London sightseeing with teens advice? How many days and where??

[Ilikeyoursleeves]

I'm thinking of booking a surprise trip taking my family to London in the Feb break next year.

I have 3 boys who will be 11,14 and 16 then, plus my husband. I don't know London at all although have been a few times when I was younger. Budget is around £2k and this will need to cover transport from Scotland (prob by train), tube/ buses/ taxis, hotel, food, sightseeing and shopping.

I'm thinking 3 nights and in a hotel in one room for the 5 of us. I thought Airbnb but I'd like someone to clean and give us breakfast!

Is 3 nights enough and if so what is best to see and do?!!

Any recommendations for where to stay as a family of 5??

Thanks in advance!

Sky garden

Just bumping this up as we are going to London in Feb!

So far we are doing (as in they are booked):

Sky Garden
Cirque Du Soliel
Natural History Museum

We only have two full days plus the afternoon on the day we arrive and the morning of the day we leave. We prob won't be back any time soon as we live nowhere near London.

What are your other must do's for 2 adults and 3 teens? (Other than the advice already on this thread)

Thanks

Tower of London followed by interactive standing tickets for Guys and Dolls on the other side of the bridge.

Which hotel are you in, Olympia or Earls Court. What days have you booked for the museum, cirque and sky garden. the museum and Albert Hall are near each other, so are Kensington Market good for clothes, Kings Road some teens like, Portobello Market! at weekends, the new Battersea Power Station complex, Chelsea Football,club in Fulham. . If you've booked the sky garden hour would they be interested in seeing parts of The City? climbing the 02, Spitalfields, Shoreditch.

Borough market makes a fantastic quick lunch stop if you are in the South Bank area (e.g. for the excellent walk suggested by PP. Delicious, top-quality street food options. You can then sit near Southwark Cathedral to eat it and pop into the cathedral afterwards.

Toca social at the O2 was amazing fun. Also instead of sky garden the garden at 120 is amazing and relatively unknown so less queuing/easier to get up.

I took my 15 year old brother on a walk around Shoreditch to see all the street art. It was great to see Brick Lane etc. If you go late afternoon you can have a curry there. You can also have a look around Spitalfields Market.

Here’s a self guided tour https://londondreaming.com/shoreditch-street-art/

Has anyone suggested Forbidden Planet, in Shaftesbury Avenue? (Sorry don't have time to read back through the thread.)

And general advice to anyone visiting London - don't spend all your time rushing from one attraction to another; take some time to actually see Lindon. Walk in St James's Park or along the river - I like the walk through Wapping from the Tower towards Canary Wharf, but any part is interesting. Stroll around the City, looking into some of the old courts and alleys and Wren churches. Take a bus anywhere. Visit the Museum of London Docklands to see London as a working city, not a tourist attraction.

I echo the PP who said don't try and cram too much in.

A good all day adventure is;

Get to Chelsea Harbour or Westminster, and take the River Bus to Greenwich. You will see lots on the way.

Have a wander in Greenwich, there is the Cutty Sark, Greenwich Market to see. Then head into Greenwich Park and up to the Observatory. For free you can stand either side of the meridian line which is a fun photo op.

From the park wander over to or get a bus to North Greenwich and take the Cable Car across the river. Either return on it and or get the DLR to get back into the City at Bank. You could then walk over to the Walkie Talkie for the Sky Garden. I love a wander in the City, worth seeing St Paul's and walking over the Millennium Bridge.

You can do lunch in Greenwich, there is a street food market, or a picnic in the park.

@HappyHamsters we are staying at the Earls Court one so the Natural History Museum and Royal Albert Hall are within walking distance.

Thanks to the street art suggestion, that sounds really cool! And yes we don't want to feel we need to cram it all in but mainly take in the vibes, wander around and just see what we feel like doing. There's some great suggestions for places to go though, thanks all!

Any really cool places to eat?? We are planning on just having one meal out a day, they've been ordered to stuff themselves at the hotel breakfast so we don't need lunch lol 🤣

Dont book a fancy Thames boat trip - take the Uber boat ! Cheap and easy - you could go from Westminster or Southbank to North Greenwich and then get the cable cars over the river (maybe a return journey) and have a look around the o2? There is a big games centre in there now too

East London is cool for teens depending what yours are in to - lots of graffiti and a meal on Brick Lane wouldn't be expensive for you all either or book Italian at Gloria's for something more instagramable

Horizon 22 (I think or 23) is the new viewing platform - it's free, the garden at sky garden is also lovely and free too

@Ilikeyoursleeves DS likes eating at Borough market, there's a whole area with street food, and Chinese food from duck and rice. There are so many good places though.

Don't book a fancy Thames boat trip - take the Uber boat !

I agree. Otherwise known as Thames Clippers. Comfortable, with big windows, so you get a good view, and a coffee bar on board. There's a variety of different ticket options - check the website.

Similarly, I always recommend getting normal red double decker buses rather than a tourist bus. You can choose routes that will take you past most of the main tourist sights, and jump on/off as you fancy.

Definitely this for teenagers. Head to Spitalfields market, down Brick Lane, have a good curry and then head to the Jack the Ripper museum and to Tower Bridge. All of this is on foot and is a change from the very touristy bits. It’s still touristy but less so.

Churchill War Rooms. Sounds dull as dishwater but our then 14 year old son and I loved it. Spent 4 hours there.

My teenagers absolutely loved Camden and Covent Garden. We didn’t have a big budget for shopping but they didn’t mind as they enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and the excitement of it all.

Highly recommend The Gun Powder plot at the tower. Bit pricey but worth doing. Walking tour of Highgate Cemetery, Uber boat down / up the Thames. Walk around Wapping and a meal at The prospect of Whitby. The cable cars over the Thames down at the O2. Thames explorer mud larking tour :) all of these. Though I am a bit of a history nerd 😂

I expect this has already been suggested (sorry, haven’t read all the replies) but the London Dungeon was a big hit with ours.

Lots of the walking tours are excellent.

The Gun Powder plot at the Tower of London is fantastic as mentioned by the PP above. We included a visit to the Tower itself with a wonderful beefeater, saw the Crown Jewels etc