We are taking our boys (7 and 11) on a four-day trip to London in October. We are thinking of doing a play one night and the Tower of London. I am looking for suggestions of:
• hotels with good family rooms or airbnbs that you enjoyed in the Bayswater or Nottinghill areas;
• kid friendly afternoon tea experiences; and
• any other suggestions of kid friendly activities that you would recommend.
We are going to see more of the traditional places but would love recommendations for experiences you had that were a little off the beaten path. In the past we have enjoyed kid friendly cooking classes, exploring playgrounds, and themed tours.
We would appreciate hearing about any experiences your kids liked.
Thank you!
Posted by
76 posts
We loved the Science afternoon tea at the Ampersand Hotel. They also have a Jurassic version that we’re trying next time.
If you’re looking for a budget hotel, Premier Inn has larger (for London) family rooms for a good price. We stayed at the County Hall location but I’ve heard they’re all pretty similar.
Our kids were 11 and 7 last trip and they loved the day we did at Hampton Court Palace and Tower Bridge for the glass viewing part. They also loved the Jubilee Gardens playground by the London Eye.
Posted by
Land of La
9994 posts
If children not afraid of heights there’s the Tower Bridge experience, IFS Cable cars or the London Eye.
Mudchute Farm
ArcelorMittal slide.
If children haven’t ridden a subway the London Underground will be interesting.
Teaching them to stand on the right on escalators, and that they MUST wait for the light to turn green before crossing streets. Takes a bit of time for the brain to accept that traffic flows different than what they are used to.
Research the Premier Inn website for your accomodations. One is a 10 minute walk from the Tower of London.
Science Museum
Water and Steam Museum
Posted by
Bend, OR
1789 posts
We took our grandkids then 10 and 7 to London in 2023. We did the Lion King play, the 10 year old boy with grandfather and father loved the Military Museum while Gramma and Mom took the 7 year old to Princess Diana’s Memorial playground. We did both The Chesterfield Mayfair's Sweetshop Tea, and the Jurassic Tea mentioned above. Both kids and parents are Lego freaks and spent time in the World’s largest Lego store while Gramma and Grandpa sat outside and people watched. The Natural History Museum was a huge hit as was the Tower of London where they participated in a scavenger hunt with living history characters. We also did the family tour of the Globe theater, learned about the “penny stinkards” and did the Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames boat ride, again with period actors. We did not have time for the Harry Potter tour but promised we would go back. London is incredibly fun with kids with so much to see!
Posted by
Minnesota🌲
10991 posts
If children haven’t ridden a subway the London Underground will be interesting.
I agree that it will be interesting but when I took two of my grandkids to London in April of this year (girl age 11 and boy age 15) they loved the double-decker buses and that's all they wanted to ride. I insisted we ride the tube on several occasions when it would have taken us a long time by bus, but for the most part to get around we either walked or used the double-decker buses. They would jump on and immediately race up the steps to sit on top and look out over the streets
For what it's worth their favorite traditional museums were the Science Museum and the V&A Museum. The Science Museum was really fun for them and they loved the gift shop, which had some really cool things. And they both loved the V&A; my grandson for the weapons and armor and military stuff, and my granddaughter loved the costumes and articles of clothing and jewelry there. They both loved the gift shop there as well. Kids really like gift shops and they had some money to spend that was burning a hole in their pockets. 😂
But they also found a couple of optical illusion museums that they insisted on going to and loved them. One was called the Twist Museum and the other was the Paradox Museum which was located right across from Harrods. I think a 7 and 11 year old would love these types of museums. They were filled with kids who were just so excited about being there, and I even enjoyed it. 😊
Here is a link to my trip report if you'd like to read it. It goes into a lot more detail about what we saw and did while we were there and also where we stayed. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/london-and-paris-and-grandkids-oh-my-march-and-april-2025-trip-report