Stuff to do with family in London

Taking the sprogs (aged 4&7) to London for the Easter holidays. Any recommendations from the locals on days out & stuff to see beyond the obvious.

Thinking about hiring bikes one day.

Natural History Museum. Fantastic, but gets very busy though. We had a great picnic on that little park by Buckingham Palace as well. My two just loved the hustle & bustle of it all.

Dim sum in Chinatown is good fun with kids.

Any other food recs welcome. …

Natural History Museum and the Science Museum makes for a good day out.

Tower of London & have the mick taken?

http://www.londonribvoyages.com/

Monument, at Monument. A couple of quid, climb up and the views are fab. Shouldn’t be a queue either :-)

Easter Monday, Live football

APF

The Southbank ,Greenich ,Kew

Take the boat up to the zoo, the eye, London dungeons, a show, Wicked. Where you staying ?

Natural History Museum is amazing and my 4 & 6 year olds love it. The parks also have great playgrounds if the weather is nice (Hyde Park and Holland Park are our faves). Mine like eating at Giraffe which does sensibly priced family friendly food (in Kensington, Marylebone and Holland Park) and also the noodles at Wagamamma which are everywhere. Regents Park does pedalo and rowing boat hire which they enjoyed for 15 mins max.

There’s usually some good family shows on in the west end (went to see Thw Gruffalo and Snowman recently which both of mine loved).

The zoo is good but I always find them quite depressing and the eye is great but lasts a long time and they’ll get bored of you pointing building after building out to them I suspect. A river taxi is cheap and always goes down well too (and they love the tube in short doses for some inexplicable reason!!)

I wouldn’t ride bikes anywhere but the parks.

One of the plus sides of having wee sprogs ,is that they are up at the crack :wink:

So if you are there over a weekend ,get up and out early before London wakes up.
If you want to do the whole picnic thing (weather dependent) ,you can always hit Hyde park after doing the Science or Natural History museum.

Same at Greenwich .There will be plenty of places to get something to eat or head to the park.
Have fun .
It’s a great place to visit.

Thanks all….good point on London eye especially.

Yeh wouldnt bother with the Eye. South Bank is a great walk though. Start at London Bridge, Borough Market is lovely, then down the water past Shakespear’s Globe all the way to the Theatres opposite Parliament. Loads going on, loads of good places to eat with kids…..Canteen at Royal Festival Hall is a great spot for lunch. All Lancashire hotpot and fish and chips. Go into the Hall too for a look around, marvelous place….last time we went there were hundreds of gay fellas having a tea dance.

+1 Museums at South Ken (V&A, Natural History, Science) then walk over to Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens if the sun is out.

Yes, Greenwich for the Royal Observatory and the Naval College. Trememndous views over Canary Wharf from there. Again maybe one for a nice day, you really want to be outside and enjoy the Park.

And the Tower is a genuinely impressive sight and great for kids. The Armoury has had a huge makeover, my boys couldnt get over the children sized suits of armour for Royal princes.

Some good deals on attractions here, if you are travelling by train
http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

I think the eye is worth it, our youngest loves it.
Transport museum in Covent garden is good
Tate Britain usually has some child friendly activities and is free
Duck tours if you are feeling flush – http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/
Diana Memorial playground is nice – http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/diana_playground.cfm

Have fun!

Transport Museum is great. It’s not too big and busy like some of the others can be. Very hands on and interactive for the kids.

Things I’ve done with my kids:

Tower of London, then get a boat back up to Westminster.
Natural History and Science Museums
Kew Gardens is nice for a walk and has a reasonable playground in it.

mogrim – Member

Things I’ve done with my kids:

Tower of London, then get a boat back up to Westminster.
Natural History and Science Museums
Kew Gardens is nice for a walk and has a reasonable playground in it.

This.

And whoever said London Dungeon needs to be shot.

Don’t forget a ride on the top deck of a red double decker bus (take the number 15 from the east side of trafalgar square… down The Strand past St Pauls to the Monument or on a little further to the Tower…

I’m not sure going into the Tower is worth it.. (especially if you have been to science/NH museums before) but defo go down there to see it and tower bridge, the Belfast, the Shard (try and guess how tall it might finish up being, from the slopes of the side… In my mind it just keeps getting taller) and the other tall buildings of the City

Try the Duck bus… never been on it myself but looks great fun…

http://www.londonducktours.co.uk

Oh forgot to mention…. sight seeing is knackering, even when you know your way about…. might need to take that into account with the dustbin lids…. Science/NH is a day in itself…. Buck Palace, through St James park to Horse guards, onto trafalger, bus, tower back along river to westmister (good idea) is a nice loop and will again propbably take all day.

What everyone else said plus I preferred the V&A to either the Natural History or Science museums. Maybe Camden Market, although maybe not for a 4yo though, but you can combine it easily with London Zoo/Regents Park activities.

My children loved the London Eye, although depends on the weather what you can see, wife hated it and spent whole time sat in the middle with a death grip on anything solid!

Also liked the London Aquarium, Science and Natural History Musuems. We did take them into the Saatchi Gallery, which they really liked (especially the Damien Hurst pickled sheep etc) although some of the exhibits are not really suitable for children (Grayson Perry), but it was right next to the Eye.

If you do head out to Kew, there’s an Italian restaurant on the Green (ASK[/url]) which does a kid’s menu, probably better value than the restaurants/cafes inside the Gardens.

I’d forgotten about the Aquarium, kids quite liked that one too. The V&A sometimes has exhibitions that the kids like, but it’s probably a little bit too adult for yours.

Things I probably wouldn’t do:
* Personally not keen on the British Museum – too many people – but they do have activity trail things for kids to do. Not good for a 4yr old, though.
* Trafalgar Square / National Gallery.
* Camden Market – yours are a bit too small to enjoy it, my 12 year old loved it this Christmas, but the 7 year old wasn’t quite so keen.

If you are in town for Easter weekend, you could take in the start of the Boat Race in Putney.