Trafalgar Square / Bloomsbury
The National Gallery · Photo: Diego Delso
Indoor almost all day: the National Gallery's family spaces in the morning, a warm lunch beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields, a browse among toy theatres in Covent Garden's covered market, and the moving story of London's first home for abandoned children in the afternoon.
Museum · 10:00–12:00 (2h)
Free. Use the Roden Centre welcome space and drop-ins; buggy park on site.
An indoor museum in London, aimed at ages 4 and up.
Photo: Diego Delso
Food stop · 12:00–13:00 (1h)
Self-service lunch with plenty of tables and baby changing.
A self-service cafe in the brick-vaulted crypt beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields church on Trafalgar Square, with old tombstones set into the floor. It has plenty of tables, buggy-friendly toilets and baby changing, which is rare this close to the National Gallery.
Illustrative photo: Ayodele Adeniyi on Unsplash
13:10–13:40 (30m)
Upstairs in the Covent Garden market building: paper theatres and wind-up toys.
An old-fashioned toyshop upstairs in the Covent Garden Market building, known for its paper toy theatres and traditional wind-up and pocket-money toys. A fun ten-minute browse that pairs with the street performers in the piazza.
Museum · 14:00–15:30 (1h30m)
Small museum with lift access and baby changing; no cafe. Coram's Fields is 2 minutes away if the rain stops.
A small museum telling the story of the Foundling Hospital, London's first home for abandoned children, through objects, art and the tokens left by mothers. Under-21s go free, there is lift access for buggies and baby changing on the ground floor. There's no cafe, but picnics can go to Brunswick Square opposite.
Photo: Alan Stanton
LondonSouth Kensington
Dinosaurs in the morning, a garden picnic at lunchtime and hands-on science in the afternoon, all within a five-minute walk of each other and all free to enter. Because everything is indoors except the V&A garden, it holds up in any weather.
The Natural History Museum → Victoria and Albert Museum → Science Museum
LondonGreenwich
Walk beneath the copper hull of a Victorian tea clipper, graze the street-food stalls at the covered market, peek up the spiral stairs of the Queen's House and finish by climbing Greenwich Park for the view across to Canary Wharf. Everything is in one compact riverside town centre.
Cutty Sark Clipper Ship → Greenwich Market → Queen's House → Greenwich Park
LondonGreenwich / Canary Wharf
A morning on the slopes of Greenwich Park and lunch at the market, then a hop across the Thames to Canary Wharf for the free London Museum Docklands and its Mudlarks play gallery. Ends with a short wander in the covered roof garden above the Elizabeth line station.
Greenwich Park → Greenwich Market → Uber Boat by Thames Clipper → Museum of London Docklands + 1 more
