London with 14 year old granddaughter in April
 

Hi all--
Questions are the following regarding London in April with a 14 year old:
Best place to rent a flat?
Easter week too crowded?
Best things to do?
Any advice most welcome!

topping

ejhassen2; let your granddaughter do some research! There's no telling what kids that age will like; my 13 year-old likes the British Museum.
Without knowing your budget, it would be hard to recommend a flat, but Beaufort House in Beaufort Gardens, Knightsbridge is excellent; beautiful flats, great location (walking distance to the South Kensington Museums and Harrods). I have also read that the Capital Hotel in Basil Street have apartments in the building next to the hotel.

London is not inordinately crowded at Easter but do book NOW for any accomodation-yes, I hearilty reccomend a flat-we liked Mayfair for its central location and there are a number to choose from in that area.

We stayed at Scala House with our daughter. Two bedroom apartments in a very convenient location.

http://www.scala-house.co.uk/

We took our 2 kids (then 11 and 14) and our friends' kids (9, 12, and 15) to the following places in London that they unnimously loved:
1. The War Cabinet Rooms --there's a great audiotour that takes about an hour
2. The Tower of London -- we were too late for the guided tour, so we did the audiotour, which was really good.
3. Harrod's department store -- the girls loved this especially...
4. The British Museum -- which one of the kids called "The Museum of Stolen Artifacts". We chose a couple of things that would interest them -- the Egyptian exhibit, the Elgin marbles, and the Rosetta Stone, and spent about an hour total.
5. We took one of those boat rides down the Siene from the Tower of london back to Westminster Bridge. IT was nice to sit and relax, see the sights, and the kids thought the guide was really corny and funny.
6. We also had fun navigating the tube system, and walking down Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square, and then doing some shopping.

We all really loved London. There were dozens of others things we wanted to do, but didn't have time.
Try doing a search on this site and I'm sure you'll get a lot more advice.
Have a great trip! How nice of you to take your granddaughter!

dina4: That WAS some boat ride down the <b>Seine</b> from the Tower :)

ehassen2: You've got some good advice so far but you need to tell us more before we can reall help much.

What is you budget for lodging? &quot;Best&quot; things will be different for everyone so what sorts of things do you and you GD like? How long is the trip?

sheesh - typos, typos, typos!

&quot; . . . before we can <b>really</b> help much.&quot;

&quot; What is <b>your</b> budget for lodging?&quot;

&quot; . . things do you and <b>your</b> GD like?&quot;

geez.. I meant the Thames.
I have Paris on the brain....

For those who asked re budget for London trip with 14 year old granddaughter--we'll be there for eight days and hope to keep the lodging cost to $2000, but could stretch if necessary. That help? Thank you everyone for piping up!

your $2000 for 8 days works out to approx &pound;1000 per week. You won't have to pay nearly that much -- unless you want to of course.

For that long a stay I definitely consider an apartment. really nice 1-bedroomed flats can be found for around &pound;600 per week and up. Some places will be even less.

For a few nights a hotel would be fine but for 8 nights you will likely tire of the cramped size of many London hotel rooms. A 1-bdrm place w/ a sofabed in teh living room would have MUCH more space. Plus a full kitchen means you can eat the odd meal in, or have midnight snacks, etc. Plus a washer dryer.

With your budget you could even get a large 2-bedroomed place in many nice parts of central London.

I don't know the rates, and suspect they might exceed your budget, but if I could, I would stay here; http://www.capital-london.net/capita...nts/index.html
And you can pick up your food from Harrods, just yards away.

Have a great time. My daughters (age 12 and 13) love London.

ejhassen,

Take your 14 year old to Camden market at Camden Town (northern line). It's a zany place with lots of bits and piece to buy and weird sights! Make sure to go up to the Stables market across the canal.