Traveling to London with Kids: Tips for Family Travel

This post is part of my Traveling Tuesday Series.

Our last trip as a family of three was to London, England. My eldest daughter, Honeybun, had just had her second birthday and I was hugely pregnant (like 36 weeks pregnant.) We were living in Dublin, Ireland at the time and made a stopover in London before my daughter and I headed back to the states to wait for baby to arrive.

Because I was so pregnant and it was July, we decided to take it easy on our visit. Hubby did a lot of the planning and we didn’t run around trying to see everything but we still got to see a lot!

Here are the basics of traveling to London with kids:

Getting Around

London has a great public transport system. There are trains that run from the airports into the city, the underground that goes all over town as well as an excellent bus system. There are also cabs available pretty much everywhere though you’ll need to provide your own car seats for your kids if necessary.

The buses allow buggies/strollers, you just roll it right on. They are also equipped with awesome navigation systems that let you know what stop is coming up so you never miss it (a big problem with the buses in other cities like Dublin, especially when you aren’t familiar with the area!)

Using the subway is easy though not all stations are handicapped/buggy accessible. The best bet is to read the map carefully and make sure your desired stop is accessible. (We tried exiting from a non-accessible station once and I ended up with a briefcase in my face while a very nice business man helped hubby carry a very asleep Honeybun up the stairs in the buggy!)

Kid Accessibility

London is very easy to get around with kids. Most places are very kid friendly and the sidewalks are easy for maneuvering a buggy.

Some of the independent, smaller hotels, however, don’t have elevators so keep this in mind when booking your accommodations. Most hotels, though, will store your buggy in an area near the lobby/desk.

Eating in London with kids

You’ll find all your kids’ favorites in London. And for more adventurous eaters there are more options than a child could ever ask for! If you want a real English experience, see about getting in for an afternoon tea service at one of the nice hotels in town.

Preparing for a trip to London with Kids:

I’m big on planning our trips ahead of time because traveling with kids makes things just a little bit more complicated as they aren’t always very patient when you don’t have a plan so I always did a lot of research and planning before our trips. Check out my tips and advice for:

I highly recommend pre-purchasing tickets to the more popular attractions as this not only saves time waiting in line as there is also often a separate pre-paid ticket line, it is also often cheaper to buy ahead online. There are also different city passes available which get you into many different attractions for one discounted price.

What to see and do in London with Kids:

We spent three days in total exploring London. The first day we spent with Hubby’s parents and the last two on our own exploring the wonderful, historical city.

We arrived late in the evening and headed straight to our hotel which was an easy walk to Victoria Station. There are many small guest house type hotels in London which offer different levels of amenities. Be sure, though, if visiting in the summer that you make sure your chosen hotel has air conditioning (says the then-pregnant lady who learned this lesson the very hard–and hot–way!)

We filled our three-day visit as follows:

Day 1:

London Zoo

Our first stop was the London Zoo, it was simple to get to on the underground from Victoria Station. The zoo is much bigger than I expected for being right in the city and we saw many of Honeybun’s favorite animals including giraffes, lions, hippos and monkeys. It took us about half the day to wander leisurely through the entire zoo.

Tower of London

After the zoo, we headed to the Tower of London. Hubby’s parents hopped in a cab but we didn’t have Honeybun’s car seat so I insisted on taking the underground again and we arrived at nearly the same time (though our journey was a lot cheaper!)

I had visited the Tower of London during a middle school trip and was excited to be back. We did the full tour including seeing the crowned jewels, the various towers and other small museums. Honeybun liked all of it, though chasing the birds in the greens was her most favorite part!

Day 2:

Madame Tussad’s Wax Museum

Madam Tussad’s Wax Museum is chock full of true-to-life figures of some of the most famous people in the world as well as some favorite characters. Honeybun was a little unsure of the whole thing. She was okay with most of the celebrity figures but was scared of some of life-size characters like Shrek and the Hulk. We also didn’t take her through the dungeon area which is better suited for much older kids and adults.

The Wallace Collection

After a simple lunch at a local pub, we wandered over to The Wallace Collection which is an old mansion filled to the brim with art collected by the previous owners. The museum is free and houses enough art from paintings to sculptures, jewelry and china to easily waste an afternoon.

Day 3:

Parliament

Hubby really wanted to visit the Houses of Parliament which is open to visitors on Saturday mornings. You can order your tickets ahead online or get them at the ticket window the day you want to visit.

I wasn’t too sure about the visit but it ended up being a really great tour. I really enjoyed the history, especially the parts involving Ireland, and the tour guide was really great with Honeybun who was by far the youngest on the tour though there were some older kids on the tour (the guide also let me sit my big belly down in the Commons Chamber which isn’t technically allowed!)

Westminster Abbey

While we waited for our assigned time to tour the Houses of Parliament, we wandered across the street and visited Westminster Abbey. Usually I’m not all that excited about churches but I didn’t realize before our visit how many monarch are laid to rest there and got into our visit much more than I expected. Honeybun also enjoyed all the stained glass windows and the monuments which include stone effigies resembling those who are buried within.

Imperial War Museum

That afternoon we took the bus to the Imperial War Museum. We had lunch at a trendy little restaurant near the museum before checking out the airplanes and other war machines at the museum and the galleries which mostly cover World Wars I and II. Honeybun loved the airplanes but after many days of museums wasn’t overly excited about the museum portions.

We rounded out our trip with a stroll by Buckingham Palace and a little shopping before heading back to our hotel to pack for the long journey back to Florida and just a few short weeks until we met our little Sugarplum!