Having rambled on for 6000 words about our Monopoly travels around London, I thought it’d be useful to have a quick summary of the route and stops, in case anyone else fancies doing it. It’s split over two days, child-friendly and at each place I’ve put our planned stop in brackets (we didn’t stop at all of them). Each set had a theme, some of which worked better than others:
Browns: Parks
Blues: Gardens
Greens: Shops
Yellows: Tourist attractions
Dark Blues: BFG Jars
Oranges: Rest points
Reds: Animal statues
Pinks: Flags
As I mentioned in the other posts, the BFG Jars are a temporary trail but there are often those kinda things around London (elephants, book benches, Shauns etc) so you may well be able to replace the dark blues with a different kind of find-it challenge.
So, day 1 (all connections were walked/scooted by my kids)
Start at Green Park station.
Take the exit onto Piccadilly (suggested stop The Hard Rock Cafe Shop and Vault). Follow Piccadilly to Hyde Park Corner for Park Lane (suggested stop BFG Jar near Admiralty Arch) .Double back and go through Mayfair (suggested stop BFG on Bond Street) to Bond Street (suggested stop confusingly not on Bond Street but nearby – the Royal Institution). Walk straight up Bond Street to Oxford Street (suggested stop the Disney Store). Then east down Oxford Street, cut through Hanover Square onto Regent Street (suggested stop Hamleys) and then Great Marlborough Street for lunch (suggested stop Five Guys) and back down Regent Street to Vine Street for pudding (BYO Ice cream -suggested place Freggo on Swallow Street. And don’t be too precious about eating standing in the road next to some bins)
Cross Piccadilly Circus to Coventry Street (suggested stop Ripley’s Believe It or Not/Bubba Gump), then onto Leicester Square (suggested stop Lego Store when it opens… M&M World til then). Follow the path at the south of the square, where the Empire used to be, along the side of the National Gallery and come out on Pall Mall (suggested activity – flag spotting). Turn left onto Trafalgar Square (suggested activity animal statue spotting). Cross the road at the bottom of Trafalgar Square to find both Whitehall and Northumberland Avenue(suggested activity – more flag spotting) then head back northwards and turn right onto the Strand (suggested activity – same as Trafalgar Square). Walk up to Wellington Street, near Waterloo Bridge, and turn left up there until it turns into Bow Street (suggested stop – coffee at the Royal Opera House) then back down to Aldwych and follow round till The Strand becomes Fleet Street (suggested activity – same as Trafalgar Square), Rest!!
Day 2 (mostly public transport links)
Start at Liverpool Street station. Get the Hammersmith & City line to Whitechapel (suggested stop – Vallance Gardens), then District line to Tower Hill. Walk to Fenchurch Street station, then walk up Crutched Friars to the bus stop for the 42 bus. Alight just past the Bricklayers’ Arms roundabout for Old Kent Rd (suggested stop- don’t stop. Keep moving). Get the bus back up to Elephant & Castle (53, 453, 172, 63 all go there) and catch the Bakerloo line to Marylebone. Then the 205 bus to Euston (suggested stop St James’ Gardens), walk to Kings Cross, up Pentonville Road (suggested stop Joseph Grimaldi Park) up to Angel Islington! (suggested stop…anywhere that serves food or caffeine by this point. Though we did have Barnsbury Park pegged as a potential stop off point)
And that’s it – 26 Monopoly stops in two days. Whether you add in the utilities is up to you. But if you attempt it, do let me know how you got on!
