Most household journeys to London will cross by the Tower of London and Tower Bridge at the least as soon as – however when you’ve had a glimpse of the 2 iconic landmarks, you’ll discover a string of different issues to do close to Tower Bridge with youngsters.
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So whether or not you’re seeking to fill an hour or two in your London itinerary, or making an attempt to work out how one can spend a complete day round Tower Bridge with youngsters, I’ve picked out my prime ideas.
Everything is inside round a ten minute stroll of one of many two websites and principally inside the world between Tower Bridge and London Bridge – so should you’re searching for issues to do close to London Bridge, you’ll discover loads of concepts right here.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is definitely essentially the most well-known of London’s bridges, and in addition to getting a view of its well-known blue and white paint and taking a stroll throughout Tower Bridge, you may head inside to find its historical past – together with the truth that it was a chocolate brown color when it first opened, repainted for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Head into the Tower Bridge Exhibition and you’ll cross its high-level walkways and expertise views down over the bridge and River Thames by way of its glass flooring. One for the courageous!
Did you understand that when the bridge was opened in 1894, eight years after development started, it had high-level walkways so individuals may nonetheless cross even when the bridge itself was opened – though these closed 16 years later for lack of use!
And in addition to the possibility to face on the glass walkway and nervously benefit from the views, head into the engine rooms, and there are common household actions for teenagers too.
Check out the Tower Bridge Trail for Little Explorers and household path, in addition to particular occasions throughout holidays and the possibility to some well-known occasions in its historical past, together with the time a double-decker bus jumped throughout the opening bridge.
To assure entry purchase tickets to Tower Bridge upfront, though you may also get walk-up entry. A go to often takes round 60-90 minutes.
See Tower Bridge rise
One of essentially the most well-known info about Tower Bridge is that the central sections could be raised to permit bigger boats to sail into the Upper Pool of London – and the instances are revealed upfront.
The bridge – which is technically a mixed suspension and bascule bridge – rises round 800 instances a yr, so time your go to proper and you’ll watch because it lifts open to let the river site visitors by way of.
For a few of the finest views of Tower Bridge opening there are viewpoints on each banks too. On the north financial institution, head close to the Tower of London and in the direction of St Katherine’s Pier – spot the woman with a dolphin fountain as you do – or on the south financial institution discover a spot close to HMS Belfast or round Butler’s Wharf.
Check the hottest schedule of bridge elevate instances right here.
The Tower of London
The Tower is certainly one of my very own private favorite days out in London with youngsters, from the astonishing crown jewels to the well-known ravens, beefeaters and centuries of historical past.
You can discover former royal residences, adorned as they might have been when kings lived there, and uncover the Tower’s grim historical past as a jail too, together with a memorial to 2 of Henry VIII’s executed queens.
It additionally homes a part of the Royal Armoury, plus you’ll discover shows on the Tower’s menagerie of animals, uncover reside performances throughout college holidays, and have an opportunity to stroll the partitions.
Top tip: If you’re visiting, head to the Crown Jewels first because the queues solely are inclined to get longer all through the day – however shortly after opening, you may typically stroll in with out ready.
Tickets could be purchased on the day, though prebooking is strongly really helpful. Tours with the beefeaters (correctly generally known as Yeomen Warders) are together with in entrance, and you’ll merely flip up on the day.
For a memorably uncommon night, you may go to within the night to watch the Ceremony of the Keys – take a look at my expertise of watching the Ceremony of the Keys with youngsters right here.
Gunpowder Experience
This new immersive expertise close to the Tower of London is themed across the Gunpowder Plot, the place you’ll be whisked again to 1605 to see should you can foil Guy Fawkes…
Suitable for teenagers aged 12+, The Gunpowder Plot takes place within the Tower Vaults, beneath the Tower of London, the place Guy Fawkes and his fellow trailers had been imprisoned and tortured after their plan was foiled.
Using a mixture of VR know-how, particular results, immersive theatre, and bodily sensations (together with darkish and loud noises), your problem is to cease the notorious plot to explode the Houses of Parliament.
Lasting round 1 hour 40 minutes, together with a 20-minute interval within the recreated Duck and Drake – solely open to these collaborating (and plotters!), the Tower Vaults are proper subsequent to the Tower of London itself, though they’re separate entrances and tickets.
As an added bonus for Harry Potter followers, Guy Fawkes himself is performed by actor Tom Felton (though no, you gained’t get to fulfill him on the day).
The Sky Garden
London’s highest public backyard, the Sky Garden is likely one of the metropolis’s most uncommon viewpoints – and top-of-the-line free issues to do close to Tower Bridge.
Set within the skyscraper generally known as the Walkie Talkie (should you’re combating instructions, it’s not tough to identify), the terraces are full of Mediterranean and South African vegetation, so it feels such as you’re removed from town beneath.
Until you take a look at the good 360-degree views of London, that’s! With a coated terrace, you will get some wonderful views throughout to the Shard, St Paul’s, Tower Bridge and alongside the Thames, with views by way of the glass should you desire to not go outdoors.
While tickets are free, it’s a must to e-book upfront (and adults want ID to enter), with tickets getting snapped up shortly for weekends and college holidays.
They’re launched three weeks upfront, though there are often some walk-in areas should you’re blissful to queue on the day – it’s finest to reach early although. You can even e-book tables on the two eating places in its place strategy to go to (though clearly it’s not then free).
For extra free issues to do in London with youngsters, take a look at my prime picks
View from the Shard
The View from the Shard is likely one of the costlier London viewpoints, nevertheless it’s additionally deservedly some of the memorable.
The giant viewing platform sits on flooring 68 and 69 of London’s tallest constructing, a whopping 310m above the bottom, making it London’s highest viewpoint.
The 360 diploma view over the capital enables you to see for as much as 40 miles on a transparent day, and The View from the Shard is the one place the place you may actually see the entire metropolis directly.
There’s additionally an Open-Air Skydeck on flooring 72 so you may really feel virtually as should you’re floating within the air above London. Click right here to e-book tickets.
Check out these different nice views in London with youngsters for extra methods to absorb the skyline
St Katherine’s Dock
Just a stone’s throw from the Tower of London, St Katherine’s Dock is a good chilled out place to flee the bustle of London – and ideal should you’re searching for locations to eat close to Tower Bridge with youngsters.
Once the docks the place a few of London’s most dear cargo was unloaded, right this moment it’s a marina – you may even sleep overseas a few of the yachts, together with Sea Dancer – with a complete string of eating places, plus an everyday avenue meals market, Kerb.
The Dickens Inn is a reconstructed 18th century pub, right this moment serving nice pizza and with tables outside overlooking the water for sunny days. Or there are family-friendly chains together with Cote Brasserie, Zizzi and Cafe Rouge, plus dim sum at Ping Pong amongst others.
Keep an eye fixed out for occasions as properly, plus the Terrible Thames boat tour additionally departs from Tower Bridge Quay, by the marina, as does the Thames Tigers speedboats.
Terrible Thames boat tour
What do you get if you cross the creators of Horrible Histories with 2,000 years of drama alongside London’s riverbanks? The fantastically child-friendly Terrible Thames cruise.
With tales of revolution, beheadings and pirates (and the stomach-turning motive why Queen Victoria’s pleasure cruise lasted solely minutes), you sail from close to Tower Bridge to Westminster and again by way of Execution Dock, whereas prizewinning school-child Billy (or Billie) and their trainer carry out and supply the commentary.
The cruise itself solely takes 45 minutes however with songs, simply the correct quantity of viewers participation, plus an excellent steadiness of enjoyable and info, it feels such as you get twice as a lot packed in – all together with the same old Horrible Histories recipe of gruesomely ridiculous, gory sound results, plus loads of rest room humour.
Some genuinely quirky info, plus it doesn’t shrink back from the tough matters, together with London’s position within the slave commerce. Departs from Tower Bridge Quay close to St Katherine’s Dock, from early April to late October – purchase tickets or reward vouchers right here
Check out my evaluation of the Terrible Thames boat tour right here
Boat journey alongside the Thames
The Horrible Histories boat tour isn’t the one strategy to see London from the river, with an enormous alternative of boat excursions in London with youngsters too.
You can select from sightseeing cruises and hop-on hop-off choices departing from Tower Pier, whether or not you fancy heading all the best way to Greenwich after your time out round Tower Bridge with youngsters, or alongside the Thames in the direction of Bankside and Westminster.
For sightseeing, take a look at City Cruises which runs numerous excursions alongside the river, or should you’re not bothered about commentary, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is usually a cheaper possibility, and a great way to get from A to B.
Or head over to Tower Bridge Quay, by St Katherine’s Docks, for a extra adventurous boat journey alongside the river with Thames Tigers speedboats (appropriate for ages 7+).
Click right here to take a look at the entire set of boat journeys in London with youngsters
HMS Belfast
Once a Royal Navy mild cruiser, now a museum ship completely moored on the Thames, HMS Belfast is essentially the most vital surviving Second World War Navy warship – current on the D-Day landings and within the Korean War.
Reopened after main renovations, you may uncover what life would have been like on board for the crew who served aboard – and with 9 decks to discover, there’s a lot to see aboard.
Interactive experiences vary from a sound set up inside a gun turret to an opportunity to see simply what it takes to feed the 950 males aboard (trace: which means peeling a LOT of potatoes) and steering the ship.
There are additionally recollections from veterans who served on HMS Belfast, in addition to common household trails and actions throughout college holidays.
Prebooking tickets is really helpful however not important.
Walk the Thames Path
The Thames is the guts of town, so a stroll alongside the river is all the time top-of-the-line issues to do in London with youngsters.
It’s simple to walk alongside the banks of the river alongside the Thames Path – or should you’re feeling energetic, it stretches off for miles in every course from round Tower Bridge.
Look out for a few of the quirky particulars just like the dolphin lampposts – should you don’t assume the ornament seems very like dolphins, you’d be proper, they’re truly sturgeon.
And as you benefit from the views throughout the river, you possibly can consider a few of the highlights from by way of its historical past. Roman artefacts have been dug up on its banks by archaeologists and mudlarks for hundreds of years, together with an oil lamp and bone hair pin inside the previous decade alone, because the tides and wakes of the boat site visitors fire up the silt.
Keep going somewhat additional past London Bridge and you’ll see the Golden Hinde, a recreation of the ship by which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe, in addition to Borough Market, plus all of the points of interest of the South Bank and Bankside, together with the Clink jail, the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern
Visit London Bridge City
Head throughout the river from Tower Bridge to find the world referred to as London Bridge City – stretching all the best way from Tower Bridge to London Bridge, there are commonly family-friendly occasions and trails to comply with.
In the summer time, take a look at the fountains close to The Scoop at More London, 200 jets organized in traces which spring as much as catch the unwary, in addition to free theatre performances, reside music and movie and sports activities screenings at The Scoop itself.
In winter, there’s the Christmas by the River Christmas market, with twinkling lights and festive decorations alongside the riverside.
There’s typically free public artwork to find, together with the Chimps Are Family path, with statues and details about chimpanzees dotted across the space, together with at Hay’s Galleria with its retailers and eating places.
Discover Roman London
There are loads of reminders of the Roman metropolis of Londinium if you understand the place to look together with a part of London Wall close to Tower Hill tube station.
You can even spy a statue of the emperor Trajan in entrance of the stone and tile wall, in-built 200AD. The emperor’s head and physique initially got here from fully totally different statues.
The residents of Londinium had their very own public bathhouses, whereas the rich loved non-public baths connected to their home – utilizing both was as a lot of a social event as an opportunity to get clear – together with the Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse at 101 Lower Thames Street.
Tucked away within the basement of an workplace block, it contains the stays of a number of of the totally different rooms – the chilly frigidarium, the tepidarium and the warmer caldarium the place iron scrapers referred to as strigils would take away the grime and sweat, with perfumed oils utilized. Normally open to the general public on Saturdays between April and November.
Walk a bit additional to the Mithraeum, the place you may uncover the Roman temple of Mithras – based within the third century, it lay hidden for hundreds of years however since 2017, it’s been open to the general public. Free to enter however prebooked tickets are really helpful.
Climb the Monument
Standing 202 toes excessive, the Monument is 202 toes from the spot the place the Great Fire of London began on Pudding Lane – should you laid it down, it might attain proper to the bakery.
Sitting on the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, the pillar with its flaming orb on prime was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1677 to commemorate the well-known fireplace in 1666.
And in addition to studying the plaque on the backside, you may also climb the 311 steps to the gallery on the prime to look out throughout town.
For extra Great Fire of London places, take a look at this put up to plan a strolling tour to a few of the key websites
Only 33 individuals are allowed inside at any time, with a free certificates for these which make the climb. Needless to say, it will get very chilly on the highest should you’re visiting in winter!
If you need to climb the Monument, tickets are solely accessible on the website itself (carry money to be on the protected aspect), with grownup entry costing £5.40, and £2.70 for youngsters aged 5 to fifteen. You can even get joint tickets for the Monument and the Tower Bridge Exhibition, in addition to household tickets.
It’s open day by day from 9.30am-6pm, with admission half-hour earlier than closing and it’s closed fully from December 24-26.
Visit London’s oldest church
Dating again to 675AD, All Hallows-by-the-Tower is believed to be the oldest surviving church in London, overlooking the Tower of London from Byward Street.
Founded by the Abbey of Barking, it’s greater than three centuries older than the Tower itself, and you’ll nonetheless see an arch from the Saxon church right this moment.
Head all the way down to the crypt, with its little museum tracing the historical past of the church, and there’s a Roman pavement that’s even older, courting from the 2nd century.
With such an extended historical past, it has hyperlinks to a string of well-known individuals. Samuel Pepys watched London burn from its tower (although fortunately the blaze didn’t attain All Hallows), whereas lots of these beheaded on Tower Hill had been delivered to the church, together with Thomas More.
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the USA, was married within the church in 1797, whereas William Penn, founding father of Pennsylvania was baptised within the church.
There are guided excursions in addition to a free audio tour accessible.
Visit a park in a church
There’s been a church of St Dunstan on this website since round 1100, added to by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London earlier than being broken within the Blitz throughout the Second World War.
But whereas the bombing left the church in ruins, it additionally led to some of the exceptional inexperienced areas in the entire of London – and simply some of the uncommon issues to do close to the Tower of London.
Transformed to a public backyard, you may nonetheless see the arched stone home windows of St Dunstan within the East, now with ivy entwined across the stone and moss rising.
At the guts of the church, bushes develop and there are benches set in a circle to calm down amid this busy part of town between the Monument and the Tower of London (though it’s much less of a quiet oasis than it as soon as was on a sunny day).
Enter from Idol Lane or St Dunstan’s Hill, from 8am to 7pm/nightfall (except there’s an occasion going down).
For extra uncommon issues to do in London with youngsters, take a look at my prime picks
See a part of outdated London bridge
The church of St Magnus the Martyr stands on the head of the outdated London Bridge, and is residence to a 4 metre mannequin of the outdated bridge in addition to components of town’s early river crossings.
Built round 900 years in the past, presumably longer, the churchyard can also be residence to a number of historic sections of earlier London Bridges, together with medieval stones, in addition to a timber thought thus far again to 75AD inside an 18th century archway.
Found on Fish Street Hill, some of the essential streets in Roman Londinium, it’s a reminder of simply how lengthy Londoners (and guests!) have been crossing the Thames at this level, when London Bridge was as soon as the bridge downstream of Kingston for hundreds of years till Putney Bridge was in-built 1729.
Cross London Bridge
London Bridge has spanned the Thames because the Romans constructed the primary one in 55BC – over time, it has typically ‘fallen down’ (because the nursery rhyme has it), been destroyed by fireplace and repeatedly rebuilt.
The early pontoon-style bridge was changed by timber bridges then a thirteenth century stone bridge, with retailers and homes constructed alongside the bridge – it was as soon as certainly one of London’s busiest procuring streets.
It even had public bogs, or latrines, at one stage… although it was distinctly dangerous to make use of them at instances, with one set falling into the Thames within the late fifteenth century.
The ‘new’ bridge, changing the medieval crossing in 1831, was later offered and now stands in Lake Havasu City in Arizona.
The present-concrete day bridge, linking the City of London and Southwark, is unquestionably not essentially the most thrilling one – however on the plus aspect, it’s an excellent place to get view again over to Tower Bridge (and a reminder that the 2 usually are not the identical!) and the Shard.
Look out for the dragons as you attain the southern financial institution, marking boundary of the City of London, the place you formally cross from the outdated Liberty of Southwark. Often mistaken for griffins, there are 13 across the metropolis – this pair is a later smaller recreation of the nineteenth century originals close to Temple Gardens.
The London Bridge Experience & London Tombs
Travel again in time to find over 2,000 years of the world’s darkish and grotesque historical past as a part of The London Bridge Experience. The spooky interactive walk-through journey options reside actors taking part in a few of London’s most notorious characters, together with Jack The Ripper, William Wallace, and lots of extra.
Then, for a really terrifying Halloween expertise in London, you may make your approach all the way down to the scare maze that’s the London Tombs. Here you’ll have to squeeze your approach by way of the confined catacombs, making an attempt to flee the zombies, spiders, clowns, bloody butchers, and different creatures of nightmares round each nook.
The London Bridge Experience is for youngsters 4+, whereas the London Tombs is barely appropriate for youngsters 11+ – however be warned, the Tombs have been topped the UK’s scariest attraction for the final 13 years, so the attraction positively isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Visit Leadenhall Market
Who wouldn’t need to step by way of the magical entrance into Diagon Alley? The actual life filming location from Harry Potter shouldn’t be off Charing Cross Road – as an alternative the Victorian coated market within the City of London was used for the road of wizarding retailers within the first film.
For extra Harry Potter places in London, take a look at this put up
You’ll additionally discover pop-up retailers, performances and artwork installations – tentacles had been seen entwining from the ceiling at Halloween – in addition to common family-friendly occasions going down.
And the best way in to The Leaky Cauldron? You want the curved door subsequent to the optician in Bull’s Head Passage… beforehand blue, it’s now been painted white.
For extra concepts of issues to do in London with youngsters, take a look at my prime ideas
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Tower of London/Sky Garden/Terrible Thames/lamppost/dragon statue copyright MummyTravels, all different photos courtesy of Depositphotos