London w/ a 6 year old boy
 

We're taking our 6 year old son to London with us for a week in July - any suggestions for hotels, restaurants (not McDonalds!), activities, babysitters, etc? Thanks!<BR>

http://www.KidsToLondon.com<BR>

The Tower is an obvious choice, and one mentioned in the above guide. However, it is big, and can be overwhelming for a little one. I would suggest that you plan a quick run through the jewels, and then go straight for the armor collection. Though the warders' tours are usually highly recommended, I would plan to skip this--so far my son (7 yrs. now) has tolerated them, he really wasn't interested in the talk.<BR>Regents Park Zoo is wonderful, of course. The Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood (Cambridge Heath, Mon-Thur and Sat 10:00-17:50, Sun 14:30 - 17, Bethnal Green Tube) has interesting automatons. I've never made it to Pollock’s Toy Museum (Corner of Scala Street and Whitfield Street, Monday -Saturday, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, underground Goodge St. or Tottenham Court Rd.) but that's supposed to be fun. The Victoria and Albert has a wide variety of displays, some of which your son will find interesting (Tipoo's Tiger is a natural). <BR>I suggest that you take a list of parks with, and plan your day so that you do a quiet activity in the morning and then retire to the park after lunch. This is a trite piece of travel advice, but it really works very nicely.<BR>Restaurants are more difficult. In London, I keep a list of casual tearooms at my side for emergencies. Patisserie Valerie on Old Compton Street is a favorite, and the tearoom in the back of Fortnum &amp; Mason has excellent service wheter you are with a child or not, in my experience. I am not above going into the workman's cafes that are fairly common, if I find one that looks reasonably clean and pleasant. These are cheap, quick, and serve basic foods that even the fussiest children normally eat, like egg and chips. Indian restaurants are often good in that they normally welcome children, and you can get a good meal yourself. Ask the waiter to help you pick something mild for your son, and order a couple kinds of bread. In my experience, in any place outside of these types of restaurants, you must expect that your reception will be lukewarm, regardless of how well your son behaves. <BR>Sorry I can't comment on the other questions. Cadogan has an excellent London with Children guide that I believe lists babysitting services, though. <BR>

How about the Science museum and the Natural history museum? The former has lots of hands on exhibits and the latter has a popular dinosaur section.<BR>He might like a tour in an open topped bus or a river trip. If you go to Greenwich he can stand with one leg in the East and the other in the West.<BR>Of course, there is also the London Eye.<BR>Children seem to love the Egyptian section of the British Museum too.<BR>Indian, Chinese and Italian restaurants tend to be child friendly and restaurants attached to museums are usually quite good.<BR>

We were in London 3 yrs ago when my son was 5 ( and my daughter was 10) and we all had a wonderful time! Trafalgar Square feeding the pigeons and then into St. Martin in the Fields to do brass rubbing in the basement and eat lunch in the tombs, riding double-decker buses,Changing of the Horse Guard (standing right up close),LegoLand in Windsor, a boat ride on the Thames, the toy department at Harrods, red London phone booths, sites from Mary Poppins and Peter Pan, parks, parks, and more parks. We never had a problem with luke warm receptions at restaurants. We chose most of our dinners from the Cheap Eats book and in several places they went out of their way to please my son the picky eater. London had the first Hard Rock Cafe. The food is good and familiar and the t-shirt could be the start of a world wide collection (it was for my kids). I would be glad to look up more details of places we visited and where we ate if you would find it helpful. Also if you can figure out the new search feature, there are tons of great ideas in the archives here. Have a great trip!

Thanks to whomever listed my website<BR><BR> http://www.KidsToLondon.com<BR><BR>Just a personal note. My son was 6 when we first took the family to London--he's 13 now. At that time, meals were one of the bigger challenges we faced. Fortunately, his tastes have grown as he has (take heart Joanne), but so have the options for quality fast food in London. You'll find many take away sandwich shops throughout town--Pret a Mangier is one chain that seems to be everywhere. There are also many moderately-priced Italian restaurant chains where you can find decent quality pizza or pasta--Bella Pasta, Pizza Express, and others. <BR><BR>My website includes info on some activities that your son will enjoy (my book goes into great detail on the subject). <BR><BR>Regarding places to stay, London is notoriously expensive and London hotels are often not up to standard for the money they charge. I would suggest that you stay in as central a location as you can afford--to avoid having to commute into town. If you email me and give some idea of your budget, I can give a few hotel suggestions.<BR><BR>Hope this is helpful. Enjoy your trip!<BR><BR>David White<BR>http://www.KidsToLondon.com<BR>[email protected]<BR>