Background
For Thanksgiving break 2024, our family visited England and Scotland! Last Christmas, we visited Germany and Austria and loved the long train rides through the countryside. We decided that the Scottish Highlands would be the perfect adventure for our next trip to Europe. We spent a few days in Edinburgh, took a bus tour to the Highlands, and wrapped up our trip in busy and historic London.
This post covers our 2
This post covers our 3 days in London.
For more on our United Kingdom, see our posts here
Arrival in London from Railway Station
We began our journey aboard a train from Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross, a scenic route that takes around 4.5 hours. We should have purchased tickets ahead of time to save money but weren’t sure if we were going to need a late departure or not. We purchased tickets the evening before for 300 pounds for the family to go from Edinburgh to London. Still a very reasonable price and cheaper and more eco-friendly than a plane ride. The train ride was lovely and offered a comfortable and picturesque experience, with views of rolling countryside, coastal cliffs, and charming villages along the way. The highlight? Glimpses of the North Sea coastline just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Transportation in London
In London, we took the underground everywhere. Kids are free and entre through the wheelchair gates. We took one long train ride to the Warner Bros studio and these tickets were a little pricey ($30 for all round-trip) but overall bus and subway travel went really smoothly excited!)
Hotel
In London, we stayed at the Hyatt Place London East near the Tower of London area. It was a little bit of a trip to the main parts of the city near Westminster (15 minute subway) but it was very affordable and its pretty rare for hotels to have spots for 4 people. We paid 150 per night for 3 nights and had a pull-out sofa in a family suite. We have status with Hyatt and received a free breakfast and some gifted chocolates along with some drinks from the bar. I know many families prefer AirBnBs or house stays but we’ve always generally leaned towards hotel stays and we generally use the room and hotel just for sleeping so we don’t need the kitchen or space to spread out that younger families may need.
Our 3 day itinerary in London
Day 1: Train to London, View Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Evening Boat Tour, Hyde Park Winter Festival
After our afternoon arrival, we checked into the hotel and found a restaurant nearby to eat lunch. When we arrived at King’s Cross, I suggested we eat there with the large number of restaurants but we had our suitcases and were ready to unload everything. We were able to find a little fast casual noodle chain to give us energy for a busy evening.
Subway to Tower of London and Tower Bridge
From our hotel, we hopped onto the London Underground one stop to the Tower Hill area. Navigating the Tube was easy and efficient, and also part of the fun part of being in a new city. We walked right past the large Tower of London on our walk to the river. We didn’t take a a tour on this trip but the outside was really cool to look at and we told the kids a little bit of why it was important. In the area, there was a small Christmas village that we meant to return to and never did.
We walked across the Tower Bridge and Ellie immediately asked why we couldn’t go to the top. (Because we adults did it on our last trip without kids and we didn’t feel like it was a worthwhile cost when the cool part of the bridge is looking at it, not looking out from it.) The design on the bridge is really intricate and beautiful and definitely feels like one of the iconic picture spots in the area.
River Tour
Next, we took a boat tour heading west along the River Thames. We left right after sunset and were able to see a lot of the cool buildings lit up. This was also an easy way to get some guide context to all the landmarks around the city. We passed famous landmarks like The Shard, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and The London Eye. The narrative on board was a little dry and the kids didn’t care much but I enjoyed it and it was a cool way to get our first glimpse of Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower. Seeing these iconic structures from the water was definitely a wow moment.
Hyde Park Wonderland
We still had some energy in us and hopped on a double-decker red bus to the Hyde Park area. Instagram had been advertising the Winter Wonderland festival and it looked like a really fun Christmas market/amusement park vibe. We were there on a Thursday night (Thanksgiving) and it was popping. The park was frenetic and there were people everywhere. In retrospect, I wanted to go for the lights and food but the kids were immediately disappointed that we weren’t doing carnival games and rides. Something to keep in mind. We explored the Beer hall area and had some churros and food stand dinners. It was a really magical time and area and would have been fun to explore if it wasn’t so crowded and we had been prepared to spend money for activities. After the park, we took a subway back to our hotel and crashed for the night
Day 2: St James Park, Buckingham Palace, View Big Ben, Harry Potter Studio Tour
St James Park and Buckingham Palace
We got a late start to our morning and had some quick hotel breakfast before heading out to the Buckingham Palace area. We took the subway and planned on walking past the gates. I did some research ahead of time and saw that there wasn’t going to be a typical Guard changing ceremony on the morning we visited (Nov 29) If you visit London and the timing works out, we’ve seen the changing of the guard ceremony several times and its always a really fun experience. The Changing of the Guard is a formal ceremony in which a group of soldiers (foot guards) is relieved of their duties by a new batch of soldiers. There’s a band, there’s pomp, it’s a fun event.
On the day we visited, the ceremony was abbreviated because they were doing preparations for an upcoming state visit with Qatar, adding a unique twist to the traditional spectacle. We couldn’t get great views of the palace but we did see the official royal carriages process (empty) near the park which was really quite a cool experience. I don’t know that we’ll ever be in town (or want to be) for an official procession.
St. James’s Park itself was delightful. The lake was beautiful. It’s always stunning to me to see big green spaces in dense cities. Could definitely imagine myself taking walks along the park. We saw little field trips of kids galloping across the fields and it felt just like real people living real lives. The kids played for a bit at the playground but it was a bit young for them (7 and 9). There were several food stands around and this could definitely be a longer outing than we made it.
Big Ben
Big Ben is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world and a symbol of London. Its fame stems from a combination of history, architectural grandeur, cultural significance, and global recognition. While technically, Big Ben originally referred to the bell inside of Elizabeth Tower, its now used pretty regularly to refer to the whole Tower. We were able to time our visit with the noon ringing of the bells. The last time we visited London, it was under repair so it was really cool that we were able to see it in all its gold glory. We ate lunch at a pub in the Oxford circus area before heading up to our big afternoon activity, Harry Potter Studio Tour!
Harry Potter Studio Tour
The Harry Potter Studio Tour London is a magical experience. We visited during the “Hogwarts in the Snow” season and really enjoyed our visit. You need to make reservations in advance for this tour. We made ours 3 months in advance and were already pretty limited on time options (We went on a Friday afternoon) We spent 4 hours at the site. From London’s Euston station, it’s about a 20 minute train ride. This train did cost a little more than the other zone 1 in city jaunts. We purchased our tickets from the machine and brought kindles for the long ride. When arriving in Watfords station, we waited for the free studio tour bus to take us the 15 minutes to the Studio. Not the easiest to get to from the city. Definitely save half a day for this activity
The studio tour was sp great. The beginning parts of the tour were very people heavy and we walked shoulder to shoulder through tight corners to watch a brief video about the making of the movie before released into the main rooms. There were so many cool things to see. While Universal studios Harry potter lands make you feel like you’re immersed, this was more like feeling like you were on a big movie set.
The sets were amazing! (Gringotts was my fave) But more than that, the costume information, robotic technical, explanation of the movie magic and make-up and all of the behind the scenes sections were my favorite. There were so many rooms to explore. We walked through the great hall, dormitories, forbidden forest, Diagon alley, Kings Cross and Hogwarts Express, Outdoor sets, Gringotts, and so many intricately designed sets. There were several interactive areas where the kids learned how movie snow works, practiced their wand movies, and learned all about how they made Hagrid appear so large. And of course we had to get some butterbeer ice cream <3 The tour ended with the giant model of the castle and I swear we could have spent an hour in this room alone just admiring all the details. It changes every season but I think snowy Hogwarts is my favorite
Day 3: British Museum, Kensington Park, Science Museum, West End Matilda Show
British Museum
Once again, we got a little bit of a late start. After a quick breakfast (and a morning run by Ben), we made our way to the British Museum. I made the mistake of not researching and didn’t realize that although the museum is free, you should make a reservation to go to the short line. Don’t be like us! We spent about 2 hours at the museum and definitely could have spent much longer.
We started by looking at some of the Chinese art, the original King’s library area and then picked up a little scavenger hunt at the info desk. They had several options for kids including legendary animals, Greek history and Egyptian History. We explored a little bit of the Egyptian rooms using one of the guides. We ended in room 4 with the Rosetta stone and felt like we only scratched the surface of exhibits at the museum. We also made a quick trip to the gift shop and purchased some fun activity books including a fun Sherlock holmes escape room book
Afternoon 1:1 time: Boys to Percy Jackson and Girls to Kensington Garden and Science museum
After the museum, we ate a quick lunch at a a nearby food hall. Always a fan of food court style options where everyone can get what they want. After lunch, the boys went to see an afternoon showing of The lightning thief, a Percy Jackson musical! This was not part of the original plan but we saw a poster in the subway the day before and spontaneously added this to the itinerary.
Ellie and I had a girl’s afternoon and enjoyed our mommy and me time. We watched a video show for a few minutes near the train station at a really interesting large video screen. I had seen a butterfly show on instagram but the shows change every few minutes and we saw a water geometry show. Very fun. We then took the train to Kensington Gardens and the Princess Diana playground. Ellie had fun climbing on the ship but felt a little chilly and missing her brother and playmate so we decided to adventure to the science museum. Although technically walkable through the park, we decided to take the subway two stops instead. We were a little disappointed that the museum was not as hands-on as we thought. There was a small kid’s section in the basement but felt young and the exhibits were interested but not the typical learning through doing like we love.
Covent Garden and Matlida
We met the boys for dinner at the Seven Dials Market near Covent Garden. This area was crazy on a Saturday evening. The food orders were quick and very delicious! It was definitely a little chaotic at dinnertime so keep that in mind if you have little ones that you’ll need to keep them close and may have to share a table with other parties. After dinner, we walked a block over to see Matilda! This show was so fun! The kids have been singing songs from the show ever since. I was really excited to see the show as both kids have recently read the books and this show isn’t currently running in the US. A very fun last evening in London!
