8-hour layover in London...

[Kate in Arabia]

DD and I will be traveling back to the UAE in a couple of weeks and will have 8 hours to spend in the London airport 🙄.  We've been to and through London several times and have seen the major sites already, some more than once.  I thought I would put out a request here for suggestions; given the time getting into/out of the airport, I'd guesstimate we'd have about 2-3 hours to mill around somewhere.  As I've said we've seen the major things -- Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Windsor... and my dd (14 yrs) is not much into shopping or high teas, etc. (we've had friends suggest those). It'll just be the two of us which is unusual, so it'd be great if I could figure out something neat for us to get into..

Any ideas?

[vonfirmath]

Does she have any particular interests you could pursue? A particular show you could try to find a location related to. A particular hobby you could look into. DOes she like to read? I hear it has great book shops to browse

 

[Laura Corin]

Which airport?

[Lawyer&Mom]

Lunch at the National Gallery.  Great view, maybe see a painting or two on your way in and out.  I think they take reservations.  

If it’s a beautiful day, I would have lunch in Kensington Park.  You can buy every thing you need from the Marks and Spencer’s food hall on Kensington High Street.

[Kate in Arabia]

We're traveling through Heathrow (sorry I didn't mention before). She's interested in Harry Potter, she looked into what was available for that but nothing seemed to suit her... she likes street/urban art, fantasy/sci-fi, zombies/horror genres, etc.  She mentioned a crypt scary-tour type thing, but honestly I don't know if my nerves can take that 😄. Our layover is in the afternoon-evening (abt 1 - 9pm)

[BeachGal]

You could eat at Cafe in the Crypt. You'd want to check hours. They have an area where you can do brass rubbings, too. The food is very good.

https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/visit/cafe-in-the-crypt/

Maybe a walk around Camden Market? But I'm not sure about how you'd get there.

There might be something here she would like:

https://www.mookychick.co.uk/how-to/indie-travel/unusual-things-to-do-in-london-if-you-love-the-gothic-occult-and-macabre.php

[Laura Corin]

Windsor castle? It looks like about fifteen minutes by taxi?

[Kate in Arabia]

15 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Windsor castle? It looks like about fifteen minutes by taxi?

..already been.  We "did" Windsor castle last year during a layover, had a lovely boat ride, ate some fish and chips, it was great! 😉

[Kate in Arabia]

23 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

You could eat at Cafe in the Crypt. You'd want to check hours. They have an area where you can do brass rubbings, too. The food is very good.

https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/visit/cafe-in-the-crypt/

Maybe a walk around Camden Market? But I'm not sure about how you'd get there.

There might be something here she would like:

https://www.mookychick.co.uk/how-to/indie-travel/unusual-things-to-do-in-london-if-you-love-the-gothic-occult-and-macabre.php

 

Thanks, I will forward these on to her and see if something will strike her fancy..

[sweet2ndchance]

Has she been to Platform 9 3/4 in King's Cross Station? It isn't really a whole afternoon kind of thing to go see it and take a picture of her pushing the trolley through the wall but it could be a fun thing to stop and do if you pass through the area while you are in London if you have a Harry Potter fan. I have a picture of me and the older kids from when we went to England years ago.

Another neat thing we saw was Paddington Station and all the Paddington Bear related vendors and souvenirs. My kids were younger when we went so it was more exciting for them but if she has any nostalgia for Paddington Bear that could be a quick last stop on the train on the way back to Heathrow.

We also wandered into The Clink Prison museum by chance one of the days we were wandering around London. Definitely a bit of macabre for your daughter without being too scary. My kids were all under the age of 7 when we went and they thought the museum was a hoot lol. There are some things you can try on and mess around with in one of the rooms and my kids decided to "try on" an all metal chastity belt lol. They thought it was a hat. *facepalm* 

[FriedClams]

Harry Potter studio tour!! It's awesome!! And, I think isn't that far from Heathrow. You do have to book tickets WELL in advance.

[Stacia]

We were just in London last month.

You could book a graffiti/street art tour. We wanted to do one but didn't get around to it. We stayed in the Shoreditch/Hoxton area & there was a ton of great street art there. For example, you can find some tours like that through airbnb.

 

 

Another very cool thing we did was the cable car over near Greenwich. We went at dusk & the view was spectacular. It was very nice. (It may be far from the airport, though. Not sure.) We did a round-trip on it (so just stayed on instead of disembarking once we went over the river) & it was about 25 minutes total.

A view from the cable car as the sun was setting:

I would *not* recommend the ghost bus. The idea seemed neat & fit well since we had someone in our group who had severe jet-lag (so this was an easy thing, riding, not walking), but it was "meh" at best. 

Here are a few walking tours that might work for you. Another idea on the list (which I wanted to do but we just didn't get around to) was to meet with a London greeter. You could contact them, tell them things you've already seen & ask them for recommendations or info on something neat to do during your layover.

Have fun!