London is my favourite city in the world – I’ve visited over a dozen times. But my experience completely changed when I visited London with a baby for the very first time.
In 2025/2026, my husband, baby daughter, dog and I spent nine weeks living in London when our daughter, Baby C, was around one year old.
With nine weeks, we really got a taste for London life. After experiencing it all firsthand, we now have lots of lessons to pass on as temporary locals/long-term sightseers!
While we still got to do lots of the things I love to do in London, like eat at cool food halls, visit museums and see West End shows (as long as we traded off bedtime duties), we also had so many new experiences thanks to our baby.
Suddenly, Colin and I found ourselves seeking out playgrounds, libraries and children’s theatre. We had to learn how to navigate the tube with a stroller. And we had to figure out if Baby C could join us for a Sunday Roast at the pub (yes, she could).
Below, I’m sharing my complete guide to visiting London with a baby. Everything you need to know to get around the city, find a place to eat, pack the right gear, plan baby-friendly activities and book the perfect family accommodation.
Grab your diaper bag and let’s go!
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How to get around London with a baby
Whatever you do, please do not rent a car in London. Renting a car is expensive, you won’t be able to park it anywhere, you’ll be stuck in traffic, and you’ll have to bring, rent or buy a car seat.
London is a huge city with a wonderful public transportation system that is fast, affordable and baby-friendly. Ditch the car and hope on the tube or a bus!
We lived in London for nine weeks with our baby and took public transit the entire time. Children under five travel free on TfL (Transport for London) with a fare-paying adult.
Speaking of fares, the best and easiest way to pay is to just tap on with your credit card. You don’t save any money buying an Oyster Card unless you’re buying a monthly pass. There’s a cap for daily and weekly spend, so you can just tap your credit card without worry!
Taking the London tube with a baby
If you plan to take the tube (aka the underground) with your baby and that baby is in a stroller, you’re going to want to look out for accessible stations.
On the London Underground map, you’ll see icons for each station letting you know about its accessibility. Stations are either:
- Fully accessible (step-free from street to train)
- Partially accessible (step-free from street to platform, but there’s a gap between the platform and train)
- Not accessible (steps required, either stairs or an escalator)
Even if a station was fully or partially accessible, we found they could still be a hassle to navigate, especially if we had to transfer.
The elevators were often out of the way and had long lines waiting to use them. And when you’re deep underground, it might mean taking three or four separate elevators to get up to street level!
There were a few times where we decided to just take our stroller onto the escalator or even carry it up a flight of stairs to avoid a long elevator line!
While accessible stations were preferred, we didn’t change our itinerary to avoid non-accessible stations. Thanks to our trusty travel stroller, we were easily able to collapse and carry it whenever we were confronted with stairs.
Once on the tube, there’s a spot on each train where the seats fold up so strollers and wheelchairs can park. This is where we’d head first. If that spot was taken, we’d try to stick to the end of a train car where there’s a little more space.
We tried to avoid travelling during rush hour in Central London, so we weren’t dealing with huge throngs of commuters. I’d recommend you do the same and if that’s not possible, be ready to fold up your stroller.
Of course, you can avoid a lot of this hassle if you baby-wear and don’t travel with a stroller at all. But compared to travelling with our baby in France and Spain, I’d say London was quite stroller-friendly.
PS: If you happen to base in Brixton like we did for our first five weeks in London, you’re in luck! Not only is Brixton Station fully accessible but it’s also at the end of the Victoria line (despite being in Zone 2). That means the trains are always empty when you board!
Taking the bus with a baby
Your other main option for public transport in London is the bus – and yes, I’m talking about the iconic red double-decker buses!
The nice thing about taking the bus in London with a stroller is that it’s fully accessible. You never have to worry about stairs or waiting for an elevator.
Buses are also cheaper than taking the tube and you get to enjoy the city scenery. Though, of course, you also have to deal with the city traffic and outdoor elements while you wait.
All London buses have a designated area for wheelchair users and strollers. This area is located just behind the front set of stairs – you can’t miss it!
It’s important to note that wheelchair users get priority. This is true on both the tube and the bus, but seemed to come up more on buses.
I point this out because this space does fill up and bus drivers can deny you entry if there isn’t a spot for your stroller. They will also ask you to move if a wheelchair user gets on after you.
Unlike on a tube where each car has a spot for strollers/wheelchairs, there’s only one designated wheelchair/stroller space on a bus and it only fits 2-3 strollers or one (maybe two) wheelchairs at a time.
And because not all tube stations are fully accessible, many wheelchair users’ only option is the bus. While us stroller users can fold up our strollers and take the stairs, wheelchair users don’t have that option!
Therefore, you’re competing for a smaller space with a larger group of people who need it. Ergo, there may not always be space for your stroller on the bus.
This happened to us a few times. A bus would pull up and the driver would tell us we couldn’t board with our stroller because a wheelchair was in the designated space.
Once again, being able to collapse our travel stroller saved the day! Colin would carry the stroller and I would carry Baby C (or vice versa) so we could still get on the bus.
Walking around London with a baby
Of course, the easiest, cheapest and nicest (unless it’s raining) way to get around London with a baby is on your own two feet.
Of all the cities we visited during our six months in Europe with our baby, I’d say London had the best streets for strollers.
For the most part, the sidewalks in London are in good repair and wide enough for strollers. They also have sloped curbs, making it easy for you to cross the street.
Of course, London is a big city with lots of locals and lots of tourists. So the streets can get busy! Pushing our stroller through the crowds trying to admire London’s Christmas lights on a Friday night was not fun.
But if you’ve got nice weather and you’re not fighting with crowds of tourists or commuters, it’s a beautiful place to stroll with your baby.
How to eat out in London with your baby
We ate out a lot with our baby while we were living in the UK (just look at all of the restaurants in Brighton and restaurants in Brixton we went to) and we found most London restaurants to be very baby-friendly.
We mostly ate at moderately priced restaurants, nothing too fancy or expensive. It always felt like we were welcomed with our baby! In fact, many servers went out of their way to come say hi or tell us how cute Baby C was being.
Most restaurants we ate at had a stack of high chairs and when they didn’t, Baby C would happily eat in her stroller. Many also had baby change tables in the bathrooms.
Tips for feeding your baby in a restaurant
We did baby-led weaning with Baby C, meaning she would eat the same food as us, just prepared in a baby-safe way. So we never needed to travel with our own baby food.
Between Colin and I, we made sure something we ordered would work for Baby C; that it wasn’t too spicy, could be ripped into baby-friendly pieces, wasn’t completely deep-fried, etc. Then we simply gave her pieces of food off our plates.
We chose baby-led weaning for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that it made travel so much easier. Baby C was introduced to so many new foods and flavours and always seemed happy to eat what we were eating!
We ate our meals early, mostly because that’s what works with a baby’s schedule. But it also meant we ate in a lot of near-empty restaurants because who else is having lunch at 11:30am?
Eating early worked out well because it gave us lots of space, our food was ready faster, and there weren’t as many diners for us to bother with our noise or mess.
Speaking of mess, we always made a point to clean up after ourselves. Some servers told us we didn’t need to, but we’d always do a quick wipe of the floor under Baby C to pick up all the food she dropped.
A friend of mine mentioned how impressed she was that Baby C ate out at restaurants so well and that she was terrified to do it with her baby. But honestly, I think it’s just down to practice!
I don’t worry about bringing Baby C to a restaurant because we’ve done it so often. She’s eaten everywhere from English pubs and cafes to hotel tea rooms, food halls and steakhouses.
And if things ever go south, I know we can always leave early and try again next time!
Tips for finding baby-friendly restaurants
Assume that most restaurants in London are baby-friendly. I don’t think you need to go out of your way to find specific restaurants for kids, but there are some things to look out for and some things to avoid.
Look for restaurants with a lot of space. We always felt the most comfortable when we could sit at a larger table (so Baby C wasn’t grabbing everything in front of her) and had extra space for our baby gear.
Ask about high chairs and changing tables. For us, this was never a deal breaker. Baby C was happy to eat in her stroller. But it was always nicer when she had her own seat.
We found that food halls worked well for our baby, and London has some really good ones. There were lots of cuisines to choose from, food was ready fast, you could score a big table if it wasn’t too busy, and many even had a stack of high chairs available.
Use your common sense and avoid places that don’t sound like they’d be fun with a baby. A loud nightclub that serves bar snacks only, a 10-course fine dining establishment, or a trendy cafe that’s lined up around the block all sound like a bad time to me.
If you’re nervous, scope out a restaurant online ahead of time. Look through the photos to see if there will be space for your family, read reviews and see if people mention their children/babies, and check that the menu has food you and your baby will eat.
Remember, babies are allowed in pubs and breweries in the UK! We had some of our favourite meals in the UK in pubs and Baby C was always welcomed with a smile.
What to pack for eating out with your baby in London
While we didn’t pack baby food, we did pack a few other food-related items:
- Snacks for Baby C to eat throughout the day or if the meal was taking too long. We just picked up a few things at the grocery store, like cheese strings or Cheerios.
- A snack container for said snacks. This also worked well for packing leftovers she could eat later in the day. These are the snack containers we have.
- A baby-friendly water bottle. While Baby C likes to drink out of a cup, it was easier to have her own water bottle ready. This is the spill-proof one we use.
- A full-length bib. We use silicone bibs at home but for eating out, we like a full coverage bib that protects her outfit and rolls up to fit in our diaper bag. This is a similar bib to the one we have.
Controversially, we never brought toys to restaurants (and Baby C was too young for a screen). We found that Baby C entertained herself by looking around, holding the menu, playing with a spoon or rooting through mom’s purse in a pinch.
By the time she got bored, the food had usually arrived.
I’m not anti-toys for babies. We simply didn’t pack them because we were prioritizing keeping our bag light and Baby C seemed fine without them. If your baby does better at a restaurant when they have toys and you don’t mind carrying them, bring them along!
Baby gear you’ll need in London
Of course, every family is different. But for the nine weeks we lived in London with our baby, here is the gear we used daily:
Travel stroller
Our Joolz Aer travel stroller was amazing for London! It was super light-weight and easily folded up tiny if we needed to get on a busy bus or store it away at a restaurant. It was durable, comfortable and offered decent storage in the under-seat basket.
This is actually the only stroller we’ve ever had with Baby C. We’ve had it since she was born and use it at home and when travelling. We use it daily and 16+ months in, it’s still looking incredible!
I would also recommend getting the stroller rain cover, since this is London after all. Odds are it’s going to rain!
We did have our Ergobaby baby carrier with us in London, but actually didn’t use it. We found London to be very stroller-friendly. But if you love to baby wear, pack your carrier and possibly a rain cover for it.
Portable white noise machine
Baby C is a big fan of white noise for sleep, so we made sure to bring a portable white noise machine with us.
If we were planning to do a nap on the go, we’d simply attach it to her stroller. It was a nice way to drown out the London city noise and give Baby C a familiar sleep cue.
And then for naps back at the apartment or overnight sleeps, we used this same portable white noise machine, looping it to her crib. That way, we didn’t have to pack two.
Small diaper bag
We started our time in London with a big backpack-style diaper bag. But after one outing where we forgot the diaper bag (!!!), we realized we actually don’t need as much as we thought we did.
So we downsized! We ended up buying a large bum bag – similar to this one – with a couple of compartments. It fit all of our essentials (diapers, wipes, back up onesie, bib) and often a few extras.
We would slide the bag onto our stroller (as shown above), so we could be truly hands-free!
Easy travel toys
We didn’t pack many toys for Baby C but we did want a few light-weight things for her to play with back at our Airbnb and on longer trips.
We are huge fans of Indestructibles books for baby travel. These books are lightweight, chew-proof, rip-proof and washable – making them the perfect books for travelling with an infant. They’re also less than $5 USD each!
Another handy thing we packed were toy straps. These silicone strings allowed us to attach toys to Baby C’s stroller so we wouldn’t lose them when we were out. We’d also use them to attach her snack cup, water bottle, teether or sunglasses.
Honestly, I wouldn’t stress too much about packing toys for your baby. Baby C always found something to play with, like a spatula from the kitchen or recyclable yogurt container.
Plus, there are lots of gift shops where you can buy a toy for your little one that will double as a souvenir memory from your family trip to London!
Misc.
As I mentioned in my section on eating out with a baby, we always packed snack cups, a water bottle and a full-coverage bib.
We also packed some supplies for feeding Baby C at our Airbnb, such as silicone plates, metal cups and silicone bibs. These were all very light-weight and packed easily.
I won’t get into all of our baby toiletries, but we had the basic hygiene and first aid supplies. Of course we also packed clothes and diapers for our baby.
You can check out our entire list of baby travel essentials here!
Remember: If you forget anything or need to restock, you’ll be able to buy it in London. This is a big city so they will have what you need.
We also brought our travel crib and travel high chair to London, because we were travelling long-term and wanted Baby C to have supportive and familiar places to sleep and eat.
But if your accommodation can supply a crib and high chair, that might be easier. It just depends on where you’re staying and what you and your baby are comfortable with.
The nice thing about travelling with a baby, especially if they’re not crawling or walking yet, is that you can essentially do anything with them. You can cart them around to all of your favourite museums, shops and sites in London.
And while I totally think you should plan a London itinerary that’s fun for you, I also believe it’s important to do somethings that are specifically designed for babies. These often ended up being my favourite activities.
Here are a few of my favourite baby-friendly activities:
- Spitalfields City Farm: This free farm just off Brick Lane was such a hit with our entire family. We loved walking around, waving at all of the animals, buying goodies from the farm shop and playing on the wooden playground.
- The Unicorn Theatre: We saw two shows at The Unicorn, a children’s theatre in London, and Baby C was completely in awe both times. She loved watching the performance and playing with the other kids.
- Adventure Babies at the Natural History Museum: We signed up for an Adventure Babies session at the Natural History Museum and it was the most magical hour of stories, songs and sensory play. Highly recommend this one!
- Young V&A: An entire museum dedicated to children including a play space specifically designed for under 2s? And it’s free to visit? Sign me up!
- Our local library: I loved visiting our local library with Baby C. We met lots of other families there, read books, played games and took part in community events designed for kids.
Want more? Check out my full post of 20+ things to do in London with a baby!
Finding baby-friendly places to stay in London
There are babies living all over London, so I wouldn’t say that there’s one specific neighbourhood you need to stay in. However, you should look for an area and accommodation that have some of the following qualities.
A baby-friendly neighbourhood
In terms of where to stay, it’s important to have access to public transit. That way, you can easily travel around London and don’t have to waste time commuting. When you’re trying to fit sightseeing around bottles and naps, this is key!
We prioritized neighbourhoods that were lively and had lots of amenities on our front door. We wanted to be able to go to restaurants, cafes, libraries, parks, grocery stores and shops without having to get on a bus or tube.
One of the biggest things you need to consider when deciding where to stay in London with a baby is the cost of accommodation. London is not a cheap place to stay!
You’ll have more luck the farther from the city centre you go, but don’t go too far or you’ll spend all day on transit. Luckily, there are lots of little corners of London that are accessible, vibrant and more affordable than the likes of Mayfair or Kensington.
To balance our wish list with our budget, we ended up booking one-bedroom Airbnbs in Brixton (Zone 2, South London) and Spitalfields (Zone 1, Central/East London).
I really loved both of these neighbourhoods; they’re not the poshest parts of town but there was lots to see, do and eat. I always felt safe and would recommend them to any visiting families who appreciate city living.
A baby-friendly apartment or hotel
For the accommodation itself, we preferred an apartment rental over a hotel so we could have a separate room for naps and early bedtimes, a kitchen to make some of our own meals, and a living space for playtime.
(PS: If you do have to room-share, everyone I know swears by the SlumberPod to black out your baby’s crib. We haven’t bought one yet but I think we’re going to need to!)
Ideally, we would’ve wanted step-free access with our stroller, but that’s hard to come by in London. Double check how many flights of stairs you might have to go up before you book!
We also looked for places that had a decent amount of space. London is a busy city, so many of the apartments and hotel rooms are small. That’s tough when you’re trying to fit a crib in and give your baby some room to crawl.
We’d always do a pass of the apartment to make sure we “baby proofed” as best as possible. That looked like moving furniture around, placing breakables up high and ensuring doors stayed close so we didn’t find Baby C playing with the toilet brush…
Lastly, double check if your accommodation provides any baby gear, such as a crib or high chair. We asked one of our Airbnb hosts if they could provide a high chair and they had a brand new one delivered to our door!
My final tip for enjoying London with your baby
It’s easy to get FOMO in London. There’s just so much to see, do and eat around every corner. But travelling with a baby will slow you down and make that long list of London to-dos feel impossible.
Yes, you can strap your baby to your chest and sightsee around London at a breakneck pace. But where’s the fun in that? You’ll be bone-tired and I bet your baby won’t enjoy themselves either.
So my final tip for you is to take this trip with your baby as permission to slow down and enjoy London at a softer pace.
This is your chance to experience a different side of London, one you haven’t seen before. You’re invited into a world where farms and libraries are itinerary highlights, and where strangers on the tube smile at you because your baby is so darn cute!
You won’t get to hit everything on your London bucket list if you’re travelling with a baby. But I guarantee that the experiences you do get to share with your little one will still be special.
And leaving things on the bucket list just means you get to come back to London and experience it with your toddler/kid/teenager/adult child one day!
