5 Days in London Teen Itinerary – History, Harry Potter and Milkshakes

Changing of the Guard
Big Ben London 5 days in London
Big Ben and Parliament in London

Over the past ten years, I’ve visited London generally once a year for work or for a stopover on an award ticket during vacation.  I’ve become comfortable with the city and have my favorites so when my niece asked “can we go to London too?”, I said “yes”.  I said “yes” because we were already on a British Airways award ticket which gave us a free London stopover anyway so it wasn’t much of a stretch to visit the city as I had Starwood points for  a hotel redemption. So keeping in sync with planning a first time visit for a tween to London (taking into account all of the issues I dealt with in the Paris itinerary) here was the leisurely schedule for 5 days in London, the tween edition.

Day 1 –  1/2  Day London 

Arrive St. Pancras mid-day from Paris on the Eurostar train, we would take a classic black cab from the train station to the hotel to check-in, drop bags and go explore the city (code for tween shopping).  We were staying at the Park Lane Sheraton on Piccadilly (across from Buckingham Palace) which was a short walk (15 mins) to the shopping on Oxford Street.  My niece had a set amount of money to shop with in London and having spent the last three days in Paris with no money (after spending it all in one day shopping), she was ready to go crazy!  It only took one store to hit all the marks – TopShop!  We spent about two hours and she was in tween shopping heaven (me, well I was in shopping hell). Luckily, she (I) found great stuff just as she (I) had in Paris. Spending all of her money at once meant I didn’t need to browse/shop again for the rest of the stay (woohoo!).

TopShop Happy Tween London
TopShop is all it takes to make a tween happy in London

We then walked down Oxford Street to Wardour Street (Soho) to pick up London chocolate, red velvet cupakes and have an early dinner at one of my favorite burger shops (sure to please any kid), Byron.  Ordering burgers and fries, my niece went for a milkshake.  Byron doesn’t quite make a small milkshake – they use six (6!!!) scoops of ice cream.  My niece loved it all – shopping and burgers in any language, in any country is generally a home run!

 

Byron Burger London 5 Days in London
Byron Burgers in London make people happy too!

 

Day 2 – Harry Potter Studio Tour

I think I was more excited to visit the actual Warner Bros. sound stages where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.  Needless to say, the Harry Potter Studio tour with Golden Tours  was awesome!  With a few original sets, original props, costumes, etc. it was a fun peek into the vast undertaking of ten years of filming and a love letter to the over 2,000 workers that made the films.  If you are a film fan, like me, you will be in film geek heaven!   After Harry Potter, we went back to Big Ben to walk back to the hotel via St. James’s Park.  Walking through the lovely park, we saw the ducks, squirrels and swans.  My niece had fun watching the animals before we visited Buckingham Palace which was much less crowded at night.

Diagon Alley Harry Potter 5 Days in London
Diagon Alley actual set used in Harry Potter films in London
Duck at St. James Park
Royal resident of the park

Day 3 – London Classic Sightseeing

As we (my niece) were sleeping late and one of us was taking forever (not me) to get ready in the morning, I didn’t plan morning activities outside of Harry Potter.  We would find our late breakfast options, serving until noon, at Jackson + Rye in Soho.

Jackson + Rye Soho breakfast 5 Days in London
A great Soho find for those who like to sleep late

On Day 3, we would walk across the road to Buckingham Palace (ideally for the changing of the guard but we missed it), then to  Horse Guard’s before making our way to The London Eye and Big Ben.  After our fast track London Eye ride, we would take a boat on the Thames to the Tower of London (we did not visit).

Thames view of London Eye 5 Days in London
View of the London Eye from the Thames cruise

From the dock, we walked across Tower Bridge and down South Bank, stopping for lunch at Bill’s Cafe.  After lunch, I tortured my niece by stopping in the Tate Modern to go to the Rothko room (free admission) as we had some time before meeting a friend in The City.  After the modern art stop, we walked across the Millenium Bridge toward St. Paul’s in the city.  Stopping for chocolate at Hotel Chocolat (one of many visits) we then met a friend for drinks atop New Change Mall with a great view of St. Paul’s.  Dinner at Polpo Covent Garden before a few Laudree macarons (we couldn’t leave Paris that far behind yet).

Tower Bridge London 5 Days in London
Tower Bridge London on a fantastic day!

Day 4 – Shoreditch Street Art Tour

I booked Shoreditch Street Art tour as I’ve become such a fan since my Melbourne Street Art and Paris street art tours.  My niece tortured me with the shopping and for the most part, this trip was all about her so I figured I could get one day (out of ten) for what I wanted to do.  What a fantastic three hour tour with the occasional “are we done yet?” queries every 15 mins. You meet the guide at Spitalfield’s Market which is a collection of food vendors, shops and a market. After the tour, we went back to the madness of Oxford Street, stopping at Selfridge’s for couture chocolates and luxury window shopping.

Shoreditch Street Art London 5 Days in London
This street art made my niece smile
Chocolate Shoe Selfridges 5 Days in London
This chocolate shoe made my niece smile even more!

Day 5 – London Transit Museum

The history of the underground and the classic red double deck buses was fascinating at the London Transit Museum.  The museum was set up in an easy to follow path with the added benefit of a ticket to punch at each exhibit – having the interactive features was good for my niece.

London Transit Museum 5 Days in London
The tube history at the London Transit Museum

We then walked to Harrods for food – super touristy but the food hall is fun and we bought lots of chocolates before having lunch and visiting the Ice Cream Parlour.  Wandering through the streets of Knightbridge, we passed galleries, fancy hotels, high end car dealerships and even saw a Chihuly in the park!  The quiet neighborhood was a wonderful contrast to the throngs of people we had seen the past five days.

THE SUN Chihuly Berkeley Square London 5 Days in London
What a surprise on our walk through Berkeley Square – a Chihuly! Aptly named THE SUN

Last Day in London

Our last 1/2 day was marred with rain, the only rain of our entire trip.  We left the hotel early as we had a mission – get cupcakes!  I always bring home cupcakes and chocolate from my London visits.  The last walk on Piccadilly was just as we had started our week in London.  It was early on Saturday morning and we had the street to ourselves walking to Soho.  We would have breakfast at Cote Brasserie before securing the cupcakes at Hummingbird Bakery – mission complete!

Hummingbird Bakery London Red Velvet cupcakes 5 Days in London
My favorite Red Velvet cupcakes in London

London Itinerary for Kids

In talking with other families, they were busy early morning until late exploring the British Museum, Tower of London, taking the Big Red Bus, the Natural History Museum, Madam Tussauds London, etc. which worked for them.  I didn’t want to pack in the activities which is why this is a very leisurely 5 days in London – Tween Edition. So stay tuned for more posts about our tween adventures in London as well as my other London editions – expense account, solo and first time visitor editions.

London tween asleep
This is what shopping and milkshakes in London will do!

 

11 thoughts on “5 Days in London Teen Itinerary – History, Harry Potter and Milkshakes

  1. You win aunt of the year for taking her on that trip. That’s a really ambitious itinerary. I really want to do the Harry Potter tour (yes, I’m proudly waving my geek flag here). The street art tour also seems really interesting. Thanks for sharing!

  2. Great post and great ideas… Just got back to UK after two years of travel away – bringing two Tweens and I think we’ll enjoy some of these great ideas with ours and also with visitors who we have met around the world! Thanks!

  3. Such good ideas. I’ve been researching London for days, and this is the first mention I’ve seen of the Harry Potter studios. Very helpful! Thanks for sharing.

      1. Just got home! We are so grateful for you. Loved, loved, loved Harry Potter Studios, Byrons Burgers, plus Shake Shack and Laudrees in Covent Gardens. You’re a girl after my own heart. Thank you!!!

        1. Gina, So happy you had a good visit to London and the Harry Potter Studios (such a highlight!). I may have just missed you as I was in London last week too – I visited Covent Gardens to see the holiday decor and pick up a few macarons!

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