London Itinerary
 

I hope that you all had a beautiful Christmas and wishin you a Happy New Year. I am starting a new post since my other one had so many responses and I had not added anything to it for quite a while now.
We will have five full days to visit London in March. There will be 10 of us, five of which will be kids ranging in age from 9 to 17. We had a family meeting the other day as everyone suggested so that each person's voice could be heard. I do not think that we are going to have time to do everything that everyone wants to do so something is probably going to need to be eliminated. These are the sites that everyone wanted to visit: Tower of London, Tower, Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul's Cathedral, changing of the guards, British Museum, Sky Garden & Windsor Castle. Then, of course, we will fill in with things like Borough Market, Leake Street art, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester, possibly a play etc. I have all the opening hours and when we are able to make reservations. I am thinking that we will get a guide when we visit the British Museum and certainly would be open to having a guide at any of the other sites, but it seems as so many of them have got tours available. If we don't have time to do both Westminster and Saint Paul then possibly we would do Westminster and do Saint Paul for the Even Song. One family is interested in Churchill War Rooms but the other family's kids are too young so they may try and scoot out to see one of the gardens at that time. We also would consider visiting one of the soccer fields./ museums. My thinking is that we will start each day with visiting the major site and then splitting up if that is what people want to do.
1. Is it too much to try and do the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, it looks as though each one will need about 2.5 to 3 hours, is this correct??? If we do both in one day, then we would do lunch in between the two. It looks as though they are walking distance from each other.
2. About how long do we need to visit Westminster Abbey & St. Paul's Cathedral? If we are able to get a guide for the British museum, I was thinking possibly three hours for the highlights only.
3. Any suggestions for seeing the changing of the guards, the kids really do want to see that and I know that it seems like it is a bit of a hassle and definitely weather dependent. That adds a challenge because we would probably make reservations for another site in the morning and of course we will need to keep one day free for the the changing of the guards. if we want to do the changing of the guards and then if it is rainy, of course we won't be able to do that. Any ideas?
4. Any restaurant ideas for each of those areas?
Thank you so much for taking your time to help.

changing of guards is a waste of your time, just pretend you have never heard of it and move on

If it was just us, I might agree with you, but the kids really want to see it.

Paragraph breaks would help (a lot ;) )

But a few random comments -- Sky Garden is perfectly fine but far (FAR) from even the top 10 most worthwhile sites in London. Squeeze it in if you can but I definitely would not prioritize it.

The Changing of the Guard for a group the size of yours will be a logistical issue (even if it wasn't a huge time suck). All of you will have to arrive early to get a good vantage point and then just stand there - and stand there - and stand there. This is important because you have kids so you'd definitely need to be in front. Two or three of you arriving and trying to spread out and 'hold places' for the rest really doesn't cut it because others trying to get their own vantage points will rightfully object. Watch it on youtube, and if you just 'must' maybe just be in the general area so you might see a band marching toward the Palace.

The Tower of London is absolutely a must and worth how ever many hours you have time for. Tower Bridge is a nice if you can fit it in sort of attraction. Walking across the bridge is of course free and right there next to the Tower. But the Tower Bridge Experience shouldn't take more than 90 minutes absolutely max.

We were posting at the same time -- I know -- I really do KNOW how much a lot of people want to see the C o t G -- but take a look at those videos and see all those people watching? The ones in front probably arrived an hour and a half before the start. If you all REALLY want to see it - then just plan on the entire morning and do it rain or shine.

is there a way I can edit my original post to add paragraph breaks?

I agree that you should be able to do both the Tower of London and Tower Bridge on the same day. I recommend trying to get to the Tower of London when it opens, visit the Crown Jewels first and then join a Yeoman Warder's tour. After the tour, you can stay longer and visit areas of interest on your own.

We spent a little more money for a Verger's tour of Westminster Abbey and thought it was very worthwhile, particularly with kids. The Verger catered our private tour to the kids and really made it a fun, special experience. They got to sit where the Queen sat (this was during Elizabeth's reign) and felt special going "behind the scenes" to a few other places.

Have a great time!

I don't know if the tour of the Tower Bridge engine rooms is offered when you'll be there, but it was very popular the last time we were in London. If interested, book early.

Ditto the tour of Victoria Tower and Big Ben. I was disappointed I'd missed the ticketing window by a day.

Adults might enjoy the tour of Parliament.

Jean, are you saying to visit Big Ben, I do not see a mention of this anywhere else.

KTTravel, I like the idea of the Verger tour but we won't know what time they are till 24 hours in advance and by then we will have already made our reservations.

Oh yes, I had forgotten but I think we sign up for our Verger tour when we arrived. I guess the best thing to do is to just inquire if they are available but not to worry about it if they aren't. Fingers crossed for you!

It probably won’t influence your group, but I found it annoying that most restaurants and pubs close their kitchens at 10:00 PM.

any restaurants or pubs in the Tower of London area that anyone recommends
janis, am i incorrect about my location for sky Garden because to me it looks as though it is close to both Saint Paul Cathedral, and not that far from the tower bridge.

Yes, your location is correct -- its just that Sky Garden is OK but not something I'd do instead of something more worthwhile. If you had 8 or 10 days in London - sure - no prob. But with just a few days and most of your group having never visited London it just doesn't seem a good use of your very limited time.

For eating near the Tower -- it would simplify everything if you just ate IN the Tower. That way you could eat and not interrupt your sightseeing and even break up into groups if some are peckinsh and some want to press on exploring.

janisj, we voted on sky garden vs the London Eye and Sky Garden won out. With the ages of the youngest kids, I thought it might be a nice diversion from all the history sites. Possibly we would even do it the day that we arrive because I don't know that we will want to do anything that requires a reservation. I know that we need a reservation three weeks in advance for sky Garden, but it looks to me like you can usually get something about a week in advance. Also, since the tickets are free I imagine we can just cancel that day if it is not going to work because of flight delays. Or I even thought about doing dinner there that first night. Has anyone ever eaten there at one of the restaurants?

Sky Garden is basically a couple restaurants / bars with plants on a high floor with some views. It really isn't any sort of a 'family excursion' sort of venue (in fact those under 16 aren't even allowed after 6PM)-- but you guys voted so that's probably set in stone and I'll stop beating this poor dead horse ;)

I don't see the Natural History Museum or the London Transport Museum or the Science Museum other kid-friendly sites in your plan

I thought I’d add that when we took our 13 yr. old granddaughter to London she talked me into climbing the 538 steps to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral and it is one of her favorite memories.

I just thought of something else. When we took our other granddaughter (her sister) to Windsor castle at age 13 she bought a couple of tiny wood catapult machines there. They are still around several years later and the kids have such fun shooting grapes at each other with them.

The other thing both of them talk about is seeing a show at the west end.
Matilda for one girl and Wicked for the other girl.

For the changing of the guards we booked this tour and were so glad we did.
Our guide led us through the crowds to her special place to watch and it was so worth it using her.
https://citywonders.com/london-tours...the-guard-tour

That is really the only easy way for a group to view the C o t G (I was going to search for that link when I posted #5 up thread but got interrupted and forgot)

TPAYT, that is great information about the C of the G. I will definitely look at that. I assume they refund you if it is cancelled because of rain.

it doesn't completely cancel because of rain. The band may not march/play if its pouring down, which may be a last minute decision. But the Guard does 'change' no matter the weather.

Only you and your group can decide whether to include a tour of Elizabeth Tower in your plans. (Personally, I'd rather do this than watch the Changing of the Guard.) My comment was more about booking reservations as soon as they become available if this is something you want to do in your limited time because tours sell out within minutes. The restoration of the Elizabeth Tower and overhaul of the clock mechanism were completed in 2022.

I just noticed that I referred to "Victoria" Tower in my previous post. The clock with Big Ben is in the Elizabeth Tower. It was built in Victoria's time, and she had a beacon installed to be lit when Parliament was in session after dark. Originally called the Clock Tower, it was renamed for Elizabeth II at her Diamond Jubilee. The Victoria Tower is at the opposite end of the Parliament buildings.

thanks for clarification about Victoria Tower and also that the changing of the guard info when it rains. Another option is to see the changing of the guards at Windsor when we go. Maybe that is not as difficult. any thoughts???

"changing of guards is a waste of your time, just pretend you have never heard of it and move on..."

LOL. So true. And even worse, The Changing Of the Royal Horse Guards. I'm still trying to get that hour back.

1. Time needed at Tower Bridge depends whether you just want to walk across it or do the tour. I think I spent 1.5-2 hours inside when I was there in 2019 if memory serves correctly. The Tower of London needs much more time if you want to see everything. My first visit I was there for around 4 hours in November 2019 compared to 6 hours I spent there last July on a stinking hot day where we took our sweet time. If you want to avoid the crowds, get there at opening and b-line for the Crown Jewels! We had no queue by doing that whereas a few hours later the queues were almost to the end of the section they gate off for lines.

2. I can't speak for St Paul's but Westminster depends on how much you want to see. We spent 3 hours there including with a Verger tour (highly recommend it but you can't pre-book and have to secure a spot on the day of at the ticket desk).

3. + 4. Can't speak to this.

As an aside, depending on the kids, I would recommend Churchill's War Rooms but book ahead! I have zero interest in wartime history generally but I thoroughly enjoyed the Churchill War Rooms far more than I would have thought.