Going to London this summer...

[Monkadelic]

Do some traditional Londonish axe throwing.

https://whistlepunks.com

 

[Monkadelic]

And go for a potter round Borough Market.

 

[Chules]

and the cutty sark.

photo creds : Me lol

 

[ManCityFC9]

The area(kensington) around the natural history museum will be fun(the science museum is cool too)
-there is a harry potter Warner bros. Studio tour not too far away from City centre
--dont fret about renting a car; driving in london and on opposite sides of the road is easy (automatic cars do cost more to rent)

Camden market and camden locke will be cool for a quick bite

Buckingham palace, changing of the guard(google for times)

There's a massive arcade near the london eye (i still enjoy them)

The tower bridge(there's a glass floor); also tower of london

Eat at a restaurant called 'iguanas'(it's a chain but the best food ever

Enjoy bruv; im taking my little one in august to catch a soccer game... im also going sooner(in march) with my boys.

 

[jimbob27]

London has nice parks. Regents Park, Hyde Park in central, and Kew Gardens in the west are all well worth a visit.

Also, go to greggs and get some sausage rolls.

 

[Tone C]

Get a train to North Wales, direct from London. It's a stunning area, you can try titan zipwire or bounce below (Google them) for something different. There's also the Welsh mountain railway which you can use to get to the summit of mount snowdon and numerous Edwardian castles if that's your thing. Also port meirion is a cool place to visit. As far as London goes it depends on the age of your kids, there's various west end shows, museums, art gallerie, landmarks (the open top bus tours are good for that) you can also visit the Harry potter studios in Watford (you need to book well in advance) as well as the London dungeons,the tower of London. Kidzania also looks fun for younger kids
How are you travelling around the area?
I work.on the railway in and out of london So if you're planning on using the train let me know and I'll give you advice on best way to get cheaper fares etc

Not done North Wales but we like South Wales the bits we've visited.

Railway ? P-way, Driver ,Guard ?

 

[treelo]

I would suggest not going!!!

And if you really want to go to Dover, do not step foot inside of possibly the biggest shithole of a city i have ever seen/been to.

The castle is OK, but the actual city, is horrific.

Oh, and if you really want to see the cliffs up close, you need to go to St Margarets at Cliffe, which is an amazing little town, but go there early morning.

And Dover is nowhere near London(which is a shithole also)!

 

[Fugazy]

Make fun of a Muslim person in front of a cop.

 

[Tone C]

The castle is OK, but the actual city, is horrific.

Oh, and if you really want to see the cliffs up close, you need to go to St Margarets at Cliffe, which is an amazing little town, but go there early morning.

!

Decent advice there. Dover itself is a dive. Full of illegal immigrants and benefits claimants...


Leeds Castle which despite its name is actually in Maidstone Kent is good. Have a look at that on their website.

Rochester in Kent - bugger all to do , really quaint shops and architecture but full of homeless and junkies but they don't bother you though. There's Rochester castle but it's pretty derelict.

Haven't been to Canterbury in years so can't comment.


Also look at a day in Hastings - lots to do there. Quaint shops , crazy golf, aquarium , castle , hillside trains , smugglers adventure . I remember my kids loved it.

 

[treelo]

I guess it all may actually be interesting if you live in a country where everything is pre-fabs looking at all these old shitty cities.

Cambridge is a good balance of old and modern, but the big yellow ring around London is to be avoided IMO, it's almost like a no-go zone these days.

Bournemouth is very quaint if you want to travel, and is very peaceful(almost too peaceful).

 

[POWER2]

bring a stab proof vest, don't bother with stone henge, the white cliffs are being invaded by people in small boats. watch out for your kids if they're girls.

if ur travelling with kids/there 4 less than 2 weeks, i think that will be enough. would say get out 2 Brighton. i can point u to some heroin.

 

[Sanshou Kid]

Mind your wallets around street performers, especially around touristy areas like the South Bank. That's pretty sound advice anywhere, though.

The tube is great for getting around and, I would say far quicker than faffing with driving and parking for the most part.

Alas, I know this likely isn't possible with kids in tow but, places like St Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge the Tower and, the Globe Theatre are much better viewed (from the outside at least) at night, like, at 2am, due to there being no one around apart from seagulls. Or maybe that is just my preference.

Edit: Oh, the Chinatown area near Leicester Square is a good shout, too. Lots of bubble tea shops if that appeals at all.

There's a massive arcade near the london eye (i still enjoy them)

The girlfriend and I went there during our last visit, oddly enough, some good shit in there. They have bumper cars in the basement level and all!

 

[therealdope]

That is superb advice. I was wandering around Dublin, looking for a shortcut, and decided to look at the plaque on a building: it was the music hall where Handel's "Messiah" was first performed. The next day, I passed by Phil Lynott's old apartment (if that plaque was to be believed) and found some killer sushi a little ways from his statue on Harry St. All by accident.

Cool. Glad you liked Dublin. My father is from Dublin and i enjoyed visiting my grandmother, uncle and aunts.

Enjoy your visit to London. A day trip to Oxford isn't a bad idea either.

 

[Tone C]

Enjoy your visit to London. A day trip to Oxford isn't a bad idea either.

We like Oxford but try to go when there's no Uni term..

 

[MadSquabbles500]

What should I be doing?

This is my second trip across the pond (first was Ireland) and I'm definitely doing some touristy historical stuff; Canterbury Cathedral, White Cliffs, a trip out to Stonehenge and/or Hadrian's Wall, there's a river cruise on Thames that looks like some good sight-seeing.

Also, I'll be traveling with the wife and two small kids. That changes a lot.

Any Sherbrits know of some hidden gems? Rough areas to avoid? Where to get some good Indian food? If 221b Baker St is worth looking for?

Are you doing some Police exchange program? The Cops dont carry guns.

Also Hawksmoor in London is a nice restaurant

 

[therealdope]

We like Oxford but try to go when there's no Uni term..

I was 13 the first time I went to Oxford. My Aunt's husband (at the time) had studied at Oxford and took us to visit. As we were walking out of the campus chapel he said, "I enjoyed my time as a student here". I said to my Aunt's husband, "You graduated from Oxford?", to which he replied, "no, but I did study here".

I'm like, "you didn't graduate?", then he muttered something about being, "kicked out for being an asshole". Well, at least he could admit it - LOL. Needless to say, he was an asshole and my aunt divorced him.

 

[AgentSmecker]

Wait til the wife and kids are safely tucked up to sleep at night then head out for a wee wander around Soho by yourself. See if you can score a bit of clarky cat or triple sod.

 

[Goonerview]

All the best museums in London are free. Science, Natural History, Imperial war and V&A museum of childhood are all fantastic and will be enjoyed by the kids as well. British, tate modern, and V&A are fantastic for adults, but will probably bore the kids.

The Tower of London isn't free, but there's a whole day's worth of stuff to see and do. Kids will like it too, it's full of cannons, suits of armor and medieval torture devices.

There's good stuff around Grenwich. the Observatory, the maritime museum and the cutty sark.

Stonehenge is crap. You go there, look at some fallen over rocks you can't get near, and then leave. Nothing else nearby, It'll be a waste of a day. Big Ben is currently covered in scaffolding so don't be disappointed about that. I

If you're heading south east of London, the jurassic coast of Dorset is a much better destination than stonehenge or Dover, but you won't be able to do it as a day trip, you'd need to stay down there 2 nights min for it to be worth the drive or train journey. Windsor or Oxford are better day drop destinations.

Good ideas.

But I think Stonehenge is good. It is also near Salisbury cathedral which I believe is the largest cathedral in England. It's huge!

 

[Congo66]

Our first few days will be in Kent. That (and the tomb of both a prince and a martyr) piqued my interest in Cantebury. Just saw the pictures of Salisbury. It is jaw-dropping! As that's close to Avebury (with the better stone circles that you can actually walk around, reportedly,) I'll be sure to make an effort to take that in.

My kids will 4 and 6 at the time of the trip so I plan on half-day trips and liberal use of the tablets. Good to know about the free museums as my son is 90% dinosaur in his head and what castles are worth it.

Where in Kent are you staying?

There is some really crap advice in this thread, Rochester..... no mention of the Cathedral. It's not quite Canterbury but it's there and right next to the castle and the Chatham Dockyard is very close by if you wanted to make a day of it. Hastings..... why? Bournemouth.... why? Neither of them are in Kent. WTF is the big yellow ring around London that's to be avoided too? Dover is a town and not a city. I'd be tempted to ignore treelo and treelo because they're full of shit.

Stonehenge is indeed crap but it's a 2 hour drive from London but if you want to go to Salisbury combine the two or go to Bath or Longleat Safari Park but you'd need a car and getting in and out of central London at the sort of time you'd be travelling for a day trip is probably even worse than you think it is. Salisbury is very possible to do in a day trip by train though but best not to bring any novichok with you and to actually visit the cathedral.

You mentioned Hadrians Wall in your first post, that's a 6 hour drive from London.

Most of it's been covered by the more sensible posters here, the Kensington museums (Natural History, Science, V&A), Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the numerous parks, Greenwich (park, observatory, maritime museum), from Greenwich get the cable car across the Thames and probably come straight back to Greenwich on it or get the DLR back into London as there's nothing on the North side of it, Windsor (Castle mainly but Legoland is there too), House of Parliament (but Big Ben is covered in scaffolding), Kew Gardens, The Sky Garden is free but you need to book it and not bad for a decent view of London, the View from The Shard, The London Eye, HMS Belfast, St Pauls Cathedral (pay and go to the top), British Museum, Museum of London, The Great Fire Monument (it looks a bit like Nelsons Column but you can climb to the top), Trafalgar Square, The Tate, The Tate Modern, 221b Baker Street is worth a look for, London Zoo, there are a couple of urban farms which would probably work for a 4 and 6 year old so Mudchute or Surrey Docks Farms......

Or you could do what most tourists with young kids seem to do, spend all day on the tube getting in my way.......

 

[Congo66]

Good ideas.

But I think Stonehenge is good. It is also near Salisbury cathedral which I believe is the largest cathedral in England. It's huge!

Stonehenge is good if you drive past it, there's no real point in stopping you see it as well from the road as if you stop and no Salisbury is not the largest cathedral in England (Liverpool Cathedral is) but it has the tallest spire and oldest clock. If you're going to try and paraphrase the Russian (not spies at) all at least get it right.