We have family members moving to London in January. We are planning to take our 7 yr. old and 4 yr. old with us to visit in March. We will spend approx. 5 days in London (with family) and would like to take day trips to some smaller towns. We then plan to take the train into Paris for another 5 days.

I have a few questions:
1. Has anyone rented a car in London to drive to smaller towns? Is it difficult to get used to driving there? Do they require car seats for young children? Can the car seats be rented from the agency?

2. Any suggestions on activities for children in either city?

3. Would you recommend Disneyland Paris?

Thank you for any input!!!

w/ only 5 days in London you really don't have time for many/any day trips. Day 1 will pretty much be a jet lagged fog and renting a car for a day out doesn't make much sense w/ only 4 full days.

But you can certainly get "away from it all" in London itself w/o a car. Boat rides on teh Thames, a train trip to Hampton Court Palace, a day/half day in Greenwich, all the MANY parks and playgrounds right in London.

I personally would not mess w/ a rental car w/ that short a visit.

You can also go to places like Bath or Windsor or Brighton very easily by train. Driving to any of them would be much more hassle than the train.

Whether DL Paris is "worth" it is entirely up to you. 5 days is not very long for Paris - but if you are Disney fanatics it might be worth it for the curiosity factor alone.

The children might like the Natural History Museum & the Science Museum. You could then walk east to Harrods for their toy department.

My husband and I spent 10 weeks in London last Christmas and his work gave us a car. We only used it to drive out of London for the weekend (which was nice but I personally wouldnt drive)or when we took it over to Ireland. The public transport far outweighs attempting to drive. We had two girls 14 and 12 and we took them to Paris, by Eurostar (fantastic trip), but stayed out near Disneyland. They were both old enough to enjoy the museums and all the major tourist sites etc but we were all glad to catch the metro back to Disney Village for dinner each night and then free bus it back to Dream Castle Hotel. The romanic stay in Paris we will leave till the kids have left home.

We spent 2 weeks in Paris last year celebrating my child's 6th birthday and we all had a blast.

http://www.soultravelers3.com/

Go to our blog, click on archives for Paris and you will find lots of ideas and books that will also help you prepare them which will make it more fun.

We skipped Disneyland Paris...why go to an American thing in France. Take them on the petite train to L,aclimation.( Probably spelling them wrong now...but see blog for details and pics).

We will do London this coming year, so no BTDT advice with kids on that one yet.

I haven't been to London with children, but I've been without. I wouldn't drive - the railway system is very good - it will take you anywhere you want to go. But, with only 5 days in London, there will be more than enough there to keep you busy. If you do drive, then yes, you probably will need a booster seat for a 4 year old. Some suggestions for London would be the the Tower of London (of course), and I think it was the Science Museum. Also, there are very nice parks (Hyde, Kensington, etc). Places like Trafalgar Square with the big lions would probably be hits...maybe the London Eye.

I have been to Paris with children (11 years, almost 6 years, and 15 months). Our kids enjoyed it - it's a lot easier without a stroller, so you're lucky your 4 year old isn't younger! Suggestions for Paris include Notre Dame (and the towers), the Eiffel Tower (naturally), Berthillion for ice cream, and (if the kids are boys) then the Military museum. Our son loved it - our daughter not so much. Our daughter did love the flower market near Notre Dame though.

We did go to Disneyland Paris, and the kids liked it. We live in Germany, so aren't really close to the one in the States. We (the adults) weren't impressed, but the kids loved it.

I am somewhat embarassed to say I have been to Disney Paris. IMO it is not even close to the Disney in the US. There is tons to in Paris, consider the catacombs, fascinating just going under ground. (I don't know the disposition of your kids, your 4 year old might be scared, but I know my 4 year old would love it.)

As for London, again, tons of stuff to do there as well. You already have lots of good ideas, my kids loved the castles. Warwick was their favorite, but that may be too far..? Otherwise the Tower, maybe Madame Tussauds? (You can buy tickets in advance to avoid long lines.)

Post back if you find anything unique, we are taking our 6 and 4 year olds back to London next summer and I am always looking for new ideas too.

I would NOT recommend renting a car in London. Driving in London is extremely cumbersome, even on a Sunday.

There are excellent train connections, e.g. to Oxford (awesome architecture).

The kids will enjoy the Tower, brass rubbing in Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace. For the London Dungeon, they are to small (it is VERY scary). The museums are great (what about real mummies in the British Museum?).

EuroDisney is 90% like Disneyland, Anaheim. Most attractions are the same. And the waiting lines are the same. Expect to stand in line for 1 hour for a two-minute ride. It is pretty far away from Paris, so it will be a full-day trip.

IF you want to rent a car in London:

- Expect very narrow roads, partly blocked by parking cars.
- You will need at least twice as much time as if going by train.
- Car seats for children are required and must be ordered together with your reservation (extra charge).

We are taking our 9 year old to London in July of 08, and the owner of the apartment we are renting suggested we buy the "Great Britian Discovery Journal" (http://www.kidseurope.com/) for our child. I haven't received mine yet, so I can't write a review of it, but it looks like a great activity book/learning guide for kids visiting Great Britian.

I once, probably 10 years ago or close to it, copied the following information from a posting submitted by the late, great, Londoner Ben Haines, about planning a London visit for children. There have been many postings on this subject and you should try a search, but this particular posting may be archived because I couldn't find it in a search. Note that telephone numbers, hours of admission, restaurant openings, etc, may very well have changed, and transport fare cards definitely have, but the general suggestions still apply.

Quote:

Good restaurants for families: any one of the Belgo places. Staple meal main course is mussels and french fries, but there are chicken, So for little trips like Science Museum to Harrods or Regent's Street to British Museum you might like to travel on the top of a bus. To be ready for this, you should pick up at a tube station a bus map for central London.
Then you'll find each stop says which number busses stop there, and a glass panel says where they go. If you find it hard going try getting the boys to do it: I expect they're into map reading. For short trips (outside the rush hour) busses are more interesting than tubes.
If your hotel porter says that you are in City of Westminster (it's a local government area) then you can ask where the nearest children's public library is, go there, and find the City of Westminster free book on activities, parks, play areas, and so on for local children. A bout of seven a side football will put your two in mind to sleep
early and well. London children will find Americans glamorous -- they are in films. A special park and playground is Coram's Fields, east of Bloomsbury, where Captain Coram, founder of the Childrens' Hospital and of the fields laid down the rule that adults might be admitted only if accompanied by a child.

Now some specifics. As to markets, I find Covent Garden expensive and oriented to tourists. If you've Greenwich in mind for seeing ships and astronomy then a visit on Friday or Saturday could incorporate the large market area there.

To see and smell a proper cheese shop (Neal's Yard), a pie stall, and a fruit and vegetable stall. Park Street and Borough Market. London Bridge tube

Below the south side of London Bridge main line station is the Old Operating Theatre, reasonably exciting. And from there it's five minutes under the station to H M S Belfast, a whole ship to explore. Morgan’sLane, Tooley Street, SE1, phone 0171 407 6434, tubeTower Hill, or London Bridge. A ferry runs April-October from Tower Pier. www.iwm.org.uk/belfast.htm
www.aboutbritain.com/HMSBelfast.htm
A good lunch is upstairs at the Market Porter pub in Borough Market. They welcome children. Since pub portions are large you might order for the boys one main dish and two plates - the pub has no objection, and this leaves space for pudding.

To see London from the heights: By lift, free, Guys Tower in Guys Hospital, London Bridge tube. By stairs, and you pay to enter, the Monument or the Dome of St Paul's.

Then over the river is the Tower. I think you can buy tickets for it the day before in any tube station. It gets crowded, so you want to arrive at opening time, nine Tuesday to Saturday and ten Sunday and Monday. If there's a queue (line) for the Crown Jewels you can miss them. The time you get to view them is usually short, and there are older and finer crown jewels in Edinburgh, Budapest and Vienna. People on web travel fora mention the good humour of the well-informed Beefeater Guards (who are not "tourist guides". If the Queen were to sleep in her palace of the Tower they would be responsible for her safety.)


In the British Museum the best rooms for children aged under twelve are not the boring old Greek and Roman rooms, but downstairs the Egyptian mummies and Rosetta Stone and upstairs the Roman British Room and the next door Anglo Saxon room, with gold hordes and a ship burial. (If you read them the bit about Grendel's mother from a translation of "Beowulf" at breakfast the day you go you'll have them in the mood). Not far away are early twentieth century radio sets. A good lunch is north of the museum, in the MacMillan Hall of the University's Senate House.

A phone call or e-mail to the Science Museum at South Kensington in London (phone 207 938 8111: web site http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/welcome.html:
address [email protected] ) would get you a list of their activities for bright children, or they may be listed in the monthly "Kids Out in London" which you will want to buy in two copies at your arrival airport. A copy each because, in general, and as you know, they'll like things better if they feel that they had a chance to choose them.

A few oddments of detail for people aged 5 to 7
Watching grown men sail toy boats on the Round Pond. Nearest tube Bayswater. Boating on the Serpentine. Nearest tube Hyde Park Corner
Feeding the Queen's ducks with bread. The pond in St James Park. Tube Westminster. Combines with the Horse Guards
Seeing fish. London Aquarium. County Hall, tube Westminster
Climbing into trams, busses, and bits of tube trains. Transport Museum, Covent Garden

Now I list things to miss, with children aged 4 to 10 these are many.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, except that some little girls like the dresses.

Buckingham Palace: a large and dull building. Most of the year you can't enter, and in high summer it's expensive. If you want a good palace, try St James Palace, between Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly. But there's no great point. What you can do is inspect the guardsman. Has he polished his boots ? Cleveland Row. Tube Green Park

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The change at Horse Guards Parade at eleven (Sundays at ten) is easier to see, less crowded, and more fun. But again, not specially worthwhile.

Madame Tussaud's.

St Paul's Cathedral. Looks like an overblown Duke's living room, and costs a lot. Even Westminster Abbey is a drag, crowded, hard to see things, and hard to understand unless you've read a lot of English history. If you want to take in a church, the most atmospheric is the twelfth century St Barthomolew's the Great, Farringdon tube, and the most open and pleasant is the fourteenth century Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge tube.

If I take all the recommended places I get a list of good places to take children, from west to east and with tube stations named:
Southern band: Science Museum, South Kensington Round Pond, Bayswater tube stop
Serpentine, Hyde Park Corner tube stop
Harrods, Knightsbridge
National Army Museum, Chelsea, Sloane Square and a bus: rather a way to go, so perhaps you should sadly miss it


Imperial War Museum, Lambeth North tube stop

St James Palace, Green Park

St James Park, Westminster

London Aquarium, Westminster
www.londonaquarium.co.uk)

Covent Garden Covent Garden

St Barthlomew the Great, Barbican

Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, (pronounced “suth ark—Elaine) Old Operating Theatre and HMS Belfast, London Bridge

The Tower
Greenwich, by train from Charing Cross or London Bridge. In December the boat trip is cold and long, and it's not any too warm in April.

Northern band: Toy and Model Museum, Paddington
Regents Street, Oxford Circus
British Museum, Holborn.
Coram's Fields, Russell Square

We visited england with a day in Paris at the end of the trip when our kids were 10 and 5.
We did not go into London except to catch the Chunnel train after visiting the Peak district but did spend a day and a half in Windsor. They enjoyed the castle (including changing of the guard ceremony). We also went to Legoland Windsor which was a big hit. This was before the one in California had opened. for me this is a pretty good amusement park (I am NOT a Disney fan)

If you are in London for St. patrick's Day there will be lots of activities around that.

I think the river trips that are nice during the summer in both cities would be too cold in march. some of the outdoor park activities may also be less appealing at that time of year.

In Paris our kids liked climbing the tower of Notre Dame. You can see the gargoyles and the bell there.

Your older child might be interested in seeing the David Macaulay movies of Castle and Cathedral before you go- stories of how castles and gothic cathedrals were constructed are interspersed with footage of actual buildings.

I agree with the suggestion that you try to travel by train rather than car. Unless your kids ride trains regularly at home the whole train trip will probably be interesting in itself. Same for the tube. They also might like a double decker bus ride. I know some of them in London cater to kids.

Another reason to skip Eurodisney: weather can be somewhat unpredictable in March.

Good London recommendations from other posters. I must say British Museum is very children-friendly. Also go to Regent's Park esp if you have a sunny day, daffodils should be in full bloom and the kids can feed the ducks and the swans.

As for castles and palaces, you can easily get to Windsor or Hampton Court Palace on trains as a day-trip. Try Parlour Restaurant at Fortnum & Mason for a treat of proper hot chocolate and knickerbocker glory sandae!

As for Paris, carousels at Sacre Coeur and Jardin du Luxemborg. If going to Eiffel Tower, do that first thing in the morning. Don't miss icecreams, hot chocolates, and crepes (either sweet with nutella or savory version).

I would second (or third) the recommendation to NOT rent a car in London. The tube works great and driving is frustrating with all the traffic, not to mention feeling comfortable driving on the opposite side. You can take the train to most smaller towns you might consider. We lived outside of London until our daughter was 8 months old so I don't have much advice on kid friendly activities in London.

As for Paris, my father-in-law lives there and we took our daughter, then almost 4, there last spring. Here is some info I posted for someone else:

When I asked my now 5 year old daughter, what she liked best about our trip to Paris a year ago, she said Disneyland Paris! (Traveler1959 hit the nail on the head with the description of EuroDisney.)

I bought Take the Kids: Paris & Disneyland Resort and Open Road's Paris with Kids and found them both very useful on our trip.

The Cite des Enfants was perfect for her age but the rest of the museum was obviously over her head. The Jardin du Luxembourg has a great playground - I think you have to pay for it but it is well worth it. Lots of great play structures. She also had fun pushing the boats and having a pony ride there. The Menagerie (zoo) was wonderful - could get very close to a lot of animals. Also, she is really into carousels so we made a point of finding a good number of them.

The Palais de le Decouverte is a science museum and was way over her head - and had very little information in english. We went to an aquarium that I can't recall the name of but it was pretty basic and needed some TLC. And the other zoo (Vincennes / Parc Zoologique) was undergoing major rework when we were there so we had to skip it.

We took our 4 (almost 5) year old grandson and his parents to Rome and London this May. In London we went to see the Tower of London. The Star Wars Exhibit was at the County Hall and the "Kids" went to that. We also went to the arcade at the Trocadero that night. My son wanted to see Arundel Castle and Stonehenge so we rented a car for a day. We picked it up at Gatwick and went down to Arundel then went on to Stonehenge where we had Special Access tickets. The little one enjoyed the day. We rented the car from Alamo and had to rent a booster seat. I think they are required until age 10 or so. We rented the Vauxhall Zafira and all 5 of us fit into the front two row of seating fine. I liked the way the MPV handled.

We had considered going to the Natural History Museum, but ran out of time.

Have a good trip.

Top playground in London for 4- and 7-year-olds would be the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens. Just one of many options, be a great one!

The Science Museum has interactive areas specifically designed for younger children. Especially good if weather is not playground-worthy. The London Transport Museum has just reopened and it is a magnet for kids in Covent Garden. Museum of London is also a possibility.

I don't recommend driving in London, but car seats are a valid concern. If you do decide to rent a car, child seats are available from the major companies at their larger locations. Many taxis have built-in car seats (but only 1 per taxi). For the plane ride over, you might want to look at a child safety harness like:

http://www.kidsflysafe.com/

For kids, half the fun of Europe is the alternate transportation-bus and subway. My little one loved the London Transport Museum because the tube was such a big part of our London experience. The Science Museum, too, was a hit-nearly 2 full days worth of hands on fun-and it's super easy to get to right from the tube station.
There are whole books devoted to taking the kids to those two cities-google london for families and find their website, which is excellent. 5 days in London is just a taste-I wouldn't plan day trips unless there's one place you really, really want to see.
Your kids are not too young to participate in the planning. Videos and guidebooks with pictures help them choose some things. Everyone in the family has a list of things they'd like to do in each city; everyone gets their #1 and you negotiate from there. Don't overplan, though-allow time to wander, run through parks and blow off energy, or naps if they(or you) need one. When mine was little, we carried a jump rope and jumped or ran before each museum, and she got to take pictures of (and tip) all the street entertainers. Kids love the little stuff-ice cream and different money and being with family.
Have a wonderful trip!

1) It's not difficult to get used to driving but as others said, it's not necessary for the amount of time you'll be there. But the kids would need (at least) booster seats, which could be rented.

2) London: Science Museum, History Museum, Princess Diana Memorial Playground, London Eye, street performers along the river (near London Eye), walk across Tower Bridge, ride on the top of a bus, Battersea Children's Zoo. If you wanted to get out of the city, you could go to Legoland or one of the many wild animal farms or petting zoos (do a search for animal farm/park).

Paris: boat ride, chocolate croissants, playground at Luxembourg (although you have to pay to get in)

I like the "Take the Kids" series of travel guides.

3) If the kids haven't been to Disney, they won't know how it's lacking from the WDW version. If they have been, they'll still enjoy it. Either way, I doubt they'd be unhappy about a trip to Disney! I'd do it because it'd certainly be something for them to look forward to.