Plan for 4 days in London with country mouse teens

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

I grew up in London about 1000 years ago. 16 years in SW1 then a few years in SW11 until I went to uni 100s of miles away. I have no family left in London. I don't love London, and since DM moved out 20 years ago I have no family there anymore. I go down for a day or 2 for work every 2 or 3 months, and am always happy to go home,

The DC however, really want to go to London, and I think that's fair enough. We did go for a weekend about 10 years ago, spent most of it in the Nat History Museum, and neither of then remember it. They are 12 (DD) and 15 (DS) and have grown up in a Yorkshire Pennine village and think that my 4 storey office building in Leeds is a skyscraper.

I'm thinking of taking them for 3 or 4 days in their Easter Holidays. Probably arriving LKX about lunchtime on the Tuesday and coming back on the Friday afternoon.

I need a plan to show them round.

I'm more than happy to run around on buses and tubes, not worried abut navigating and travelling at all. I can do the Westminster/South Bank/Covent Garden, King's Rd/South Ken Museums big hitter highlights. Is Camden Lock still the place to go ? I really like the look of the Novelty Automata museum in Holborn.

DS (15) loves history - Tower?
DD (12) loves colourful and bold art -Tate Modern?

We'd stay in a SW London Premier Inn probably.

Camden
Chinatown
Buckingham Palace
London Eye
Maybe a show
A boat trip on the river is good, as is an open top bus ride.

Why not get them researching and coming up with their own suggestions? They can plan the bus and Tube journeys too. (www.tfl.gov.uk) You can make suggestions later, if they've come up with really impractical plans, such as only allowing 15 mins to get from one side of London to the other.

I will say, don't spend all your time dashing from one 'attraction' to another, but take some time to actually see London. On foot or from the top of a bus is the best way.

Also, I still think a good street atlas such as an A-Z is useful to have for planning, in addition to apps and websites. Much easier to see where places are in relation to each other.

There are some great street art tours over Shoreditch way which it sounds like they'd enjoy.

The Tower of London is definitely worth a visit and St Katherine's Docks is nice for lunch after. in the afternoon you could get a boat down to Greenwich for the Cutty Sark and a poke about the market, or up to South Bank.
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@Abouttimeforanamechange getting th to plan it is an excellent idea. It’s half term. Brilliant. Thank you.

Download the Citymapper app. It is great for getting you around unfamiliar bits of London.

There are plenty of good suggestions upthread. If boat tours are £££, I like to get the Uberboats (Thames Clippers) from Battersea Power Station heading east. You get to see plenty of iconic buildings en route. (There will probably be some kid-friendly activities lined up for Easter and there are plenty of restaurants and an M&S foods to grab snacks).

Try to visit the Tower as soon as it opens and dash to see the crown jewels. The Beefeater (free tours) are usually good fun for kids. After that you could linger in the City a little. Try the walk-up free roofgarden at 120 Fenchurch St or book SkyGarden/8 Bishopsgate/The Lookout.

I hope you get some dry weather.

ds at a similar age loved hanging out on the south bank and Leicester Square watching all the street performers and people watching

Tower of London could easily take up most of the day

There are whose museums in the north of England so unless they have a real desire to do a museum, it’s worth doing other things that are very London. Changing of the Guard? Even if you don’t want to watch the whole thing you could stand on the route and see the new Guard come past and then head for a coffee/breakfast

We're also in Yorkshire and work in Leeds. DCs bit younger than yours. We go every October half term. Stay in Premier Inn at Angel, lovely restaurants around and easy access to tube.
We are creatures of habit and usually go to the museums on the first day, second day shopping (kids loved visiting Harrods and I always have to go to Libertys) and maybe a matinee, this year we went to HP World instead. We usually go to Borough market but we went to Spittlefields last time which was a good mix of food and shopping.
Covent Garden is worth a visit, the Apple
Store there sometimes runs free workshops!
If we have time we also try and see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Enjoy!

Some great ideas thank you.

I went to school on Cromwell Road, and practically lived in the S Ken Museums as a child. My love of museums has definitely rubbed off on the DC and we're very familiar with tye Armouries, Leeds City Museum, Weston Park, Kelham Island, NRM, Media Museum, Scarborough Rotunda etc @ranoutofquinoaandprosecco

DS has become very insular as he's got older, and was horrified at the idea of going to London. This is a huge change!! His wings were seriously clipped by being locked down age 11- he's now 15, and a combo of lockdown/limited rural transport/not having to do coursework with friends for GCSEs anymore/being happy in his own company means he's very inward facing, but ok in wider environments with hand holding.

DD on the other hand is well up for this and is working on her brother! We'll build in lots of quiet spaces for him.

Battersea Power St was a stalwart of my childhood. I never went more than a few hours without seeing it, and remember the Pink Floyd album cover being shot. I really want to see the redevelopment!

OP you won't recognise the area between Vauxhall and Battersea! It is so different from even 10 years ago.

They've recently announced a tour of the Power Station which I really want to do myself:

https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/official-guided-tours/?

Did you ever go to the Commonwealth Institute? It is now The Design Museum. They dis a really good job of the refurb (and the free exhibition galleries would probably interest your two for an hour).

Since your son needs some quiet time, a boat trip to Greenwich would be a nice way to do that. It's quite peaceful and takes a good long while to get there. My teen and I did that last week and found it a great opportunity to chill, as well as a warm dry place to sit and eat our sandwiches! Having seen the Cutty Sark on a previous visit, this time we looked round the Royal Naval College. We took the last boat back at 4:30 so it was fairly dark. The lights on the bridges and London Eye were lovely; I'd never been on the river after dark.

By the way, remember that your country mice may not have the knack of staying together in a crowd. It's a highly developed skill which you probably take for granted because you've done it from an early age. You might want to give them some coaching on that. Make sure they have phones in case they're separated from you, and have a backup plan for what to do if phoning doesn't work (e.g. lost phone).

Did you ever go to the Commonwealth Institute? It is now The Design Museum. They dis a really good job of the refurb (and the free exhibition galleries would probably interest your two for an hour

What??????
My sister broke her arm there when age was 3. We went a lot. My dad lived overseas for years.

The Shoreditch street art tours are fantastic - highly recommend. You could do one of them combined with Spitalfields Market for lunch and a nose at the stalls. It's art and craft most of the week I think but antiques on Thursdays, plus permanent food stalls.

Maybe try and book the Sky Garden for the morning (I've never done it) - or start your morning at St Paul's cathedral and look at some real skyscrapers on the walk 25 mins east to Spitalfields.

I love Postman's Park, which is a tiny park with some quirky memorials to brave deeds in Victorian times, just north of St Paul's.

The London Mithraeum is interesting - Roman remains found under a new skyscraper and left in situ, very atmospherically displayed and free to enter.

The real joy of London is just walking and seeing what you discover on your way.

A rib boat would be good. Part sightseeing talk then part thrill ride at the end after the tower.

Brick lane / Camden - my 16 yo prefers brick lane.

Theatre - back to the future might work for both of the ages.

Mine liked the brands museum near Ladbroke Grove. Just loads of household stuff for last 150 ish years. Interesting to see how all the brands evolved. We combined with wander round Portobello market and grabbed food there.

I always taking people on the walk along the south bank from Tower Bridge to Westminster (you can start at St Katherine's Dock on the north bank and cross over the bridge, added bonus points if you can time it with a bridge lift https://www.towerbridge.org.uk/lift-times)

There's lots to see on this walk, historic and modern - City Hall, Hays Galleria is worth a look inside, BFI/NT/RFH in a clump, bookstalls under Waterloo Bridge, etc. Can get quite crowded on sunny days.

The Novelty Automata place is brilliant. Small but perfectly formed! My two loved it.

How about a boat trip? You could do the Tower in the morning, then the "river bus" to the Tate Modern in the afternoon - https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/river/about-river-bus

I wouldn't bother with Camden. It's been taken over by big brands now, it's soul has gone.

Personally, I'd stay north of the river. There are 250 tube stations north and only 29 south! With traffic and time spent on buses, its so much quicker to use the tube to get around- or walk, depending where you are going.

I too was going to suggest a street art tour around Shoreditch/Bethnal Green. Bricklane is nearby and you could have a curry lunch at Preem (there are lots of curry restaurants, but the only one we go to).

Lots of vintage/retro shops along cheshire st.
If you visit the area on a Sunday, there is also Columbia flower market and bricklane market. Columbia Road Flower Market – Columbia Road Flower Market is a street market in Bethnal Green in London, England. Columbia Road is a road of Victorian shops situated off Hackney Road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
1min from Bethnal Green tube is The V&A childrens museum. Its recently been renovated and always a hit with adults and children alike. And free! Young V&A (vam.ac.uk)

Getting a boat to Greenwich is another idea. The observatory, markets, Cutty sark.

If you wanted to take the kids to the shard, without the cost of the viewing platform, you can go to the Aquashard. Its a pricy restaurant, but you can go to the bar without booking, have a softdrink or glass of bubbly and still enjoy the views. Home - Aqua Shard

The lookout at 8 Bishopsgate I think is free. Views are honestly amazing. You might need to book a time online.

Wouldn't bother with Camden...
Southbank is great mix theatre/concert at the national or southbank they often have interesting things on and at the Hayward as well as the skaters are still there..

I like blackfriars station as u get a good view and an easy walk to the tate which is a great call then cross millennium bridge to st Pauls still love that view

The kids liked witness for the prosecution in the old county hall .

And DLR driving through canary wharf .. docklands museum not too big

How about the new tallest viewing platform in London ? It’s free. Then stroll down to southbank or Tower?
https://horizon22.co.uk/

Spend a day river hopping- you can go all the way east, Greenwich naval stuff, O2 & cable car, Tates modern & Britian, up to Battersea power station & everything in between.

I think you can get day passes. It's a more relaxed side of london on the river.

Book tickets to the Sky Garden now.

Another idea - Evensong at St Paul’s - it’s lovely, choral music , lasts half an hour, is free - saves the cost of entry to St Paul’s which is spectacular and can be combined with Tower or southbank or Tate etc ..

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/whats-on/choral-evensong-sunday

Harry Potter studio?