London Holiday Advice or Hints/Tips

pallan0706

I am travelling to London in September for 3 days/nights with my husband and our 6 year old son. We would appreciate any advice regarding must see attractions, transport or special offers that we could take advantage of. Thanks in advance for any help. :T

icklejulez

Id be greatful if anyone had any advice here... Were looking at a couple of days in london whilst we are camping in Buckingham in August...

Thanks guys!

porlock

I learnt early on that you don't have to spend a fortune to enjoy yourself in London.

Get yourselves Oyster cards to save you money on your transport - cheaper than forking out for a paper travelcard. Depending on where you are staying, and the weather, consider walking/bussing everywhere. You'll get a much better feel for the city and it will save you money and stress (I'm not a tube fan!). I do appreciate that this is not a practical solution for everyone.

So many attractions in London are free. Don't queue for ages and spend nearly £50 on Tussauds or the Dungeon - try the Natural History Musuem and/or Science Musuem (next to each other) - both have free entry and plenty to occupy a 6-year old boy. The V&A, Tate Modern and Tate Britain, Museum of London, and the Imperial War Museum are all also free, as far as I know, and I'm sure there are more if you know where to look.

I used to love going to Hamleys too. Take some of the money you could have spent on a paying attraction and let your son chose a treat from there.

Check out the restaurant deals on this website - most London branches are happy to accept these vouchers (I do it weekly!). Also, if you want to eat out on the cheap centrally, check out Covent Garden/Theatreland for pre-theatre set dinners - you can usually get 2/3 courses for £10, or Goodge Street, which, for reasons I have yet to fathom, seems full of chinese & indian buffets, cheap set menu restaurants and the best value pizza place I have ever been to. £5 gets you a drink and a pizza so big you can barely move after!

It's always worth picking up or (ahem) flicking through a copy of Time Out - it can tell you what's on, what's free, and often will have some special offers inside.

Hope all this helps!

sharkie

Tube stations an interchange are often not pushchair friendly, or BIG bag friendly.
Avoid rush hour traffic on the tube.
If you are visiting Westminster get their early to avoid crowds - it often gets crowded between 9 and 10am
Don't eat/drink in tourist traps unless you are loaded. Tesco and Sainsbury etc. in the city are much more expensive in certain items than outer centre ones.
If you need to warm up food for your kid or change them, think long and hard.
You want to go on the wheel, then expect queues. It's school hols & tourist season, so expect queues everywhere.
Keep your eyes on that kid(s)

icklejulez

Thanks Guys the advice is appreciated and noted... I really want to show my kids teh best of london and coming from Blackpool hate the tat of tourist attractions such as dungeons and tussauds. Im going to london to show them the real london such as teh busses and big ben(my son 3 is called Ben hehe). They are looking forward to seeing Dinosaurs in the National History museum and my boyfriend has eyed up the science museum as he's into astrology and science.

I really cant wait. If anyone has any particular favourite restaurants (child friendly) then please let me know otherwise I have a folder full of bogof offers Iv printed off, Iv been such a geek :-p !

Gotta save every penny I have!

terryw

Smashing advice from Porlock and others above. I really recommend the Imperial War Museum.......your little boy will love the planes and guns etc. It's nice to sit around the South bank, just over Waterloo Bridge from the Strand and eat a picnic lunch on the ample benches and grassed areas. Pick up the Evening Standard and Metro papers as they often have really good theatre and meal deals. Last week I got a ticket for a really good play at the National Theatre (which included a free pint of beer beforehand) for £10.

Check out the MSE thread on meal deals....often some great two for ones. Also on Ebay there are often excellent money deals .... I have just bought a one near Goodge Street for £12 for meals to the value of £50.

No visit to London is complete without a visit to Brick Lane. Better still if you can find a voucher but always excellent value. If you are there on Sunday, go to the market at Petticoat Lane and the one in Brick Lane itself.

Make good use of the Oyster card. The TFL site is great for working out routes. There is one bus (the 59 from memory but please check) which takes in loads of tourist sites.

pelirocco

You can see much more from a bus then the tube , a lot of the sites to see can be easily walked . You can get fast passes for the London eye and dungeons , but tbh they arent really worth the money .Tussauds is rubbish > Check out what is on in the museums when you arevisiting , they often have special exhibits ( tho you might have to pay extra for that )

AMG2B

I would recommend walking from Charing Cross area through Traflagar Square, down Whitehall to Parliament and then on to Buckingham Palace - it would take an adult about 20/25 mins so would probably take a bit longer with kids but it's a great walk and you get to see so many of the main sights that way. Although one tip is that there aren't really that many places to get drinks/snacks around there (well not cheaply anyway) so it's an after breakfast/lunch activity.

Also the Tower Bridge Experience is really good - and one of the cheaper attractions. There are such fantastic views from the top of it.

Covent Garden is also well worth a stoll around - there are often free street shows which might keep your kids entertained.

mum26

The Egyptian part of the British Museum is excellent ( my lot love the whole place, especially the Japanese bit) too.

I'm forever recommending this but the river boats are excellent, you go right under tower bridge and you get great views of The Tower of London and The Globe especially.

I second Covent Garden, the transport museum there gets recommended a lot and there is a sweet tiny toy shop (expensive though so "just for looking" ) xx

p00hsticks

If you are travelling in by train, you can get 2-4-1 tickets on many attractions by printing off the vouchers here and showing your train ticket.

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

I'd definitely recommend a river cruise (or getting a daily river rover on the clipper service) - you get to see so many of the famous sites in comfort.

cardiffforthefacup

I suppose the duck tour would be more appealing for youngsters, usually available on 2-4-1, the southbank from the wheel(can't remember name at mo!) to the globe usually have street entertainers most days. If you go to Leicester square (by the cinemas) there are pizza hut and an italian outlet that sells pizza slices for £1.50 cheap snack that can be eaten in the nearby park or when strolling past the street artists there. China town is quite worth a look and is down the road from leics sq. Worth looking at kidsweek to see if any more tickets have become available.