3 Day Itinerary for London with Kids: History, Culture and Parks
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On our trip to England we spent a total of three days, out of six, in London proper. We stayed right in Central London and walked an average of 10 miles a day seeing all of the sites!
At the ages that our kids are, we didn’t do much museum or church touring, but we got to see all of the major landmarks (which made it easier to cram it all in in three days!) and have a lot of fun experiences along the way.
Day 1: Site-seeing
Photographer in London
While in London we used one of our absolute favorite travel companies, Flytographer, to have some family photos done. This is beyond worth the price and something that we always love.
We make sure to book this at the beginning of the trip so that we can reschedule if needed.
One thing we love about doing Flytographer shoots is that we often get to see a lot of landmarks and learn about the city from someone who lives there! We always learn something fun and get a recommendation for a great restaurant or hidden gem place to visit.
You can check out my post here if you are interested in learning more about Flytographer or booking your own shoot with a discount!
Tower of London
The Tower of London was one of our kids’ favorite places that we visited. It’s equal parts site-seeing and museum with lots of interactive features for the kids. The Tower of London is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for it’s cultural value and history.
It’s best to purchase tickets online ahead of time as there can be long lines.
We recommend walking across the Tower Bridge to get to the Tower of London (or afterward!). It is a beautiful view and the Tower Bridge is so iconic of London.
There are a ton of exhibits and things to see at the Tower of London that you could easily spend half a day or more there.
The Crown Jewels
The Crown Jewels is one of the major draws, of course. They are located within the Jewel House and the collection includes more than 23,000 jewels. You can see crowns, swords, sheaths, bejeweled armor and the orb and scepter used in coronation. Some of the pieces kept there are still used today.
There is no photography allowed in the Jewel House, but trust me, it’s fantastic. You can see a bit more here.
The White Tower
Our favorite part of the Tower of London was the White Tower. The tower is the original keep (fortified tower) of the castle and was both the strongest military point and the accommodations for the king. The basement was also where prisoners were held and tortured.
Now, the tower acts as a museum. Within, you can see a history of warfare and armory. There are sets of armor going back hundreds of years through the history of England. You can see sets of armor for horses, soldiers and kings alike.
One of the boys’ favorite parts was this dragon that guards the tower. They were equal parts frightened and fascinated!
There is also an interactive level in the museum where children and grown ups alike can touch, examine and use various masonry tools and weapons. Our favorite was the archery simulation.
The boys also loved being able to touch and feel a knight’s helmet and chain mail.
The Guards and Beefeaters
After exploring the White Tower we took some time to walk around the grounds and check out the soldiers. These soldiers stand guard outside of the Jewel House protecting the crown jewels.
In addition to the guards, Beefeaters roam the grounds and are just about the friendliest guys around! You can chat with them and take pictures and they are happy to do so!
Beefeaters were in charge of guarding the king and queen’s food and tasked with eating any food first, to make sure that nothing was poisoned. Most people think this is where they get their name, but there is also a camp that think it is more likely that the name comes from the time when they were paid part of their salary with beef.
The Beefeaters, or Yoeman Warders as they are officially called, also give tours of the fortress if you are interested in a tour. The tours start every 30 minutes and are included in the price of admission.
The Ravens
One thing you may notice at the Tower of London are the resident ravens. There are seven and they live on the grounds. The legend is that King Charles II was warned that if the ravens (6 at the time) ever fled the fortress, the kingdom would fall.
Since then, there have always been ravens kept on the grounds. They have a Ravenmaster who feeds them, grooms them and keeps them happy so that they never want to leave. Each raven guards a different part of the fortress.
Borough Market
A great place to eat in central London is Borough Market. We returned to this market three times during our stay in London and absolutely loved everything that we had.
The market is one of London’s oldest food markets, dating back to the 12th century. It is located at Southwark Street and Borough High Street. The architecture is very cool, with buildings dating back to the 1800s and a railway viaduct overhead.
You can find any type of food from traditional English fare to Indian or Vietnamese. Our favorites were salt beef sandwiches (known as corned beef in the states), cheesy toasties for the boys (which is now how our boys will call grilled cheese sandwiches for the foreseeable future!), fish and chips and paella.
There are dozens of stalls and in our experience you can’t go wrong with any of them! And the atmosphere is not to be missed. We love European markets and this one tops our list of favorites!
Site-seeing
After eating our late lunch, we spent the evening site-seeing. We headed over to Westminster for an evening walk. We love using the guided walking tours in Rick Steve’s Great Britain guidebook. We like to base our route off of what he shares in the books and then are able to read about each place along the way.
One of the major highlights is Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I recommend starting across the river and seeing the whole scene and then crossing the bridge and seeing it up close.
Traveling internationally? Make sure to look into Global Entry Status for your family.
Unfortunately Big Ben is undergoing restoration at the moment but you can still see the east-facing clock face.
From there you can head to Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is a gothic abbey located in Westminster. It’s a beautiful church!
It’s also worth mentioning that the night before Day 1, after we had landed and checked into our hotel, we walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral to see that chapel as well.
We are currently in a stage of life where it’s not worth it to us to spend lots of money to go in to museums or churches like these because we won’t be able to get the most out of it with the kids. We don’t mind at all, it’s just our current stage and priority!
However, I did want to mention for anyone not in that stage of life that the London Pass is a great resource if you do want to visit the churches and museums in and around London.
Day 2: Afternoon Tea & Museums
Afternoon Tea at Chesterfield Mayfair
We love to book in one or two culture experiences that will engage us all (way more than site-seeing) and teach the kids a different way of life or something new!
For London, we thought what could be more British than having an afternoon tea? This was one of our most favorite activities from our time in England. We found a kid-friendly Original Sweetshop Afternoon Tea at a luxury hotel near Buckingham Palace.
The kids loved the experience and it was just the cutest thing ever! If you haven’t seen it already, make sure to head on over to a dedicated post all about our experience at afternoon tea.
Buckingham Palace
After our tea, we walked through Green Park to see Buckingham Palace. One of the most popular things to do at Buckingham Palace is to see the changing of the guard.
We did a ton of research on this and you can find a lot of really good information and tips and tricks out there, but in the end opted not to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace because of the massive crowds and the time our boys would have to be sitting and waiting around and unable to leave easily if things got hairy.
Instead we watched the much less crowded, but still cool, changing of the guard at Windsor Castle, which I will write about in the next blog post of our London series!
We visited Buckingham Palace around noon and had great views, got to watch the guards marching and patrolling and didn’t have to fight crowds or cranky, jet-lagged toddlers!
St. James’s Park
Finding parks to run around get out energy is always a must while traveling with kids. Especially when they have loaded up on sweets!!
St. James’s Park Playground is an amazing little playground right in the shadow of Buckingham Palace. There is a great balance of nature, creative play and agility play. We loved it.
And then a stroll through St. James’s Park is absolutely gorgeous! The trees and flowers were just starting to bloom while we were there and there were baby ducks in the lake!
Make sure to walk across the bridge to get a great view of Buckingham Palace!
You can read more about our two favorite London playgrounds here.
British Museum
That evening, we decided was time for a museum! If you are only going to go to one museum while in London, the British Museum is a must. there are just some really cool, world-changing artifacts there.
Here’s a rule of thumb for you when traveling in England: Churches cost for admission but museums are free! In many places it’s the other way around, so I thought this was awesome!
We popped into the British Museum and it is simply gorgeous! Just the lobby is fantastic.
The thing we most wanted to see in the British Museum was the Rosetta Stone. As travelers and as a family who loves cultural history, I am so amazed at the Rosetta Stone and how this one singular object changed the world so greatly.
We then spent the rest of our time with the mummies. This fascinated the boys and they had a million and one questions. I would have liked to see a bit more of the museum, but how could I ever stop my children when they want to learn?!
Day 3: Hyde Park & London Bus Route
Science Museum
Day 3 of our trip was actually spent going out to Windsor and spending the day there. So this was day 4 of our trip as a whole but day 3 spent in London proper.
The Science Museum is actually something we did after we got back from Windsor in the evening because it was raining and we needed to kill some time and wait out the rain. However, it’s located very near Hyde Park and everything that we did on Sunday that it makes sense to include it here!
It was such a fantastic museum! Again, totally free, and so many amazing things for the kids to see and do.
There were several interactive play areas and the kids had a ton of fun getting their hands wet (literally), building and exploring.
There were so many great exhibits, everything from old cars and trains, to technology through the ages and space exploration. We couldn’t get enough of it!
Hyde Park Chapel
We love to visit churches and cathedrals while we are traveling. But we particularly desire to go to our own worship services while traveling. We were lucky that in London, our religion’s congregations meet at a beautiful building right near Hyde Park called the Hyde Park Chapel and Visitor’s Center.
If you are interested in visiting, follow the link above. There is some amazing artwork inside the building and you can watch videos and meet with missionaries to learn more about the history of our church in England.
Hyde Park
On Sunday, our last day in London, we finally had warmer weather and sunshine! We loved strolling through Hyde Park and seeing Kensington Gardens.
I think I was enjoying the warm weather so much that I forgot to take pictures! Blogger fail! But Hyde Park is a highlight of London and you’d have to be really strapped for time to miss it!
Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Playground
This was another fantastic playground! We spent nearly the entire afternoon here. The options are endless and it was so engaging for the kids!
I have always been fascinated by Princess Diana, more-so than any of the current royals, and so it was fun for me to be at her namesake park.
You can read more about our two favorite London playgrounds here.
London Bus Ride
Our last night in London before heading out to the countryside we decided to ride a London double decker bus! If you read my book play post about making London buses, you’ll know the boys were really looking forward to this!
In fact, the entire time we were in London they kept pointing out every bus they saw, which was a lot.
We decided to ride on a real authentic local bus as opposed to a hop-on hop-off bus so that the boys could get the true experience! We did some research and found that the Route 11 bus takes in quite a bit of site-seeing and is perfect for riding around central London.
We took the Underground out to Sloane Station and then boarded the 11 bus at the Lower Sloane Street Stop K. We went straight up to the top deck and grabbed a seat. After a few stops, the front benches opened up and we all crammed in and were able to do all the site-seeing from the front window!
The route took us past Westminster Abbey, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery to name a few.
Phew! That was a lot to pack into three days! We felt it was the perfect amount. There are definitely things we missed out on, but one thing we’ve learned traveling with kids is that you just can’t do everything, and if you try people will end of miserable! We’d rather focus on really enjoying a few things and then just coming back for more another time 😉
What do you love about London? Or what are you looking forward to seeing someday?!
For more posts in our England series please see our Windsor Castle day trip here and our trip through the English countryside here.
