Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1
- King’s Cross
- St. Pancras Hotel
- Leicester Square
- Trafalgar Square
- Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
- Tower of London
- Tower Bridge
I want to start by stating that this was a spur-of-the-moment standby trip with the goal of seeing the (free) highlights at a pretty relaxed pace. This trip report doesn’t have as many helpful tips since I didn’t do any research, but I included a few things I learned at the bottom and hope you enjoy the write-up and pictures anyway.
Speaking of unplanned: we landed in London, connected to Heathrow’s free wifi, and learned the place we tried to book just before leaving the US wasn’t going to work out. Second international trip in a row where I didn’t have lodging booked upon arrival – “Way to go, dad.”
We quickly booked a room at the Pullman Hotel and foolishly bought tickets on the Heathrow Express. I should have known better. In my defense, we were on about 2 hours of sleep, had to switch plans in a hurry, and fell for the buzz words, “Kids are free” and “Fastest way to London.” So, we overpaid to get from Heathrow to Paddington Station, where nothing actually is and you have to transfer to the Tube anyway. Then took the Tube from Paddington to King’s Cross and walked to our hotel. There is a Tube stop for King’s Cross and there’s also a railway station, so it’s a pretty convenient area to stay in.
Right by King’s Cross is the St. Pancras Hotel, which I thought was one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. We marveled at it each time we walked by and had a nice view of it from our room, too.
We dropped our bags and went to the rail station to check out the Platform 9 3/4 spot from Harry Potter. There’s half a shopping cart that looks like it’s going through a brick wall that gives a neat photo opportunity. There was a very long line to get your photo taken, however, and the kids weren’t wanting to wait (thank you, kids). We went into the adjacent Harry Potter gift shop then got on the Tube to Leicester Square.
It was pouring rain but we only had 2 days so we had to make the most of our time. We walked through Chinatown (nothing really to write about) on our way to the square, which is the entertainment center of the city. There are also statues of characters and historical figures around Leicester Square, so we had to stop by the Harry Potter statue.
The M&M store and Lego store are 2 popular stops in the square, also. They weren’t open yet but we saw the gigantic Big Ben Lego set through the window, which was neat. Walked to Trafalgar Square and the rain started to pick up even more, unfortunately. We ducked into a few shops around the square then got back on the Tube. I wish we could have spent more time in Trafalgar Square and walked to Big Ben, but it was quite cold and rainy so we sought out shelter multiple times throughout the weekend.
We took the Tube to the South Kensington stop, which is close to the free Natural History Museum. Not surprisingly, all of London plus the surrounding cities had the same plan as us and the line was hours long. You can pre-book entry times in advance, which is highly recommended, but we didn’t have that luxury. Scrapped the museum idea since you have to wait in the rain and grabbed some lunch. Back on the Tube for another ride, this time to the Westminster station.
Big Ben is right across the street from that station, so climbing the steps and popping out on street level with this giant monument greeting us was an awesome experience. Thankfully, the rain had stopped and we got to thoroughly enjoy the area. We walked across the Westminster Bridge for the views looking back across the water.
The London Eye is right there but that’s a very expensive ferris wheel ride that we knew we weren’t going to do. We took some pictures and enjoyed the views for a bit with no rain. Then we returned back across the bridge past Big Ben and ambled around Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. The Palace of Westminster is the long building attached to Big Ben and is right across the street from Westminster Abbey. This was my favorite area of London as the architecture is stunning.
The time had come to check into our room so we took the Tube yet again back to King’s Cross and warmed up with showers and dry clothes. We made reservations at Cento Alla Torre and took the Tube to the Tower Hill station, which is close to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Had enough time before dinner to walk around both of them, then had a great meal and called it a night. We didn’t have concrete plans for the next day but were considering trips to Canterbury, Stonehenge, or checking out more of London.
Tower Bridge is on my Top Ten Bridges in the World list – check out the rest here!
Day 2
- The Outernet
- Piccadilly Circus
- Buckingham Palace
- Harrod’s
- Millennium Bridge
- St. Paul’s Cathedral
We did not set an alarm because we were all very tired. It was a good thing we didn’t. We all set personal records for sleep with the adults going 14 hours straight and the kids 15+ hours. So, more of London was the day’s plan chosen for us. It was still chilly but the weather was pleasant so we walked to breakfast. After a great meal at Sandwich Street Kitchen, made our way to Charing Cross Road with the intention of walking it to Leicester Square and going in the Lego Store. We stopped at the Outernet London, which is an open-air, free “experience” that happened to be on the way. What a cool stop – we watched several of the the videos that are displayed all around and above you. Awesome surprise discovery.
Speaking of surprise discoveries, we also happened to walk by the building where the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is performed. Who knows what else we might have seen if we planned things out!
There was a crazy long line for the Lego Store. At 1 pm on a Monday afternoon in February. Neat. So, we skipped that and kept walking to Piccadilly Circus. There isn’t really much to see there and the rain had started, so we kept right on walking down The Mall, the long tree-lined street that leads to Buckingham Palace. As if on cue, the rain really picked up right when we got to Buckingham Palace.
We didn’t get to see any of the guards as we needed to find shelter quickly. Eventually made our way to the Tube and took it to the Knightsbridge stop to go into the gigantic, expensive Harrods store. Great way to wait out the rain indoors. Eventually got back on the Tube and went to the Blackfriars stop. This is the closest one to the Millennium Bridge, which is pedestrian-only and featured in one of the Harry Potter films. If the rain held off, I thought a nice ending to our trip would be to walk across Millennium Bridge then over to Tower Bridge again and walk across it, too.
Two things made us switch plans: the Millennium bridge has a stunning straight-on view towards St. Paul’s Cathedral and the sound the wet metal bridge made when our kids’ feet zoomed across it. They wanted to play on the bridge and go back over it again so we did that instead. Seeing and hearing them love that experience, with the looming cathedral in the background, is my favorite memory of the trip. At times, it’s the simplest, unplanned things that stick out the most.
We have a mission to have a kebab whenever we’re in Europe, but the closest one we could find was more than a mile away. The rain was still holding off though, so we walked past the cathedral, got our doner kebabs, and kept walking all the way back to our hotel. Flew home the next morning.
Final thoughts
I’ll be honest – I’m not a big fan of London. I didn’t really want to go there because even though it is Europe, it doesn’t give me as much of the “This feels quite different from my life” experience that I love so much about traveling. I had been there once before and felt I never needed to return. It’s also incredibly expensive and isn’t known for its food, which is another thing I love about European countries. Plus, we knew it was going to be cold and rainy. So, why did we go? Because of the beauty and the curse of having standby privileges. We had a long weekend set aside and there were (the best) open seats to and from London. So that’s where we went.
And we had a great time despite all the less-than-ideal circumstances and my expectations. The “We’ll just do what we can do” approach actually made it more enjoyable. There was no pressure to see or do anything and we had some great surprises over the weekend. Some of the kids’ favorite moments:
Tips for London
- I’d recommend taking the Tube into the city from Heathrow airport, even though it will likely take longer. It’s so much cheaper and kids under 11 are free on the Tube, too.
- There are lots of free museums in London that offer free timed entry slots if you can plan in advance.
- There are also absurdly expensive attractions in London like the London Eye, Tower of London, and Churchill War Rooms. I don’t want to imagine how much a family vacation could end up costing.
- Harry Potter fans would probably love the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. However, it’s very expensive (surprise), you usually have to get your tickets quite far in advance, and it’s outside of the city with no good public transportation option. Tickets actually opened up day-of (they were completely sold out) for the last tour on our first night. We gave the kids the option if they wanted to go. It meant we would have had to stay up very late and they both declined.
Traveled in February 2026
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