Kid-Friendly London Itinerary & Travel Guide

London! We started our family summer European adventures in London. As a quick refresher, we spent two weeks this July in the UK and Ireland. Nashville Airport (BNA) recently added more nonstop international flights (yay!) which made this trip possible – we’ve never gotten to fly direct to Europe from Nashville before!

This wasn’t my first time in London (E and I went in 2016 – blog post here – and 2019), but experiencing it as a family of five was completely different and so special! The girls were absolutely enchanted by everything – from the red phone boxes to the palace guards to Platform 9¾. We packed in so many classic London experiences while keeping it totally doable for our crew!

TRAVEL LOGISTICS

We flew direct to London on an overnight red-eye flight. It was great to only have one flight 🙌🏼 and all things considered, the kids did great! We sat in bulkhead which had pros and cons – a big pro was that we could request a bassinet for Daisy. She slept in that for a few hours (and also on both of our laps/in the baby carrier). The con was that several of the seats had those arm rests that couldn’t move up, which made it trickier for Lucy and Winnie to curl up and get comfortable. We often bring inflatable foot rests for red-eye flights, but didn’t for this flight given we were sitting in bulkhead (and they don’t let you have things on the floor in front of you).

We took public transportation everywhere in London! The girls LOVED navigating the London Underground (Tube) and riding double decker buses! We had Daisy’s carseat and the Ride Safer vests for Lucy and Winnie that we used to get to/from the airport and later on in our travels. We also packed our travel stroller (Mountain Buggy Nano – going on eight years of using these all over the world!) and used it daily in London!

WHERE WE STAYED

We stayed at the 47 Park Street Grand Residence by Marriott (thank you, credit card points and Marriott status!) and it was a great fit for our family. Here’s a few things we loved about it:

Awesome, walkable location – right in Mayfair, so walkable and central to several neighborhoods and Hyde Park, and easy access to public transportation
SPACE! Our room was a proper apartment with a full kitchen, bathroom (with tub – rare in Europe!), separate living room (with pull-out couch for the girls and a dining table), and a large bedroom.
Daily cleaning and evening turn down service – it felt like we had the space of an Airbnb, but with hotel services and amenities
24 hour concierge

There wasn’t an onsite restaurant/bar/room service, but the location and amount of space made it a great place for our family.

DAY 1

We landed in London around noon and got to our hotel around 1:30/2 pm. Our main goal for the day was to keep everyone awake, get some sunshine, and fight jet lag! Of course, Daisy needed to nap (and did) but we went into the day with no set plans and just planned to be outside as much as possible and *try* to stay up until 7 pm local time.

Mercado Mayfair for a late lunch – We needed food asap and this food hall market was perfect! The building itself was BEAUTIFUL and there were so many food stalls and options.

Walk through Hyde Park – we spent a few hours in the park wandering around and exploring the Hyde Park playground.

From there, we did a quick pub dinner and walked back to the hotel for an early bedtime!

DAY 2

This ended up being our jam-packed sightseeing day without us even fully knowing and planning it that way.

This was our big London sightseeing day and we packed in SO much! We took the Tube over to the Kensington neighborhood and picked up bagels and coffee at KURO Bagel. There were also so many cute coffee shops and cafes in that area! We brought our bagels to the park and did a little breakfast picnic.

We spent HOURS at Princess Diana Playground and it was truly incredible. It was very busy the day we went, but the girls still had a blast. The entire playground is Peter Pan themed – there’s a huge pirate ship, a sand play area, teepees, sensory trail, swings, slides, climbing equipment, and just SO much to do. In general, we’ve found that European playgrounds are so much more nature-focused and this was no exception. It was really such a sweet spot to spend the morning! There’s also a carousel and ice cream stand right outside.

From there, we strolled through Kensington Gardens. There was so much to see and explore – statues, meticulously maintained gardens, beautiful buildings, etc.

Next up was Afternoon Science Tea at the Ampersand Hotel. This was actually the only activity we booked before we got to London! I wanted to make sure we had a tea experience booked and wanted something that would be fun, interactive, and enjoyable for everyone. And this was a perfect experience! 🧫🧪🔬 Everything is science-themed – test tube drinks, space and science-themed treats, and the girls got to do little science experiments throughout the tea service. It was a really sweet and fun twist on the classic afternoon tea and we all had a blast!

We knew that tea wasn’t far from the Natural History Museum, but planned to just take the day as it came and see how we felt after tea. Everyone was feeling good and in good spirits so we decided to go visit! It’s a stunning building filled with really incredible exhibits. It’s free to get in, but very very busy. The girls loved seeing the animal and dinosaur exhibits and then Winnie and Daisy took a nap while Lucy and E explored a little bit more.

We decided to get a late afternoon bite and drink and stumbled into the nearby LINA Stores – butter pasta, burrata and focaccia, Aperol spritzes – a great stop for us!

Okay normally, we would know our limits and be like, okay it’s been a LONG and full day – let’s go back to hotel for down time and chill evening. But, we were still all feeling good and the girls were begging to see Big Ben.

Sooooo we took the Tube over to the Westminster area and saw Big Ben. Once we got over there, the idea seemed like less of a good one given it was busy and lots of people were getting off of work, but – we got our photos, the girls were excited to check that off their London list.

We walked through the nearby St James Park and let the girls get some wiggles out at the cute playground there. We walked back towards our hotel and stopped at a pub for dinner before officially calling it a day. Whew! It was a long and very full day, but ended up being a really fun and special day in London! (But if you were looking for London recs, I’d probably break this day up into at least two parts) 😉

DAY 3

We didn’t have a great plan for our next day, and honestly, kind of struggled. Everywhere we went was REALLY busy and it was unusually hot the entire time we were there. Definitely had some kid (and adult) meltdowns. Not every moment or day of traveling is always amazing, and this day was a bit trickier for us.

Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross Station – This was another ‘London must’ for our girls. They’ve been reading Harry Potter with E for a year or so now, and really wanted to do the Harry Potter things! This is definitely a very touristy thing to do, and was very busy. We waited an hour+ in line to take photos, but the girls were happy to try on the scarves and pose. Plus, the loved the Harry Potter gift shop nearby and Lucy used her allowance to buy herself a *real* Harry Pottery wand.

We grabbed brunch nearby, and then headed to a small playground before heading to Borough Market. I remember this being one of our favorite spots to visit on previous London trips and had fond memories of our time here. It’s still an amazing place – so many amazing vendors and things to see and experience. But it was SO SO BUSY. Everyone was very overstimulated and hot and it was honestly hard to keep track of everyone and stay together in the crowds. I think July is normally a pretty busy time, but it was extra slammed and also unusually hot during our trip. We grabbed a quick snack and then walked to different stalls to pick out items (baguette, cheeses, olives, etc!) for picnics the next day.

Dishoom for dinner – This was another favorite London memory and meal I remember loving and we wanted to go back! The food was delicious, but I have to be honest with y’all – we struggled through dinner with the kids. It’s absolutely worth going to! But it was just an unusually rough dinner for our family (outside of the very yummy food we ate).

I’m going to do a separate post about handing rough moments when traveling with kids, how have realistic expectations and set yourself for success (as much as possible), etc!

DAY 4

After a tougher day 3, we made a game plan for how to handle the following day and honestly, it was SUCH a smoother, more enjoyable day all around!

One helpful (and enjoyable) way to set the day off on the right foot was not waking up and immediately leaving to get breakfast. Eric brought back delicious pastries after a run so we could have a slow morning and breakfast in the hotel. We also packed picnic supplies and planned to do a picnic lunch.

From there, we took a double decker bus (an activity in and of itself – it was a huge hit with the kids!) to Regents Park. We started grabbed a coffee at the The Waterside Cafe and then let the girls play at the Hanover Gate Children’s Playground before renting a paddleboat (at Regents Park Boating). After our boating adventure, we wandered through the park and found a shaded spot for a picnic. The girls played a bunch and then we walked more through the park, grabbed another coffee, and went to the Gloucester Gate Playground. This was an AMAZING playground stop – an epic zip line, tons of nature-inspired play like ropes courses, sand pit, and more. We were there for almost two hour and the girls could have been there longer!

Afterwards, we grabbed took another double decker bus to the Marylebone neighborhood and bopped around and spontaneously decided to do a ‘progressive dinner.’ We started with appetizers at a pub, then walked to Breadstall for pizza slices at a friend’s recommendation. Our last stop was back to Mercado Mayfair for gelato before we went back to the hotel.