When I planned out our London itinerary, I added one big experience to every day of the trip. I took the time to book our tickets in advance and it was so nice to have one less thing to worry about when we arrived for our London adventure. If you don’t want to take the time to plan an itinerary and prefer to be flexible, you might still be able to see these things. However, if you are traveling during peak times (and in London, it seems most months are peak times!) you should be prepared for long lines or potentially sold-out admittance. I think it is smart to plan ahead and book your tickets in advance because: Timed visits sell out very early and are the first to go as soon as they open up. You may have success buying more expensive tickets from third party sellers who snap them up, but if you want to pay face value you’ll want to stalk the site and grab them as soon as you can. By the time I knew this, tickets were already gone during our vacation time frame but none of us were very sad about it. We decided our time in London was too valuable to spend on this excursion, especially since we’ve already been to the World of Harry Potter at Universal. Unfortunately, Buckingham Palace is only open on select dates during the winter and spring. There are also a few windows during the summer. You’ll want to check their dates as you’re planning your London itinerary and be sure to book the tickets in advance of your trip. You can check the schedule and book your tickets here. The price was more than we wanted to spend for our travel budget this time around, so we had to miss it this trip. But my daughter and I are already chatting about a future trip with this experience as the centerpiece of the adventure. You can view the birthplace of Queen Victoria and the King’s State Apartments and Queen’s State Apartments. I enjoyed spotting Queen Charlotte’s only remaining dress which is on display in the museum exhibition downstairs. Kensington is the official London residence of Prince William and his family but their home is in a wing that is not open to tourists. You can book your timed ticket entry here. ITINERARY TIP: Be sure to plan extra time after your tour to walk through Hyde Park, the palace’s “backyard” has large ponds with beautiful swans, the stunning Prince Albert Memorial, and several Princess Diana memorials you don’t want to miss. The highlight of the tour was a visit to the Crown Jewels display where you can view the jaw-dropping headpieces worn by the kings and queens of England throughout the years. This museum-within-a-museum gets very crowded very quickly and they limit entry once it nears capacity. A queue forms outside the entrance within an hour of the Tower of London opening. It is essential to book your timed tickets for the Tower of London for an early morning visit and then head directly to the Crown Jewels display if you want to avoid standing in a long line. You can check the times available and book your Tower of London tickets here. ITINERARY TIP:Plan for a visit to the Tower Bridge after your visit to the Tower of London for excellent photo ops of the family. You can walk across the bridge for free or pay to do the Tower Bridge experience and walk through the museum over the top. There are two distinct parts of the museum: Your path through the museum starts in the war rooms, splits off into the Churchill museum, and then ends back in the second half of the war room tour. There is an unbelievable amount of artifacts and displays to take in, it is almost overwhelming. We stayed about 2 hours for our visit but if you’re seriously into all the bits of history you could easily spend much more. You can check their times and book your tickets here. To see the abbey, you have two choices: Since we were in London for Easter, I planned our Easter church services for the 3 pm service at Westminster Abbey so we could enjoy our visit for free. If you prefer to not visit during services, you can book your visit in advance here. Not all shows play every night and unfortunately for us I just couldn’t make a trip to the theater work for this visit. If you are more flexible with what you see, you could try booking last-minute discount theater tickets by checking the morning of the evening you’d like to go. This is a great option for families that don’t mind which show they see and it is one of my favorite memories from my trip to London with my parents back in the 90’s. We saw a new show every night, often from very whacky seats with slightly blocked views, but we didn’t mind at all. It was such great fun. I booked us tickets for “Sunrise at Sky Garden” which provides a coffee or hot chocolate and a pastry for every member of your party with early access to the gorgeous gardens in the sky. We spent an hour over our simple breakfast and walking around taking in the sights from up high. It was one of our favorite experiences from the trip. You can book your tickets to Sky Garden here.
