London for 12 year olds...Travel Insight/Info/Tips?

I am considering taking my kids to London as a birthday gift and wanted tips from those who have traveled there with teenagers who love soccer and Harry Potter, but are finicky eaters.

Questions:  What airline did you take? What's a reasonable fare? What time of year did you travel? Are there any times of the year that should be avoided either due to high fares or sucky weather? How's the summer (late Aug/early Sep.)?  Where could we stay (hotel or air bnb ) that's convenient to trains?  Where/what might non-adventurous kids eat? Do they still do the changing of the guard @ Buckingham Palace? Is the "Eye" expensive, scary, worth it?  How hard is it to get tickets to a soccer match? How expensive are tickets? What are some must dos?

Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Eye I see not worth it.  Harry Potter - as soon as you book your flight, book that.  Just Uber there and back.  It's about an hour outside of London.

Questions:  What airline did you take? What's a reasonable fare? 

Airline doesn't matter too much UNLESS you have miles/status with an airline. Also, I HATE the smaller planes that are sometimes put on the route--757s I think. Too bouncy! You should see plane info as you go through the fare research process. Start with Kayak.com and then go directly to the airline's own page. A really good fare these days is prob in the $600 range per person but it is easy to pay MORE. Baggage used to be free on international but airlines are starting to add fees there now too.

What time of year did you travel? Are there any times of the year that should be avoided either due to high fares or sucky weather? How's the summer (late Aug/early Sep.)?  

There is always the *chance* of sucky weather, ie rain. We have experienced beautiful weather by luck both in fall and spring. Fares are always higher during peak travel periods like summer and major holidays (Christmas break, Easter break). One option to consider is Thanksgiving, and your kids won't miss much school.

Where could we stay (hotel or air bnb ) that's convenient to trains?  

With kids/family, hotel rooms will be too small/expensive. We have had 2 great apts at www.londonconnection.com

Where/what might non-adventurous kids eat? 

Do they like Italian, ie pizza or pasta? There's lots of it, and good. The pizzas sometimes come with fries .

Do they still do the changing of the guard @ Buckingham Palace? Is the "Eye" expensive, scary, worth it?  How hard is it to get tickets to a soccer match? How expensive are tickets? What are some must dos?

Never done EYE, recommend Tower of London with boat ride back to Westminster. Could be boring for nonhistory people maybe??? Churchill War Rooms also really cool if there is any interest in history...There is a changing of the guard at Buckingham which we have not done to avoid the crowds. There is a changing ceremony at Horse Guards  which is much more intimate. No idea on soccer games. There is a tour of the stadium at Chelsea if you are not able to get tix to an actual game.

Before you go, get Oyster travel card to save 50% on tube fares. The Tube is expensive!!!https://www.visitbritainshop.com/usa/london-visitor-oyster-card/

Happy Travels!!!

My (adult) daughter and I just did a 8 day Harry Potter tour of London. It was the best week together Went to the Warner Brothers  studios twice, the British Library’s exhibit on the history of magic and Harry Potter, and stayed at a  Harry Potter styled bed-and-breakfast. Two evenings at the West End  to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. PM me  and I can share all the information. We planned the trip over a year and a half so we have incredible details

Imperial War museum.  

Camden Yards and/or Notting Hill on Saturday. Watch  your belongings.

Day trip to Stonehenge and maybe York

x2 on Imperial War museum.  Those Brits fought everybody over the centuries and brought back a lot of cool souvenirs.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Imperial War museum.  


Camden Yards and/or Notting Hill on Saturday. Watch  your belongings.

Day trip to Stonehenge and maybe York

I think FormerlyJJ means Camden Lock, which on a Saturday/Sunday is insane, but if you've never done it before it's an experience.

Thanks all for the incredible feedback.  I'm getting excited already!

One of the more unique things to do might be the tunnel under the Thames from Canary Wharf to Greenwich to visit GMT and The Cutty Sark

https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/900019-greenwich-foot-tunnel

https://www.rmg.co.uk/plan-your-visit

Best Regards

Ron Carter

if you can get tix to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London it is well worth it.  You do have to try for tickets way in advance.  Check it out:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremony_of_the_Keys_(London)

we took a ride in the Eye and really enjoyed it.  If you like the Top of the Rock or the WTC observation deck, you'd like it.  It's an opportunity to get a 360 view of the entire city.  The Globe Theater was actually better than we expected.  The docent who gave us our tour was very entertaining in addition to obviously being knowledgable.

we found a couple of very friendly places for dinner.  We stayed at an Airbnb in Marylebone and found the Sir John Balcombe pub to be very nice.  Unfortunately the other place we really liked is now closed.

This is the Airbnb we stayed at.  The owner is a very nice man who lives just down the street.  He was more than happy to give us as many recommendations as we asked for.  Marylebone is not in the center of London, but there are a number of Underground options that will get you anywhere you want to go.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6153268

Thanks so much!

trivia about Marylebone: opening scene of A Hard Day's Night was shot at the Marylebone train station 

https://youtu.be/4cbKMXLzUqA

Cool!

best fish and chips right near that station.

Agree on the eye- great experience and kids will likely love it

windycity said:

Cool!

Just in case you weren't sure. That's not actually The Beatles on the soundtrack of that video.

Damn copyright laws. 

The Eye appeals to me, but I think for a family of four, the cost is pretty steep. If I sensed ambivalence in my crew, I'd pass. On the other hand, a hop-on, hop-off bus tour and a cruise on the Thames would be great ways to break up the day and take a breather (one package deal is here). 

The grisly fascination of The Tower cannot be overstated. 

Seeing Shakespeare performed in London is an amazing, long-lasting experience.

Time Out London is a helpful resource for planning activities like walking tours, and for finding food that 12YOs might like. Its Harry Potter-related listings are here.

We went to London over spring break last year with our then 12 & 14 year olds.  It was actually a pan-UK whirlwind trip but we spent the first 2-3 days in London (and tried to cram 4-5 days worth of stuff in those few days....).  My thoughts:

If you're kid is into Harry Potter, the studio tour is great.  As others have said, be sure and purchase your tickets way in advance.  We did it on our first day there in the last afternoon/evening (after a few hours recovering from our red-eye flight).  We took the train to Watford Junction and the shuttle bus from there (be sure and cushion some extra time if you do that....).

In general, if you know what you want to do and when you want to do it, buy tickets online in advance as much as possible.  By doing so we avoided ridiculous queues at Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, etc.

My kids like history stuff, so we did the Abbey, the Tower, the Churchill War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum.  All great, esp. the latter.  We actually split up for a while one day and my daughter and I did the Eye while the wife and son went straight to the Imperial War Museum.  We caught up with them there later and I wish I had had more time to spend there....The Eye was nice for the view but debatable whether it's worth it (we walked there from Westminster across the bridge by Parliament).  We also walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern, which was awesome but I think my wife and I enjoyed it more than the kids -- they were kind of burnt out by that point....

We travelled around by foot, via the Underground and Ferry.  We purchased Oyster Cards online in advance and they were mailed to us before we left NJ.  We pre-purchased them loaded with my estimated amount of what we we would need but we ended up replenishing them there.  They are like MetroCards but work for everything, including the suburban rail line from Heathrow, the Underground, the ferries, etc.

We searched for reasonable hotels with my points and ended up at the Marriott Maida Vale, which is not their premier hotel but perfectly fine and relatively inexpensive.  It's off the beaten path in a pretty nondescript neighborhood (think of your random area in, say, Queens), but close to a tube station.  It was actually walking distance to the obligatory photo shoot in front of Abbey Road Studios, and we found an awesome middle eastern restaurant along the way....

We did a mix of pub food, Indian (of course), middle eastern, Italian, etc.  Your food choices will be as wide and varied as you'll find in NYC.

We all had a blast.  Hope this helps.

if you do the Abbey Road crossing, video of you will be live online!

https://www.abbeyroad.com/crossing

Thanks all. Lots of fantastic options for me to start researching asap.  

One more thing...does anyone know how I would get tickets to a soccer match, preferably featuring the Tottingham Spurs and/or Arsenal?  I don't know how much tickets would be or what sections of the stadium are more family friendly.

Thanks