Regent's Park
This sweeping Royal Park is packed with formal rose gardens, boating lakes, and excellent playgrounds. Our favourite itinerary is to start at the Marylebone Gate Entrance and hit the Gloucester Gate Playground first (featuring a v long zip wire, massive climbing frames, and inclusive water-play features). Then head south toward the Boating Lake to rent a pedal boat or rowing boat if you fancy, stop for coffee and sourdough pastries or ice cream at the Boating Lake Café, take a short detour across York Bridge Road to find the Community Wildlife Garden, featuring a peaceful pond, natural balance logs, and wild meadow planting, then finish up at the Hanover Gate Playground to conquer the huge wooden treehouse structure and giant sandpits.
Times change seasonally — always check before you set off.
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Wellcome Collection
A quirky museum exploring medicine, health and human life through bizarre historical objects, art and a wonderfully comfy Reading Room.
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WeJam - The Family Rockband Experience
Head down the stairs beneath Camden Guitars into a real recording studio for what might be one of the coolest family music bonding experiences in London. You do not need a single ounce of musical talent: smart tech and color-coded instruments mean even total beginners can pick up real electric guitars, bass, drums, and keys instantly. A live session musician guides your family as you jam along to bangers by Queen, Billie Eilish, or Harry Styles, with software dynamically adjusting difficulty levels for each player. At the end, you walk away with professionally mixed audio tracks of your actual performance to brag about ... forever. Or at least make people listen to!
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Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
Britain's only permanent open-air theatre sits right in the middle of Regent's Park, staging a summer season of musicals, Shakespeare and family shows beneath the sky (bring a coat or sunscreen depending on the day - performances go ahead rain or shine). Family-friendly productions and a dedicated Family Takeover Day feature among the summer's line-up alongside bigger name shows, and you can bring a picnic to eat on the lawn or in Queen Mary's Gardens beforehand. Leave plenty of time to find the thearte - it's a walk from the nearest tube through the park with limited signposting.
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Richmond Park & Isabella Plantation
London's largest Royal Park, famous for wild red and fallow deer, ancient woodland and the streams inside the Isabella Plantation. Plenty of pockets to explore, and easy to combine with Richmond town centre for food or shopping.
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Go Ape Alexandra Palace
Finnegan's World Website: finnegansworld.co.uk Nearest Tube: West Ealing (Elizabeth Line) / Ealing Broadway (Central, District, Elizabeth Lines) Location: 41 Broadway, West Ealing, London (W13 9DD) Price: £8 per child, £1.50 per accompanying adult. Open weekends only (10am to 5pm). Blurb: Set inside a converted former bank on West Ealing Broadway, this lovely, independent soft play café is designed for babies, toddlers, and young children. The venue focuses on imaginative play with miniature shop setups, soft climbing ramps, and sensory toys - it’s far more than the usual blocks and slides. Parents can sit back with decent coffee and a slice of cake while keeping a direct line of sight on their kids.
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Chelsea Physic Garden
Chelsea Physic Garden is a hidden-in-plain-sight pocket of calm beside the Thames, packed with unusual plants, glasshouses and small discoveries for children to spot. It feels more manageable than a huge park and makes a change from the usual museum circuit. It's London's oldest botanic garden, filled with 5,000+ species of medicinal, edible, and useful plants. It's enclosed so you don't need to stress about runaways, and often runs family activity trails, pond dipping, and drop-in craft events during holidays. Don't miss the really EXCELLENT cafe for lunch!
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