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Across the Thames from Westminster (Scarborough photo)

London is calling....can you hear?

Start planning your trip at the great LondonTown visitor site; their homepage includes a downloadable PDF file on London for Families.

Activities:  I'm hardly ever a guided-tour sort of person, but I highly recommend London Walks for moderately-priced and well-executed strolls around the city. They cover the familiar tourist spots, but even more interesting and fun are the rather obscure neighborhood or theme walks.

My older daughter and I even went together on their Pub Walk (she got to drink lots of lemonade.)

We sauntered along the Thames at sunset, saw the outside of the restored Globe Theater, popped into the Tate Modern for a good view, rounded a corner at night to stumble upon a replica of Sir Francis Drake's "Golden Hind" Elizabethan warship floating in front of us….and of course enjoyed the local company in several pubs.

Your kids can also guide themselves with a downloadable iPod tour, and if you don't want to spend a single British pound on your entertainment, take a look at these 10 free things to do.  A visit to Princess Diana's playground is always in order, as well.

For all of us who love Harry Potter movies (including me!) don't miss a chance to see where the scenes were filmed. The comprehensive Visit Britain site has a section that will guide you to London locations from the books and movies. There are plenty of others outside the city and around Britain; we visited Christ Church in Oxford, where the staircase arrival scene was filmed in the first movie, and the dining room was the model for the one at Hogwarts.

If you have the time, also consider a pleasant afternoon outing or even a full day in Greenwich, a pretty maritime town near London.

Lodging: There are hotel recommendations here, here,  and a few more here, but just remember how monstrously expensive it is in London. Sometimes a chain hotel is the only way to go. We stayed at the Premier Travel Inn at London County Hall; the location is unbeatable for getting around, with quick access to three different Tube stations plus lovely walks and views along the Thames looking across at Westminster.

Ready for insanely small but clean and cheap?  Try EasyHotels -- three in London.  You might have to rent two rooms to get everyone in, but you might actually be able to afford it.

Eats: Time Out London offers lots of eateries here, and the online food magazine CHOW has more cheapie tips here (read the comments too; the CHOW readers are always quite opinionated and full of additional ideas about food.) 

If you are ready to spend a little more money, Fodor's Choice for restaurants is here.

After all of that good info, are you feeling ambitious and slightly crazed? Frommer's says you can hit most London highlights in this one-day itinerary.

Have a great time, but pack your brolly/umbrella.

Update 27 March 2007:  There are some gorgeous Will van Overbeek photos of London on this National Geographic Traveler blog post.