cmetilt

Hello All. I'd love some simple input. I'm overwhelmed and more than a little panicked.

Decided last minute to book our family trip to London and Paris. (Will post Paris separately so to keep as simple as possible.) Family of four with kids ages 15 (girl) and 12 (boy). We will arrive in London at noon on a Saturday (ten days from now) and leave for Paris on the Eurostar Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. We are staying at the Crown Plaza in Kensington.

My ideas so far are this:
Tower of London
British Musuem
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey

The kids have requested a castle and we have received several recommendations of a fun castle experience at Warick Castle. It would take up all day on Sunday b/c I think the train ride is 2 hours there and then 2 hours back. I know I know. Can we manage these other places on Saturday and Monday? We would only stop and see Buckingham Palace, not tour it. I would love input on order of doing things. Having a hard time with maps and locations...

Thank you so much in advance for any help. I will check back to answer any questions you may have for me. THANK YOU!!!

Pam

nwtraveler

If you not set on Warwick Castle, what about Windsor Castle. It is a much shorter train ride from London.

If you want to tour the interior of Buckingham Palace versus just seeing the outside I suggest booking tickets online before you leave.

London Walks does a nice tour of Westminster Abbey. The tour will help you make the most of your time and you will better understand the significance of what you are seeing.

rncheryl

Tour of Hampton Court might get you kid's attention, and much shorter trip.

jent103

Even better, see if the Tower of London is castle-y enough for the kids. With only two full days in London (and am I guessing correctly that you've never been?), it would be hard for me to go out of the city at all because there's so much to see. I've been to Warwick, albeit 15 years ago; it's fun but was kind of like the Disneyland of castles, at least at that point. Definitely not worth the time commitment in your situation, to me.

If the weather is good on Saturday, that would be a great time to walk around Westminster - you can see Big Ben, the Eye, Buckingham Palace. You could see the Abbey, but actually going in before closing that day might be tough unless you went straight there. I'll second the recommendation for the London Walks tour - I did it last year and really enjoyed it. (Any of their tours that I've done have been fantastic; I think I'm up to seven or eight now. walks.com for the schedules.)

bvlenci

My kids loved Hampton Court when they were a bit younger than yours. There's a terrific maze there, and they also found the old kitchens and other service rooms very interesting. You can take the train there and a boat back, to up the fun quotient.

laurie_ann

If you are staying at Crowne Plaza Kensington consider the Victoria and Albert museum. It is right down the street. It's free. You can just pop in to see a few highlights. They have docented tours also free several times a day. And I love the cafe.

And I do think that Tower of London is plenty enough of a "castle" for anyone who has just a few days not to go all they way out to either Windsor or Hampton Court let alone Warick.

janisj

>>We would only stop and see Buckingham Palace, not tour it.<< You couldn't tour it even if you wanted to -- it is only open in Aug/Sept. Buckingham Palace and Big Ben are just walk-by's s no reason to 'schedule' them. You'll see then when you go to Westminster Abbey.

>>The kids have requested a castle and we have received several recommendations of a fun castle experience at Warick Castle.<<

You simply do not have time to devote a day to Warwick -- and who ever advised you omitted THE quintessential castle . . . the Tower of London. (it isn't just some tower -- it is massive castle, moat and all.

nytraveler

Your time is too limited to waste a whole day going out of town.

The Tower of London is much bigger and better than almost any other castle (yes, it was originally a fortified military center, then expanded) plus you get to see a massive amount of history - be sure to take the beefeater tour.

paris1953

Perhaps the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum? Your kids are old enough to appreciate them and they are fascinating!

evecolorado

Another vote to stay in London.

We took our grandkids, ages 12, to Warwick last June and, although they enjoyed the so-called scary dungeon tour, the birds of prey and weapons demonstrations, the stately rooms lost their interest very quickly.

We spent most of a day at the Tower of London, arriving at opening time and having lunch there, and they found much more of interest and thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. It really is more of a castle experience than Warwick.

If they had to vote which one to return to, the Tower would win in a heartbeat. Warwick is O.K. if you are passing through to somewhere else, as we were, but not to make a special journey there.

cmetilt

Ok. I think I am getting the message loud and clear. So if we choose to do the Tower of London as our castle how would y'all split the days?

texasbookworm

Just got back from 2.5 weeks in Europe, 9 days of which were in London; my 6th trip and I STILL want to return (but not right away--I'm knackered!)

Day of arrival--Stay outside as much as possible, but there are all those free museums in the Kensington area, plus Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Don't be too ambitious on this day--having just experienced a rather severe travel glitch, I can remind you that you don't KNOW you'll arrive by noon, so don't plan any "must see's" for first afternoon.

Day 1--You can't tour the Abbey on Sundays, and you want to be at the Tower at opening, so I'd say get to the Tower before it opens, go immediately to the Crown Jewels tower when you get in, circle back to the entrance to catch the next Yeoman Guard (Beefeater) tour for an hour, and then spend time exploring. Allow 3-4 including these things, souvenirs, lunch, etc. probably.

Then you could go to the British Museum. It will take about 30 minutes to travel, and then you'd have several hours. (CHECK the Transport for London website BEFORE you leave to see if there are any PLANNED disruptions with certain Tube lines; the Circle and District lines were having all sorts of issues while we were there and that made a difference in our travel plans).

OR you could plan something else that you come across. I won't begin a list; let your kids maybe do some research but DO NOT get sucked into some tourist traps or things that take too long to stand around line for.

Day 2--Be at Westminster Abbey at opening and allow at least 2 hours; the audio guide is wonderful. After (if not before) you can walk around to all the other "sites" like Big Ben's tower, Parliament, over to Buckingham Palace. Walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.

Then??? If you didn't go to the British Museum, then go now. Also, definitely go to St. Paul's and cross the Millennium Bridge at some point in your trip (could be arrival day adventure). (I love going into St. Paul's and the walk up to the dome for a look at the city is a great idea--but you may not want to do these two churches on the same day--and you can't do either on Sunday). But go to the outside and the area at least; walk along the Southbank, see the Globe, maybe head toward the Eye

Your kids might enjoy the Eye but it is expensive and time consuming. Up to you. They'd probably love to see a play; getting tickets the day-of saves money but is time-consuming; I didn't want to do that so purchased ahead. We LOVED Warhorse. (and Shakespeare at the Globe!)

Just plan like 2 major "things" or areas for each full day.

europeannovice

We stayed at the Crown Plaza Kensington on our trip to London last year and we really liked the hotel and the location. The hotel breakfast is too expensive though but around the corner there was a little place called The Forum if I remember correctly that served really good and cheap breakfasts. Don't go to a place called Garfunkel--not clean and food is subpar.

Another vote for the Tower of London. We spent about 5 hours there. As everyone else says, arrive at opening, go straight to the crown jewels then circle back to the entrance to pick up the Yeoman's tour. After that visit the White Tower with loads of arms and armour. The cafeteria at the Tower serves very healthy food at reasonable prices. We did the Tower on our first trip to London.

If you had the time I would highly recommend Hampton Court Palace too. The palace and grounds (gardens) are magnificent and worth at least a half day. The train from Waterloo? I believe is quick and easy. Only a 30 minute ride.

Being so close to your hotel you can visit the V&A museum for sure. Across the street there is a really neat little place called Orsini for lunch or dinner that also has reasonable prices and really good food. We ate there two or three times during our most recent visit. I heard the cafeteria at the V&A is great too but we didn't get to the cafeteria either time we visited the V&A.

The natural history and science museums are there as well but to me the queue for the natural history museum was not worth the wait (especially not during the pouring rain). I have been to plenty of natural history museums (American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum, Field Museum etc.). This one is not that impressive compared to those and certainly not worth an hour long wait to get into when there are other more unique world class museums in London to visit. The V&A, the British Museum, the National Gallery, even the smaller Museum of London are fascinating. Enjoy your trip and please write a trip report when you return.

europeannovice

As far as suggested itineraries, on our first trip to London we did this in one day albeit it was a very long day:

First thing in the morning get to the Tower of London before the 9AM opening time and watch them open the gates. Do the crown jewels and Yeoman tour along with White Tower etc. Have lunch in the cafeteria. After the Tower when you exit you will see the famous Tower Bridge--great photo ops. Take a ferry at the base of the Tower over to Westminster passing by a fantastic view of Parliament and Big Ben from the water. You can visit the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill museum which is open until 18:00 or 6PM. You can see the outside of Westminster Abbey but won't be able to visit on this day--probably too late for visits. From the cabinet war rooms it is a short walk over a bridge to the London Eye and if the lines are not that long take a ride on the Eye. Lots of iconic things covered in one exhausting day. We did this on our first trip to London and really enjoyed the day. My feet didn't though--I think I needed to go to a Boots pharmacy and buy compeed (excellent for blisters!).

Next day you can do the British Museum and St Paul Cathedral. I recommend you take the time to climb to the top.

On your arrival day since it will be late afternoon you can visit the V&A since it is walking distance from your hotel. You can also explore the area of Kensington.