London on Saturday

[nightlightsandstarrysky]

Heading to London on Saturday with DDs 8 and 11. Be will be arriving Victoria coach station at around 10am and leaving at just after 5pm.

We are complete newbies and would love some help on planning the day to include a trip around Covent Garden and maybe some of the sights or a show for the girls. I know we don't have lots of time!

A really good toy shop would also be great!

Download Citymapper, it will tell you the best way to get around.

I think you'll struggle to see a show but if you check out today tix or tkts you can see if there are any matinées that would finish in time. Hamilton and Wicked are close to Victoria.

Look up Top 10 London or similar and decide which of those you are interested in. Many of the main landmarks are close together and you could cover a chunk of them on foot over a couple of hours.

How much walking are you prepared to do?

11 bus from Victoria Coach take you around Westminster abbey, house of parliament, Downing Street, trafalgar square

get off at trafalgar square and a 10 minute walk to Hamleys past picadilly circus and up regent street (or swap to an 88 bus)

Liberty is near by if you fancy that

Then walk down through soho to china town and covent garden. Cinnamon Bazaar is a reasonably priced Indian (if you like that)

What do you like to do?

Ignore last email- forgot the 11 has route changed.
Get the 11 to Westminster Abbey/Houses of Parliament and swap to the 88 to Hamleys.

The absolute best toy store in London is the Lego store in Leicester Square, if your Dc are even remotely into Lego. Very short walk from Covent Garden.

The big toy store that everyone talks about and all the tourists go to is Hamleys on Regent Street. It's great fun to browse in - it's five or six stories - and they have staff on every floor displaying cool toys, eg flying drones. But warn your DC in advance that the prices are tourist prices - you'll often find the exact same stuff at John Lewis on Oxford St for two-thirds the cost.

Like PP have said, go up to Westminster and have a look at the outside of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and then walk through St James Park to look at the outside of Buckingham Palace, then walk up through Green Park and along Piccadilly (Hatchards bookstore is great if you like books, and the ground floor of Fortnum and Masons for amazing expensive food treats) and then up Regent St to Hamleys, then across to Leicester Sq for the Lego store, then on into Covent Garden.

Oh, and if you have time for a museum the Transport Museum right in Covent Garden is very good, but honestly if the weather is good and you DC haven't been to London much before, I'd just walk and soak up a lot of sights.
All the above is walkable even for DC the ages of yours, but wear comfy shoes, each have a water bottle and consider picnic in gin one of the parks for at least one snack or lunch, since sitting down in cafes in central London gets pricey.

This is great thanks everyone. Ordinarily we like to walk but as we're not there for very long we probably need to get around to such as much as possible. We love all kinds... thanks for the Lego shop tip that will go down a treat. The girls are very open to lots of things, sights, shows, activities. They've never been to London and I've only been once or twice a number of years ago.

Is there a particular reason why you want to go to Covent Garden? It has become very corporate and lost a lot of its character. There’s a recent thread on it.
The South Bank could be an interesting alternative?

Also the giant M&M store is very close to the Lego store and is fun , last time we went the staff broke into a group dance routine.

Tbh, depending on distances, walking is often quickest - London traffic moves very slowly!

@fernsandlilies re Covent Garden I went years ago and liked it but didn't realise it's changed so much.