Please help with 3.5 day itinerary
 

We are a 32 year old couple with a 15-month-old toddler. We will be departing for the UK next week and will head to Wales to visit relatives.

We will be arriving in London for 4 nights via train into Paddington Station. We will be staying at Hilton Paddington. We chose this hotel for ease of arriving from Wales and departing to Heathrow.

Our friends are a married couple with no children and have never traveled outside the US.

We want to see Kensington Palace, Tower of London, London Dungeon, Hampton Court Palace, take the Big Bus tour, Harrods, stroll gardens, Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park and have afternoon tea.

Husband of other couple mentioned wanting to see Maddame Taussads. Seems very expensive to me. Is it worth it? If so, where would I fit it in?

I have to keep a relaxed schedule because toddler may get cranky, etc.

As for restaurants, I really want to go to Mela – Indian, 152-156 Shafstbury Avenue. Been there before. Love it. Near Leicester Square

I am interested in trying Soho Spice – Indian/ kebab specialist, 124-126 Wardour Street and Chowki – Indian, 2-3 Denman Street (picadilly circus tube).

I came across Tea Palace in Notting Hill from this board. Perhaps we can hop off the bus tour to get here or go after Kensington Palace??

Here is a tentative draft intinerary I have drawn up. Please help with brushing it up. Thanks so much!

Tuesday

Arrive at hotel by 1:00 PM
Lunch on Edgeware Road?
Stroll over to Kensington Gardens; take pictures
Visit Kensington Palace
Dinner at Maroush I – Lebanese
21 Edgeware Road

Wednesday

Breakfast at hotel
Big Bus Tour
See as many sights and neighborhoods as strength and patience with toddler via hop on / hop off allows
Try one of the Indian restaurants.

Thursday

Breakfast at hotel
Continue with Big Bus Tour if it wasn’t finished on Wednesday
Take boat ride that comes with Big Bus Tour ticket.
Train/Boat to Hampton Court Palace?

Friday

Breakfast at hotel
Tower of London
London Dungeon
London Walk?

Saturday

Breakfast at hotel
3:30 PM flight. Is it worth it to go out??

You are ok as long as you keep things flexible and don't necessarily insist on ticking off everything on your list. Thursday - you really need to allow a whole half day for Hampton court.

I really wouldn't recommend taking a toddler into the London Dungeon. It is pretty cheesy to us but I think a young child would find it genuinely distressing, especially at that age when they won't really be able to fully grasp any explanations/understand that it is all just fake etc... The adults won't really find it that great and the kid will be scared, it's more for the gory minded 8-14 year olds as its core audience.

Madame T's, I find it pretty boring but if your friends really want to do it then make sure they buy tickets in advance - the queue is always horrendous. Actually the planetorium next door is much more interesting and even your toddler would enjoy 'the show'.

Also: Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square.

What do you really want to do/see in these places? In themselves not really that interesting...well, Trafalgar square has the statues and fountains, but only worth 10 minutes. Picadilly Circus and Leicester Square, just busy areas, nothing that interesting to see.

I would add:
--near Kensington Palace, take the toddler to the Diana Memorial Playgound

I would drop:
--London Dungeon (a tacky, terrible, tourist trap IMHO)
--Madame Tussauds (at least tacky and a tourist trap...plus expensive, as you noted)

Other:
Given your time constraints, a boat ride to Hampton Court is a stretch (3-4 hours from central London). The train is 30 minutes from London Waterloo. For schedules:

http://www.transportdirect.info

have fun!

Dave W.
http://www.kidstolondon.com

Thanks so much for your comments. I hope to take memorable pictures of my toddler at the Princess Diana memorial.

I am going to mention to our friend that wax museum is 25 pounds and if he still wants to go, I will take toddler to planetarium next door. Didn't even know it was there. Great suggestion!! When I do a search for London Planetarium, the Madame Tussauds' website comes up regarding Stardome. It seems to be "part" of the wax museum. I hope they sell separate tickets.

http://www.madame-tussauds.co.uk/thestardome.htm

Good point about London Dungeon not being suitable for the toddler.

When I said I wanted to see the named neighborhoods, I meant I wanted to have ample time to stroll around.

What do you think we should do on Saturday morning after breakfast and before we have to leave for airport at 12:45 PM? What is most convenient to do close to Paddington Station?

We ate at Soho Spice while in London over the holidays - the food was so good we actually went there twice during our 10 days. If you like spicy they definitely have that, which my husband loved - I however do not do so well with spicy, but was able to find many dishes that I also enjoyed.

We took the train to HCP and really enjoyed the tour and walking around the grounds - my kids (9, 12) really liked the train trip.

There were also some nice pubs in the town before you cross over the bridge to HCP - we ate out lunch there and really enjoyed it.

We did do Mdme T's - but it really was not worth the money or the time. There is an especially boring part at the end where you have to listen to a live comedian (who is not very good) and then go in to see a short movie (which is just so-so) - we were not able to find a way to by-pass this part of the experience.

Your toddler might also like walking across the Millennium Bridge - it was fun to watch the water traffic pass underneath us.

Have a good trip!

You could go to Hyde Park on Sat morning? You might be lucky and find someone in speakers' corner (although Sunday is the busiest day).

Another quick idea as you are passing through, if your child is a 'Paddington Bear' fan, there is a statue of Paddington Bear in Paddington station somewhere.

Drop the disney bits of Madame T and the London Dungeon.

Note that you may find yourself jet lagged and the 15 monther may have a different recovery time to you.

I think I would add

The London Eye
The Millenium Bridge (plus the oxo tower, the designer shops around the oxo tower and Tate modern (all part of a nice walk along the Thames (but don't go as far as the Design museum which normally only has one or two nice pieces.

Finally St Paul's catherdral is a wonder, whispering gallery and the climb to the very top should be ok if queues are down.

If the statue hunting thing is good then also look out for Peter Pan.

Now I don't know if your bundle of fun has heard of Hamleys.......

I might add Covent Garden, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben/Houses of Parliament. St James Park might also be nice.

I would also recommend skipping Tussaud's and Dungeon. Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus are more places on the way to somewhere else, as compared to destinations.