still didn’t see everything.
Tips are
Book in advance if possible to avoid the queue (google various tickets companies for the cheapest)
Plan your route carefully so you aren’t slapping from one end of London to the other (it’s a big place!!)
Don’t bother with a bus/boat trip just get the clipper from Westminster (public transport) that will take you to Greenwich.
Tussauds is rubbish and the planetarium is the same as anywhere. London eye is OK but expensive for what it is
Science museum and natural history are brilliant but be prepared to queue a long time to get in them (nat history is best though)
Covent Garden touristy but the kids will like the street performers so you could end your day here for dinner
Sky garden is a great end (tall building with great views - google it) but you need to book in advance and bring passport even though it’s free - you can point to all the things you have seen
Since you will be in Islington go to Camden market
For shows try lovetheatre.com (cheapish tickets) but personally I LOVE the Shakespeare Globe Theatre and they also have an exhibition/talks (also so do pit tickets for about £5 which are standing and really good fun)
With 2 youngish kids I would skip the afternoon tea or do it at Windsor/Greenwich
Borough market - if you happen to be in the area go for lunch/dinner but worth a special trip
Tower of London is worth the trip as is the London Bridge Experience and the walk over the top of Tower Bridge (and if you are in that area you might as well do HMS Belfast )
Windsor - worth the trip but prefer Hampton court (also by boat from central London)
Haven’t been to HP world but on my list (going to the show in Oct but booked months ago!)

....hope that helps. Any questions let me know

There are absolutely loads of serviced apartment firms in London also OP which you might find better value than Airbnb although less characterful. They are generally used by business people but in the summer they will probably be less busy.

Whereabouts do you live? Would a house swap for a week be an option?