kim0101

Looking for some advice on London tours. Traveling mid-March with two teenagers. We are happy and excited to see and do as much as we can in our short window but I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with tour info. Are tours necessary for major attractions or just tickets in advance? What are your must see spots? Thanks in advance!

janisj

I'm away from home and having some problems posting on my phone so just quick - I'll post more when I get home. Most people don't need any tours for any of the sites . London Walks does great walking tours but you have do little time I probably wouldn't bother with them. All the major museums offer good 'overview' tours - usually free

Macross

Are they girls by any chance? I love this place. https://london.b-bakery.com/afternoo...covent-garden/

The walking tours are good, maybe pick one. Mt husband wanted to do Jack the Ripper. NO thanks. Victoria and Albert have an exhibit I want to see and my friend bought us tickets for a play. There might be a play they would like to see. Fat tire bikes tours do several different tours in London that teens might enjoy. I suppose a lot has to do with the weather when it comes to biking. Westminster is on my list and the markets. I think they would enjoy Harrods. It overwhelms me but still love going there. Have fun planning.

Tulips

There's no need at all for tours in London to see museums and sites - but walking tours can be fun.

I wouldn't do a bike tour in London unless it's on a Sunday.
Most major museums are free; unless it's for a special exhibition at that museum (for which you may need an advance ticket), you just walk in.
Get tickets ahead of time for the Tower, and go early.

Get the teenagers involved; what do they want to do and see? Plan it on Google maps; note everything you and they want to see, group together what is in the same general area, and go from there.

Without knowing anything about what interests you, it's impossible to pick a few of the hundreds of places to visit in London. '
2,5 days is very little time; don't do anything just because it is on a 'must-see' list. If the three of you pick one thing each of you absolutely want to see or do, add restaurants, maybe some shopping, a play or show in the evening, and your days are full.

kim0101

Thank you all! I appreciate the input!

KayF

If you want a museum that is smaller and not as overwhelming as some, try the Wallace Collection. It is free and has a bit of everything, also a nice cafe. You could walk along Marylebone High Street afterwards, nice shops.

https://www.wallacecollection.org/

If you really felt energetic you could keep walking up to Regent's Park and along the canals to Little Venice. Then get a bus or tube back. Loads of options in London, you just need to pick things that interest you.

The only thing you might want to book in advance is theatre tickets. There is a half-price tix booth but you'd spend precious time standing in the queue.

Kay

janisj

"The only thing you might want to book in advance is theatre tickets. There is a half-price tix booth but you'd spend precious time standing in the queue."

Good suggestion re Wallace Collection/Regents Park -- just a comment re TKTS (the half price booth in Leicester Sq).

I haven't bought from TKTS my last few trips because I was only attending special events that required purchase pretty far in advance . . . but I spend a lot of time in the general Covent Garden/Leicester Sq/Trafalgar Sq area and pass by TKTS several times every trip. Have not seen long queues at almost any time - Nothing like the 'old days'. They also now sell tickets from 1/2 price all the way up to full price . . .

Tulips

If you shop around on various websites for tickets, you can get the same discounts, especially last minute.
I used to think the website for the actual theatre was best, but in December I found a 50% saving by going through another site for tickets to White Christmas. Can't remember which site it was; last minute theatre tickets or something like that.
And anything really popular you need to book in advance, and at full price.

KattyKatty

If it is your first trip to London, you better start with basic tourist places: Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, maybe a cruise on the Thames. For teenagers, interesting places are the Harry Potter tour (but it needs to buy tickets upfront) and the Tussauds wax museum (were interesting for me at least!).
Anyway, have a good trip!

lrice

We were there last summer and my kids are just a touch older. They really enjoyed a walking tour of the Westminster area, Borough Market, Tower of London, Tea at Ham Yard and seeing Hamilton. I agree that the Wallace Collection is wonderful if you want to see art in a beautiful manor house with a lovely restaurant. They would also like walking around Covent Garden. Here is my trip report that you might find useful

Trip Report: London & Oxford June/July 2019

mcisik

I know the corona virus may have messed up your London plans for this March, but I wanted to share my recent itinerary just in case you were able to reschedule your trip.

I stopped in London for a 3 day layover during my family trip to South Africa in July 2019. I asked my husband and kids (20 and 22) what they wanted to see/do, and we came up with a plan. Since London was sort of an add on to the main trip, I had to be mindful of the budget. All those entrance fees at the various tourists attractions add up!

To get the most out of our entrance fee money, I did a lot of research and ran a bunch of numbers. We ended up buying a 2 day ticket for The Original Tour hop on/hop off bus. The ticket included a Thames River boat cruise, a Rock n Roll walking tour and a Changing of the Guard walking tour. Plus it allowed us to add discount tickets for the Tower of London. The 2 day ticket ended up being the most economical way to see all the things we wanted to see. I bought the tickets before we left, so we were able to show our tickets and hop on the first bus we saw.

We stayed at London House Hotel in the Kensington Gardens/Bayswater area in a family suite that slept 4. It was a really nice place. There were at least 2 pubs close by, and McDonalds (for a quick breakfast) was right near the tube stop. The tube station was only a 3 minute walk from the hotel.

This is what we did:
Day 1 - We arrived at 10:00 AM, dropped our bags at the hotel and took the double decker bus tour to see the main sights with The Original Tour, dinner at a pub, in bed by 7:00 PM due to the jet lag.

Day 2 - Tower of London right at opening, went to the Crown Jewels first then did the live Beefeater tour, Thames River boat cruise, Trafalgar Square, Rock & Roll walking tour of Piccadilly, Soho, Carnaby St, pub for lunch (I had high tea scheduled but got outvoted), Evensong at Westminster Abbey (there is no entry fee for church services and the Westminster boys choir was glorious), pub for dinner

Day 3 - Churchill's War Room, we also saw the King's Artillery Horse Guard parading on their horses nearby. We did not get our tickets for the War Room in advance because I wasn’t sure which day we’d do it until it was too late. This was a big mistake. We had to wait in line for about 1.5 hours for our turn to get in even though we got there right around opening time. We ended up missing the Changing of the Guard walking tour at Buckingham Palace that we’d planned because this put us behind, and we had to head to the airport for our afternoon flight.

Over all I felt like we packed a ton of stuff into our short time in London! And we didn’t break the budget.

I hope you get to take your trip soon!