Planning a Trip To London With Kids – Transport, Itinerary, Tips!

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Planning a trip to London with kids?? After living in London for many years and doing some recent trips back there as a family, I have lots of ideas and tips for how to visit London with kids!

London is a huge city and honestly, it’s not the easiest city to visit as a family and with young children because it’s busy, big, and the weather isn’t always on your side,

After living in London for many years in my 20s, I was excited to show my stepsons London (I now live up north in Manchester) and use my knowledge of London to plan us the best trip, and honestly, I was really happy with our 2 day London itinerary with kids and I picked up a lot of tips along the way which I’ll share with you here!

London With Kids

Making London with children enjoyable for both children and adults means not packing too much into one day or visit. The thing about London is that there is so much to do and so many areas to visit but realistically, you cannot do it all!

Getting around London can be tiring and many of the attractions and neighbourhoods are not that close together so planning where to go and how to get there in advance is key to not waste time or energy!

My top tips if you’re short on time are:

• Use the Thames boats to get around London so you can sit down and rest but enjoy the views
• Don’t jump from one side of London to another, try to do an area each day
• Visit museums and attractions mid-week if possible rather than the weekend
• Plan park visits into your itinerary
• Think about and research the weather so you don’t plan too much outside time if it’s raining
• If you have a pram, research pram-friendly tube and train stations in advance

Is London good for families?

London is a big and busy city and I understand that some people may wonder if London is good for families? And should you visit London with kids?

But, London is a great city for families and children! Yes, it’s a big city to get around and the public transport may seem intimidating at first but with a bit of planning you can work out the public transport and there are so many activities for children in London and lots of fun things for kids in London.

If you have a baby or young children in a pushchair, most of the Tubes, Trains & Buses in London are pushchair friendly with lifts and ramps, although I would suggest checking and planning this in-advance here on Transport for London.

One of the main things to remember is that London is full of families living there and yes, a family that lives in London is unlikely to spend much time in super touristy areas like near the London Eye, but, they are likely to take their children to many of the museums and parks in the city, so if they can, you can!

Is London safe for children to visit?

Yes! In some areas like around the London Eye and Notting Hill Market on a Saturday it might get too busy and crowded for children but there are very rarely huge and dangerous crowds in London and busy places can be avoided.

Plus, there are so many parks and green open spaces in London for children to run around freely and safely.

Like any city, you have to be careful of yourself, your children and your possessions which is the most likely thing to be stolen/damaged but overall, London is a very safe city.

Planning a trip to London with kids

When it came to planning our trip to London with children, I knew I wanted us to see all of the top, iconic places in London like Tower Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye and Buckingham Palace, however, I knew that all of the places are not that close together so in-order-to see them in the best possible way, we took the Uber Thames Boats which meant we travelled up the Thames from place to place in a comfy seat, getting to have a rest but see the sights of London from the boat!

I also knew these dinosaur-loving boys would love the Natural History Museum, and my husband wisely pointed out that we needed an activity within our trip that meant we could sit down for a while and take a break, but a break where the boys don’t get bored which is why we planned in a trip to the Planetarium in Greenwich. This meant we got to sit down and rest during the theatre show, do an educational activity, see a view of London from Greenwich Park and get there by Thames boat!

Click here to see the full itinerary I did for London with kids which can be adapted to be 1, 2 or 3 days!

Getting around London with kids

Although I can walk all day around London, I knew their little legs would ache after a while so we made sure to use public transport as much as we could and to make the transport fun!

We did a great job of that by using different tube lines where the trains and experience differ (the District Overground Line is very different from the Piccadilly Underground Line for example) and using the Uber boats along the Thames which was a much cheaper way of seeing the Thames from a boat than paying for a guided tour!

The Uber Boat really saved us I think because too many tubes do get tiring from the walking up and down and in summer and peak times they can get unbareably hot. The Uber boats meant we could sit as a family together, rest but still see the sights of London from the boat windows.

You can use TFL’s website for journey planning!

Do you pay for a child on the tube?

Because this was my first time in London with children, I had no idea whether you had to pay for children on the tube, however, a bonus is that children up to 11 years old travel for free on the Underground Tube, Overground Lines and DLR with a paying adult.

So, we only had to pay for the younger kids when we went on the Uber Boat and we paid at the machines at the dock so we didn’t need to pre-plan anything here.

Things to do in London with kids

There are SO many things to do with kids in London and London is SO big that no matter what trip you are on but especially a trip with children who have a limited capacity to be on their feet all day and limited interests in all things, you have to prioritise and accept there’s no way you’ll see all of London and do everything!

The best way to work out what to do in London with kids is to work out your and their priorities.

Is the priority Dinosaurs in London like it was for us? If so, head to the Natural History Museum.

Is the priority visiting Harry Potter locations? Book a trip to the Harry Potter Studios and research film locations around the city to see.

Is the priority seeing the iconic sights like Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge? Book a Thames sightseeing tour to enable you to see and visit all of these.

Is the priority ‘living like a local’ in London? Head to neighbourhoods like Hampstead and Greenwich instead of Camden and along the Thames!