One Day in London With Kids: Our Easy 3 Attraction London Itinerary

Planning one day in London with kids can feel overwhelming. And I say this as someone who lived in London without kids for almost a decade! London is a big city, so trying to fit in its best attractions without spending the whole day on the tube, rushing from place to place, can be a challenge.

We were invited by Merlin to explore some of their attractions, and I wasn’t convinced it would be possible to visit three major Merlin attractions (Madame Tussauds London, SEA LIFE London Aquarium and the London Eye) all in one day without tired kids, stressed parents, and a lot of queueing.

I was completely wrong!

Not only did we explore all three Merlin attractions with ease, we also had time to sit down for lunch, wander around the brilliant Leake Street graffiti tunnel, play at the surprisingly great Jubilee Gardens Playground, then take a ride on the South Bank carousel and enjoy a relaxed stroll along the river afterwards.

Individually, attractions like the London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, and Madame Tussauds cost around £39 per person. However, booking a multi-attraction pass reduces the price to £18 per attraction, making it a much more affordable way to explore London as a family. You can explore these money-saving passes here.

If you’re wondering whether a Merlin multi-attraction pass is worth it, or looking for the perfect one day London itinerary with kids, here’s exactly how we did it, with time stamps.

Heads up! We were gifted tickets to these attractions for the purpose of writing this review. This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support

Quick Planning Facts: One Day in London With Kids

Best for: Families with school-aged children
Time needed: A full day (from around 10am – 5pm)
Walking level: Moderate
Best ages: 5+ (Younger children would still enjoy all of these attractions, but it might be a long day)
Main attractions: London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium, Madame Tussauds
Ticket tip: Book a 3 attraction pass to save money

Is The Merlin 3 Attraction Pass Worth It?

If you have Merlin attractions on your London itineray, then the Merlin 3 attraction pass is absolutely worth it!

Booked separately, each attraction costs around £39 per person (children pay a little less) meaning visiting all three of the attractions we explored would cost around £117 per person.

By booking a 3 attraction pass, you’ll pay around £18 per person, per attraction. That’s a huge saving! And when you multiply that for a family of four like ours, that saving looks even more significant.

👉If you’re planning a family day out in London, it’s one of the easiest ways to reduce costs
👉Check prices and availability here

Our One Day London With Kids Itinerary

Working out how to fit everything in, and the best order to do things, is one of the biggest headaches of planning any city day out. I’ve solved that by sharing our exact London itinerary with kids, including timings:

10am – 11.30am: Madame Tussauds London

We started our day at Madame Tussauds London, booking the earliest available time slot, which was 10am. If you want to explore Madame Tussauds, I strongly recommend doing the same, as this is by far the busiest and most popular attraction on the list.

We actually arrived here at 9.45am, and waited in line for the doors to open, meaning we were one of the first people in. This meant we experienced no queues and a calmer experience than you would get if you arrived later in the day. Because there were no queues, it also meant we got through the attraction so much faster!

I’d never been to Madame Tussauds before (If i’m honest, i’d never really fancied it) but it was brilliant. So immersive, and wonderfully well presented. It’s so much more than just a room full of wax works!

The figures were positioned in such a natural way that you were walking amongst them so much so I forgot myself and actually said to my husband “Wow! That guy looks just like Morgan Freeman!”….I think it will be a while before I live that one down.

The kids loved it too, especially:

• The Marvel area
• The Star Wars experience (we’re huge Star Wars fans, so this was a real highlight for all of us, especially the chance to fly the Millenium Falcon)
• The interactive exhibits, particularly the Spirit of London ride, which I wasn’t expecting but it was great!
• Spotting famous faces, like their favourite footballers

Even if you’re not usually a wax museum kind of family (we weren’t sure we were!) this ended up being a real highlight of the day for us.

Time needed: 1 – 1.5 hours

11.30am – 1.30pm: Big Ben, Lunch and the Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel

After Madame Tussauds, all the rest of your attractions for the day are on, or around, the South Bank. Google will tell you that the closest tube station is Waterloo, but as you’re at Baker Street, I recommend hopping on the Jubilee Line, 3 stops to Westminster instead.

It’s more straightforward, with no changes. Then you can admire Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, before taking the 3 minute across Westminster Bridge to the South Bank. This is so much easier, and more fun for kids!

Rather than rushing straight into our next attraction, we intentionally built in a break, and this was one of the best things we could have done to make the day feel relaxed and manageable for the boys.

We walked to the Leake Street Arches, which are one of London’s coolest free attractions.

The kids loved:

• Seeing the live street art
• Watching artists painting the walls (they were actually painting as we were there, and you were welcome to stop and watch)
• Looking at all the art on the colourful tunnels, like a changing art gallery

It also made a brilliant photo stop! If you’re creating your own one day London itineray with kids, I’d absolutely recommend adding this lesser-known spot. On our next London trip, i’ll be booking a graffiti lesson here!

There are also restaurants under the Leake Street arches. This is where we stopped for lunch, taking our time to relax and enjoy a leisurely meal, rather than rushing around.

1.30pm – 2.30pm: SEA LIFE London Aquarium

Next up was the SEA LIFE London Aquarium. We visit a lot of aquariums, most recently the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, because the boys have a real interest in sharks. That means we can be harsh critics when it comes to smaller aquariums: but I was actually surprised by how much space there was here, especially given its central city location.

The SEA LIFE London Aquarium is a great after-lunch stop because:

• It’s fully indoors (a great choice whatever the weather)
• The pace is naturally slower, as you keep stopping to look at the sea life
• There are regular interactive displays and exhibits for the kids to get hands on

The highlights of the aquarium for us were:

• The tunnel (wandering through a tunnel with sealife all around you will never not be fun)
• The two huge sea turtles – my personal favourite
• The enormous shark tank – the boys favourite

We found that one hour was plenty of time to see everything, but if you’re travelling with smaller children, I would allow an hour and a half to two hours, so that you can take things at their pace.

Time needed: 1 hour

2.30pm – 3.30pm: Jubilee Gardens Playground and The South Bank

If you’ve visited our site before then you’ll know that our number one trip to making city breaks work with kids is to find a playground. Kids are happier when they have the chance to play, and run off some energy, no matter where they are in the world.

The Jubilee Gardens Playgound is a good sized playground with plenty of equipment, right behind the London Eye. We took the chance to:

• Play in the playground
• Ride the carousel (tickets are £4 per person for this)
• Eat snacks
• Have a reset

Parents often underestimate how important it is to build some downtime into their days out, but we find this stops the day from feeling rushed, and makes kids feel happier and more interested in moving on to the next activity.

3.30pm-4pm: Ride The London Eye

We booked the London Eye as our last experience of the day, and this was the perfect decision with hindsight. It felt like an exciting finale on a perfect day, and we got to see the whole of the city spread out underneath us.

By late afternoon:

• The sun came out and the light looked beautiful
• The queue levels were much quieter than they were when we wandered past an hour earlier
• And of course, the views were incredible! From the top we could see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the tip of the Shard, and central london stretching out in every direction.

You can either sit quietly, soaking up the views, or more around the pod to hunt out the best views and photo angles. There were people doing both. Our youngest actually has a newly developed fear of heights, so I was a bit apprehensive, but even he enjoyed the views and the atmosphere. It was a lovely, slower way to end the day.

Time needed: It takes 30 minutes for a full rotation of the wheel. Allow longer for queues and security checks.

Was Doing 3 London Attractions in One Day Too Much?

Surprisingly, no. My biggest concern before we booked the 3 attraction pass was that i’d bitten off more than I could chew, but I was totally wrong. In fact, I think 3 attractions was the perfect amount! Because:

• All of the London Merlin attractions (except Madame Tussauds) are right next door to each other
• We started early and booked timed entry tickets
• We planned our breaks so the kids were always well rested
• And we grouped our attractions logically

It felt like a genuinely easy day out! In fact, the boys liked the look of Shrek’s Adventure when they say it (it’s right next door to the SEA LIFE aquarium) and wondered if we could add a fourth attraction to our itinerary!

We never felt rushed, or like we were trying to do too much. In fact, after we’d visited the London Eye we still had time to wander the South Bank, eat snacks from the many food stalls (the Dutch pancakes were the best!) and enjoy the riverside atmosphere.

So if you’re a family wondering whether the Merlin London 3 attraction pass is realistic, having just tried it with my own family, yes! It absolutely is.

Is The Merlin Multi Attraction Pass Worth It?

The Merlin multi attraction pass is well worth it, but only if you’re planning to visit more than one Merlin attraction during your visit.

The benefits of choosing this pass are:

✔ You’ll make huge cost savings
✔ It makes it easier to plan your family London day out
✔ You can take advantage of guarenteed timed entry
✔They offer flexible attraction combinations (you could also choose the Shrek London Adventure or the London Dungeons)
✔ It’s the ideal choice for visitors wanting to maximise a day out in London with the kids

⭐ We would definitely book it again!
👉 You can check out the options and book your own Merlin multi-attraction pass here.

Final Thoughts: The Perfect Family Day Out in London

If you’re looking for a one day in London with kids itinerary, and your kids prefer attractions to museums, then this is such a great option.

You get to experience iconic London attractions, incredible city views, indoor and outdoor experiences, and have plenty of flexibility to really make the day your own. We travel to London with our kids regularly (they’re real museum junkies!) so this was a welcome change of pace, and the whole day out was so much easier than we expected.

If you’ve been wondering whether doing the London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium AND Madame Tussauds in one day is possible, then I hope i’ve answered your question! It’s possible, it’s easy, and a whole load of fun!

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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!