London visit

[Liz79]

Hi everyone. I have a 9.30 slot booked to visit Westminster Abbey, and a 15.00 slot for a tour of Parliament. Me, dh, and 2 dc (9 & 11). We thought that in between the 2 we would go on the eye and also have lunch. Southbank? Wagamama? Any lunch recommendations please? My main question though is what time should I book for the London eye(fast track)??? 1200 and get there at 1130 straight from the Abbey? Then lunch. Or the other way around? Maybe a 1330 slot on the eye????

Any other London tips gratefully received 😘

What do you think of our itinerary?
Saturday
• Train arrives 1020.🚂🚃🚉
• Drop bags at airbnb. Is then 1100 ish.🏠
• Non stop bus tour 1300
• Harry potter walking tour 1530
• Covent garden

Sunday
• Changing of the guard at horse guards parade 0900 for 1000
• Snack
• 1100 slot for Buckingham Palace State rooms. Takes 2 hours.
• St James park picnic
• Trafalgar Square, national gallery
• Medieval banquet 17.15 to 2100

Monday
• Natural history and science museums
• Picnic lunch in Hyde park

Tuesday
• 1000 for 1030 Harry Potter world
• Packed lunch

Wednesday
• Arrive 0900 for 0930 Westminster Abbey
• Wagamama or Westminster Abbey for lunch
• 1330 London eye
• 1500hrs Tour of Parliament
• Buy cakes sandwiches crisps prosecco and eat in flat while getting ready for
• 1930hrs Wicked at Apollo Victoria

Thursday
• 0835 Tower of London BOOKED
• Buy adults online
• Kids Blue Peter badge.
• Lunch borough market
• Imperial war museum

Friday 30th
• 0900 River cruise
• 1000 ⛵Cutty sark
• Lunch in market
• National maritime Museum
• 🕝🕧🕑🕧🕔Royal observatory

Saturday

• 1000 British Museum
• ???Portobello road, Hyde Park, Harrods
• Train 1830 😫🚉

I'm tired reading it!
Obviously weather dependent but rowing on the serpentine, playing in the parks, perhaps keep more flexibility. It will be super crowded in the museums - I might suggest giving the British museum a miss, I queued nearly an hour to get in last time and you were 6 people deep at every exhibit. Greenwich is much nicer, the river bus (not the tourist boats) are part of the Oyster card scheme. Tate gallery is mostly free. The wellcome museum is interesting and quieter but exhibits change. Camden market is good for dinner. Oh and Kew Gardens maybe?

You are trying to cram in rather a lot, to my mind.

By the way, you do know that Harry Potter World isn't in London, don't you? It's the other side of Watford in Hertfordshire.

It depends on whether your children will appreciate all those museums & the crowds. I understand wanting to fit in as much as possible but agree with PP it looks a busy itinerary. Lots of ice-cream breaks!

That looks a great itinerary, well thought out with each day being a little area of London, you will love the Tower and Greenwich. The museums will be busy but you have the lovely parks nearby. We really liked Imperial War Museum, they all have foody places but much better to get out for your picnic and air.

Borough Market nice and shady to walk through and get delicious food and drinks. They have an amazing juice bar.

Wicked is a great choice for theatre evening!

Southbank has loads of restaurants, we usually do Wagamamas or Giraffe, they are all along there, and we tend to look for the one with the smallest queue!

I'd do Abbey, Eye and then lunch

Harry Potter World will be a great day, the shop is incredible so they may spend all their pocket money in there! Leave plenty of time to get there. Definitely take the headphones/tour ipod thing, they are brilliant and interactive.

Have a brilliant time. You can sleep on the train on the Saturday evening!

Hey there

Wow this looks amazing and so well organised.

I recently did a trip to London with my two DC (also 9 &11) but I used this app called Keetoo. Saw it on FB and it was free to download so looked into it.

We did lots of the free stuff around London (Natural History, Science Museum etc )and said to the kids that they could choose one thing each that we would pay for. DD chose Tower of London and DS chose a bus tour. It can be expensive and I was a bit worried about the weather especially with an open top so went on a bargain hunt!

I was a little dubious at first with this Keetoo app as you don't actually buy any tickets for any particular venue but you add credit onto the app and then redeem it when you visit any of the attractions they have listed. They had just what we were looking for and some other bits that seemed interesting. It could do with some more attractions on there but it had what we wanted and some more.

We were able to visit two attractions for £35 for an adult and £20 for a child. It was so easy and it worked really well. We also saved massively. We couldn't go the day we wanted to as my DS was unwell so we went a couple of days later. Because we hadn't bought any tickets we didn't lose anything and the credit just seems to stay on your account in the app until you first use it.

We just rocked up at Tower of London, selected that this is where we wanted to go on the app and redeemed it at the Group Ticket desk which was a bonus as the queue was significantly shorter. We then had 48 hours to visit our second place. It was amazing because not only did we do the bus tour but had the option of a river cruise too included with the bus. We didn't do that as the kids didn't fancy it but it was a bonus to know we could if we wanted to later on.

Also they have this thing where you can visit a restaurant on the app and get a free starter or desert included in the price but we didn't have time to do that.

Anyway perhaps worth a try.

I think it sounds good! Depends on your kids though I guess. If it's hot on Tuesday have your lunch at the Diana Memorial Fountain which is close to where you enter Hyde Park just off Exhibition Road. The kids (and you) can walk through it and cool off. Just take a small towel to dry feet off.

Hi, Londoner here!

It looks pretty good but definitely agree with PP about cramming it in. Your DC are older than ours so I reckon they can handle it, but getting around very often takes longer than you think.

Natural History and Science Museums are the busiest places in the world. I mean seriously ridiculous. I would be tempted to choose one, get there for when it opens then bail a couple of hours later. NHM dinosaurs in particular will be rammed within 30 mis of opening.

London Eye is so expensive, lots of queueing and not even the best view in London anymore by a long way, so I would sub that for the top floor of the Tate Modern viewing balcony. Free to get in and you can check out one of the free collections too if you have time.

If you like pizza, Pizza Pilgrims is lovely and there is one in Covent Garden.

After the British Museum on your last day you could just go and hang out in Regents Park for a bit, maybe walk up to Primrose Hill? Portobello Road is nowhere near there, and Harrods not too appealing in mid summer?

I’m a planner OP

But this is far too much.

I lived in London for 10 years
And now live 45 mins and go there very often with my children (9 and 6)

We meander. We stroll along south bank. Watch the skateboarders. Adventure playground outside London eye. Watch the street performers. Get an ice cream.

I live in central London (close to Westminster) and your itinerary sounds fab and totally doable! Enjoy!!

The traffic is awful. Just returned from similar trip. We sat in traffic for most of our tour and what should have been a 3 hour trip took 5 hours and missed some of the sights as roads are closed and traffic diverted.

You may want to work out what on your schedule is essential ( already booked or top attraction for your family) and what could be skipped or modified so you have some flexibility. I would colour code must do in green , like to do in blue and if it fits in and we are in the mood in red. Enjoy!

I was going to say, don't rely on the open top bus tours for getting you anywhere for a certain time! Although most are hop on hop off so you can always dismount to the nearest tube.

Portobello Road is incredibly busy on a Saturday. Unless you aim to get there for 9am. .. I live around there and it is impossible to just meander through. You will find it too crowded to be enjoyable especially as you want to do other things that day.

Also meant to say... It looks so well planned! Can you come and organise my life please?