10 (Mostly) Free Things We Enjoyed in London

A few days into the European leg of our trip, Zaf suggested we make a detour to London to see the resting place of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Since Switzerland was crazy expensive and was our stop after Paris, I quickly cancelled our reservations there and made some in London instead. It was surprisingly only a 3 hour train ride to get there... what took the longer time was going through security and passport stations which we don't have to do in the rest of Europe.

When we saw the exchange rate between the Australian dollar and the British pound, we almost regretted our decision to go there instead of Switzerland LOL. But luckily there are a lot of fun, free things to do with kids. Here were a few of my favourite:

There are so many museums that are free, you may just need to reserve tickets online in order to make sure there’s enough space for you on the day. We decided to go to the Museum of London because we were trying to learn about the history of the city… and on that day they offered a free story walk as well as other fun activities in the museum. Cora wrote about those in her post.

I felt like it was a “must do” to see the changing of the guard and I’m glad we went, not only to see the ceremony but to hear the music and get a look at Buckingham Palace. It was super crowded so we didn't have a great view (even despite our best efforts to arrive there early to secure a good spot) but the soldiers walk along the road as well so it was still worth going.

Platform 9 and 3/4 (famous as the place Harry Potter went to take the train) is free at King’s Cross station. You just have to wait in line to get a photo. There’s even a photographer there if you want to purchase a photo but we were happy with our own. 

  

Kensington Gardens weren’t on my original list to do, but I’m so glad we had a chance to go because they were absolutely gorgeous! There are so many flowers at this time of year and lots of beautiful statues as well. We loved seeing the Princess Diana memorial fountain and her new statue especially.

 

It isn’t free to take the underground metro, of course, but if you have to get somewhere, you may as well enjoy the stops. It was fun seeing famous places like Paddington station (Paddington Bear) and Bakers Street (Sherlock Holmes). There are many statues in the stations, as well, but the kids didn't really care to see those so we didn't waste time looking for them.

And who doesn’t want to go on a red double decker bus when in London? It offered a great view of the city which we didn't get when taking the underground.

It sometime takes a little bit of extra time to find a restaurant with the particular meals we want to try but I always feel it’s worthwhile so the kids can try the famous dishes from the place we are visiting. Since we have to pay to eat anyway, may as well make it an cultural experience! Above is fish and chips with mushy peas. 

I was surprised how many candy stores there were in London! It was fun to browse and please learn from my mistake and ask how much an item is before you buy it… otherwise you may pay almost $13 for a very average milk chocolate bar with a special wrapping. Yikes!

The toy stores in London have a big reputation and so we decided to visit Hamley’s, the oldest toy store in the world. It was an outing of its own… with 6 floors, several demonstrations on every floor, lots of photo ops, and its own cafe. We didn’t buy anything but it was fun enough just going in to look. 

 

You can spot Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre from the bridge (or if you take a cruise on the river Thames) but we did actually decide to pay to go inside. I booked a family tour which I was really grateful for because the guide made it interesting for the kids and they enjoyed being with other children on the tour, as well. This was the only place we booked to go inside during our time in London, otherwise we just enjoyed the outside views.

Speaking of which, there are so many other iconic spots you can see for free from the outside, including Big Ben (which is actually the bell inside the tower), London Bridge, and the Tower of London. If we had more time, we may have wanted to go inside and learn more but since we only had a few days, it was enough to see them from the outside. 

Overall I think we made the most of our time there and I'm glad we decided to go, in the end!