Museums & Landmarks in London

Most of the big names here cost nothing to enter, a point one source urges visitors to take full advantage of. The British Museum, which Time Out names its pick for first-time visitors, suits school-age children who can hold focus across large galleries; the practical advice is to choose two or three, such as the Egyptian mummies or the Rosetta Stone, rather than attempt a full sweep. Science Museum runs from a downstairs play space built for toddlers through to a Flight gallery with life-size planes, though free tickets need pre-booking or holiday queues get long. Victoria and Albert Museum rewards older children and teens over a slow full day, with the Cast Courts as the centrepiece; toddlers find its scale harder going.

For the youngest, Young V&A is the obvious starting point: Time Out's choice for families, compact enough for an hour, with a supervised soft play for under-2s. London Museum Docklands splits the difference, pairing the Mudlarks soft play for under-8s with galleries on slavery and wartime that suit children of 12 and up. The Postal Museum works from around age three, with the timed Mail Rail ride best done first and the Sorted! play area bookable on its own.

Paid experiences trade free entry for performance. Madame Tussauds London and Shrek's Adventure London land best with children who already know the characters, and The Paddington Bear Experience is pitched at ages 3 to 12 with small session sizes. The London Dungeon is genuinely frightening and only makes sense from age 9, while Frameless Immersive Art Experience holds toddlers as readily as adults with projection rooms that loop every 20 minutes. History-minded older children have Imperial War Museum, Time Out's pick for history buffs, with Holocaust galleries that need preparing for, and Churchill War Rooms, where the included audio guides carry the visit.