London/Amsterdam with teens?
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Anonymous
| Thinking of doing an 8 day trip with my teens to London and Amsterdam. Has anyone done these spots with teens and did they enjoy it or were they bored? Would love suggestions on things to do. |
Anonymous
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All European capitals can be fun for teens. There are a million things to do.
Please tell us what your kids enjoy and don't enjoy. Also if you get them to flip through guidebooks and identify a few things they want to see, that would be helpful for you. In London, I recommend paid 2-hour walking tours through Londonwalks. |
Anonymous
| My teens like food tours and ghost tours. We recently did a food tour at boroughs market in london that my teens liked. |
Anonymous
| These are helpful thanks! They would love walking and food tours. We would add in a few museums but they get a little bored of museums after a while. |
Anonymous
| There are some excellent drugs to be scored in both cities. Enjoy. |
Anonymous
Here is the URL for Londonwalks. https://www.walks.com/ You should plan on seeing the British Museum in London. Learn what is in there and take the kids to the parts they will like best...fragments of the Parthenon, the Rosetta Stone, golden grave hoards from Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, etc. Near Amsterdam, there is a windmill village that's popular with tourists called Zaanse Schans. My kid did a summer study program in Amsterdam. The program took the teens to this. It would be like US people going to a Revolutionary War fort or Colonial mansion. https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/ |
Anonymous
| We went for spring break with 11 and 15 year old to the Netherlands. Had a blast, lots to do. Between the two, you can easily fill the days you have. If only sticking to Amsterdam without side visits, I’d probably allocate more days to London. |
Anonymous
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Do your kids like theater? You could take them to West End shows in the evenings. It's the equivalent of Broadway. Maybe see "Six" the musical?
Also there's the replica of Shakespeare's Globe theater. I took my kids on a tour of the theater. We did not go to a play there due to the options and our schedule. But the tour was excellent. https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/shakespeares-globe-story-and-tour/ |
Anonymous
We did this trip with tweens and they loved every minute. We did Tower of London, a rocket boat on the Themes River, shopped in Pickadilly circus and saw an English Football game (soccer) which was the highlight did Tate Modern (they hated!). Also did the Churchill War Rooms that was by far the most popular museum with them. In Amsterdam we did Anne Frank house, boat tour, Van Gogh museum (they weren’t crazy about that) even walked very quickly through red light district but I didn’t realize how raunchy the signs are for live shows so ended up having them look down and walk fast! We also rented bikes and went through VondelPark- very scary to ride bikes there but my kids were just small enough to sit in front basket seat so my husband and I drive the bikes- scary to do but most rewarding and enjoyable. My kids keep asking to go back! If you like I Dian food, Dishoom in London is a must! Just get there early and be prepared to wait in line! |
Anonymous
| Make sure to find time for shopping in London, especially if they like to shop. My daughter loved Gymshark, Jellycat inside of Selfridges and Harrods for the monstrosity of it. I would also add doing tea in London, we did Fortnum & Mason and loved it. |
Anonymous
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We've taken our teens to London and Amsterdam (separate trips - we did Amsterdam and Paris in the summer and London over Spring Break), and they had a great time in both cities. We are all pretty active, and we try to space out the museums with activities or more interactive sights which keeps our teens more engaged. They also tend to enjoy tours with an interactive guide. I think it can be easy to focus on things you feel like you have to see, and we've found that we all enjoy some variety.
Highlights in Amsterdam: Countryside bike tour with We Bike Amsterdam (riding in the city is intense, and this tour is mainly outside the city - we all loved it) Canal cruise Anne Frank House (we watched A Small Light on Disney+, which is the story of one of the people who helped hide the Frank family, right before the trip, and that context helped make the visit especially meaningful for our kids) NEMO Science Museum Foodhallen Just walking around and observing the city was interesting for all of us, especially just outside the main tourist areas Highlights in London: Food tour of Borough Market Harry Potter walking tour (Tour for Muggles) Bike tour with Tally Ho Bikes Tower of London Churchill War Rooms Tower Bridge Harry Potter Studio tour Dishoom (we went twice - you can make a reservation ahead of time for a table before 6pm) Exploring the city On a different trip to London, a friend and I did a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral called the Triforium tour. It's kind of behind the scenes tour - we joked that it felt like a tour of their attic, but with priceless artifacts. I think my kids would've really enjoyed it and would do it with them on a future trip. |
Anonymous
Leaving Friday with my HS senior as a stress-release to college application season and excited/relieved to see your highlights match much of our itenerary. |
Anonymous
| +1 for Churchill War Rooms, Anne Frank House, and Dishoom. My kids also loved the Dutch Resistance Museum. If your kids like soccer see if you can get tickets to a Premier League match at one of the older stadiums. Craven Cottage is fantastic. |
Anonymous
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My tween deeply loved both cities. Paris not as much.
Favorite things in Amsterdam: renting bikes, wandering and eating good food, Dutch Resistance Museum. We got the city pass and did the sky ride thing because we didn't have to pay extra to do it and it was a surprising hit. London favorites: Tower of London, London Dungeons, shows in the West End, a fancy afternoon tea |
Anonymous
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Bike tours were mentioned by some other posters. My teens and I have really enjoyed bike tours in a variety of places, including London. (I think they would be hesitant in Amsterdam though.)
See a show in London. |