Ideas for a few hours in London with 3yo

[bubbletubble]

Looking at taking my daughter to London for a few hours. It will be a solo trip and don’t really want to get on the tube or the buses as it will be the first time I’ve taken her to London.

The train I am coming in from can either stop at St Pancras, Blackfriars or London Bridge.

Does anyone have any suggestions of where I could take my three-year-old within about a 5 to 10 minute walking distance of either of these three stations?

I was thinking of getting off at Blackfriars and going to Tate Modern, (although I’m really not into modern art 🤣) but wondered if it was any good for her? Any other suggestions?

Tate Modern was going to be my suggestion; my 5 year old always enjoys it when we pop in.

Post Office museum is about a mile from St Pancras, great for kids.

There’s also the fountains behind St Pancras station, if it’s a hot day you see loads of kids running through them

have a great time

Coram's fields, south of St Pancras, is an amazing playground area (or it used to be, I haven't been in years) - but it's more like a 15 or 20-minute walk from the station.

As pp mentioned, the Granary Square fountains are great to play in, but only on a hot day. There's a good ice cream place near there called Ruby Violet, and a small playground behind it.

Blackfriars - walking across the millennium bridge is fun, and when you walk up towards St Paul's, there are little spinny things for kids on the way. We used to just hang around that area and play in the gardens around St Paul's.

Just getting on the top of a double decker bus (front seat) is pretty exciting when you're three!

Tate modern and a wander along the Southbank would be great for a 3yo

Get off at Blackfriars, go to Tate modern, then walk west along the southbank, go down the steps to the river (if it’s low tide) and look for treasures in the sand, wander into Gabriel’s wharf, if you get as far as the southbank centre there’s plenty to see, and also the millennium wheel a bit further along which has a merry go round and lots of street performers nearby. You can stop off for an ice cream anywhere you like and buy a book from the market underneath Waterloo bridge or watch the boats and the red buses going over the bridges … then walk back

that would keep me occupied for a few hours!

The postal museum has a great play area.

I wouldn’t say the Tate Modern is great for a 3 year old other than the big ramp to run up and down in. It’s usually packed inside too. Look for an outdoor space maybe as suggested above.

That's pretty much what my dad used to do with me! Perfect.

Lots of great ideas, thank you. 🤩 I think we’ll do Tate Modern then the Southbank! Weather is looking nice for Thursday too 🙂

Paddington Bear experience in the County Hall

Lots of great suggestions on here. You can jump in a taxi from King's Cross to London zoo. Or if it's a nice day you could get a boat along the canal to the zoo x

Stuck to the plan and went to Blackfriars, headed to Tate Modern - wasn’t really my cup of tea, but stayed for an hour.

Went and had some lunch and took a walk up Southbank all the way up to the London Eye, went on a carousel, played in the park, got an ice cream then an Uber boat back to Blackfriars and then home. My DD said it was the best day ever.

It was such a lovely day and will come back to this post for our next day trip as there were lots of great ideas! Thanks all x

So glad you and your DD enjoyed it! It sounds perfect.