Family Trip to England June 2022

It is late at night here in England so I haven't reminded myself what we said in your other posts, but what immediately jumped out is your Day 2. Early to the Tower of London if you want to miss the biggest crowds. Tower Bridge is adjacent. That's the fancy one with the towers and the bascule lift, looking all ancient but actually Victorian.

I think you probably mean that bridge, not London Bridge. The last one was sold to a guy in the Arizona (I think) desert. The new one's not much to look at, being flat.

Trying to get your money's worth out of both a visit to the Tower of London and Churchill's War Rooms in one day may be a challenge - both take several hours. I'm a member at the Tower of England and been many times and still haven't seen many things there.

You gave us some fun ideas for WWII sites in London. I am currently figuring out which ones will work best for our itinerary.

The three locations I mentioned on Day 2 in London are just are must-do's over the two days we are in London. These were the things the kids thought would be really fun to do. Anything else we do is just for fun, but not a deal-breaker for us. It looks like the Tower of London and the Churchill war rooms are not close by each other so we will split those two up.

Thanks for the clarification of Tower Bridge versus London Bridge. I was typing fast so I could drive my youngest to his friend's house. Just looking at a map it seems logical to do the Tower of London and Tower Bridge on one day and the Churchill war rooms the other day. We will just need to fill in some other minor activities to fill the day.

Thanks for your input.

You can check if Tower Bridge is going to open to let ships pass on www.towerbridge.org.uk

The Cabinet War Rooms is another worth having an early reservation for.

Have your party visited St James's Park and seen all the funny birds? Including the flotilla of pelicans? A lovely place, right next door. Also very close is Horse Guards Parade where the Changing of the Horse Guards takes place, mounted, with very small crowds so you can get up close and personal.

rogerbrownwarwick thank you so much for that link. My husband is an engineer and will get such a kick out of that.

Nigel we were thinking of going to the the changing of the Horse Guard. My son who is the military enthusiast thought it would be cool. That is a neat idea about St. James park. It will be fun relaxing stop. When you say that we need to get tickets early what is early? Several months early or the week before?

I have no idea in these days of plague how far ahead is needed is unknown to me. It used to not be very popular - when I went I just rocked up and went in several years ago - but recently after a movie or two it became very popular and reservations were needed ahead as far as possible.

These days I simply have no clue.

What I was meaning was early in the day so the crowds, should they appear, would be behind you not in front of you... the walking around is rather narrow and can get crowded.

I went to the Churchill War Rooms in 2019. I was warned to get my ticket in advance by posts on this forum. It sometimes sells out. Best case, if you show up without a ticket, you'll probably have to buy one for considerably later in the day, which will be disruptive for your day's sightseeing plan.

It's important to understand that the CWR is really two sights with one entry point and one ticket. The War Rooms are accessed along narrow corridors and were very crowded for my visit. It doesn't take particularly long to see them (though crowds can slow one down), even using the audio guide, which I recommend. The much more time-consuming part of the sight is the Churchill Museum component. It's a modern installation where one needs many hours if one wants to read all the explanatory material. Although this area is set up in an open-plan format, it was also pretty crowded; I sometimes had to wait for people to move out of my way to see the exhibits. Taken as a whole, it would be possible to spend the entire day at the CWR, though I'm sure few people do so.

I know many people disagree, but in my view the War Room component alone doesn't justify the very high admission price (£25 for adults, which is over $34). That's a lot of money to spend for a quick visit to underground rooms with cots, desks, typewriters and telephones. Yes, important decisions were made there, so if you revel in visiting historic sites where things happened, this will be meaningful for you. For me, it was the Churchill Museum that made the sight worth the cost; I spent well over half a day in the museum section.

Thanks for the insight. When visiting the price of things sure can add up quickly. I hadn't known there were two separate parts to the CWR. That gives me some things to think about. It is always nice to hear different opinions and their reasoning behind them.

Personally, my view is the War Rooms are fascinating—the Churchill museum, not so much. And I am a huge fan of Churchill, don't get me wrong. He is an amazing hero. But I just found the museum uninspiring. I was just at both places two days ago, and this time I chose to just visit the war rooms and not the Churchill museum (even though it was included). The included audio guide (which I believe only applies to the War rooms) was excellent and very much increases your understanding of the war rooms. BTW, I showed up without tickets, and despite the workers' initial protestations, I was able to buy a ticket for immediate entry. Of course, this was in mid-January. YMMV.

If your son is a military enthusiast, I can suggest two other small but really interesting museums near the CWR that you could tag onto a visit there:
1. The Household Cavalry Museum (Horseguards Parade)
3. The Guards Museum (Wellington Barracks)

The Imperial War Museum is fabulous. It took me five trips to absorb it all--maybe about 20 hours altogether, but that included several specialized exhibitions that some visitors might be comfortable skipping for lack of time. The museum is free/donation requested. There's a fee for the audio guide, which is quite good, but I eventually realized the contents were very similar to the explanatory texts posted throughout the museum, so the audio guide isn't necessary if you don't mind reading a lot. Using both information sources actually wastes time. There are lots of physical objects on display, which I imagine is a plus for those interested in war materiel.

Those are all really excellent suggestions. I will have to look into them. Thank you everyone for taking the time to answer my questions.