THE TOWER OF LONDON WITH LITTLE KIDS – TOP TIPS

AN ICONIC LONDON LANDMARK – LONDON CITY GIDE

The Tower of London is one of London’s most iconic landmarks and is likely to be on your London bucket list. Should you still visit The Tower of London with little kids? Absolutely! We had an incredible family day out here.

Here are all our tips for enjoying this stunning building as a family. For reference, our boys were aged 4 and a half and 15 months at the time of our visit.

GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

GETTING THERE

The closest train station is London Bridge. It’s just a 15-minute walk, and I love this walk, across Tower Bridge. If you are coming by tube, the closest stop is Tower Hill. Both of these are accessible stations.

ENTRY

Unfortunately, The Tower of London is not the cheapest, but I feel like it’s worth the expense. Adults are £34.80, children are £17.40 with under 4’s going free. This is one benefit of going with little kids!

I’d recommend buying tickets in advance as popular times do sell out. I recommend buying tickets through a company such as Get Your Guide or Viator as there is no additional cost and they offer a free cancellation policy. If you’re coming to London and planning to do multiple activities, it may be worth you buying a City Pass. They offer multiple, customizable passes which will save you money. Tip: Sign up for their mailing list for an additional discount!

ACCESSIBILITY

You can take pushchairs (strollers) into The Tower of London. Some of the exhibitions are not accessible. There is pushchair parking available. We used the one under the steps of The White Tower as it’s more tucked out of the way than the others.

If you have a pre/ early walker, it is probably worth bringing a carrier. I didn’t and wished I had!

EATING

There are cafes located inside the walls or you can bring in your own food and drinks. There are also multiple places in the surrounding area. We went to the Brewdog Pub just a few minutes away.

As always, make sure to take plenty of snacks for the kids!

TIPS FOR VISITING THE TOWER OF LONDON WITH LITTLE KIDS

Here are our best tips on how to enjoy your visit to The Tower of London with little kids:

1. ARRIVE EARLY

I’d recommend booking your tickets in advance and going for the earliest slot available. It was much larger than we expected (even though we’ve passed it so many times!) You’ll probably want at least 3 hours here. More if you stop for coffee/ lunch. It also gets busier as the day goes on.

2. PICK UP A FREE MAP

Our 4-year-old loves getting a map. Pick one up as you enter, it has all the useful info such as pushchair parking, baby changing toilets etc.

3. VISIT THE CROWN JEWELS FIRST

This is the most popular exhibit and the line gets long! We went in the afternoon and although the sign said 25-minute wait, it was only about 15. Inside, it was quite crowded. If possible, you should beat the rush.

The Crown Jewels is a beautiful exhibit. Over one hundred stunning artefacts worn by England’s Monarchy for events such as the Coronation are on display. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed here.

4. DON’T FORGET TO SEE THE RAVENS

Did you know, that 7 ravens live at the Tower of London? Rumour has it that the kingdom will fall if the ravens leave. They are free to roam around the Tower but their cages are located to the left of the Raven’s Gift Shop. You’ll often see them there and it’s easy to miss!

5. WALK THE BATTLEMENTS

I don’t think it’s obvious when you look at the map but you can walk on the battlements (outer walls) of the Tower. This was my favourite part of our visit! You get the most stunning views of The Towers grounds and of London. I mentioned earlier about bringing a baby carrier, if you have a pre/early walker, it will be very useful here.

6. THE ROYAL BEAST EXHIBIT

Located inside one of the towers on The Battlements is the Royal Beast Exhibition. For 600 years, The Tower of London was almost a zoo, with kings and queens keeping many animals there.

This wasn’t the safest idea, leading to many injuries and even some fatalities. In 1835 the menagerie was closed with most of the remaining animals going to the London Zoo in Regents Park.

This exhibition is small but has quite a few hands-on activities, which the boys enjoyed.

7. PREPARE FOR LOTS OF STEPS AT THE WHITE TOWER

There are nearly 250 steps over 3 floors in the White Tower. We actually didnt find this too challenging and was well worth the climb.

In the white Tower, you can see historic armour worn by monarchs such as Henry VIII. This is also a great area for kids as they have lots of interactive activities for them to explore.

8. PRISON, TORTURE AND EXECUTION

We skipped these areas. Our 4-year-old is at an age of asking many questions and we felt like this might be a bit much for him. It also might have been a bit much for me! Obviously, you can use your own judgement about what is right for your kids.

He did see an exiction block and of course, asked about it. I panicked and told him it was for chopping wood for the castle’s fire. I’m sure when will return to the Tower at some point when he’s ready for the real story!

9. YEOMAN WARDER TOURS

These tours are free and can be joined every 30 minutes, starting at 10 am. We attempted one but our kids weren’t loving it so we decided to explore on our own. I’d say these tours are better suited to older kids.

If you join a tour the ‘Beefeater’ will tell you more about the history of the Tower and stories of what used to happen there. Note: the route includes steps.