London With Kids: From Platform 9¾ to the Crown Jewels
London was the first stop on our family’s very first international trip — the trip that started the whole six-year adventure. We arrived from Paris by train through the Chunnel, eight people carrying three weeks of luggage in backpacks, pushing a two-year-old and a four-year-old in strollers, exhausted from travel and completely exhilarated.
We walked off the train and went straight to Platform 9¾. If you have children who grew up on Harry Potter, you already understand why. This post is for your family.
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Platform 9¾ — Start Here
At King’s Cross Station there is a luggage trolley embedded halfway into a brick wall, a scarf in Gryffindor colors waiting to be thrown over your shoulder, and a queue of people taking turns running at the wall with expressions of absolute joy on their faces. Our kids took their turns with tremendous energy, working off the restlessness of a long travel day in the most fitting way imaginable.
A few practical notes: the photo trolley sits right beside the official Harry Potter Shop at King’s Cross. There is almost always a line. The staff manage it and take the official photo, and you can buy it along with house scarves, wands, and Hogwarts gear. Be aware this is King’s Cross Station, not the neighboring St Pancras International or the King’s Cross St Pancras Underground stop.
Tip: The photo and the shop are free to visit — you only pay if you want the official printed photo or souvenirs. Bring your own camera and a child in a house scarf and you have the picture either way. For die-hard fans, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour outside the city is a separate, full-day, ticketed experience worth planning ahead for.
The West End — The Part Families Underestimate
Here is the thing most families don’t realize until they’re standing on Shaftesbury Avenue with the theater marquees lit up: world-class theater in London is achievable for a family, and it may be the thing your children remember most.
Our original itinerary had packed days of landmarks followed by quiet evenings at the flat. Then Katie discovered that Hamilton was playing at the Victoria Palace Theatre, roughly two hundred yards from Buckingham Palace, and our evenings changed entirely. There is something genuinely pointed about watching a musical about the founding of the American republic in a theater within shouting distance of the British monarchy. Our children, who already knew every word of every song, were transfixed.
We went back for other shows the next night, and the night after that. Dear Evan Hansen. Les Misérables. We walked home through the West End after every show, singing the songs we had just heard, past the marquees and the late-night crowds and the doormen in their long coats. The older children especially will carry those evenings for the rest of their lives.
Walking through London’s West End in January, cold enough to see your breath, the streets still glittering with Christmas lights, the theaters lit up along Shaftesbury Avenue, is the kind of experience that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a movie.
Making West End shows work for a family: • Book ahead for the show you care most about. Hamilton, The Lion King, and the long-running classics sell out. If there’s one show your family must see, book it before you leave home. • Use the day-of and discount options for the rest. The TKTS booth in Leicester Square sells discounted same-day tickets. Matinées are cheaper than evening shows and easier with younger children. • Check age guidance. Most West End musicals recommend a minimum age (often around 5 or 6). The big musicals are family-friendly; some plays are not. Check before booking. • Sit in the upper tiers to save money. The view from the upper circle is perfectly good in most West End theaters and a fraction of the stalls price — which matters when you’re buying eight seats. |
The Rest of London With Kids
Beyond Platform 9¾ and the theaters, the city delivered on everything a family hopes for. The boys especially loved the Tower of London — the suits of armor, the Crown Jewels behind glass, the tales of kings and knights and executions that make history feel real in a way no textbook manages. Despite the crowds, we lost a child exactly once: Ben, age two, who had slipped away in the Lego Store to build something from the sample bricks, which is frankly the most Ben thing that has ever happened. (We found him quickly, thanks to the AirTags we keep on each of the younger children — a system we recommend without reservation for traveling with little ones in big cities.)
And then there was the London Underground, where we became a genuine spectacle: six of us hauling the front and back of two strollers, children still strapped in, up and down three and four flights of stairs in the deep tube stations, while hundreds of strangers watched. Everyone in the family stepped up and pitched in, because there was no other choice. It was, in the most literal sense, us against the world. It is one of our favorite memories of the entire six years.
One tip we learned the hard way — give yourself a slow first day.
The single best thing we ever did for jet lag was to resist cramming sightseeing into our arrival day. We stayed up until a normal local bedtime, took a little melatonin, and let everyone sleep in until 10am the next morning. A slow breakfast, an easy first day, and the entire rest of the trip happened at full energy. The Tower of London will still be there tomorrow. Your children’s goodwill is the more fragile resource.
London is the most-searched international destination for American families, and for good reason: no language barrier, endless things to do, and a depth of history and culture that rewards every age in the family differently. For a family’s first trip abroad — as it was ours — it is very hard to beat.
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Planning London with your family? Questions about Platform 9¾, West End tickets, or doing the city with young kids? Leave them in the comments — we answer every one.
