An afternoon in London with 3yo & 7yo - help with getting about!

scousewife

Hello everyone. Im hoping you can help me. My partner is working in London & I have booked train tickets from Liverpool to Euston for sat 28th June using my Family & friends Railcard. The train will arrive in Euston at 12pm so wanting to spend the afternoon checking out some sights. My sons are keen to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben & The London Eye. Now I have never been to London before so have no idea how far these attractions are from the train station & from each other. So can anyone tell me;
What is the cheapest & generally best way to get to them?
The best route i.e. see all 3 then return to Euston?
Would it be possible to see all 3 in the space of say 6 hours?

Thanks for reading x

Browntoa

all 3 are fairly close , Big Ben and London Eye are on opposite sides of the river , Buck Palace is about 10 minutes away on a bus or a bit longer to walk

Oyster cards to move about or Travelcards from Tube Stations

6 hours is plenty

Browntoa

look at the map here for the distances walking

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=London+Eye,+Westminster+Bridge+Road,+London&daddr=Buckingham+Palace&hl=en&ll=51.501797,-0.12939&spn=0.018593,0.045447&sll=51.501697,-0.128322&sspn=0.018593,0.045447&geocode=FSjhEQMdIS3-_yGS6gkkF_ORQilzadIAuQR2SDGS6gkkF_ORQg%3BFTTZEQMdvtX9_yGnAtkU9asmCim1XlvNIAV2SDGnAtkU9asmCg&oq=London+Eye+&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=15

scousewife

Thanks for your help Browntoa. That googlemap link is very useful x

scousewife

So with regard to travel cards do I just purchase them on the day once I arrive at Euston or is it better/cheaper to buy in advance? - Also can I purchase a railcard using my friends & family card?

sarah69696pink

Children will probably enjoy the bus - no need for tourist bus just public bus and try and grab seats upstairs!

davenport151

You can buy the travelcards at your own station if you have time. But can also purchase them at tube stations. Certainly Euston)
Sorry not sure about your railcard question. Do you mean can i use the railcard to buy this? If so yes.

susancs

scousewife wrote: »

So with regard to travel cards do I just purchase them on the day once I arrive at Euston or is it better/cheaper to buy in advance? - Also can I purchase a railcard using my friends & family card?

You can just purchase your daily travelcard on arrival at Euston. Children aged 10 and under travel free on all London transport (you go to the pushchair/lugguage barrier and they follow you through and they just follow you onto buses). You get a discount on your travelcard when you show your railcard and an off peak zone1-2 TC for unlimited use on all buses, tubes and overground (weekends are off peak all day) will cost £5.90 for an adult.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/tube-dlr-lo-railcard-fares-jan-2014.pdf

You can get the Victoria line tube to Green park for Buckingham Palace (5 min tube journey and 10 mins walk to the Palace via the park) and from Green park it is only one stop on the Jubillee line to Westminster (or about a nice 20 minute or so walk from Buckingham Palace to there via St James Park) which is beside Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and London Eye is about 5 mins walk from there.

scousewife

Thank you all for your helpful replies you have been really informative xx

scousewife

Just wanted to say went to London at the weekend & managed to see the attractions that we wanted. Train arrived in Euston from Liverpool, then went to ticket office & purchased 2 adult & one child one day travel cards Using my family & friend railcard so saved £8! **EDIT Just to clarify although not needed to travel as children under 10 travel free - I did purchase a child ticket as it was necessary for me to buy at least one child ticket in order to be able to use my Family & Fiend Railcard to get an £8 saving, so despite buying an extra ticket I spent less money!**got the tube from Euston to Green Bank then walked through the park to find Buckingham Palace which wasn't too busy so took lots of pics, then crossed over the roundabout area to St James Park, a lovely park with a huge lake, saw lots of ducks & squirrels & walked through to the other side which brought us out opposite The Horse Guards Parade, boys delighted seeing the guards & horses, Walked through this court & building Then turned right & found Downing Street, (not much of a view but can say we've been)then at the end of the road was Big Ben, this area was really busy. Walked towards the Thames & saw The London Eye. Pleasantly surprised how close to one another these attractions were & was able to walk to them all with 2 young children. Unfortunately the weather was very bad so decided not to queue for the London Eye & get wet so thought we would hop on a bus to Hamley Toy store to avoid the rain - Unfortunately the buses were not running in that area due to The Gay Pride Carnival - Wish we had been aware of this as found ourselves in a very busy packed area which was quite scarey with 2 young children - So my only advise would be to check for any major events that may be happening in the area which could impact on public transport or number of people in attendance. When travelled the tube the next day (sunday) we found getting the tube/train a far more enjoyable experience as were less crowded - so another lesson learnt. Next time we return will travel on the Sunday & check ahead for any major events too! Wonderful time had by all though so thank you to those msers who gave me a few pointers x

EVIESMUMMY_2

I went to london in March with a three year old and six year old, can't help with the getting about part, we got a taxi to Trafalgar Square (where we were staying) from kings cross £15 , we walked to Buckingham palace through st James park to Big Ben and to the river and back to Trafalgar Square this was enough walking for the kids without over doing it , the highlight for the kids was a picnic in st James park by the lake and the small play area with a fantastic sand play area . Hope this helps have a great time.