London with Teens questions
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Anonymous
| Just got back with teen DDs. Their favs were the Big Bus tour on arrival day (worked great for us), Westminster Abbey, the Harry Potter museum, the Wax Museum and shopping on Carnaby. |
Anonymous
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I just got back and stayed in the same area (which we loved!). On arrival day, our flight was early and we actually got to our hotel by 7am. We got super lucky and our room was ready so we rested for a couple of hours. My DS did not want to do a bus tour and was worried about falling asleep if we were passive, so we did the opposite. We had 9:30 Tower of London tickets, spent a couple of hours there, then walked along the Thames to get to Borough market and tried a lot of food! It kept us awake and happy. We then walked back and rested for a bit before dinner. It was a fantastic first day as we saw so much but it really wasn’t a lot.
For departure day, it is about an hour on the train, but give yourself 1.5 hours if going that way. Heathrow is easy to get through and very organized. |
Anonymous
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We just got back from London and I have an 18yo. She saw Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre and loved it! There is an outdoor street food mall under the bridge( turn left and continue walking after the Westminster bridge) and she met up with a friend and had a great time there Kate at night and felt safe.
Cotswolds- no. You must stay in the villages and it is very remote and hard to get to unless you drive and stay out there (2h30m from London). Also, regarding distance, Heathrow is not in the city as is Gatwick so plan on taking an Uber and dealing with traffic to get there unless you can take the (Elizabeth or Victoria TFL line to get there). We went to the Orangery and loved it. My teen loved the town of Windsor and took one of the boats out on the water and fed the swans. |
Anonymous
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We had tea at the Royal Palace Theater Drury Lane and it was really good. Very traditional, beautiful decor and the food was really tasty. Not as expensive as some places and easier to get a reservation. My teen found it reviewed on some site.
https://thelane.co.uk/eat-and-drink-venues/grand-saloon-afternoon-tea We also really liked Hyde Park -- we rented bikes and rode around and had a picnic and ice cream. There is a flower garden there where you can take really beautiful pictures. Some of my favorite pictures of my kids are in that flower garden. I'll also recommend the Rick Steve's 90 minute audio tour of the British Museum. It was a perfect length for teens, and we could stop it to look at different things as we pleased. There is a nice pub across the street called the Tavern Pub and I thought the food was really good -- it's a very old pub so gives you that classic Victorian England pub experience. I think the kitchen closes late afternoon though, after lunch and before dinner, so you have to get your orders in before the kitchen closes. |
Anonymous
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OP here - thank you do much for all the amazing recs!
Do you think for the return we need to get to Heathrow 3 hrs ahead ? So leave hotel st 5:30 am to get to Heathrow by 7 am for 10 Am flight? |
Anonymous
I would allow plenty of time, but I’m quite risk averse. I’ve also had the experience in London of having to drag bags out of a car in gridlocked traffic to a tube stop and also being stuck on a delayed train then having to sprint through the airport. |
Anonymous
Officially the recommended is 3. I've sat around for ages typically but one time my bag got pulled for extra screening and they took forever to go through a long line of bags. Heathrow can be chaos. |
Anonymous
You really don't need more than 2 hours. They don't have exit passport control in the UK, so it's just drop bags, then security, then out to the gate And you don't need 90 minutes from Tower Hill to Heathrow. It's an hour on the train- 5 minutes on Tube, 10 minutes to change trains (max), then 35 ont he Elizabeth Line. I'd leave at 6:45 for a 10 AM flight. |
Anonymous
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Favorites for my kids were Boroughs market, the bus tour to Windsor Castle and Stone Henge - there were a couple of other stops but those were the ones they loved. The Churchill War Rooms were a real surprise hit but an amazing highlight.
You can get same day half price tickets for West End Shows much like in NYC. One thing my kids missed was the street near Lloyd’s of London (near where you are staying) that looks like Diagonal Alley. I saw it after they left and was disappointed not to have known about it earlier. And one thing they were not impressed by was the food. It was fine but neither of them had a favorite. Have fun. |
Anonymous
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Jamovar for Indian.
Absolute can’t miss |
Anonymous
| Any other special restaurants with any combo of fun vibes? Great food? Views? |
Anonymous
- We did the Tour for Muggles on arrival day - fun, easy-paced tour of Harry Potter movie sites that kept us moving and also helped orient us to the city - Tea at Fortnum & Mason was a terrific experience! - For Indian, our who family LOVED Dishoom - both for the food and the vibe. Ended up going twice with our teens, then again when my husband and I went back to London 6 months later. Other suggestions: We all loved Borough Market (we did a tour with Totally Tailored that help us discover some delicious things we wouldn't have tried on our own) and a bike tour with Tally Ho |
Anonymous
| Has anyone gotten the half price theater tickets? When/where do you buy and how good were the tickets? |
Anonymous
| I've always wanted to go to Dishoom and try the legendary Ruby Chicken and Black deal. Haven't made it yet. |
Anonymous
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Just got back from London with a young teen and a tween, so slightly younger so YMMV
We totally would have fallen sleep on a bus tour the first day. I tried a boat tour and tween was sound asleep in a few mins. Maybe the Eye? Get timed tickets. If you walk north/east under the jubilee bridge there are food stalls and such and apparently a big beer garden. Teen really wanted to go to Borough market but timing just never worked for us - Covent Garden and Camden market were both big hits though. We did tea at Brigit’s - the tea and food was good, and the price was great, but it’s smaller than i thought and the ambience was more “cute cafe” and less “fancy high tea.” However teen got a big kick out of the stupid Instagrammers at the table next to us. We did a WWII walking tour that ended at the Churchill war rooms and included tickets. This turned out to be a big hit with everyone! I will warn you that they give you audio guides in the war rooms and depending on your family, some people might finish like 2 hours ahead of others…. |