Indoor places in Westminster

Family places to explore and play entirely under a roof.

Westminster is where the West End sits, so this leans hard on theatre. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child runs in two parts at the Palace Theatre, time-turning and jaw-dropping by its own billing, with a Kids Week offer worth watching for. The Play That Goes Wrong suits children of eight and over, and is reckoned one of the funniest shows in town. SIX The Musical, Wicked, The Lion King, Beetlejuice The Musical and The Lyric Theatre fill out the rest of the marquee. Off-stage, the National Gallery puts on children's workshops and a Summer on the Square Family Art Festival. The State Rooms at Buckingham Palace open through August for a look at royal splendour and history. The Bonsai Treehouses exhibition is a green escape for households who like nature, design and getting creative, with a workshop attached. The Chesterfield Mayfair does an award-winning Original Sweetshop Afternoon Tea, all sweetshop-themed cakes and refillable sandwiches, which reliably wins over anyone who has sat through a matinee. Java Whiskers Cat Cafe Marylebone is here as well. Taken together it suits an afternoon built around a show, with a gallery workshop, a royal opening or a themed tea either side of it.