We recently took our little girl to London for the first time.
Living in the Westcountry we don’t often go to London as the travel takes so long from here and we tend to do countryside or beach holidays (which are very close) rather than city breaks.
Our girl has been desperate to go between the Queen’s Jubilee, the Queen sadly passing away, and the coronation of King Charles III, coupled with an ongoing obsession with the Paddington films.
When her baby brother was born last year we decided to save up for a birthday trip for her for this year when he’d be old enough to stay overnight with relatives.
Originally I had hoped to do rather more things while we were in London.
However, we had a nightmare with train cancellations so we arrived much later than planned (meaning we had to ditch going to the Lego Shop and M&S World in Leicester Square) and we opted for an earlier train home, again due to our original train and the two trains either side of it also being cancelled.
This meant we didn’t make it to Hyde Park and the Diana Playground as planned.
That said, we still had a fantastic time with the activities we did manage to squeeze in on our trip.
1. Visited Buckingham Palace & Trafalgar Square
A must do for many London tourists.
It was busy but we still managed to see the palace and get some fantastic pictures.
Our little girl was much more interested in the statue of Queen Victoria and we then took a break in the shade by the Canada Memorial.
We then took the short walk to Trafalgar Square where there was live music and food stalls as part of the Ride London event. We watched the ducks playing in the water and marvelled at the Lions.
2. Paddington Bear Afternoon Tea Tour Bus
The next stop was Northumberland Avenue to catch the Paddington Bear Afternoon Tea Tour Bus hosted by Bridget’s Bakery.
We were very excited about this tour as we all love Paddington and it was a great way to see all of the main sights without little one having to walk everywhere.
While not cheap (tickets start at £45 off-peak, expect to pay more for weekends and school holidays) we felt the tour was well worth it and enjoyable – a definite bucket list item checked off.
The food on the afternoon tea was pretty average and not particularly well suited to small children (no plain options) but the overall atmosphere of the tour itself made up for this.
You might want to take your own snacks or grab a light bite to eat beforehand!
Need more Paddington ideas for when you’re in London? Take a look here: Best Paddington Bear Things To Do In London
3. Frozen The Musical
Watching Frozen The Musical was another of the reasons we decided to head to London, as like many other five-year-olds, our daughter is obsessed with Frozen.
Frozen The Musical will be closing in September, so there is limited time left to see it at its current home, The Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
While no national tour has been announced yet, I suspect it might be once the London run has finished, although I could be wrong.
I am a big musical theatre fan, however, as an adult Frozen probably would not have been my first choice had this been an adult trip (my choice would have been Back To The Future).
Therefore, I must admit that I was completely blown away by how good the show was.
The staging is incredible and even my husband (who is a somewhat reluctant musical theatre fan) was in awe and loved every second.
And you can’t beat the look on a five-year-old’s face when she gets to see Elsa in real life for the first time.
Completely and utterly magical and I would recommend getting tickets before it closes if you can.
4. Natural History Museum
This is another must-do for families visiting London, especially if your children are interested in dinosaurs.
I’m going to be honest and say it wasn’t the biggest hit with us on this occasion.
Partly due to being tired from our busy day the day before and partly because I just don’t think it’s interactive enough to keep our little girl interested – I actually wish we’d booked the science museum instead.
That’s not to say the Natural History Museum isn’t amazing – it definitely is!
5. Lots of Tube Rides
It might sound boring to some, but having never been on the Tube before, our little one was excited about this.
She was also very excited about riding the huge escalators in some stations and spotting the tubes going past our hotel window.
Overall we had a fantastic trip to London and we can’t wait to go again at some point in the future