Driving to London ?

miggiwoo

Am thinking of taking mywife and 2 small kids to that London for the day as my son wants to se the science museum and natural history museum.As Ive never drove to that London is the past few Years , I,m nervous about this congestion charge and stuff.How do I get near to these museums and where to park for the best ?Will be taking little one in a pushchair so also wondered about the Tube.Sorry if sounds like i am a Country Bumpkin , only travelling from nottingham but its only getting into that London that makes me a bit nervy.:eek:
Have thought about National Express (£1 deals) , but the times arent the best for us.

Any advice:beer: would be amazingly greatfully accepted

dave111

Could be worth driving M1 then A406west.
Parking near Hanger lane and getting tube (picadilly line((blue)) to Gloucester Road.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/standard-tube-map.pdf

Justin_Scotland

If your not going for a couple of weeks some cheap day return rail travel tickets might be an idea.

Otherwise like Dave111 we used to drive down M1 and then park on residential streets at Willesden Green and get the tube in.

MaxEnder

Just so you know, the residential streets around Willesden Green have paid parking sports around them - I think its something like £1 per hour.

Justin_Scotland

I used to park a couple of streets over around chatsworth road is that all meter parking now? I know right near the station was metered but once your got 2-3 streets away it used to be free residential parking.

susancs

If you go on a Sunday, you can park opposite the Natural History main entrance in the side roads as parking permit restrictions do not apply in certain roads then (aft 8am I think). We usually arrive for about 9-9.30am (Science and NH open at 10am) and find a parking space. Hubbys brother works in the museum, so pop in to see him when he is on a Sunday shift. If you leave it much past this time, it is unlikely you will find parking as it gets so busy and there is v limited parking avaialable. There is no congestion charge on a Sunday either and early am the roads are fairly quiet, so getting there is not a problem. It does get busy traffic wise from about 11am. Another tip is to use the side door for the NH which is on the same side as the science museum, next door along, with a banner above it-as you usually do not queue there like at the main entrance. Only thing is there is an escalator up (not sure if there is a lift for the pushchair, probably is, but I never noticed it!). Know it would be a very early start on Sunday for you all, but road traffic would be minimal and you could return earlier and miss the main traffic out of London. Also with little ones it is much quieter in the museums when they first open and they can see and do more. You could then drive to nearby Kensington Gardens about lunchtime, park up (at Kensington Gore or Kensington Rd- A315, be careful, some of it has resident restrictions, but a lot does not, look on the street signs on the poles) and go into the Diana Memorial "Peter Pan" park (my 6 year old loves it). Walk along and watch the model boats on the lake, also a walk into Hyde Park is nice and there is a lido paddling area there (but you have to pay to go in £4 adults, £1 kids), plus boating on the Serpentine. You could take a picnic with you to enjoy there or there is a cafe at both the sepentine and Kensington Gardens. There are also free creative activities for families in the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens Sundays in July/August noon onwards and other free activities.
http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/events.cfm
Serpentine lido.
http://www.serpentinelido.com/