London – five days with two teen boys
 

Hi all

Travelling on my own with two sons (12 and 14).

Arrive London 07:30 Friday 13 Sept. after long flight from Australia. Leave for Paris on Eurostar following Wed. morn. So five nights in London.

We're active (even me), not gallery-mad. First time in London for the boys. Here's what I've been thinking. Any suggestions/hints greatly appreciated.

Staying at Marble Arch near Hyde Park (14-yr-old wants to keep up his running training).

Heathrow Express?

Are there still those 2-pound double-decker red buses for a couple of hours trouble-free sightseeing on the first day?
Wander through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens on the first day to hopefully catch some sunshine and adjust to time change. Nothing major this day.

Scattered through remaining time:

Warner Bros Harry Potter studio (this is a must)
Anyone done the themed Harry Potter walk? Or should we just do this ourselves.
Natural History Museum
Tower of London (a distant relative scratched his name on a wall)
British Museum for Egyptian antiquities and Rosetta Stone
St Paul's – climb to top and down to catacombs
Westminster Abbey
Is London Zoo worth it? I know Harry Potter reptile house would be a drawcard
Anyone done Fat Tire bikes?
12-yr-old wants to see a 'super car' showroom (yes, really)
Catch a great show one night using 1/2 price on-the-day tickets

Also would like advice on:
cheap eats (not McDonald's, etc.)
public transport
what to combine with what so we don't end up doing too much backtracking

I'll bite...

some of your ?'s we have done... and loved them!

Muggles Walking Tour - very well done. My HP fanatic loved it (I was taking a photo tour at the time). This - combined with the studio tour - is fun. I absolutely recommend taking the tour - so much random and fun trivia was learned.

London Zoo - we voted no. I figure we can see a zoo anywhere...

Fat Tire Bike Tours - great. We ended up with a private tour due to timing and loved the flexibility that it afforded. Very fun way to go through the city! Might do this earlier in the trip so you get a sense of the city.

eating? We ate in a lot (apartment), but one easy recommendation is the Cafe in the Crypt at the bottom of St. Martins in the Fields. Not a hidden place as the lines get long, but a neat place to eat and affordable.

adding something to your list:
Up at the O2 - climbing the O2 arena. We did this and loved it.
http://www.theo2.co.uk/upattheo2

Admittedly, it is expensive, but is one of the favorite things we all talked about. We combined this with a visit to Greenwich and the Prime Meridian and the Cutty Sark. Made a nice day.

go read my trip report and it may help give you a sense of how we travel and worked things out...

have fun!

Hampton Court (train from Waterloo station) and the London Eye come to mind.

For inexpensive kid-friendly eats try Ponti's Italian Kitchen, Pizza Prezzo, Wagamamma noodles, DimT (Thai). They each have several locations in London-- google them and note the locations that may be near your hotel or daily activities.

A couple of quick comments: Do NOT take the Heathrow Express. Obscenely expensive and you'd still have to queue/pay for a cab at Paddington. Book a car service instead justairports.com os one of the best. It will be door to door and cost half what the HEX/Cab would.

Those £2 hop on hop off double decker tours are more like £30 now. (but you can use regular London buses with your oyster card).

The zoo is not worth a visit on such a short visit IMO.

And you MUST pre-book the Harry Potter WB tour.

Thanks for your responses.

surfmom – will definitely do Muggles tour now! And, yes, agree with zoo and probably no need just for reptile house considering other HP activities.

Glad to hear Fat Tire bikes good, too, though probably would take group option if we have the time. Planning to do this in Paris as well, maybe at night.

Had never heard of O2! How ignorant. Will run this idea past them and if super keen may just do despite expense. I figure these things are worth it to make the trip memorable.

Some great ideas. Have had a squiz at your trip report - fabulous!

Thanks Michael and gh21 for some top ideas.

I replied before I'd seen janisj's response...

Thanks for the tip re Heathrow Express.

And yes, well it was about 30 years ago on my first ever trip that I caught one of those buses!

And is an oyster card something we should be using for the five days?

Hi again smm_18

Moving on from your Swiss planning, eh? :)

surfmom has some good suggestions. Here are our trip reports to London if that helps:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...andparents.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-with-kids.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ahl-museum.cfm

We liked the zoo but it was part of an 8 night stay (so a nice break) but as you and others have noted, probably not worth it on your shorter stay.

We really enjoyed Greenwich. Tower of London is a must. Natural History and the Science museums are also nice.

I think we saw a Ferrari showroom near Harrods -- could be mistaken. A quick google could confirm.

You will want Oyster cards or paper travelcards (for 2for1's). That's a whole 'nother subject. Search here for lots of info.

Good luck.

If going to Hampton Court, use the oyster card. There is a maximum daily charge which varies depending on whether its first use on that day is before or after 9:30 a.m. Given the cost of the train ride, plus taking the Underground to Waterloo station, one comes out ahead with the oyster card.

For five days, it's more likely you would save a
bit by getting a 7-day travelcard for zones 1 and 2, and you wouldn't have to worry about whether you need to put more pay-as-you go money on the Oystercard. You would use the Oyster for either PAYG or 7-day travelcard, and if you do go for the travelcard option, the trip out to Hampton Court would need an add-on for the additional zones.

Likewise, you can get reductions for the youngsters but you will need to apply at least a month in advance for special photocards for them.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/default.aspx

As janisj points out, the hop-on hop-off tourist buses with commentary are now run as (competing) commercial operations and cost a lot. But if you can do without the commentary, you can use the ordinary scheduled buses to drive by a lot of places (and with the youngsters' Oystercards they'd be travelling free). Use the bus map in the TfL visitor guide:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/15101.aspx

You've got a full enough set of ideas already, but a couple more - a river trip, and maybe a ride on the Docklands Light Railway (driverless trains, so kids of all ages can sit at the front).

Greenwich is great. Cool thing to be able to say you straddled the Prime Meridian! Buses in London were very slow. We tried the double decker idea but got off and walked to the underground. Loved the underground! Fast and took you where you wanted to go. Harrods was cool. We thought about a toy museum (our children were a bit younger) but no need once we went there! Huge Knex display. Tower of London was definitely worth a visit.

River cruise to Greenwich and seeing the sunset there is definately out of the ordinary. Your kiddo might want to go for a run there, too, if you don't have any connected plans for the night.

As to restaurants, there's an ok Italian place on the opposite side of St. Paul's called Strada and another Italian family restaurant I don't recall the name of. Google should help you though.

Make sure to have a clear walking route when looking for the on-the-day sales for your show so you won't lose time when there's none left for the first show.

Check out Scoop's Gelato for the best ice-cream experience in London. Ben's cookies are definately worth a shot as well.

Thanks everyone! Yes, well spotted indy_dad. Moving on from the complexities of Swiss train travel. Must admit my eyes glazed over on reading there are different options for travel in London. I just can't bear to look into that at the moment!

You write great trip reports, thanks! I had a panic attack reading that you booked Harry Potter tour 5 months in advance. Never occurred to me I'd need to do this so far ahead. I've done so well with Eurostar, TGV etc too!

Greenwich seems a popular choice. And thanks for the river trip and light rail idea, PatrickL. You too MaloBalo. Thanks also for the ideas for eating!

CarolineF: Harrods, yes, sounds good!

Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeon are places that will thrill kids those ages - and they are at the very top of paid admission places in London for all ages - give the kids a treat even if you consider them - those sites - to be tacky!

Not exactly a showroom, but there is a Lotus F1 team shop in Regent Street at Piccadilly.

When we were there in December there were a couple of F1 cars (replicas??) in the shop which created some excitement for our teenage son - although the Renault and Mercedes shops on the Champs Elysee and the Ferrari shop just off via de Corso were probably better!

http://www.lotuscars.com/au/news/cor...ndon-calling-0

For anyone seriously into Lotus (or cars), they also have factory tours available at their factory in Norfolk:

http://www.lotusdrivingacademy.com/hethel/factory-tour

Hi, smm_18.
Maybe look into the "Pompeii" exhibit at the British Museum. Tickets are going fast... not that there isn't plenty of other things to see, but the exhibit looks very moving.
HOpe you have a great time!

Two boys and neither the Cabinet War Rooms nor the Imperial War Museum?

What kind of momma are you?

Hampton Court Palace is a gem for all ages - have kids do some reading up on Henry VIII and his life at Hampton Court - once there try to navigate the Maze - you can also incorporate a Thames boat ride at least one way to the palace from Richmond or Kingston or even London at times - taking the method of transport Henry often did.

The nice thing about Hampton Court is that it is not just a stuffy old palace but comes alive with things like folks in period costumes performing music of the times in various rooms - the most complete Tudor kitchens anywhere, etc.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/

<i>you can also incorporate a Thames boat ride at least one way to the palace from Richmond or Kingston or even London at times</i>

My understanding is that the boat ride takes four hours and will not give enough time for a palace visit of more than a couple of hours, which is insufficient in my opinion.

At British Museum look online ahead to see what free docent tours are available (they are about hourly and include some "highlights" tours and some special section tours).

Rather than hop on hop off bus I recommend one of the London Walks tours (sitting on a bus even the day after a long flight would be too much sitting for me). www.walks.com

Also you don't have on your list the Churchill War Rooms. It is a unique and highly interesting visit. I always recommend it. http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms. I also note from someone who was just there is it a bit hard to find the entrance. But if you look on a map you will see that the "back" of it faces a park. That is the more obvious way to approach to find the entrance.

FYI, the reason we booked so far ahead for HP was because we wanted a Saturday, early morning slot. You'll have more flexibility -- but still look into asap.

Cabinet War Rooms were also a hit for our crew.

Cabinet war rooms remains one of our favorite "museums" anywhere. Kids were 11 and 13 the first time we went.

My understanding is that the boat ride takes four hours and will not give enough time for a palace visit of more than a couple of hours, which is insufficient in my opinion.>

75 minutes from Kingston to Hampton Court - I know that it can't be too long because I easily walked the Thames Path between the two - something kids that age will NOT love - if walking walk on the northside where the walking paths are - paths on the south side get disrupted by heavy traffic roads at places.

I plan to take a Brakeaway Bike Tour the next time I visit London. They are equally well reviewed on tripadvisor as Fat Tire Tours. You might check them out to see if the timing or subject of their tours fits your interests. http://www.biketouroflondon.com/

No ride on the Eye? I enjoyed it and tickets are available online. http://www.londoneye.com/
Ann Marie

Re the boat ride to/from HCP and assuming central London is where one is bases since few would be starting from Kew or Kingston upon Thames - it almost NEVER makes sense to take a boat TO the palace. The trip is quite long and one would not arrive at HCP until well after lunch and likely mid afternoon.

Taking a boat BACK into London can make sense (if the weather is decent). One should arrive at the palace by train close to opening time, spend several hours there, and if one is not in a hurry, catch a boat back to Westminster.

The length of the boat trip varies enormously because the river is tidal. But in general count on 3 to 4 hours from London to HCP, and about 3 hours from HCP to London.

http://www.londontrocadero.com/

Ok ready to be skewered by many for suggesting that at some point the kids just want to be kids - give em a few hours when bored at the Trocadero entertainment emporium at Piccadilly Circus - yes tack but several floors of things most kids that age enjoy.

Say you want to go shopping a few hours - leave them here with some quid... kids there age from all over the world here.

http://www.solarshuttle.co.uk/

Or give them a taste of boating in any of several London parks - like on the famous Serpentine in Hyde Park, a perpetual favorite with British families - or ride what is billed as the world's first solar-powered ferry there (where does solar power come from in sun-less London?)

If you get discounts, it will cost you 100 quid for Madame Tussaud's and London Dungeon (38 for you, 63 total for the boys, total admissions for the two based on the Madame's website) - two attractions PalQ touts either because he gets a cut or because he's trying to take the p*ss from Janis, me and about 99% of the other London responders.

Sheeyoot, it's not like you don't have enough free (Imperial War Museum, Brit Museum, pick a Tate) or top-end paid attractions (Tower, HCP, Windsor, Cabinet War Rooms) far better to visit for less (or no) money. The Tower is less than 41 quid for all three of you, 30 and change if you have a 2for1 discount (see daysoutguide.co.uk) for the boys. HCP is 33 for the family, sub-25 if you have a 2for1 discount. The Cabinet War Rooms cost 17 for you, nothing for the boys = a total of 73 to 91 quid for Tower, HCP and CWR - all of which are top-notch and great for teen and near-teen boys v. 100+ for the campy nonsense of Madame Tussaud's and the London Dungeon.

Phew. Thanks everyone. You've sent me off on a click-frenzy to various websites and now have to take a deep breath and realise that we can't and wouldn't want to see everything in the few days we have.

Hampton Court Palace (and the maze!) sounds good, esp. given that I don't think we'll visit Versailles while in Paris. I think the train looks easier.

Hadn't really considered war museums (even though they're boys! not sure if it's a given that all boys like war stuff). But maybe Churchill. Will look into it a bit more.

Tend to steer away from tacky and overpriced, but might be persuaded to leave them at Trocadero for an hour!

Pompeii could be fascinating. Or will we just stick with free Egyptian? Don't know yet.

Still on the lookout for a car showroom in London. Couldn't see any cars on that Lotus site! He was talking about 'super cars', I'll have to grill him. I think they're supposed to be the fastest in the world. I know it sounds silly, but if he doesn't get this wish he won't be a happy camper.

I can see I'm going to have to brace myself and plunge into research on transport cards, 2-for-1 whatever that is, etc. etc. Not looking forward to it!

Thanks for marvellous input.

Thanks Ann Marie – I particularly like the look of the Secret London tour.

I'll chime in too. My son then 10 loved Hampton Court Palace--if you are there during the first weekend of the month I think when they do the live kitchen demonstrations it is a real lot of fun in the kitchen area. The whole place is awesome. We spent about 5 hours there.

Son liked both the Imperial War Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms too.

We did go to the London Zoo to see the insect collection. It was okay. I agree since you only have 5 days, concentrate on the bigger venues--British Museum, IWM, Cabinet War Rooms, Hampton Court Palace.

Son also loved climbing to the top of St Paul Cathedral. Not for the faint of heart but he enjoyed it.

Enjoy your trip and be sure to write a trip report when you return.

Every time we are in London, even if just passing through for the day, my teenage boys ask for Thai food at the Churchill Arms Pub. It is a quaint pub and the food is served in a plant-filled dining area. Very cute and each dish is 7 or 8 GBP (or thereabouts). Near Notting Hill Gate tube station.

Yes to the Cabinet War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum and Tower of London.

No to Madame Tussaud's (although we did take a great photo with the royal family in wax) and the London Dungeon (although my youngest liked it at 11 years old, the oldest at 13 years old and the parents were neutral or hated it.)

We use Just Airports to meet us at the airport and drive to our apartment or hotel. We did use the Heathrow Express family rate when we stayed in Paddington(Hilton). I take the tube when it is just me, but with several people, a private car is economical enough and convenient after a long flight.

For high end/performance cars here are few dealers:

Owen Ferrari at 125 Old Brompton Road and Lamborghini and Maserati at 25-27 Old Brompton Road in South Kensington.

Stratstone Aston Martin in Park Lane

Thanks very much! I think we might climb St Paul's on arrival to shake out the legs... Bike tour next morning to get our bearings and be adventurous.

The Thai meal at the pub sounds perfect!

More agreement on War attractions, I see! And again Hampton Court...

And thanks for finding the car showrooms, janisj. I'm assuming we'll only be able to 'window shop'. Hope it satisfies him. Maybe once he sees everything else London has to offer, he won't bug me about cars.

Now... At the risk of turning you all away. I have had a foray into the world of public transport. Oh horrors. And, yes, I've read the many threads on the subject!

This is what I think we should do (have I understood it all?):

– buy 3 x 7-day travel cards Zones 1 & 2 (child x 2, adult x 1)
– print out 2-4-1 deals at home, which I gather are only valid with these paper travel cards purchased from National Rail
– since I'm the only adult, the 2-4-1 would only apply to the boys' entry prices, which is a further reason why they should have travel cards not oyster cards
– buy extension journeys as they occur, i.e. Hampton Court, Watford.

Anyone game to comment?!

The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower is pretty cool. It is the ritual closing of the gates to the Tower, at sundown. The tickets are free, but you must request them in advance by mail. Google for the site.

We did it with our two teens and thought it was eerie and cool.

<Still on the lookout for a car showroom in London. Couldn't see any cars on that Lotus site! >

smm - there were F1 cars (or replicas - who can tell?) in the Lotus shop when we were there in early December.

It's in Regent Street at Piccadilly Circus, so if you are in that area, a quick walk-by would be all it takes - and might be a great surprise for the boys.

Other nice climb for some views is the London Monument - I think adult was 2GBP and kids free or 1GBP. High tower erected as a monument to the great fire in 1666, near where the fire was extinguished (I think). It's a bit of a treasure - very narrow, winding staircase, and small area at the top, but some terrific views - it's easily walkable from the Tower of London, or at Monument Station on the Circle Line.

Trivia - the London Olympic Flame was modeled on the Golden Orb atop the Monument.

http://www.themonument.info/

Sorry - near where the fire STARTED!

Take them to Harrods - a free thing and show them where some of the richest folks in the world shop - lots of neat decors and a High Tea that gets kudos - treat them to High Tea in the fancy Harrods tea rooms.