London in March

We are going for Spring Break in the first week of April. I was thinking that we would pack good raincoats, but ours do not have any added warmth. I figured we could layer underneath the raincoat if it is chilly. I think the biggest issue that time of the year is shortened daylight.

I was mostly wondering if it would be frustrating if travel fell during an off-peak time. I would welcome any and all suggestions for things to do and see with a 13 year old son. Thanks.

Weather not withstanding because of its unpredictability, it’s nice visiting the sights when it isn’t wall to wall people. A few days prior to gong over, check the forecast to ensure you’re packing appropriately. What are your son’s likes? Plan some indoor things as well as outdoor things. That way, if the weather is bad, you just do an indoor activity.

As you are asking about things to see and do in London, I suggest a good London guide book. We can’t know what interests you or your boy .....maybe let him do some research and browse the guide book. As noted by others, the weather for March is unpredictable at this point, but I do remember one time leaving a snowy Montreal in March and arriving to daffodils in London.

As you have heard from the other posters, weather in March in unpredictable, but if you layer and bring an umbrella you should be fine.

As for things to do, the museum and other attraction hours are not as long as in the summer, but they are also not as crowded.

As for specific suggestions and tips, I would suggest the following:

• Get the RS London guide book, it is a good jumping off point for planning. I would also recommend the Visit London app (they have a web version and apple version, not sure about android). I used Visit London extensively for my trip this Christmas season to London. It covers not only the standard tourist items, but what is on during the time you are visiting.
• As a family determine your interest: WWII, you can visit the Churchill War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum; Rock & Roll—London walks has a great Beatles walk; Harry Potter—WB Harry Potter (get tickets in advance), London Walks Harry Potter city walk. You can weave the must sees like the Tower of London, Westminster Cathedral, etc. with your specific areas of interest.
• Where you stay is important. Do you want a neighborhood feel, do you want to be steps from major tourist attractions? I have been to London over a dozen times and stayed in many different neighborhoods and have always come back to South Kensington (Aster House). It is close to a tube (3 minute walk), safe, real neighborhood, and we like the B&B and the hospitality of the owners. A bit on the higher side of price, but worth it. There are other great areas as well, so think about not only budget, but the experience you want. London is a big city and here it does make a difference in the overall trip.
• Book in advance hard to get tickets (e.g. WB Harry Potter studios, Churchill War Rooms), but don’t overbook, save time to experience what is happening in London while you are there. For us, we opted out of most of the tourist stuff to attend Christmas at Kew Gardens, see the lights, and participate in holiday London.

When you have a better idea of specific questions, the people on this forum are so generous. They really helped me create a great Christmas holiday in London.

Sandy

I was mostly wondering if it would be frustrating if travel fell
during an off-peak time.

London doesn’t have an off-peak time. It’s a huge international year-round city, and tourism is only a small part of what makes it busy.

Make sure you have a good waterproof top layer and some inner layers with warmth. It could be cold & wet or cold & dry or mild & sunny or mild & wet. March is one of the most unpredictable months in an already unpredictable climate.

Lots of the museums are free. The Museum of London is good for kids. Also a boat trip to Greenwich, where there’s a good maritime museum, also free. Riding on the top deck of the regular red double decker buses (not the tourist ones) is great fun.

If your son (or you) are Harry Potter fans, book ASAP (like, now) for the Warner Brothers studio tour just outside London.

I think it’s only attractions outside of London - like National Trust properties - that have shorter or fewer opening hours pre-Easter.

Also a boat trip to Greenwich, where there’s a good maritime museum, also free.

Just to clarify - it is the museum that is free not the (probably water-soaked and/or windy in March) boat trip.

London is on an island surrounded by the sea. So, weather changes a lot. You can find historical weather data for London on the web, and you should. Very unlikely it will be frigid, but it might be cold. Your best bet, though, is to check the weather forecast a day or so before you leave and pack accordingly.

Everyone's advice to wear layers is valid because what you probably need to wear to stay warm outside will be uncomfortably warm inside. I've found many Underground stations to be excessively warm that time of year.

Buy a nice sturdy packable umbrella, It rains in the Spring.

If London isn't on an island is it on a mainland? I remember the Channel, the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic as being involved in there somewhere....

and you get wet getting to Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Poland, Denmark and pretty much everywhere else....

Have plans for outdoor days and for indoor days, then choose based on that day's weather! Look at London Walks. They get consistently good to excellent reviews. The guides I've had were very good with kids, getting them involved. Eat lunches in pubs and use the time to explore them. One of my faves is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (some 4 centuries old). Take in a show, use theatremonkey.com to get all the info on what to see, where to buy, where to sit, etc.

As others have said, there is no off season in London. Just shorter lines.

March is a good time to visit. Daylight hours will be less than summertime but the crowds will be smaller. Except for the Dec 24-26, most London sights have the same hours year round. If not, by March they are usually running summer hours.

As for what to see, that depends on what you and your family like.

You got some good advice on clothing, but remember to take sturdy shoes. Walking around in wet shoes makes you miserable.

Personally I prefer a jacket and a hat and dislike umbrellas, none the least those held by other people, which I have to dodge before they hit my eyes.

Last I checked, London was still on a scepter'd isle . . .

March is one of my favorite times to go to London. You can get cool and rainy - but you can get that in July as well. Everything is very green in England in March, lots of daffodils and forsythia in the parks. If you take any day trips by train out to the countryside you'll see fields with baby lambs. It's lovely. Regarding daylight, by March you have about 12 hours a day of daylight so not at all like Nov-Jan where it gets dark very early. As everyone else is saying, London is a huge city so it's busy all the time, but the places that especially attract tourists (like Westminster Bridge between Big Ben and the London Eye) can be absolutely horrid in July, in March it's less so.

I know the following remarks will be controversial, but here's what works for me when it comes to London weather (for that matter, for the whole of the UK and the Netherlands too).

I expect the weather to be lousy - no matter what time of the year. What do I mean?

At all times there will 1000% humidity. So, even though it never gets that cold or that hot in London (by New York standards), it feels much colder or warmer than the thermometer indicates. That means that, except when it's really cold, wool or cashmere (my favorite because it's so lightweight to pack) doesn't work. When it's 50 degrees F, I feel freezing, but if I wear cashmere I roast. I use cotton sweaters instead, along with a coat with a liner, scarf, and gloves. When it went below about 50 degrees F, I needed earmuffs too. The locals weren't wearing all these things, but I sure needed them.

Furthermore, it can rain at any time, on any day of the year. So, I'm always prepared for rain, both logistically (umbrella or hood) and mentally. If it doesn't rain, and there's some sun, and it's not too cold, I feel like I won a lottery, and am very happy. If I get the lousy weather I was expecting, I'm prepared. And, the weather is just as changeable as everyone says; just because you don't need an umbrella in the morning is no guarantee you won't need it by afternoon (or vice versa).

Again, I'm only speaking for myself. But before I started approaching the weather this way, I had a really miserable time in London and the rest of the UK. My last three trips, when I put this "system" into practice, have been great. That said, when I was in London in April 2018, I had mostly rain; when I was there in September 2018, I had glorious sunshine, temps of 70-75 by day and 60-65 by night, and NO rain. The rain came for my day in York, where it absolutely poured all day and night (pretty miserable, even with my preparations). Ironically, I then went to Edinburgh (further north so I was expecting even worse weather), where it was colder, but I had only an hour of sprinkles in three days. And finally, they do get heat waves in the UK (probably not in March, but with weather becoming more unpredictable everywhere, who knows?). So, be ready to strip off all those layers if it gets unexpectedly hot.

So, yes, everyone is right when they says it's unpredictable and rapidly changeable. What is sometimes omitted is, you've got to be prepared for what I consider "bad" weather at all times. Luckily, as everyone else is also saying, London has a huge number of indoor attractions, and none of them close or have short hours in March. If you are counting on something outdoors (like visits to parks or lengthy neighborhood walks), be prepared to be flexible as to when you can do them, and don't be too disappointed if, as on my April 2018 visit, none of the days are really conducive to this.

In London fewer than half of the days overall have any rain - and March on average is actually marginally the lowest with an average of 11, and is also the driest. (June also has 11 days with some rain but is one day shorter!).

London doesn’t have an off-peak time.

That's my experience. My last two trips to London have been mid-March, and the popular tourist sites were packed and running at full capacity. Most of the tourists appeared to be other Brits with families so I'm guessing there must be some sort of long school break for the locals around that time. Even with the crowds we had an awesome time.
The metro stations will be super crowded in the Oxford Circus/Leicester Square/Covent Garden/Piccadilly Circus area so make sure you leave your extra cash/cards/passport in a money belt or hotel room safe; it will be pickpocket heaven.

1) "family.... London.... spring break.... mid-March." = an excellent adventure with opportunities to create wonderful travel memories
2) "Any savvy travelers out there have tips or suggestions?" = a couple
3) "Will the weather be terrible?" = No, well............ unlikely.
4) "Museum hours terrible?" = No

A) London is a great destination offering a huge menu of opportunities for all ages.
B) Stay in one location for the duration of the trip and rent an apartment in a central location you can afford. Doing so will provide more space for the family to spread out, a kitchen to prepare some easy meals (breakfast), sometimes a clothes washer or access to one and often a landlord who will invest his knowledge into helping with your inquiries. Having a "locale" as an "on the ground" reference resource can be invaluable. There are a number of web sources for finding apartments (AIR BNB, Booking.com are two that I use). Be sure and reach out via email to check the responsiveness of the landlord and provide specific questions to issues you have some anxiety about being met during your trip. Landlords who respond in a direct timely fashion are to be favored.

C) Invest in asking your 13 year old to conducting research on what he may enjoy doing.
D) Getting around London is easy and relatively inexpensive. Check out YouTube for videos on how to use the Tube and Bus system. This is a very easy system to utilize. There may be times the Tube/bus is full, humid, a bit of a smell and a real treasure when everyone has just come in from the rain.............................. Regale in being able to experience these situations! There is also a good experience to be gained by street walking in a light rain and gaining another perspective of this wonderful city. FYI: skip using an umbrella and we don't even carry rain coats, but utilize light water resistant windbreakers coupled with a sweater. Footwear is HUGE for being water resistant!
E) Daylight is still at a premium during March, but so many of most destinations are predominantly inside.
F) Well worth planning a day trip to Windsor and easy to do. If the weather overachieves with a sunny day then consider taking a boat ride on the Thames either to or from Windsor. Use the train for the other leg of the journey. A trip on the Thames adds to the journey and provides another perspective regarding the history and culture of London.
G) Research concerts occurring during your stay as these provide a good value for evening entertainment also adding a different element to the journey.
H) Locate and define the times public markets are open and the offerings they are known for. Spend some time exploring the markets and take a dive into another perspective of London.
I) Take deep dives into defining no more than 10 destinations your family agrees are important to visit and then define best time to visit and, if possible, pre-purchase online tickets to insure you do not have to wait in lines.
Enjoy!