Ldoging for short London stop with kids
 

Will have 2 full days in London at the end of a tour.
Would like suggestions for affordable family lodging near attractions/tube station?

Would love to be able to stay with our 14 & 11 y.o in one room instead of 2.
Family suites anywhere?

What is your budget? One option is one of Travelodge's family rooms - www.travelodge.co.uk

Lee Ann

Yep --everyone's 'affordable' is different. What is yours??

I'd like to stay under 250 pounds per night

Oh -- heck that would be very high for a lot of visitors . .

Check out the Premier Inn County Hall. Hopefully they have availability since they are VERY popular. But if you can get in you'll have £50 to £100 a night (depending on your dates) to spare you can splurge on something else.

Not posh but very clean/modern, kids stay free, and the location is AMAZING.

You might like to have a look at
http://www.aparthotel-london.co.uk/i...iew=room-types.
Reasonable price, good location, modern and comfortable. It may suit your needs, as it does ours.

Sorry -- but the Space (francophile's link) is not central. It is off Westbourne Grove and the only nearby tube stations are Bayswater and Royal Oak. Not somewhere I'd stay w/ just 2 days w/ children. It is walking distance from Kensington Gardens (and Portobello Rd) but nothing else.

I was thinking of a reasonably priced good accommodation that features separate bedrooms as well as location. It does depend what 2idocs wants to do with kids while in London? Museums are not so high on children's list in our experience.
However Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are not far away and there is easy food shopping and they would have a kitchen and let's face it, one generally has to use the tube in London to get around.
That said you are quite right in suggesting they look at the location of accommodation before booking. I made this suggestion because we have found these apartments suit us better than others where we have stayed

"<i>Museums are not so high on children's list in our experience</i>"

That seems very weird. Most kids I know love LOVE <B>LOVE</B> places like the Science Museum, Natural Science Museum, British Museum, and many others.

But even for non-museum goers - Westbourne Grove is not very convenient. W/ the OP's budget, they really have their pick of neighborhoods.

That seems very weird. Most kids I know love LOVE LOVE places like the Science Museum, Natural Science Museum, British Museum, and many others.>

With only 2 days I would not waste any time on museums like the Science Museum or Natural Science Museum - museums that Americans can see at home - now the British Museum yes - even a short pop in to see the famous things would be great.

But with only two days museums would be low on my list.

do take the kids on the London Eye Ferris Wheel and a boat trip on The Thames and to The Tower of London and such - so much to see in just two days

I wasn't advising the OP to go to those museums. I was responding to francophiletasmania.

There isn't anything special about a science or natural history museum IMO that you should waste your holiday time going there. You can go to those back home, no doubt. In any case, it is not related to the country and reason you are traveling there.

Thanks for the replies.
We booked a room @ Premeir Inn County Hall. Looks like it will fit our needs well, but will still entertain better options as well.

Coming off 2 weeks in Italy, so kids may be sick of churches and museums, but we're most interested in seeing things that are unique to London.

I spent 2 nights/1 full day with three 14 yr old girls in London in July.

They loved the London Eye, riding the Tube and double decker buses, shopping along Oxford St (including at the tacky touristy stalls) and walking along the Thames.
The highlights for them were seeing Mamma Mia, eating a picnic lunch in a park where they watched local teens hanging out and climbing on the lions at Trafalgar Square.

Museums weren't a priority for them so we spent under an hour in the Science museum and checked out the Chihuly glass @ the V&A.

We stayed at Marriott County Hall and loved it! Great location - the Premier is in the same building, just around the back.

What the kids liked:
- Tower of London (of course, my 10yo had just done a presentation on it, so she knew a lot about it going in)

- Tower Bridge - combined with above

- St. Martin in the Fields brass rubbings. Combine this with a meal/happy hour - cafeteria adjacent is very easy and convenient (and sells beer and wine so its a good happy hour activity!).

- London Eye. We booked tickets for about sunset and were lucky that the weather cleared. Had a gorgeous sunset!

We didn't do any museums. We just decided that we were so limited for time that they would have to be for another trip. We also did Hampton Court (maze was a BIG hit!) and Windsor Castle.

Tube is also a big hit - I let the kids plan the routing and where to get on and off. They did very well!

the London Dungeon is one of London's top tourist sites for Brits themselves - kids will love this place!

I would go to the British Museum - mummies, the Lewis Chessmen, tons of cool stuff.

If they are Harry Potter fans, you can visit Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross station. I got a kick out of it myself. :-)

Lee Ann