Top 10 Best Things To Do In London With Family In 2026

Location: Outside Brent Cross, Prince Charles Drive, NW4 3RW.

Game Over runs a set of themed escape rooms at Brent Cross, locking your group inside a story and leaving you to work your way out before the clock runs down.

Every room has a theme of its own, and most take players from around the age of 10:

• The School of Magic.
• The Lost City of Atlantis.
• Alice in Wonderland.
• Nightmare Hotel, the darkest of the set, restricted to over-16s

Children are usually quicker at the searching and adults quicker at the locks, and a mixed group gets further into a room than either half of it would alone.

Nobody gets left out of this one either, since the whole family is inside the same story working from the same set of clues.

Walk-ins are welcome, though booking ahead is the safer move for a group that has travelled to get there.

➡️ Nightmare Hotel is the one room a family with under-16s cannot take, and the age limit settles the choice before anyone has picked a theme.

Location: Level 4 of the Red Car Park, Brent Cross Shopping Centre, London NW4 3FP.

Electric karting on three tracks, eight lanes of ten-pin bowling, pool tables, arcade machines and live sport on the screens all run off a single floor at TeamSport.

The tracks are split by who is driving:

• Children aged 4 to 7 get Mini Racers, their own circuit at their own pace.
• Anyone driving for the first time goes out on the Starter Track, the gentler circuit and the one families tend to book together.
• Drivers from age 8 upwards move onto the main circuit, a 350m layout with karts topping out at 45 mph.

Splitting the family this way means the youngest still get a proper turn behind the wheel while everyone else races at full speed.

When the racing is over, the bowling lanes and the arcade machines carry the rest of the afternoon, and nobody has to move off the level.

The venue takes kids' party bookings alongside the general sessions, saving anyone the job of hiring a hall and running a birthday themselves.

A bar and a food menu operate on site, there is free WiFi for anyone waiting between sessions, and step-free access runs throughout a wheelchair accessible building.

➡️ Walk-ins are accepted as well as bookings, useful if the day changes direction after lunch.

Getting everyone to agree on lunch is the part of a family day out that quietly ruins the rest of it. These five restaurants at Brent Cross cover most of the arguments before they start

Nando's

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Nando's serves flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken across burgers, pittas and wraps, and the spice level is left to whoever is ordering, so nobody ends up with something they cannot finish.

Dino meals handle the youngest eaters, and eat-in, collection and delivery all run from the Brent Cross restaurant.

Assistance dogs are welcome, and the restaurant has step-free access throughout, an accessible toilet and a digital accessible menu.

Shake Shack

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Shake Shack builds its menu around Angus beef patties, crinkle-cut fries and frozen custard. It is the closest thing on this list to a guaranteed win with teenagers.

The kitchen is halal-certified, and takeaway is available if the family would sooner eat elsewhere in the centre.

Catering covers larger groups and parties, bringing a birthday lunch for a dozen within reach.

Pasta Remoli

Location: Inside District, Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Pasta Remoli hand-makes its pasta and bakes Roman-style pizza, with suppli and bruschetta topped with burrata among the starters built for sharing.

Children get their own menu, and there are vegetarian and gluten-free choices for anyone eating around a restriction.

District's other counters are a few steps away if one person in the family refuses Italian on principle.

Wagamama

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

wagamama cooks Asian dishes to order, running from ramen and katsu curry through to plant-based bowls, and the kitchen turns dishes round quickly. 

➡️ Families with a baby can get bottle warming, highchairs and a children's menu as standard.

You can book your table, and the accessibility list covers braille and large print menus, an accessible toilet and step-free access throughout.

Pizza Express

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

For the family member who will only ever eat pizza, Pizza Express bakes stone-baked classics alongside the Dough Balls that most children order before looking at the rest of the menu.

Highchairs and a children's menu are available, and a Saturday visit is worth booking ahead.

The restaurant offers party bookings as well, and there is free WiFi and a wheelchair accessible entrance.

The usual problem with clothes shopping as a family is that the children's shop and the adults' shop are nowhere near each other.

These six at Brent Cross cover the family between them, from newborn kit to whatever the teenager refuses to be seen without:

H&M

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

H&M keeps womenswear, menswear, kidswear and a beauty section under a single roof, and one visit absorbs most of a family's clothing list before you have gone anywhere else.

Replacing what has been grown out of needs no planning, and the same trip covers a teenager's wish list.

Starting here takes the pressure off the more expensive shops later in the day.

John Lewis

Location: Lower Mall, John Lewis Car Park, Brent Cross, NW4 3FL.

John Lewis runs a full department store at Brent Cross covering clothing, toys, technology, furniture and homeware, though for a family the facilities matter nearly as much as the stock.

Here’s what you can expect:

• A family room, baby changing, an accessible changing room, and a changing bench and hoist
• A hearing assistance system, support rails and step-free access
• Nursery advisers for anyone buying equipment for a new baby
• Personal styling by appointment
• The Place to Eat, with a children's menu

That combination makes this the one shop on the list where arriving with a baby needs no forward planning.

Foot Locker

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Foot Locker stocks trainers and streetwear, including exclusive styles teenagers will have seen online long before you get there.

Saving this one until the boring shopping is finished buys you goodwill for the rest of the afternoon.

The store runs click and collect, gift cards, home delivery and a loyalty programme alongside the shop floor.

Zara

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Zara runs womenswear, menswear and kidswear from the same store, a useful combination when a whole family needs dressing for a wedding or a school event.

Collection points and straightforward returns take some of the risk out of buying for children who may have grown by the time the occasion arrives.

Click and collect and home delivery both operate here, useful on a day when everyone is already carrying bags.

Mango

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Womenswear and Mango Kids share the floor at Mango's refreshed Brent Cross store, so the children's clothes follow the same Barcelona design direction as the adult collections.

Dresses, tailoring and accessories make up the bulk of the range, priced below designer labels while looking a little sharper than the high street average.

Gift services and a loyalty programme run alongside click and collect and home delivery, with an accessible changing room and step-free access in store.

Reserved

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Reserved dresses women, men and kids from one store, with a range that runs from everyday staples to more trend-led pieces.

The Polish label keeps its prices sensible, so restocking the basics and finding something sharper for the weekend can happen in the same visit.

Gift cards are available for anyone shopping on someone else's behalf, and the store has an accessible changing room, support rails, step-free access and a wheelchair accessible entrance.

Sugar is the most reliable negotiating tool a parent has on a long day out.

These four counters at Brent Cross are the ones to keep in reserve:

Bubble CiTea

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Bubble CiTea mixes its teas to order at a small kiosk, with fruity and creamy versions both on the menu and the toppings picked by whoever is drinking it.

Letting children build their own drink turns a quick counter stop into an event, and there is merchandise on the counter for anyone who wants to take something home.

It is walk-in only, and the menu comes in digital, accessible and large print versions.

Dolci Mono

Location: Prince Charles Dr, Brent Cross, London NW4 3FP.

Ice cream, milkshakes, mocktails and hot puddings fill the menu at Dolci Mono, drawing on British, French, Italian and Spanish flavours across an all-day service.

The children's options and the mocktails give younger family members something of their own to order while the adults work through the hot puddings.

The menu marks its vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free choices, and there is café seating as well as a takeaway counter, with assistance dogs welcome throughout.

Krispy Kreme

Location: Lower Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FP.

Krispy Kreme fills its counter with glazed doughnuts and blends milkshakes alongside them, and a shared box will reset a family that has run out of patience faster than any amount of reasoning.

A box to share settles the whole group in one stop and saves returning to the counter three times in an afternoon. The counter is walk-in only, with vegan and vegetarian options available.

LOLA's Cupcakes

Location: Upper Mall, Brent Cross, NW4 3FQ.

Rainbow layers, red velvet and cupcake milkshakes make up the counter at LOLA's, where everything is hand-baked, and the Brent Cross branch operates as a full café with seating.

The cupcake milkshakes are the reason children sit still long enough for the adults to finish a coffee.

The bakery is halal-certified, the menu marks its vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free choices, children have their own options, and a separate counter handles takeaway boxes.

Location: Hampstead, London NW3.

Hampstead Heath runs across woodland, grassland and high open ground in North London, and the Parliament Hill end is where the family facilities are concentrated.

Here’s what you will find there:

• The main playground at the Parliament Hill end, next to the athletics track, including a cradle swing with seats for children with mobility disabilities
• A paddling pool immediately beside the playground for the warmer months
• A play area on East Heath and an adventure play area elsewhere on the Heath, both listed as alternatives when the main playground is busy or closed
• Three spring-fed bathing ponds along the eastern edge, one for men, one for women and one mixed, open to confident swimmers from the age of eight with an adult

The summit above the playground hands you the London skyline for nothing, and the wind that makes the hill uncomfortable in winter is the same wind that keeps the kites up.

None of it costs anything, and that counts for a lot on a day out that has already involved a car park and a round of lunches.

Location: King's Cross Station, London N1 9AP.

A luggage trolley half-buried in a wall of the King's Cross concourse marks Platform 9¾, the spot where Hogwarts students board the Hogwarts Express in J.K. Rowling's books.

Your own photographs cost nothing, and the trolley can be reached at any hour. Very few London attractions can be picked up on the way to something else like this one.

A professional photographer works the trolley through the day with scarves in the four house colours, and those pictures can be viewed and bought in the Harry Potter shop next door.

The shop is fitted out to look like Ollivander's wand emporium and stocks time turners, Horcruxes, games, house jumpers and full sets of robes.

Queues build through the school holidays, so an early arrival gets the photograph done before the line reaches the far end of the concourse.

➡️ Granary Square is a ten-minute walk from the same station, so the two King's Cross entries on this list make one afternoon between them.

Location: Inverforth Close, North End Way, London NW3 7EX.

The Hill Garden and Pergola combines a landscaped garden with a raised walkway of around 170 metres running above it, looking out over West Heath at the northern end of Hampstead Heath.

Wisteria climbs the wooden structure overhead, there is a sunken Italianate garden below, an ornamental pond, and sloping grass sheltered by mature planting that works for a picnic.

Older children tend to like the walkway because it feels like the remains of something abandoned, and the full circuit takes well under an hour.

This is the entry to use after a loud morning somewhere else, since it asks nothing of anyone and admission is free.

Only assistance dogs are allowed inside, which is worth knowing if the family dog has come along.

Location: Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY.

Alexandra Palace Park spreads 196 acres of lawn, woodland and water across a hillside in North London, and a family can fill a whole day here without paying for most of it.

Here’s what you can find in the park:

• A boating lake with a fleet of pedalos.
• A children's play area near the water, with the East Court and Boathouse cafés close by.
• A skate park with ramps, two fun boxes and two grinds.
• A pitch and putt course laid out among the trees.
• Go Ape's treetop course on the east side, beside the lake.

For a child who collects wildlife sightings, 694 species of plants, animals and fungi have been recorded across the park, including 212 types of insect, and 38 of them are rare or protected by law.

The view back over London from the high ground is the part that persuades the adults to stop walking for a minute.

➡️ The play area and skate park lock at dusk while the rest of the park stays open.

Location: 1 Granary Square, King's Cross, London N1C 4AA.

Granary Square holds more than 1,000 fountains set into the ground of a public square on the bank of Regent's Canal, each one lit and controlled on its own so the pattern keeps shifting through the day.

Children are welcome to cool off in them, and the square has a run of free things to do around the water:

• The fountains themselves, on daily through daylight hours
• A chess set, borrowed from the PlayPod locker in the square
• Table tennis at The Crossing nearby, playable in any weather, with free access through the PlayMade app

Wide south-facing steps drop from the square down to the canal, grassed over through summer, and they double as seating for the adults while the children get wet.

Family festivals, open-air film screenings and markets run through the year, and the events calendar is worth checking before you travel.

➡️ A change of clothes is worth packing, since the fountains are the first thing younger children head for.

Brent Cross handles most of a family day by itself, with escape rooms next door, three karting tracks and eight bowling lanes sharing one floor, five restaurants, five shops for the family wardrobe, and four counters for the moment somebody needs bribing.

The rest of this list is around an hour away at most by car or public transport, leaving room for a morning here and an afternoon on the Heath in the same day.

Plan your visit to Brent Cross here for the details on arriving by car, taxi, train, bus or bicycle.

Our multi-storey car park costs nothing to use at any point in the year, and EV drivers can plug into RAW Charging's points while the family is with us.