Itinerary critique for first trip to London

I’d try to be flexible on days so that you can go to indoor places eg V and A if there’s a rainy day. Hampton Court Palace is great anytime but marvellous on a sunny day.

When you’re at the V and A, the kids would probably love to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum (opposite, and free) and potentially the Science Museum too (a couple of minutes walk and also free).

If the ‘City’ tour is in the City of London (ie business district), Sunday may not be a good day- the place is dead. The free, Bank of England museum next to Bank Station lets you look at real gold bars, I believe.

This is a frequent misunderstanding but Sunday roast is usually only served at lunchtime until 2/3ish. It’s quite rare to find one available in the evening.

And the later you arrive for a Sunday Roast, the more likely a place will be running out of roast meat to slice and serve. I’m not familiar with Old Shades; maybe they start with a lot more roasts than where I’ve been.

@Helen & Cyn - we are planning to eat that as lunch and then doing a walking tour that afternoon.

Leah, I believe the confusion stems from your use of 'Sunday Roast Supper'. Supper usually refers to the evening main meal. Or depending on context, a light snack before bed. The noon/ eary afternoon meal is normally called Lunch. Do you have a reservation?

Got it. Edited that word out.

No reservations yet as we're 4 weeks out. Should I make one soon?

Leah,

Your trip sounds amazing and your kids are going to enjoy London. Overall the plan looks doable, however, there are areas that I think you might want to take another look at:

Friday:

• V&A: I love the V&A museum, however, it is huge. Before going, I would recommend looking at the areas of interest for your family to narrow down the galleries you would like to visit. The theatre gallery is fun and they have interactive displays, places to try on costumes, so it is really fun for kids. Also, the gem and jewelry galleries are amazing as well. V&A has excellent free tours that last about and hour and bring many of the objects in the V&A to life. For example, there is a gown that I thought was sequins, but it actually turned out to be beetles. If you want to take a break, you can have a very nice lunch in the cafe.
• Natural History Museum: since you are in the area, it is next door to the V&A and it is a wonderful museum for both adults and kids. I know you are going to the Paradox museum (which is fun and very Instagramable), but if you have an hour in your schedule, it is a good place to stop for a visit.
• Restaurants near V&A. I like the V&A cafe, but it can get crowded. Since you are just across the street from the South Kensington tube stop, you will find a wide-range of options to get a quick bite to eat and then you can jump on the tube and head to the Knightsbridge station (Piccadilly line) and then its a few minutes walk to the museum.

Saturday: the itinerary is very doable, but it may be a lot to have two museums and then you have a show at 7:00 p.m. I would take a look at when you plan to eat and where and make sure you are not too rushed so that you can enjoy the show.

Sunday. If you are talking about visiting Westminster Abbey, it is not open for tours on Sundays. You are welcome to attend a service. Also if you are talking about the City, it is relatively quiet on Sundays. I know that London Walks has a tour that goes on Sunday afternoons. If you plan to take the RS walk (audio guide/guide book), then Sunday is probably not your best day to do that walk. We did it last week and it was fine. My husband was totally bored.

Monday. Tower of London is awesome. A morning where you see the crown jewels, take a beefeater tour, and visit the White Tower. They have really cool video games and activities in the White Tower. Also the Ravens are so much fun to visit, just don't bring food as they will chase to get at it. I have a great video of them chasing me for just a cough drop.

Sunday roasts: I have had two in London, one at the Hawksmoor in Covent Gardens. Food was good, especially the roast and gravy. The sides were okay and the environment was like eating in a food hall. This past week we had a Sunday roast at the Devonshire (they serve the roasts later in the afternoon as well, we ate about 3:30). This was amazing, from the house made rolls to the beef and all the sides were delicious. Reservations are so hard to come by, but I would go back.

Restaurants. Lots of options, if you can share the type of food you like, price ranges, I can make some recommendations.

Sandy thank you for such a thoughtful reply! For the V&A, I had noted the Cast Court and Jewelry Gallery as must see's. I think the whole fashion exhibit is under renovations right now which is a shame, I think my daughter and I would have loved that one. The theater gallery will be a close second for her, thank you for mentioning.

Should we switch the plans for Monday and Sunday? I was thinking it might be nice to be in City of London on a Sunday when it's dead but I will heed what has been said here. We don't have any wants or plans about The City, just wanted to see some Roman artifacts and places like St Dunstan of the East. We are coming from the US where anything over 150 years is absolutely ancient so I can't wait to blow our minds with the age of everything we encounter.

Leah, if you’re interested in Roman remains, there are two things I’d highly recommend in the City.

One is the Mithraeum - remains of the Roman Temple of Mithras, which is displayed with real imagination (and good lighting). It’s free but you need to book.

The other is the Roman Forum in the basement of the Guildhall - again, imaginatively displayed and I believe free too. But you don’t need to book.

The City of London can feel absolutely dead on a Sunday and kind of weird. Sure, it’s nice and quiet but I find it’s drained of the key part of the atmosphere and also you might struggle to find a cafe open if that’s important to you.

Leah,

Monday would be a better day for you to see Westminster and the City. The only caveats are to make sure that you check the actual dates on the Westminster website to make sure there is not a special event that would impact your plans. The same for your walk in the City, just make sure you are not there on a bank holiday.

Tower of London is open on Sunday, so you should be able to do all your original Monday activities on the Sunday if you switch days. For your Sunday Roast, you can choose a place near the Tower or London Bridge (not far from Borough Market area with really good pubs). I haven't tried any of the Roasts near there, but you can do a Google search for recommendations. I typically find Timeout and Infatuation London as reliable resources for good food recommendations.

Best,
Sandy

Thank you both for your input. I was hoping to catch fewer crowds at the Tower on Monday than Sunday and thought the Sunday roast would interfere with trying to arrive at the Tower close to opening. Maybe it makes more sense to swap Friday with Sunday?

This is a frequent misunderstanding but Sunday roast is usually only served at lunchtime until 2/3ish. It’s quite rare to find one available in the evening.

Excellent point. And the best Sunday roasts often sell out well before 2 pm. Speaking from numerous sad experiences.