London With Kids – 10 Places They’ll Absolutely Enjoy
This post is part of our archived content. While we’ve shifted focus, it still may be useful.
Visiting London with kids is great.
It’s a fun vacation destination and a way to bond and build awesome memories with your family.
However, if you have young kids you have to be sure they don’t return from the holiday feeling left out.
You don’t have to make it all about you nor do you have to make it all about them. You can strike a balance by throwing in things from both sides.
A bit from the adult side and a bit, maybe a little more from the children’s side. This way, everyone is happy!
So, as you plan your itinerary for the holiday, check out some awesome places in London that strike a balance in age and your kids will absolutely love.
With a staggering height of 443 feet, you can view up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the top of the London Eye.
This is surely one of London’s most popular sights and is perfect for adults and kids.
From the top, you can see the city’s most popular locations like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
The queue is usually long but you can pay extra to get a Fast Track ticket.
A Fast Track ticket saves time and the kids will love the treat of a 30-minute spin in the glass pods of the London Eye.
Opening times:
- Monday – Friday 11 am – 6pm
- Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 8:30 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Waterloo Subway Station, five minutes walk from the London Eye.
The Lego Store, a child-friendly Lego shop, is located just off Leicester Square.
There you’ll find Lego sets that your kids will love with lots of engaging activities where they can build minifigures and even test drive them!
There are Lego sets for popular items and places in London which makes it a perfect place to take lots of pictures.
Usually, the queues are not too long but at peak times, you may have to wait more than 20 minutes before you get in.
This tends to vary according to the day with weekends and school holidays being more popular.
Opening times:
- Monday – Saturday: 10 am to 10 pm
- Sunday: noon – 6 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus
Madame Tussauds is a must-see for your children to have an out-of-the-world experience.
In this museum located on Marylebone Road, there are about 200 realistic wax figures of great and iconic people from different spheres of life.
Your kids will get to shake the hands of figures like Donald Trump, and take action poses with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
There are also action figures from Avengers, and Star Wars, and they can even walk the red carpet with A-list musicians.
Opening times:
- Monday – Friday: 10 am – 3 pm
- Saturday and Sunday: 9 am – 4 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Baker Street underground station, a minute’s walk from the wax museum.
This world-famous museum is located on Exhibition Road in South Kensington and is a great place to take the kids to get them “wowing” and “aahing” with excitement.
They won’t exhaust the stories they will gather from the different zones of this national treasure housing over 80 million objects ranging from biology, zoology, etymology and the likes.
The museum is most popular for its display of dinosaurs’ fossils. There is an area where the dinosaurs look real and alive (the kids will love this!)
If you want them to enter the dinosaur area, you must arrive early before opening.
Opening times:
- Daily: 10 am – 5:30 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: South Kensington
Located in central London on the ground floor of County Hall, this is another place that gives an out-of-the-world experience to visitors of any age.
It is like going underwater in a submarine to explore the aquatic animal kingdom.
There are real-life sharks, penguins, turtles, sea horses, jellyfish, crocodiles, piranhas, clown fish and starfish.
Your children can go on a Rainforest Adventure to see the piranhas and crocodiles.
They can also take the Shark Walk where they walk with sharks swimming under them!
You can even go underwater in the Glass Sea Tunnel!
Opening times:
- Monday – Friday: 10 am – 4 pm
- Saturday and Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Waterloo and Westminster
Located on Regent Street, this is a great place for kids, teens and adults.
Its seven-floor building houses thousands of your child’s favourite toys.
It is perfect for buying gifts for your child and souvenirs for your family.
You must have to arrive early before opening time as the crowd of people is usually heavy.
Take the kids on an hour VIP tour of the building to see toys on live demonstration and to pick their choices.
There are usually lots of in-store events going on so who knows – you might even bump into a celebrity!
Opening times:
- Monday – Friday: 10 am – 9 pm
- Saturday: 9:30 am – 9 pm
- Sunday: noon – 6 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Piccadilly Circus
Kidzania – CLOSED DOWN IN 2024
Kidzania is an indoor playground where children get to live their dream lives.
It’s a fabulous indoor city that combines learning with entertainment.
Children can role-play different professions and careers in real time and they leave feeling inspired.
They can pretend to be pilots, DJs, teachers, politicians, soldiers, police personnel, firefighters, doctors and more.
Children learn about these professions and practice them with others thus building communication and friendship. Here they can be whoever or whatever they want to be.
This is where children go and return with a passion to pursue their dreams.
This is a cable car that goes over the River Thames from the North to the South.
The car allows passengers to see great sights in the city from their seats.
Tickets are to be bought to be granted access to ride the cars but if you purchase your tickets with a contactless card, you can save up to 26% of what you’d have paid through the window purchase.
The cars are locked during high winds for the safety of the passengers.
Tickets start at £6.
Opening times:
- 7 am – 10 pm
- Nearest train or tube station: Royal Victoria on the North side and North Greenwich Station on the South side.
Warner Bros Studio Tour London
A very popular Harry Potter movies-themed studio tour that lets you go behind the scenes on all things Potter.
Everything from the props to the sets and costumes is there to inspire, entertain and spark the kids’ interests.
You have to purchase a ticket that covers the bus fare that takes you from parts of central London to the studio.
The tour includes learning skills in special effects and costume design.
As a Harry Potter fan, your kid will love having their picture taken here.
On the approximately four-hour tour, they’ll get to see the notorious Platform 9, Hogwarts Express, the wizarding bank of Gringotts, Diagon Alley and almost everything else from the movies.
Opening times vary throughout the year.
Harry Potter Shop
This last location is part of the Warner Bros Studio Tour.
The kids get the opportunity to choose and take home items or souvenirs that remind them of their favourite movie.
There are items for everything in the Harry Potter Movie and they will be spoiled for choice on what to pick.
You may have to wait in a queue for a few minutes to take pictures with the trolley on the popular platform and to get into the store to buy things.
Depending on how long you are staying, all ten places mentioned are great to take your kids to if you wish to give them an unforgettable experience that they’ll talk about for a long time.
And the beautiful part is that they won’t cost you much to access.