I am taking my 12 year old son to London- Nov 18-22. Any recommendations for good hotel within London? What should be on the must see list for a 12 year old - first trip to UK from US for both of us. Rent car and go out of city or stay in town?

My kids loved the Chancery Court and you can usually get a deal on the internet. Its near covent garden, right across from a tube station (holborn) and in a very safe area. I highly recommend the British Museum (kids love the mummy exhibit), the tower of london, the cabinet war museum and the british toy store (I think the name is hamleys). My children also loved seeing the Lion King (easy to get tickets over the internet from ticketmaster). with only 4 days and no experience driving in the UK before it might be kind of tough leaving london. For hotels also check out recommendations on tripadvisor.com. Have fun, itsv

For this... and your Barcelona/Madrid question, I can offer no better answer than ... engage your son in things that HE reads about and wants to go see.

For four days, i think that you will not need the occasion to escape from London.

Best wishes,

Rex

We thought the London Eye was pretty neat. It's a structural wonder, you can sit or stand while you're in it and it doesn't matter if it's raining or not! It can be a nice change of pace when you've been on the go. My kids thought it was really cool to see all of London from that high up.

Try to get tix for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. It's done every night (so bundle up) and the guard locks up the Tower using the same ceremony they have for 300 yrs.I did it in 2002, so this my be out of date, but at that time, no more than 50 or so folks were allowed in. it's so cool to be one of a few in the Tower area, vs the larger daytime crowds. Either way, try not to miss the Tower of London!
http://www.toweroflondontour.com/keys.html
For a hotel, I love the area nr convenient Gloucester Road Tube Station. Busy , but not overwhelmingly so. Very friendly folks at all shops and restaurants. Lots of good relatively inexpensive ones there, and if your 12 yr old misses US food, places there like KFC. We got a lovely room at the Millenium Gloucester for $80/night (yes, $, not pounds) via Priceline. If you go to Priceline, look for the area nr Gloucester Road on the map. You may not know which hotel you'll get (but it will probalby be this one) but no matter where, IIMHO (and my teenage daughter's) it's a GREAT area for kids AND adults.
Happy travels

http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/content.asp?ID=704
if you want tix. they may have some available for your dates. Not sure what they mean about group size. IMHO it's worth the trouble. Also--IF you go, there's a McDonald's across the street!! As I recall, other than a nearby pub, it was the only place for food that was open near the Tower, at that time of night. Ahhh, the ghosts in the Tower must be rolling over in their graves!

My son at the same age thoroughly enjoyed the cabinet war rooms, the London Transport museum and the Air Force Museum at Henley. He also enjoyed just riding around on the top deck of the double decker buses, but I fear they might not be around anymore.

There is plenty to see in 4 days in London, don't bother at this stage to go out of town. He of course liked the Tower of London. Over the road/river from that was the HMS Belfast a war ship where the boys can climb all over the guns etc and pretend to shoot enemies, he had a ball on this. You can combine the tower and the Belfast on the same day. Also the Imperial War Museum was a hit. You can see where my son's interests lie.