5 Must Sees While in London
Last year, Chad had a business trip to London in April, so I decided to leave the kids at home and tag along (thanks Nana!). We had a wonderful time and got to see so many sites. We liked it so much we decided to take all the kids too! (And it was the cheapest flight, so that helped). Here are some of the places we saw and things we learned while we were there.
QUICK TIP: Plan to get up early each day! If you sleep-in, you miss a lot. Give yourself a day to recover from jetlag if you have a major time-zone change when coming to London. Then, on day two hit the ground running. Plan to be very tired at the end of each day if you want to “see it all”. (Not possible, but it’s worth a try)
- STONEHENGE
Although Stonehenge is NOT in London it is a 90 minute train ride outside of town to the small town of Salisbury. So it makes a wonderful day trip. We loved Salisbury! It was such a cute town with so much character. The town is a beautiful mix of old and new. And like everywhere else in the UK, everything is covered in moss.
To get to Salisbury from London you need to buy a ticket that is SEPARATE from your London transit card. If you don’t, it will be a big mess and you might be stuck on the wrong side of the entry gates until you get that ticket. FUN FACT: Your tickets can also get you a discount on tickets into the Tower of London. Trains run about every 30 minutes all day long. Be sure to check the schedules online ahead of time to plan your day. NOTE: many people from Salisbury work in London and take the train IN to work in the morning and ride it home at night. So if you want a less crowded train experience, avoid these times of day. All the trains have free Wi-fi, you just will need to create a username. Once in Salisbury you will need to get to the bus stop for Stonehenge if you have prepurchased your bus ticket online. If not you will need to find the little store in town to purchase them. The stop is right across the street from this shop or there is one at the train station. The buses only run about every hour so PLAN wisely. (we missed the bus by one minute and had to hitchhike back-yes we are crazy).
Once on the bus you have about a 20 minute ride out to the Stonehenge museum. You must prebuy your Stonehenge tickets to reserve a time, especially if you are coming at a busy time of year. We went in April and it wasn’t too crowded, probably because it is still pretty cold in the UK. We enjoyed misty rain and 15 mph wind while trying to visit Stonehenge. We were very glad we brought our winter gear! Once you arrive you can also buy an audio guide. You can share, but they are hard to hear and need to be put right up to your ear most of the time. So it is best for everyone to get their own. My favorite part was the museum which had so much information and displays and videos about the history of Stonehenge and other similar structures. We needed more time to be able to enjoy it all.
NOTE: These train tickets can get you a discount at the Tower of London if you don’t plan to get the London Pass.
IF YOU HAVE TIME: Salisbury Cathedral is just in town and is the tallest spire in the UK. It is a beautiful building that is worth a stop if you have the time.
(We are in no way affiliated with the London Pass, we just think it is a good deal.) The London Pass was one of the best ways to see a lot of things without totally breaking the bank. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t “cheap”, but it covers a ton of activities. There are way more activities than you can do in the time allowed, even if you were to have around 10 days. Although we only got three days so ya never know.
The first time we came to visit we did NOT get the pass and regretted it. Most of the things we wanted to see and do were on the list of available activities and it was more expensive to buy them separate. The London Pass covers lots of great stuff. It gets you in to Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, Westminster Abbey, the big tour buses to drive you around town and much more. It DOES NOT cover the London Eye, although we thought it did. Oops! We tried to fit in as many activities as we could during the 3 days we had the pass.
How the pass works: The pass works only on CONSECUTIVE DAYS. So if you want to see London on Monday and Wednesday you will need a THREE day pass. You cannot get a 2-day pass because it will expire at the end of the day on Tuesday. Once you use your pass at your FIRST activity, your pass begins THAT day.
Where to get it: We bought the pass online and then redeemed it in town. The shop to redeem it is SMALL! It has signs all over it for various theatrical performances in town since there are a TON. It is just a small circular building in between two roads. You have to go inside and down the spiral stairs to redeem it.
Tips: We checked the locations and closing times of everything we wanted to see to help us get the most activities in a day. MANY things close at 5pm so we made sure to hit those first each day. Anything that closed later we did in the evening. I also recommend packing snacks with you if you have kids. It can get expensive and waste a lot of time and money trying to keep everyone constantly fed. It seems like someone is ALWAYS hungry. You can shop for snacks on your jetlag day if you take one.
3. WESTMINSTER ABBEY
I know an old church/burial ground sounds boring, but there is a LOT of history and things to see at Westminster Abbey. The audio guides are a MUST and they are included with your ticket. They come in a large variety of languages. They even have an audio guide made just for kids led by a talking lion.
While there you can see where Prince William and Kate were married. You can also see many Kings and Queens of England past. You can even see a hole from World War II bombs. We especially loved the amazing gothic architecture and Scientists’ Corner. We arrived shortly after they had buried the ashes of Steven Hawking in Scientists’ Corner. One thing to note: no photography is allowed inside the building because it is a sacred place of worship. It’s too bad because it is amazing inside.
Another tip: It is a fully functioning church. They hold morning services along with Evening Song. We enjoyed participating in the morning services and seeing the coronation chair up close. That is one of the only ways since the chair is kept behind locked glass doors during tour hours. Check the schedule outside the building to find out more.
4. WINDSOR CASTLE
With the London Pass you get to use the train that takes you out to Windsor Castle since it is actually OUTSIDE of the metro area of London. And it is worth the trip! It takes around and hour to get there depending on where you are staying in London. I recommend getting up early to get out there with plenty of time to see this MASSIVE place.
Audio guides are included and very helpful. Some of the rooms start to all blur together, but eventually you loop through the visible side of this FULLY FUNCTIONING castle and spend some time trying to figure out how you got back to where you started. The question is: what happens on the side where the tour doesn’t show you?
This is where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were also married. You can walk right up to the altar where they said their vows. And you can see the seat where the Queen was sitting! We were a little star-struck being there in the church.
They even have those famous guards with the funny hats. I am pretty sure they are just for tradition sake because you see real guards and police all over. But they make for a good picture right? Beware: the line can get long to have your picture taken with him, but it moves fast. We opted to stand “close enough” for our picture since we needed to catch the train.
5. Tower of London and the Tower Bridge
I highly recommend spending several hours in the Tower of London. This place has SO much history to share. This is where Bloody Mary was killed and also two of the young royal children by their uncle. If you have enough time you can enjoy a very fun shortened tour from the Yeomen. They are dressed in traditional garb and have lots of fun and entertaining information to share. You might even be able to see the fresco wall that was discovered in one of the towers. They were revealing and restoring it when we were there.
The audio guides cost extra so we opted for a self-guided tour after following the Yeomen for a bit. I am sure there was lots of information that we missed, but we enjoyed it just fine without it. There are many signs and other descriptions along the way.
There is a church inside the grounds along with very sturdy walls to protect the castle. This was where all the kings and queens lived prior to the building of Buckingham Palace. The Tower is also where they keep the crown jewels, my littlest girl’s favorite. Inside, the displays tell the story of the monarchy through the ages with video and wall murals as you move through the fast-paced line. All of my kids enjoyed seeing all the many things inside there, even the ones who whined about going in at first. My kids also enjoyed the kids activities where you could shoot an old fashioned gun and try out other things from long ago. They enjoyed it so much it was a big fight to get them to leave.
Tip: This is included in the London Pass, but if you are not getting the London Pass and have traveled by train you should be able to show your train ticket at the booth and it will get you a discount. When we went it was 2 for 1.
These tips will help you get started planning an amazing trip to London. We would love to hear about what you did while in London or what you are dreaming to see in London. Please comment.
