Visiting the Tower of London with Children: A Family-Friendly Guide
The Tower of London isn’t just a historic fortress—it’s a place where history comes alive for children and adults alike. With its dramatic tales of kings, queens, ravens, and jewels, the Tower offers a unique family day out. Here’s how to make the most of your visit with little adventurers in tow.
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🏰 What is the Tower of London?
A historic fortress on the north bank of the River Thames in central London
Officially called Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London
Founded in the 11th century after the Norman Conquest
One of the most popular tourist attractions in London
💎 Why Visit with Kids?
- The Tower is packed with things for kids to see and enjoy
- The Crown Jewels capture children’s imaginations with their glittering crowns, swords, and orbs. It’s like seeing treasure straight out of a fairy tale.
- Kids don’t just hear about kings and queens—they walk through the same fortress where royals lived, prisoners plotted escapes, and knights prepared for battle.
- In the White Tower: you get to see different pieces of royal armor and weapons. Then in the last room kids get to learn through play and hands on displays. There are games like sword fighting, learning how to launch a cannon and so many more! We spent at least 40 minutes in this room alone letting the kids play all of the games.
👑 Highlights Kids Will Love
1. The Crown Jewels
The dazzling Crown Jewels exhibition is a must-see. Children are often wowed by the glittering crowns, swords, and sceptres on display. Pro tip: Make sure to go early and DO THIS FIRST to avoid long lines. Our ticket entry time were for 9am and once we got in the door we got or audio guides (extra £5 pp or £14 for a family) and then walked straight to the Crown Jewels and we almost walked right in. By the time we walked to about 30 minutes after the line was completely full.
2. The Ravens
There are ravens that “live” at the castle and kids are fascinated by the Tower’s famous ravens. Spotting them and learning the legend that “if the ravens leave, the kingdom will fall” makes for a good story to tell the kids. My kids loved spotting the ravens around the grounds and we went to the cage area they lived in 3 separate times during our visit.
3. Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) Tours
These ceremonial guides give guided tours and are entertaining and full of dramatic storytelling. The tower has signs up for when these free tours happen. Children will enjoy the larger-than-life characters who bring history to life.
4. The Medieval Palace & White Tower
Step into recreated royal rooms and explore the armoury inside the White Tower. Many kids love seeing suits of armour and imagining knights in battle.
5. Tower Green
Unlike most executions (which happened publicly at Tower Hill, outside the fortress), Tower Green was reserved for private executions. This is where famous figures like Anne Boleyn met their fate.
🎒 Tips for Parents
Book tickets online with Get Your Guide to save time and money.
Arrive early—the Tower gets busy, especially in summer and during school holidays.
Bring snacks and water—there are cafés on-site, but having a little something handy helps with younger kids. We packed some protein bars and crackers just to have in between walking around. We also visited in late July and it was 85 degrees and very hot so we ended up buying lots of water.
Interactive activities— buy the audio guide. It is $4 an 5 for adults (family package for 15) but these are very interactive and they have a kids version to keep them interested and educated.
Plan for 2–3 hours—enough time to explore without overtiring the kids. We spent the whole morning here (from 9-12:30) then walked right of the property - across the street and had lunch at Vicinity. It was an amazing spot that overlooked Tower bridge and had great food options - from pizza and burgers to traditional fish and chips. You can also have lunch inside the Tower of London grounds, there is a cafeteria style restaurant.
💂🏻♂️ Making it Memorable
Encourage children to ask questions and imagine what life was like hundreds of years ago. My kids loved pretending to be a knight, queen, or Yeoman Warder for the day. This is a great place for them to learn but make it fun.
Another thing we always do to make it fun for kids is I give them my phone and let them take some pictures or videos of what they see and find interesting. Then we talk about it more! Giving my kids the phone makes them like learning about the “more boring” things sometimes.
Our Final Thoughts
Visiting the Tower of London with children is 100% worth it!! My kids loved it. It was a good mix of learning some important historic facts to seeing sparkling jewels and mythical ravens. We loved hearing stories of kings and queens, and your family will leave with having to learn some history of London.
