Staycation in London

[TwoFlatsasOne2019]

We're having a staycation in London for part of the summer.
Apart from the usual things like going to the Southbank / Tate Modern, which we do often, what other things would you do if you were a tourist in London?
So far, we will be going to the Tower of London (never been, even though we live in London).
Would also welcome ideas for day trips /National Trust visits from London.

The science, natural history, v&a museum are all free, then a picnic in Hyde park.

Southbank.

Saatchi Gallery if you like art. I preferred this to the Tate modern which i found a bit meh tbh.

Harrods is an amazing building, the food hall is stunning but crowded. Gorgeous cakes and every type of coffee you can imagine. I was so clearly a tourist with bugger all money, myself and dd literally popped in to use the loo, but even when we were browsing stuff we could blatantly never afford the staff came and chatted to us about the things we were admiring. That was nice.

Greenwich park and the observatory, cutty sark.

I love London, although im very happy to leave after a day trip. Knackering

Ahhh man I didn't see that you live there!!

What about downloading a treasure hunt (Google it and you'll find it in sure) there are bound to be loads of them. You pay about £8 And you download a series of clues, print it out and boom- treasure hunt. They take about 2 hours and take in a lot of things.

We did a load of touristy stuff recently, with some relatives who came to the UK for the first time. It was great - doing all the stuff you never do because you live in the city!

We did:

• the hop on/hop off bus tour
• river cruise (included as part of a 48 hr ticket for the bus tour) to Greenwich and then lunch in a pub on the river (called The Trafalgar, I think?)
• the changing of the guard - much more entertaining than I expected! If you're going to do this, get a place on the fountain opposite Buckingham Palace for the best view!
• a visit to the Hayman's Gin distillery in Balham

More recently DH and I have been doing stuff locally too - it's amazing how many things there are in your immediate area that you might never think about. Go to Google maps of your area and have a look at the things on the map that they show.

River trip to Hampton Court (4 hours!) or just part of that?
Hampton Court
Ham House (NT)
Richmond Park (take bikes?)
Eltham Palace (stunning!)
William Morris’ Red House (NT)
Willow Road )NT)
Homewood House (NT)
A Planetarium showing at Greenwich Observatory

Kew Gardens using 2for1 London discount?
Boat bus as PPs have suggested.
Guided walk.
Explore a new area - Wapping, Rotherhithe, Hampstead
London circular walk
With all the money you've saved by staying at home, treat yourself to lunch at a Michelin starred restaurant.
I second Saatchi gallery, and great area for exploring.

Oh yeah Tower of London you can get cheap with 2for1 London as well.

RHS Wisley
Take the train to Brighton
Windsor Castle
Royal Gunpowder Mills
Waltham Abbey and Gardens
Cassiobury Park and model railway
Chiltern Open air Museum
Bekonscot Model Village
Epping Forest

Also, depending on where you live, take a trip to Morden - I know that sounds odd! Morden Hall Park is absolutely beautiful. The river Wandle runs through it, there's a wetland there as well as lovely walks through the park. There's a second hand book shop and two cafes (it's also a National Trust property).

I really enjoy being a tourist in our city! I've just shared 50 things to do with kids over the summer which might give you some ideas: museummum.com/2019/07/13/summer-holidays-2019-50-things-to-do-in-london-with-the-kids/.

Some more tailored suggestions:

• Hever Castle is an ace day trip, it has Anne Boleyn's childhood home, award winning gardens, good playgrounds and a water maze plus live jousting and other activities over the summer.
• Tower of London is a great tourist attraction, as is Hampton Court with its Tudor kitchens, maze and playground. *The Postal Museum and Mail Rail has a tiny underground train, hands on galleries, an under 7s play space, and great holiday activities.
• Tower Bridge itself is OK, good to tick off the London tourist attraction list and you can do it in an hour. The stairs and engine rooms are my favorite bit, if you time it with one of their family days they have free craft and you get a ticket to come back and revisit during their family days in the next 6 months.
• We recently visited Clandon Park NT, it was gutted by fire. You have to wear high vis and hard hats, and you can see parts of the ravaged building. I found it incredibly moving. It's near a much bigger NT site so you could combine the two, but we just enjoyed a quiet couple of hours there with a picnic after.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your staycation!

If you go to the Tower, get an annual Historic Royal Palaces membership. Covers you for Hampton Court too, and one visit to each makes back the cost - and then you get unlimited visits for the year. Includes Kensington Palace too, and Banqueting House in Whitehall.

I had visitors recently, and played tourist. Things I liked best:

• Osterley House (NT) - on Picadilly Line
• lunch or dinner somewhere overlooking the Thames
• Postal Museum
• if not squeamish, then Bodyworks
• the various smaller museums (like the Pertrie) that belong to London University

- Leighton House

Also, try a Parkrun? Or try out activities at Westminster Boating Base. Or walk segments of the Capital Ring.

(PS - OP, would u consider asking for this thread to be moved to the London topic? Recommendation threads if things to do and how to get about in London are getting scattered across many topics, and it can be surprisingly helpful to have them in one place)

Visit the Sky Garden & see familiar buildings from a different perspective. It's free but book online.

Head out to Stratford & do the Orbit slide & swim in the Olympic swimming pool.

Kew Gardens. If you have kids it has Just opened a fabulous children’s garden and can be combined with a trip to Richmond, where depending on what day you go you can watch cricket on the lawn which is always fun

Some great suggestions here, especially the South London ones.
We live in North London (very close to Camden), so South London isn't an area we know well, and it will seem very much like a day trip for us.
Thank you!
@SquirmOfEels - I'm afraid I don't know how to move threads to London section, but happy to do it if you let me know how

In Forest Hill you’ve got the Horniman Museum which is free and really good for kids. Lots on in the summer too. You only pay for the small aquarium and any temporary exhibitions. It has the famous Horniman walrus!

Oh! The other thing we did recently was a canal boat trip from Camden Lock to Little Venice - you may have done this is you live near there, but it was really good.

You need to use the 'report' function and ask MNHQ to move it for you (you can't change topics yourself). Better from you (as OP) than from later contributor (as only a few topics have things moved irrespective of OP's wishes)

Some more south London suggestions: Wimbledon - Lawn Tennis museum, Wimbledon Park, walking on Wimbledon Common (The Windmill), see what's on at the theatre, go horse riding

For a shorter excursion, there's a GoApe in Battersea Park

On a not too hot day, there are Lidos at Tooting Bec and Brockwell (where they had to call the police for crowd control last week!) if you end up in Dulwich, there's an interesting Picture Gallery (one of the oldest in the country) and another riding stables

Londoner here who has done several staycations with kids. Some great things already mentioned (and sorry if I'm just repeating other ideas)!

One thing we've enjoyed year on year is a trip to Greenwich Park, maritime museum, then coming back to Westminster by boat, rain or shine it works.

I second Battersea Park too - the park as a whole, the zoo, the playground, Go Ape

Clip and climb in Chelsea is lots of fun for an indoor session, but book in advance just in case.

I hope you have a wonderful time, our city is so fabulous and diverse it's easy to forget to be a tourist on our own doorstep.

Also in Wimbledon - Cannizaro park ; Cannizaro House is now a Hotel du Vin , so you could have lunch/dinner or just a drink there

Skygarden
day in Greenwich

Greenwich
Chatham Dockyard
Eltham Palace
Hampton Court
Borough Market (thurs-Sat)
Any boat trips along the Thames
The O2 climbing experience
A bit further out - Downe House (Darwin's Home)
Knowle Park - Sevenoaks
Kent Villages
Seaside trips - Whitstable or Southend
All the NT and English Heritage places
Outdoor cinema - some of it free
Peter Pan production (National Theatre) at the troubadour, White City.
Trampoline parks galore
Climbing walls galore
Number 11 bus round London

All of the things we've done in the past few months. If you're canny, things can be low cost / free and we bring packed lunches/snacks and our own drinks.

And back to Morden Hall Park - on 16 August there's an evening open air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Northern Line from Morden is one of the 24 hour tube lines, so you could easily get home afterwards

Unless you like just walking in pretty countryside, then I'd only go to Morden Hall Park when there's an event on.

Brilliant river and bridges for Pooh Sticks.

Paddling is not encouraged, but staff never ask you to leave the water. So it's good on a hot day (but will be busy)

Yeah, Morden Hall is a great local park but I wouldn't cross London for it, tbh.

Why on earth not?! It's only a tube ride away for @TwoFlatsasOne2019 - and probably a direct trip on the Northern Line. Great park, interesting wildlife, lots of different events on through the summer , two cafes to choose from, a second hand book shop and right next to a garden centre. It's more than just a walk!