gbfarra

We are planning a family trip to London in mid June, 2006. Any specific suggestions for activities and restaurants that would appeal to young teenage kids?

grsing

What are your young teens interested in?

ben_haines_london

This is a note that I keep for families with children aged 5 to 10. It draws from correspondences on Fodors forum about London for children, written from 1999 to 2002 but checked today, in which people remembered family successes to suggest visits.

Web Sites.
The site http://www.KidsToLondon has some useful opening notes and parts of chapters from a book on London for children that came out in 2000.
A personal account of London with children aged 11
and 9 is on http://www.woodman.org/trip_advice.htm.
Figures for weather
are on http://www.worldclimate.com/, under London.
An unexpected selection of sites for families is on
http://www.uktravel.com/londonconten...y&offset=0
Other relevant sites are:
http://gouk.miningco.com/travel/gouk/msublonkids.htm
London4kids (http://www.london4kids.com)
http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/index.html: link to Children's London in panel on left.
http://travel.discovery.com/ideas/fa...on/london.html
http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/graffiti117.html

Books, not on the web,
"London for Families" by Larry Pain, published by Interlink Books in 1998. "Kidding Around in London".
"Take the Kids to London" by Joseph Fullman, Cadogan Guides.
Cadogan Guides has a small series of books which might be useful for you called "Take The Kids..." The books cover London, Paris, England, Ireland, Amsterdam and Southern Spain. I have used the London and England books and found them to be extremely useful for children ages 5 to 10 or 11.

Involve the children in some part of the planning. If you plan a flexible itinerary that mixes kid-oriented sites and activities with things that adults want to see, you'll be on the right track

Magazines. There are pages of theatre and other events for children in the weekly listings magazine, Time Out London, available from Borders Books in Seattle and probably elsewhere for a $4.00 fee: total cost $9.74. You will want to buy the monthly "Kids Out in London" in two copies at your arrival airport. Two copies because, in general, and as you know, they'll like things better if they feel that they had a chance to choose them.

Your travel cards will cover busses as well as tubes and local trains. So for little trips like Science Museum to Harrods or Regent's Street to the British Museum you might like to travel on the top of a bus. To be ready for this, you can 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 children to do it: many children enjoy map reading. For short trips busses are more interesting than tubes (outside the rush hour).

Theatre. Better not a big musical. They may find more to enjoy at a play designed for children: London has a couple of these running at any one time, listed in "Kids Out". Cheaper, too.

Hotels. In October 2002 I tried "London child friendly hotel" in Google. It gave me
Earls Court, Windsor Hotel http://www.windsor-house-hotel.com/default.htm
Near Goodge Street tube, Arran house Hotel, www.london-hotel.co.uk
Near Piccadilly tube, 22 Jermyn Street http://www.22jermyn.com
Knightsbridge, Millenium Hotel www.millenniumknightsbridge.activehotels.com/OPW
Paddington, Falcon Hotel
http://www.london-hotels-reservation...ington_hotels/ 60_paddington_hotels.htm
Green Park, Athenaeum Hotel http://www.athenaeumhotel.com/welcome.html

I am sorry to see how many pages one must search to find even this small handful.

Notes from parents.
We stayed in winter 2001 at the Ascot Mayfair, a 5 star apartment hotel, and took advantage of the 20% winter discount. We booked with london4rent.com and were pleased with the service.

London is expensive, especially at the 4-5 star end of the spectrum. Finding a room that will accommodate a family can be a challenge. But if you can afford it, stay in as central a location as possible. Mayfair is ideal (and expensive). The Athenaeum has family suites and apartments. There's a Holiday Inn in Mayfair that allows children to stay in their parents' room, and offers typical "American" hotel rooms, as opposed to the more typical small-sized London hotel rooms.

4 November 2002: We stayed at the Kensington Moat House two weeks ago. My brother, his wife and two teen-agers will arrive there later next week. They've been running a special of 70GBP per room regardless of size, including full English breakfast which is incredible enough for two, but for the family room it's a really great deal. The "family" room has sturdy bunk beds in a small room as you enter, then a very large room with the double bed, so there's some measure of privacy. The hotel is in a terrific area, South Kensington, as well. I don't have the Web site, but the Moat House is a chain, so you should be able to put it in Google and find it easily enough.

Here s hoping the special is still on.

Street markets. Covent Garden is expensive. If you have 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 (Neale's Yard), a pie stall, and a fruit and vegetable stall visit Borough
Market, London Bridge tube. Fodors correspondents liked the Camden Market. All are listed in Time Out and in What's On in London.

Southern Band

At Windsor, Legoland, river boat ride, and the Castle. For children aged 5 and 8 half a day each was the right length.
http://www.windsor-tourism.co.uk/.
http://www.windsor-gb.co.uk/ Train from Waterloo.
The maze at Hampton Court. http://www.hrp.org.uk/index2.htm. Train from Waterloo
A phone call or e-mail to the Science Museum at South Kensington in London (phone 020 7938 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 "Kid's out in London"
The Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/,
Visiting London with children or teens, make sure you go to the Victoria & Albert, one of the most beautiful museums I've ever seen in the world. Head for the British History section, where they have "discovery areas" where children can learn by doing, and study areas to learn in depth about artifacts and way of life in the past. Our kids (ages 14, 13, and 10) absolutely loved this experience.
Round Pond, Bayswater
Serpentine, Hyde Park Corner
Harrod's Toy Department, Knightsbridge tube. http://www.harrods.com/
One parent said: Your children will love the escalator, with Egyptian theming, and the food hall.
But another said: Our kids (ages 14, 13, and 10) absolutely loved this experience. They hated Harrods (not far from the V&A), but enjoyed shopping on Carnaby St., and in Covent Garden, as already mentioned
National Army Museum, Chelsea, Sloane Square and a bus: rather a way to go, so perhaps you should sadly miss it. http://www.harrods.com/
The Imperial War Museum. WWI & II exhibits. Are they ready for the Holocsaust display yet ? Mamy visitors weep. Lambeth North. http://www.iwm.org.uk/
The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace, Victoria for the Queen’s state coaches
The Cabinet War Rooms (and hearing Churchill's speeches), Westminster
At Piccadilly: Hard Rock Café, Rock Circus (wax museum of the history of rock & roll), Planet Holywood (for the James Bond room, if they remewmber who he was)
Art galleries in London have great skill and experience in letting children enjoy themselves. Web sites well worth a visit are http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pl...familyfun.htm: the National Gallery on Trafalgar square
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/lecindex.asp: the National Portrait Gallery, just north east of the National Gallery
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/programmes/families.htm: Tate Britain, south of Victoria and west of Westminster
The London Eye (big wheel), Westminster. http://www.british-airways.com/londoneye/ There is a good photo guide for 2 pounds, with labelled photos of the views in each direction. A tiny playground at the base of the wheel was great for my 5-year-old to let off steam after the ride on the wheel.
London Aquarium, Westminster Bridge. http://www.londonaquarium.co.uk/
The Sherlock Holmes Museum, Charing Cross
The London Transport Museum (and the tube simulators) Covent Garden. http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/. It is not big, we spent about an hour there, then had lunch in the cafe, from which you can look down into the museum, if you go up to the upper level. Children are free to enter the museum, adults about 6 pounds. The guide-book has some simple activities and puzzles for younger children, which were useful on the train trip home.
Shopping and watching the buskers in Covent Garden
Thames boat tours from Embankment to Tower. http://www.cockney.co.uk/river.htm#boats
St Bartholomew the Great, Barbican. Twelfth century church, ful of atmosphere
The Museum of London, St Paul's. A phone call or e-mail would bring you their programme of Family Events, which are varied and active, with any amount of simple talks, role-playing and dressing up. http://www.museumoflondo.org.uk, and 020 7600 3699. Parents have specially mentioned their Blitz display.

The top of St Paul's Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral. http://max.roehampton.ac.uk/link/dswark/cath/index.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. http://alt.venus.co.uk/vpub/se1area.htm
Below the south side of London Bridge main line station is the Old
Operating Theatre, reasonably exciting. And from there it is five minutes under the station to H M S Belfast, a whole ship to explore. http://www.iwm.org.uk/belfast.htm
To go right up to see London. 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.
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 is 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 Fodors forum mention the good humour of the well-informed beefeaters. These lead tours but are not "tourist guides". If the Queen were to sleep in her palace of the Tower they would be responsible for her safety. http://www.tower-of-london.com/index2.html
Tower Bridge. http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/
The Tower Hill Pageant
The Ragged School Museum. You can phone: from time to time they do a re-enactment of a Victorian schoolroom using visiting children as Victorian pupils. The children's reactions are hilarious. It will show them how lucky they are. http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk/.

Greenwich, by train from Charing Cross or London Bridge. Or by Docklands Light Railway, “which is very convenient from central London. My children like riding in the front car of the driverless Docklands Light Railway to get there”. In winter the boat trip from Embankment or the Tower is cold and long, and it's not too warm in April. In fact, better go on a hot day in summer. At Greenwich: the Cutty Sark, http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/uk...Bridge&y=y, the National Maritime Museum with hands-on rooms (captain your own sub) http://www.nmm.ac.uk/, the Meridian, and the Observatory, http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/

With a bag of nuts bought beforehand feed the squirrels beside the flower gardens in the top end of Greenwich Park. Nearest station is Blackheath, reached from Victoria and from London Bridge.

A rail trip from Waterloo to Hampton Court or Windsor



Northern Band

Portebello Road weekend matrket, including army equipment and antique guns. Notting Hill Gate tube
Canal trips that go past the London Zoo to Camden Loch and back, and the London Zoo. Both in good weather (a parent: “wait 5 minutes and it will come”).
Madame Tussaud's, Baker Street. http://www.madame-tussauds.com/ (but I think it is expensive and a gimmick)
The Camden Market, Camden Town. http://www.camdenlock.net/markets.html
The Virgin Records Megastore (open until midnight or thereabout), Oxford Circus. http://virginmega.com/
Shopping in Carnaby Street
British Museum, Holborn. This has an audiotour tape with colour guide book which my son loved following like a scavenger hunt - we stayed in the Museum for over two hours (a record for him) and he still remembers it as great fun. The best rooms for children this age 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. http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/.
Another parent writes: The British Museum _ not too long a visit. Mine like the Egyptian rooms in particular.
Good lunches Mondays to Fridays are north of the museum, in the MacMillan Hall of the University's Senate House, and for spicy Asian and Mexican food the students' refectory of the School of Oriental and African Studies on the north east corner of Russell Square. Or children liked The Spaghetti House, Russell Square. http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/jon/hipparch/hotel.txt
Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. http://www.kidsnet.co.uk/museums/bethgree.shtml

Some dull places, to be missed

The Victoria and Albert Museum, except that some little girls like the
dresses, and like talking with their mothers about them

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
On the other hand: "My son loved Buckingham Palace. Someone was waving a handkerchief from one of the windows of the palace, and he was convinced it must be the Queen".

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 worth while. While we adults thought the Changing of the Guard at Buck Palace was boring, children aged 14, 13 and 10 really liked it.

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 see a church, the most atmospheric is the twelfth century St Barthomolew's the Great, St Paul's tube, and the most open and pleasant is the fourteenth century Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge tube.

I eat in pubs much more than in restaurants. I can send you by e mail or post in this forum my notes on lunches I like in pubs that admit children to restaurant areas upstairs or outdoors in a garden or on a pavement. Teenagers are among the people who can eat their oversized platefuls. You adults can ask for small portions for yourselves. Please tell me if you would like to see the list. (This is for any forum readers)

I look forward to your or the childrens’ notes on their own interests, in order to help with more precision. What do they like at school, or on television ?

Welcome to London

Ben Haines
[email protected]

enzian

For dining, our young teenage daughters really like Wagamama---it is a chain and they are all over London. They call themselves "noodle bars" but they have a variety of dishes, all with Asian flavors. I think their menus can be viewed online on their website; www.wagamama.uk

gbfarra

Our teens like history (especially my 13 year old son), shopping (for my 14 year old girls), general sightseeing, the Beetles! They like dining out. We are staying in an apartment near the Parsons Green Station which I think is near Chelsea? Any info on that area would be good also. Also, I looked up the london walks website. Do you think this would be a good thing to do. They look fun. Thanks!

ben_haines

Your daughters should take a bus eastwards from Parsons Green to Chelsea, and stroll the mile of expensive shops they find. Then another bus eastwards to Sloane Square, where they will find Harvey Nichols big department store, for the young rich. They could look over the people if they take expensive coffee in the restaurant. For clothes and things they can afford to buy they should pick a Saturday street market, perhaps Portobello Road (more clothes), or perhaps Camden Town (more mixed).

Parsons Green has many restaurants and pubs with meals. It has a transient population, of young graduates, singles, in their first job, so has shops and places open till late nightly, including foodstuffs for them to cook in the Mexican, French, Italian, German, Slav, Levantine, Indian, Chinese, and other world traditions, or to buy ready-made meals in several cuisines. Parsonbs Green is three or four miles east of museums and other sights, which you go to by District Line underground.

Many people on this forum praise the various firms (two or three) that mount London walks, and those I overhear sound fun.

I am sorry I do not know about the Beatles. I have the idea that tourists go to a famous pedestrian crossing of Abbey Road that they used. In Google I liked a note: Many Beatles places can be seen on two walking tours of Beatles sights conducted by Richard Porter, President of the London Beatles Fanclub. www.abbeyroadcafe.com/content/walks.html - . The girls might go to Piccadilly Circus to see the Hard Rock Café, Rock Circus (wax museum of the history of rock and roll), and Planet Hollywood (for the James Bond room, if they remember who he was)

Your son will find history often. I have selected for him from the list I senbt you last week.

Southern Band

Windsor Castle
http://www.windsor-tourism.co.uk/.
http://www.windsor-gb.co.uk/ Train from Waterloo.
The maze at Hampton Court. http://www.hrp.org.uk/index2.htm. Train from Waterloo
Two museums in South Kensington: the Science Museum for the history of sciences and technologies and the Victoria and Albert Museum for the histories of costume and other applied arts. They m,ight split for three hours, the boy for science and the girls for the V & A.

The Imperial War Museum. WWI & II exhibits. Is he ready for the Holocsaust display yet ? Mamy visitors weep. Lambeth North. http://www.iwm.org.uk/
The Cabinet War Rooms (and hearing Churchill's speeches), Westminster
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/lecindex.asp: the National Portrait Gallery, just north east of the National Gallery
St Bartholomew the Great, Barbican. Twelfth century church, ful of atmosphere
The Museum of London, St Paul's. A phone call or e-mail would bring you their programme of Family Events, which are varied and active, with any amount of simple talks, role-playing and dressing up. http://www.museumoflondo.org.uk, and 020 7600 3699. Parents have specially mentioned their Blitz display.
St Pauls Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral. http://max.roehampton.ac.uk/link/dswark/cath/index.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. http://alt.venus.co.uk/vpub/se1area.htm
Below the south side of London Bridge main line station is the Old
Operating Theatre, for surgery withoput anaethetic about 1860. And from there it is five minutes under the station to H M S Belfast, a whole ship from world war two. http://www.iwm.org.uk/belfast.htm
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 is 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 Fodors forum mention the good humour of the well-informed beefeaters. These lead tours but are not "tourist guides". If the Queen were to sleep in her palace of the Tower they would be responsible for her safety. http://www.tower-of-london.com/index2.html
The Ragged School Museum. You can phone: from time to time they do a re-enactment of a Victorian schoolroom using visiting children as Victorian pupils. The children's reactions are hilarious. It will show them how lucky they are. http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk/.

Greenwich, by train from Charing Cross or London Bridge. Or by Docklands Light Railway, “which is very convenient from central London. My children like riding in the front car of the driverless Docklands Light Railway to get there”. In winter the boat trip from Embankment or the Tower is cold and long, and it's not too warm in April. In fact, better go on a hot day in summer. At Greenwich: the Cutty Sark, http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search/uk...Bridge&y=y, the National Maritime Museum with hands-on rooms (captain your own sub) http://www.nmm.ac.uk/, the Meridian, and the Observatory, http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/


A rail trip from Waterloo to Hampton Court, for Tudor times



Northern Band

British Museum, Holborn. Downstairs the Greek and Roman rooms, 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 they read 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. http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/.
Another parent writes: The British Museum _ not too long a visit. Mine like the Egyptian rooms in particular.
Good lunches Mondays to Fridays are north of the museum, in the MacMillan Hall of the University's Senate House, and for spicy Asian and Mexican food the students' refectory of the School of Oriental and African Studies on the north east corner of Russell Square. Or children liked The Spaghetti House, Russell Square. http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/jon/hipparch/hotel.txt
Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. http://www.kidsnet.co.uk/museums/bethgree.shtml

Some dull places, that I think tourists should miss.

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
On the other hand: "My son loved Buckingham Palace. Someone was

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The change at Horse GuardsParade at eleven (Sundays at ten) is easiefun. But again, not specially worth while. While we adults thought the Changing of the Guard at Buck Palace was boring, children aged 14, 13 and 10 really liked it.

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 see a church, the most atmospheric is the twelfth century St Barthomolew's the Great, St Paul's tube, and the most open and pleasant is the fourteenth century Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge tube.

Have the young people any tastes yet in painting, sculpture, current popular music, or world music ? Please tell us if so, as I may have ideas for their evenings.

I am enjoying picking things out like this.

Ben Haines

fishee

Ben Haines -- you are an absolutely amazing source of info for London... I had a great trip to London by relying on many of your tips. thanks!

ben_haines

Fishee: Manyn thasnkls for writing. I like to know.

Ben Haines

drempel

Teen age girls in the know shop at Topshop near Oxford Circus - not outrageously expensive like all other places.

For history, the War Rooms are fascinating. Also, see if you can get into Parliament during their public argument time. Original London Walks is a font of information. My kids enjoyed it, but I think we parents enjoyed it more. Wagamama is good, and if you like indian food, there are lots of reallly good indian places. British Museum, Science Museum, V and A museum, Tower of London, skip the Tate Modern, walk across the millennium bridge, do the London Eye with them if you have time, but not a top priority.

If your kids like to read, they might enjoy a stop at Foyles, a huge bookstore with a great selection. They can buy books there that aren't yet out in the US.

We love going to the movies in London, even though it costs an arm and a leg. The theaters in Leicester square are more like the old movie "palaces" in the US, with sparkly stars on the ceiling and a balcony.

Robespierre

The Abbey Road Zebra Crossing is indicated on this map (go southwest down Grove End Road from the St. John's Wood station on the Jubilee Line):

http://www.journeyplanner.org/Downlo...sWood_spdr.pdf

gbfarra

Thanks to all who have replied. The information is so great! Mr. Haines--you have been like a personal tour guide, and I thank you so much for the time you have taken to provide all the terrific information! Much better than any guide books! I think we will have a wonderful time!

noe847

Here is a link to our recent London trip (with older teen):
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34771547

noe847

Also, fun4all4 posted a trip report about thier family trip (children 11 and 14):
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34730329

gbfarra

I just checked my information on the area in which we will be staying. We will be in Fulham. The agent described it as "a nice residential area, but a little further out, going west". Any insights about this area? Any restaurants to recommend. She said we will be on Eddiscombe Road, about 5 minutes from Parsons Green tube.

PatrickLondon

Much sought-after area - I'm surprised the agent isn't calling it "Hurlingham" since it's also within a few minutes' walk of the upmarket Hurlingham Club. Good-size family houses from the early 1900s, 22 bus to Sloane Square and Hyde Park Corner passes the end of the road. It's some years since I lived nearby, but there are likely to be some reasonable neighbourhood restaurants on both New Kings Road (at the end of Eddiscomeb Rd) and Fulham Road (a little further away).

Lexma90

Last fall we took our 10-year-old son to London; it's now his second-favorite city (after NYC)!

Our son is very interested in spies and James Bond stuff; we took the Londonwalks Spies walk, and all found it quite interesting, though some of the references were to events my son wasn't familiar with. The talk is a lot about Kim Philby and the Cambridge 5, which he did know about.

The Cabinet War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum were a big hit - the simulations in the Museum were amazing for all of us.

My son loved Mousetrap, and on another night, we went to a play at the National Theater, which he also enjoyed (though not every kid's cup of tea). After that play, we took a doubledecker bus back to our hotel, across the Thames - the sight was beautiful at night.

Tower of London also got high marks. The on-off tour was pretty good, though I didn't think the commentary was very informative; my son said the kid version had interesting stories. We spent quite a bit of time goofing off and listening to the commentary in foreign languages. The regular doubledecker buses were a good experience, as well.

For dinners, we ate Indian every night, which was more for us grownups than for our son. We had fish and chips at the Rock & Soul Plaice, near (in? I can't remember) Covent Garden; it was quite good for fish and chips, and we could sit outside. We had an afternoon tea as a late lunch at Richoux (there are several locations), which was less expensive and allowed my husband (who doesn't like afternoon tea) to get "regular" food; that worked well for us.

gbfarra

Thanks Patrick. Glad to hear it's a nice area. I was worried I may have made a poor choice staying a bit further out. I'm relieved after reading your comments!

ben_haines

For people new to London it may help to say that the niceness (in your sense) of a place in London seldom depends on distance from the centre. I hear that it does in Paris. But here areas include complete villages swallowed about 1830, when local railways came, and large estates developed by such landowners as the Dukes of Westminster, a family still as rich as the Queen. There are parts of London where the police walk in pairs, and security is weak. They are usually areas built for social housing from about 1945, and often lie four miles from Piccadilly Circus. They have no attractions or hotels for tourists , and tourists do not go there.

Ben Haines

lfolsom521

We've taken our sons to London for the past 4 years, they are 15 and 12 now.
Here are their favorites
in no order....

1. The theater
2. Windsor Castle
3. Natural History Museum
4. British Museum
5. The science Museum
6. Wagamama Noodles. My youngest claims, the best noodles he has ever had...and he's had plenty.
7. Adam's Rib restaurant at Piccadilly circus. Again, my youngest claims the best bacon cheeseburger he has ever had...and he's had plenty at 23 Shaftsbury Ave
8. Tea at Browns
9. Camden Market
10. The video arcade at the Trocadero at Piccadilly circus
11. Stonehenge
12. People watching at Hyde park
13. Tower of London
14. Any bookstore
15. The food hall and toy floor at Harrods
16. Dinner at Sherlock Holmes pub 10 Northumberland/Charing Cross Station
17. Climbing to the top of St Paul's cathedral
18. Sandwiches from Pret a manger
19. Bath
20. Portobello Market




Did not like
1. Tate Modern
2. Burberry factory outlet in Hackney (though they have to go every trip)
3. The very smoke filled antique shops in Notting hill
4. Walking from 9:00am till 11:0pm

I used
Cadogan's Take the kids to London guide.
Rick Steves' London Guide
Access London
Fodor's London

My kids are willing to go every year, they enjoy London so much.

jbtlse

We have spent the past four summers in London with two daughters now 13 and 16.

Top Shop is their favorite and Old Spitalfields market and the vintage shops in that area surrounding--for shopping.

A very teenage-y eating experience is Yo Sushi!

They get haircuts at the Vidal Sassoon school for around 5 pounds ("models" for students--they have always had great cuts.)

I am devoted to Time Out for ideas.

My daughters' favorite experiences have been taking workshops at museums--number one was a fashion workshop at the V&A. Design museum has had some fun things as well. They have done some drama workshops as well. We find such classes by going to the museum websites or Time Out. Sometimes you have to book in advance sometimes they are free drop in--another favorite was also at the V&A and gave kid a digital camera and then made a t-shirt with pictures she took--that was free!!

One daughter has taken many ballet classes all over London.

I love Hampton Court, but the boat ride is very very long--take the train.

Kew Gardens is a great place to hang for a picnic.

In Hyde Park, my kids like to sit by the Princess Diana Fountain and stick their feet in. Oh and they really like the paddle boats in Hyde Park.

My (then) 12 year old loved the zoo last year.

And Camden Market (go up to the Lock and above--by the tube station is crowded).

the Orangery at Kensington Palace is a favorite for tea (They love the sable cookies).

And the playground at Holland Park is amazing--not for the faint hearted--someone broke their arm the day it openned 4/5years ago!

Billy Elliot was one daughter's favorite ever musical (it was high up ther for me as well)--probably a bit more for mid teens and older.

The Globe Theatre (to see a comedy)--maybe not a favorite but they remember it!

Linley Samborne House in Kensington is really cool-- tour by a costumed guide an intact Victorian home.

Brass rubbings in St Martins in the Fields--good cafe there too.

My 12 year old endured tour of Parliament--she actually ended up liking it.

We like to take buses--they are free (since last September) for kids (which includes young teens). We usually buy a family travel card every day--caveat is that you can't start travel until after 9:30 (I Think) and you have to stick together (Or at least be one adult and one child pair) Although the oyster card scheme has been revised and we will probably do that this summer.