July in London with Family: Rough Itinerary Needs Advice

We were just in London but without teens so I will just let you know that people are very casually dressed for the theatre. We saw some men in shorts. The tube is easy to use but you will probably need to buy tickets as each person needs a contactless credit card to tap in and out.
At Borough Market, if you want to try a traditional sausage roll, get it at The Ginger Pig. I purchased one to share with my husband and was sorry I didn’t get us each one. They were that good. Had some bad ones before that.
London is very expensive, especially in restaurants, plan accordingly. The sausage roll was only 3£, and very large and filling, a bargain.
Try for tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London. There are numerous threads here about them. You would have to get them June 1 for the month of July. Worth the effort.

The last thing you want to do is buy individual tickets for public transport. That's the most expensive and most time consuming option.
The easiest solution is to pay by contactless card - nothing to "buy" and the system will automatically calculate the cheapest fares every day. But all of your family of 5 will need access to a separate method of payment and I'm guessing they won't all have their own contactless card yet. but you can also use phone or smart watch pay and they might have this.

If you do not have 5 separate means of payment then you can buy Oyster cards to fill the gap. They work in exactly the same way as contactless cards except that you have to pre-load money on them and most relevantly they cost a non-refundable £7 each. Or maybe you have friends who have been to London before and have Oyster cards you can borrow.

Arrival day I’d consider the following strolls from the Premiere Inn.

1.) Spitalfields market. https://www.spitalfields.co.uk/spitalfields-opening-times/. Lots to see. Good food boths.
2.) pick up picnic food from the Sainsbury Local 3 long blocks away on Allie Street and then walk to St Dunstans in the East to enjoy the meal
3.) walk to Tower Bridge passing the Tower of London. Walkover the Bridge to the Anchor Tap pub near Butlers Wharf. Enjoy some food. Suspect Young teens will enjoy being in a traditional pub. Not sure if Bosley the pub dog is still there.

These meanders will allow your senses to adjust. Would be smart to visit the nearby Adgate East Underground Station to get Oyster cards. That is unless the 16 year olds have credit or debit cards. Each of your family have to have their own cards to use on public transport.

As far as “ doing things” for the teens:
They could climb the O2
Ride Horses in Hyde Park
Use paddle boats in Regents Park
Visit the Wall Murals of Shoreditch
Shop Carnaby Street

Grant Museum of Zoology
Harrod’s Food Halls
Water and Steam Museum

Adventure-seekers might like the O2 climb:

https://www.theo2.co.uk/up-at-the-o2/climb?gclid=Cj0KCQjwmN2iBhCrARIsAG_G2i4sQet3fMikiBTzNDj0cm54lUQf76utTd1XRWm1M2Bvy1QpVyokD-UaApAfEALw_wcB

You can get there by Thames Clipper/Uber boat to the North Greenwich pier.

Or continue to Greenwich itself and climb the Cutty Sark rigging:

https://www.rmg.co.uk/cutty-sark/attractions/cutty-sark-rig-climb-experience

Take a look at the London Walks tour offerings for the days you'll be in London. The tours are extremely reasonably priced (15 GBP for adults, 10 GBP for students over 15) and conducted by licensed guides. They ask that you reserve online; you pay when you gather at the meeting point (always an Underground station). I have managed to join tours by just showing up, but I'm a solo traveler rather than a family of 5, so I don't know what sort of reaction you'd get from a guide if you waltzed up without registering.

Here's the website: https://www.walks.com/. You can find a link to the calendar of walks near the upper right. They offer about 20 tours on Saturdays, just as an example.

There's a tour of Harry Potter sights in London.

On you Sunday:
Do the Tower of London first thing. Then walk over tower bridge. You can buy tickets to go up and over if you want. Then walk along the river and cut over to borough market for lunch and check it out. You can then walk along the river to the millennium bridge and over. St Paul’s cathedral is close if you want to see it. Or head over to sky garden.

We did Harry Potter and it was awesome but it’s not an all day thing in my opinion. But that depends when you ticket time is. If it’s in the morning you could spend the late afternoon/ evening in London.

Are you planning on going into Westminster Abbey??

Thanks for these ideas. I really like the suggestions for our arrival day. I also appreciate how to "order" things on our Tower day. That looks like a nice itinerary. And the extra possible excursions sound like a lot of fun; I'll give my kids some options.

Good to know about the Harry Potter day. We will arrive there late morning, if I remember correctly, but then I did schedule a tea there for the late afternoon. But we may still have part of our evening left when we return to London.

I do want to go into Westminster. I remember that being really interesting. I think I should probably get those tickets for Tuesday. I'm still trying to work out how to "order" that day. I think we'll skip the Buckingham State Apartment tour (open when we are there, so if anyone thinks they're amazing, let us know, but we'll be going to Versailles later in the trip). I don't think we'll go into St. Paul's (especially since that's a Sunday with church services when we plan to be there right now), unless the family is interested in climbing the Dome (that was my favorite part from what I remember).

Very helpful information on Tube travel. My kids do each have separate bank accounts with debit cards. It sounds like those might work? I was going to have my husband do the research/prep work for transportation. I wonder if we'd get charged hefty fees for using debit cards internationally. Something for us to look into.

Thank you!

I don't use a debit card anywhere except in an ATM, but I think the key thing would be for the debit card to be tap-enabled; otherwise, I don't think it will work at a tube turnstile. Keep in mind that dropping/losing a debit card is a much bigger hassle than having the same thing happen to an Oyster Card on which you've loaded just enough money to get through your five-day visit to London.

I'd take a London Walk with the kids. Let them decide. Far from a boring walking tour, most of the tour guides are actors and know how to entertain. They have all sorts of tours-Jack the Ripper, Beatles, neighborhood walks.

Look at London Walks for more information.

For a family of 5 with teens I would definitely recommend the Oyster Cards. Yes, there is contactless payments but if you have an older phone it doesn't work.And I'd rather have my teen lose an Oyster Card then a credit/debit card.

Do they still have Parliament tours in the summer? I went on a tour and it was very eye-opening and neat to see some of the rooms you see on TV. We even got to be in the back benches at the House of Commons.

As for shopping there is Oxford Street, Knightsbridge if you want to see the posh shops.

If it's nice, a Thames Clipper tour might work.

I have no idea why having an older phone will stop a contactless card working. Whilst you can use phone pay if you want you don’t have to - just tapping the card works.
You do need to be aware of what charges your bank will charge you for using it overseas, but normally it’s a few per cent on a transaction and it will take a lot of public transport travel to spend more than the £7 fee for an Oyster card.

Make sure those debit cards are enabled for “tap and pay”—- they will have the little wave symbol in addition to the chip. Neither of my debit cards has that.

Just a vote for the Buckingham Palace tickets - I went last summer and thought it was really great. Only downside is that no photography is allowed inside.

Also, I liked the Churchill War Rooms a lot more than the British Museum. The British Museum has some really standout pieces (especially the Egyptian section), but overall it feels a lot like the kind of big museum you could visit in any major North American city. The Churchill War Rooms are a lot more unique (although they did remind me of the Diefenbunker in Ottawa).

One thing I remember about the tube and being a pain for a family of 4 is, if everyone has their own credit card I would use that, that’s if the teens have one. You can’t have matching card numbers for anyone, they all need to be different. Tap in to enter and tap out to exit. Or get oyster cards for each person and load them up for the teens. You can always re up them or if you have some leftover get a refund. My wife and I used credit cards cause we get extra points for travel and also one that has miles.

On you arrival day and location of you hotel, the Leadenhall Market is close by to check out, Covent gardens is another option. Streets to check out would be Regent St, Oxford and Carnaby st. Carnaby St has a really good food hall tucked away off the street. Neal’s yard is fun also. For just walking and sightseeing and staying busy on the first day

I joined a US based British firm a few years ago. It has been a perk that I have gone to London several times, some trips with my husband and three sons. Twice in 2022. Here is a Rick article on his kids in London:

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/britain-with-kids

From my kids' point of view, highly recommend the British Museum, the V&A, the Natural History Museum. Paid museum, fav is Churchill War Rooms. I have been there four times and still like it. You are trying to see as much as possible in a smaller area - consider the Tate Modern, it's in an area where you can walk over to Borough Market. With three boys, any food market is a highlight - always hungry! You can pass the Globe Theater.

As far ask packing a lot in a day: You can go online and get tix to Parliament. https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/ Your kids may find that interesting especially after the Coronation. Westminster Hall is iconic (where the queen lay in state in September). Also, Big Ben is right there and Westminster Abbey is right across the street. Those tix I would book soon. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/prices-entry-times. You can go right down to the Thames for a boat ride using your Oyster tube card.

Our last trip was December 2022. While I wound up with Covid (almost three years into pandemic and five Covid shots along with buckets of hand sanitizer, still caught up with me) and had to stay in hotel, family went all over. We are all going back in December 2023, my "do over trip."

You will see the Tower. There is an area not far from the Tower called St. Catherines, it's a cool dock area with a ton of restaurants. During my July 2022 trip, we at there several times. I really found it delightful. I think July is my favorite month in London! Walk along Thames watch the sky turn to dusk as you pass by the Tower Bridge.

Enjoy!

Saturday: the area around Olympic Park is pretty commercialized. The shopping center is large,
and outdoors, lots of places to eat and drink. You could probably take a stadium tour, and there
is a West Ham souvenir shop also. But apart from walking around, there's not all that much to see
there. And I wouldn't spend too much time at a shopping mall that looks like any other shopping mall.

Since you are already over on the east side of London, it's a 15 minute DLR ride to Greenwich. You
could check out Cutty Sark, Old Naval College, Royal Observatory, Greenwich Market (good place for
lunch).

If you want to just see Westminster Abbey or St Pauls and not take the tour or pay for tickets, consider
going to an Evensong service, which is free to attend. But photos/video are not allowed.

If you might want to go see another show (or take your chances with Back to the Future), the TodayTix
app posts rush tickets for day-of-show events. I bought an 11th row ticket for Back to the Future for 25
pounds while riding the train.

Many churches have free midday concerts which is a nice way to take a break and hear some lovely
music. Might not be up the teenagers alley, I admit.

I wouldn't try to pack too much into a short time in London; getting around can take time, you'll probably
get lost wandering around here and there, and if there is a transport strike or the weather is very hot like
last summer, you'll be struggling to get around at all. See some things and enjoy what you see.

For your day in Stratford I would consider splitting up for a while to maximise your time. From Stratford station you have to walk through the Westfield shopping centre to get to the Orbit. With two sons wanting to climb the Orbit and a daughter interested in shopping you could do the two simultaneously.
I would also consider whether there is anywhere else where you could usefully split up to stop some being bored by someone else's must see sight.
You will be a month late for the MLB games at the London Stadium, so, unless someone has a particular interest in football then I can't see much value in you touring it.

I have enjoyed reading this as I too am going in the summer. I was interested to see on the Abbey website that 9:30-12:30 is the busiest, when my first instinct was to go first thing and beat the crowds, as many are saying should be done when visiting the Tower. Anyone have personal experience with this? Maybe wait and see the Abbey later in the day?

My two sons are keen on the Arcellormittal (unanimous vote over the
London Eye) at Olympic Park.

We have been there last summer (on special request by my 15 years old son). Even we had timed tickets we needed to wait for about 1 hour for a 40 second slide down the tower. For my taste it was a waste of time.
Concerning the view, the location is too far out of the city to be interesting. For a nice view over London I can recommend St. Pauls Cathedral.

I saw there's a shopping center there. Is that worth stepping into?

You can’t avoid it walking from Stratford station into the park. There is nothing special but many option for a coffee or lunch.