If you find yourself with only one day in London or are just on a layover in London, you’ll probably wonder what are the best things to see in London in one day.  We recently visited England and found ourselves asking just that.  With only 24 hours in London before heading off to visit family in Peterborough, we planned out this one day itinerary.  It turned out to be the perfect London itinerary as first-time visitors traveling with a child!  Check it out below, especially if you are visiting London in December with kids!

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Itinerary for One Day in London with Kids

How to Get From Heathrow to London

There are a number of ways to get from Heathrow Airport to Central London.  If you only have one day in London then obviously time is going to be a big deciding factor, and you may want to take the quickest option.  However, you’ll also want to consider ease of getting to where you’re going based on how much luggage you have with you, how many transfers you need to make and how far you’ll need to walk.

Quickest: The Heathrow Express

The Heathrow Express Train takes you directly from Heathrow Airport to London Paddington Station in only 15 minutes.  Trains conveniently run every 15 minutes and are non-stop.  There is lots of room for luggage on board and the train even has free 4G wi-fi available.

Cost: A single ticket costs £25, or £37 return. However, if you purchase a ticket at least 90 days in advance, it is only £5.50!  Advance tickets can only be used on the day they are purchased for.  If you are able to plan in advance, this is a great deal!

Children 15 years old and under ride free.

Cheapest: London Underground aka The Tube

The Tube is your cheapest option for getting from Heathrow to London, on the Piccadilly line, starting from as low as £1.90! Trains run every 10 minutes and will get you to Central London in under an hour.

The cheapest and easiest way to pay for The Tube is to use a contactless credit card.  No need to purchase an Oyster Card.  We loved being able to just tap our credit card, rather than having to line up and purchase a ticket from the machines.  It saved us time AND money.  Just remember to tap the SAME credit card on the way out, otherwise you will get overcharged.  You also need to use a different credit card for each person.

Cost: Depends on how far you are traveling, if it is during peak or off-peak times, and method of payment.  Fares are between £1.90 and £6.30.  £1.90 if you pay with a contactless card during off-peak times and get off no further than Earl’s Court.

If you purchase a ticket at the station, it will be £6.30 regardless of distance or time of day.

Kids 10 and under travel free!

You can calculate the exact fare for your journey on the TFL website.

Alternative: The TFL Train

This is option is sort of a compromise between the Heathrow Express and The Tube.  The TFL Train runs the same route as Heathrow Express, going from Heathrow to Paddington Station.  However, it takes longer, but costs less!

The TFL Train makes five stops before arriving at Paddington Station, therefore taking 15 minutes longer than Heathrow Express.  It also only runs every 30 minutes, rather than every 15 minutes.

Cost: £11.60

Other Options

• Taxi/Black Cab
• National Express Bus
• Uber
• Private car

The above are all road-based options, which are inevitably going to take the longest due to traffic.  They will also be more expensive.  With only one day in London, we do not suggest taking any of the above, unless you have loads of luggage or mobility issues.

Things to consider when choosing transportation from Heathrow to London

Taking The Tube requires a lot of walking, stairs and escalators.  Not all stations have lifts (elevators).  If you are visiting London with kids, The Tube can be challenging with strollers if you are at a station without a lift.  Even stations with a lift often have long lines to use them and add a lot of extra travel time.  You need to take this into account when planning your itinerary for one day in London.  Use this very handy Tube map to determine which stations are step-free and also walking times between stations.

Rush hour times are important to plan around.  Between 5:45-8:15am and 4:00-5:30pm Monday to Friday, the Tube gets very packed!  When visiting London with kids, a packed train is not the best experience.  Our daughter fell asleep in the stroller, and trying to ride The Tube with her in it during rush hour was very difficult with people climbing over her and squished up against us.

If you choose to take the Heathrow Express for its speed and convenience, make sure to still consider how far from Paddington Station you need to travel.  It might actually work out faster to just take The Tube from Heathrow.

Where to Stay for One Day in London

With only one day in London, choosing the right neighborhood to stay in is very important!  You’ll want to be somewhere close to an Underground Station to easily be able to get around or somewhere that’s walking distance to most of the attractions you’d like to see.

We found that the Kensington area was the perfect place to stay with our daughter for our one day London itinerary.  It was close to most of the London highlights that we had put on our itinerary.  With only one day in London with kids, we highly suggest staying in the Kensington or Mayfair area!  It was super easy to get to from Heathrow using The Tube and the area was very walkable and safe, not to mention beautiful!

High-end option: London Hilton on Park Lane

This 5-star hotel is conveniently located right across from Hyde Park, near Winter Wonderland, with many other popular attractions within walking distance.  It is also walking distance to the Hyde Park Corner Underground Station.

We did not stay at this hotel ourselves, but we enjoyed an afternoon tea there.  The hotel is beautiful and the service was excellent.

Mid-range option: Residence Inn London Kensington

This 4-star hotel is a short walk away from Earl’s Court Underground Station, making it convenient to get to from Heathrow Airport.  It only cost us £1.90 to get to and did not require any transfers.  Earl’s Court Underground Station has lifts, making it an ideal station when traveling with kids and/or luggage.

Rooms are on the smaller side but they all come with a full kitchen!  Additionally, free breakfast is included at this hotel and the breakfast spread is terrific!  If you are visiting London with kids, they will be sure to find something they like to eat at the large breakfast buffet here.  Our daughter fully enjoyed it.

This hotel made an excellent base for our one day in London and we were able to walk to most of the attractions on our itinerary.

Budget-friendly option: Premier Inn London Kensington Earl’s Court

This 3-star hotel is located close to the Earl’s Court Underground Station making it easy to get to from Heathrow and then walk to other Kensington and Mayfair attractions.

Rooms are basic, but modern, clean and comfortable.  We did not stay at this particular location, but we did stay at a Premier Inn elsewhere in the UK and had a great experience.  It is indeed a great value hotel.

What to See in One Day in London

London is a huge city with so much to do that you could spend weeks trying to see everything!  Obviously you are not going to be able to see everything with only one day in London.  We suggest making a list of all the places you want to see and then using Google Maps to pinpoint them on the map.  This way you can see where your clusters of attractions are located and choose one or two areas to concentrate your one day visit.

For us as first-time visitors to London traveling with a child, the two areas we concentrated on were Kensington and Mayfair.  Just staying within these two areas allowed us to visit many of the iconic places on our bucketlist in only one day in London!

Things to consider when deciding what to see in London in one day with with kids

Many museums are free!

London has no shortage of museums, and better yet, many of them are free!  All National museums are free of charge for permanent collections (some may charge a fee for temporary exhibits).  Even with only one day in London with kids, visiting a museum can be a great free activity, especially if it’s raining outside.

Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather

During our one day in London, we found ourselves walking A LOT.  And by a lot, I mean my step counter told me I walked a total of 22km in one day!  When trying to see as much as possible in one day, you’ll probably find yourself walking almost as much so it’s important to wear comfortable walking shoes.

I wore my Adidas Stan Smiths and they were excellent.  My feet often get tired, but they did not get tired in these shoes.  Since they are leather, they held up well in the rain too.  Ryan wore his Cole Haan Original Grand Shortwing Oxford Shoe which he loves because they look more dressy but have a Nike sole so are super comfy for walking!

Also, if you are visiting London in winter, be sure to dress for the damp cold.  We live in Victoria, Canada so we know damp cold.  However, we still felt very cold in London because we were out walking about for hours and hours.  Make sure to wear a warm hat, warm gloves, warm socks, scarf and waterproof jacket.

Bring a stroller

When visiting London with kids, consider using a stroller.  Even though our 3 year old daughter never uses a stroller at home, we were super happy to have it with us on our trip.  We did so much walking on our one day in London, our daughter was just so tired and ended up sleeping in the stroller.  Not to mention, having the stroller allowed us to get around quicker as kids are not always the quickest walkers 🙂

One Day in London Itinerary

We spent a total of one day and one night in London, arriving at Heathrow at noon and departing London on the train the next afternoon.  Below is the exact itinerary we followed for our one day in London in December.  You can rearrange the times depending on your schedule, but this should give you an idea of what is possible to see all in one day in London.

2:00pm – Check into Residence Inn London Kensington

We took the Tube from Heathrow Airport, got off at Earl’s Court Underground Station, and walked less than 10 minutes to get to our hotel.  After checking in, dropping off our luggage and freshening up, we were off to explore Kensington!

3:00pm – Kensington High Street

We began with a leisurely walk through picturesque Kensington, then made our way down the bustling shopping street, Kensington High Street.

4:30pm – Kensington Palace

We eventually made it to Kensington Palace just as the sun was starting to go down.  Even though the palace was closed, it was still fun to take pictures outside.

If we had made it there earlier, we would have checked out the fantastic Diana Memorial Playground on the other side of the palace!  It is a great place to visit in London with kids and we highly suggest making a stop there.

5:00pm – Hyde Park

We continued on with a walk through Hyde Park.  We were amazed that a city as busy and crowded as London has such a beautiful, massive green park right in the city!

Even though the sun had gone down, there were still many people walking about with their kids and dogs.  It is a lovely place to stroll.

6:00pm – Winter Wonderland

Since we were visiting London in December with our 3 year old, we obviously had to make a visit to Winter Wonderland!  Located right in Hyde Park, this massive festive wonderland is a must-do if you are visiting between mid-November to January 2nd.

Our daughter loved meeting Santa, seeing all the lights and enjoying plenty of food and treats.  There were so many food options available – we enjoyed our dinner there!

Note: If you aren’t visiting London during winter, I would suggest rearranging this itinerary and replacing the Winter Wonderland visit with a visit to one of the free museums instead!  The Natural History Museum is a great choice with kids and works perfectly with this Kensington itinerary.  The Victoria and Albert Museum is right next door as well in case you want to hit up both museums.

8:00pm – Harrods

This iconic department store is not far from Hyde Park so we decided it was worth checking out considering all the hype.  We were not there to shop the designer goods – it was the food halls we were interested in checking out!

We ended up buying some yummy treats in the bakery section, and admiring the pretty window displays and lights outside.

If you are able to visit earlier in the day, you could book yourself in for an afternoon tea.

Next Day:

8:00am – Free Breakfast at Hotel

To save time and money, we enjoyed the complimentary breakfast at the Residence Inn where we stayed the night.  The breakfast spread was quite varied and we really enjoyed it!

10:30am – Buckingham Palace

After breakfast, we walked over to Earl’s Court Underground Station, took the Tube to Green Park Station and walked over to Buckingham Palace.  We arrived at 10:30am so that we could get a good spot to view the Changing of the Guards Ceremony.

Note: The Changing of the Guards does not happen every day.  Make sure to check the schedule ahead of time to see if the ceremony will be happening on the day you plan to go.

Tip: We waited on The Mall by Marlborough Road instead of standing in the crowds in front of the palace gates.  This allowed us to see the guards up close, marching right past us with nothing obscuring our view!  The area was not crowded at all – we definitely recommend it.

After the guards marched passed, we followed them up to the palace and joined the crowds standing by Canada Gate.  By this time it was very packed by the palace gates.

Our daughter was quite amused and excited to see something she had read about in her books!  We had bought her this kid’s book about London prior to our trip to get her excited for it 🙂

12:00pm – Hamleys

After Buckingham Palace, we walked over to the famous Hamleys toy store.  Get ready for this massive seven floor store – your kids will love it!  We let our daughter choose a toy and she of course went with the classic double decker London bus and Black Cab.

1:30pm – Afternoon Tea

After the excitement of the toy store, we walked over to the Hilton on Park Lane for a fabulous afternoon tea!  We chose this location because they offer a lovely Teddy Bears’ Picnic Children’s Afternoon Tea.  Our daughter absolutely loved it, especially the new stuffed toy that came with her tea!

After our tea, we went back to the hotel to gather our bags and head to the train station to get to our next destination.  This concluded our one day in London and we were satisfied with everything we were able to accomplish in just over 24 hours!

Map of This One Day in London Itinerary

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