London with grandsons

I advocate striving to see the journey from an 11 year olds perspective.
Hence, the underground, bus and Thames taxi could be memory makers.
If they like HP then a visit to the studio might be an opportunity.
Museums less so, but the Natural History museum could be of high interest.
Hyde Park is a great place for walks, running about, finding other kids playing and also creating your own picnic.
Do take them into a grocery store so they can see some differences between food selections from home and London.
Research London markets and select one to attend.
Ask them to conduct some internet research to learn of their interests.
And check out London Walks tours to take advantage of really good tours. Suggest contacting them to learn if they have a tour that is popular with kids.

Great suggestions by Steven. Also see Mardee's trip report https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/london-and-paris-and-grandkids-oh-my-march-and-april-2025-trip-report

Some thoughts: The HP tour gets booked months in advance, so once you know dates it’s best to book it. I am not a HP fan, but I think it takes most of a day.

The postal museum with its “secret underground railway “ is good fun and I think 11 year olds would really enjoy it. It takes a couple of hours to go on it and see the museum. HMS Belfast, a WW2 warship, is also good for kids and when we went with my grandsons last summer we were there for about 2.5 hours. Annoyingly, there was a poor choice of food in the canteen especially as one of them has a violent allergy to eggs.

When you say “Westminster “ do you mean Westminster Abbey with its royal tombs? Perhaps not a huge hit with 11 year olds??

If you go to Oxford book a tour of the Bodlean Library. The best, 90 minute, one books well in advance The underground room in Blackwells bookshop on Broad Street is worth a Quick Look. The Turf Tavern pub is down a tiny alley of New College Lane and lunch is quite good in this old quirky inn (it claims to be where Bill Clinton didn’t inhale ). Getting to Oxford by the “Oxford Tube “ coach (ie bus) service is normally not much slower than the train when you factor in that a goes from central London to central Oxford. I’d guess it’d be noticeably cheaper and the boys might enjoy some different views of England.

Hi Cocoa,

This is going to be an amazing trip! Have you considered adding in taking them to a show on the West End? Specifically, if they like stranger things, you could go to The First Shadow. Its a stranger things play and its incredibly well done. It's definitely scary through so if they havent seen the show on Netflix or are not allowed to watch it, I would not recommend that particular play. For something super family friendly, you could consider, maybe the Lion King.

Or since they love Harry Potter, go see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, that play has extremely good reviews. While that one I haven't seen myself, i've heard that the magic in it is unbelievable!! Anyway, could be a really fun addition. Also recommend taking them to the top of the Shard for great views. If you want to eat at a fancy restaurant, Duck and Waffle is fun!

Also if they are music buffs at all, Abbey Road is really fun!

Enjoy your trip!

Hi, Katiecem very kindly added a link to my trip report above, as I took my 11-year-old granddaughter and 15-year-old grandson to London last year. I can tell you that they really weren’t that interested in Westminster Abbey, although we did go to Evensong there and I think they enjoyed that a bit. They loved the Harry Potter tour and I highly recommend that, but I also recommend that you follow the suggestion to book early. Prime time tickets go fast.

They really enjoyed Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London. But interestingly, my granddaughter found a couple of optical illusion museums that the two of them had a blast at and they really liked it. I would suggest reading the report that Katie linked to above as it has a lot of detail about the museums and what they liked and didn’t. Obviously all kids are different but I think as a general rule they tend to be the same in their likes and dislikes.

They loved riding the double-decker buses. Not the HOHO buses but just the regular buses. They would scamper up to the top level and look down below on the street.

If they’re at all interested in sports, especially soccer, you might want to think about touring one of the stadiums. We went to the Tottenham Spurs Stadium and they had a great time there.

We took our two grandchildren to London and Paris when they were 11. Their favorite place that we visited was the British Museum. We finally had to drag them out!

If there is a London Walks that looks interesting or goes through a neighborhood like Greenwich, I would sign them up. As most of their tour guides are actors, I’ve found their tours try to include the youngsters on the walk, with demonstrations and more entertaining storytelling. When we went to Greenwich, our tour guide made a special effort to engage the youngsters tweens in the tour.

Don’t miss taking them to Greenwich! You can take the boat down there. The National Maritime Museum, the Old Royal Navy College, the Cutty Sark and a visit up the hill to the Royal Obervatory to straddle the prime meridian are all worthwhile activities that kids would like.

Greenwich, if not afraid of heights the Tower Bridge Experience, Hamley’s, the cable cars over the Thames, Mudchute Farm, Archlormittal Orbit
( check spelling) British Museum mummies, Huntertain Museum, boat ride on the Thames ( do it going to or coming back from a visit to Greenwich, walking through the tunnel under the Thames, riding double decker busses in the front seat up top, tube rides, Postal Museum, wandering around Liberty, Carnby Street, Camden Lock, Tower of London Beefeaters Tour, and look at the London Walks website ( www.walks.com).
Visit the Royal Courts of Justice to watch a trial and definitely see theatre! Roaming about a street market like Portobello Road might be a fun excursion.

British Museum (Egyptian mummies), Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens, Hyde Park, St. James’s Park

You have more than enough suggestions for one week, but here are a couple more.

Our 10yo was very interested in spies, both fictional and real-life. London Walks had an excellent walking tour called "Spies and Spymasters." You may be able to find walking tours that fit any particular interests that your grandchildren have.

Our kid wanted to try an afternoon tea, but didn't want the entire experience. We had a smaller, lighter version at (I think) a place called Valerie, which had the added attraction that my husband could order "regular food."

Wow! Thank you for your many ideas and I agree to look at it through the eyes of an 11 year old boy.
So many great suggestions and I will check them out and talk with the boys, of course.

Legoland Windsor