London rewards a family that sees it in the right order. This trip keeps one address for all five nights, a river-view room at the Savoy, so no one packs a bag until it’s time to fly home. From there the city unfolds a day at a time: royal London and Churchill’s wartime bunker, the Tower and the Crown Jewels, then a full day out to Windsor Castle and the stones at Stonehenge. A morning following Harry Potter through hidden lanes ends with a night at the theatre. Meals are part of the plan, too: afternoon tea by the Thames, a pie supper in London’s oldest dining room, a country pub lunch, and roast beef carved at the table. Every element here (pace, hotels, activities, length) is built to be adjusted around you.

A private car meets you at Heathrow for the drive into the city and the Savoy. Take the afternoon to rest and settle in, then head out at dusk for an easy stroll along the Thames, with Big Ben and the London Eye lit up across the water. Dinner is early and close to home at the hotel’s riverside restaurant, then bed.

A guided walk through royal London begins at Westminster Abbey, the setting for coronations, royal weddings and state funerals for nearly a thousand years. Continue to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard, then stop for ice-cream sundaes at a grand old Piccadilly food hall. The afternoon belongs to the Churchill War Rooms, where an in-house expert leads a private tour behind the glass, into rooms closed to the public, beneath the streets where Churchill ran the war during the Blitz. Dinner is a short walk from the hotel, in London’s oldest restaurant: game pies, steamed puddings and red velvet booths in Covent Garden.

Start with the view of Tower Bridge, then go inside the Tower of London: fortress, royal palace, infamous prison and home to the Crown Jewels. Continue to Sir Christopher Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral, then cross the Millennium Bridge to Borough Market, where everyone chooses their own lunch from the stalls. In the afternoon, a high-speed boat ride takes you down the Thames past the city’s landmarks, and the day ends back at the Savoy with afternoon tea overlooking the river. The evening is free.

A private driver for the day takes you west out of London. The first stop is Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, with its State Apartments and St George’s Chapel. Lunch is at a celebrated pub in a Thames-side village minutes from the castle, then the drive continues across Salisbury Plain to Stonehenge, the 5,000-year-old stone circle. Back in London, dinner is a few doors from the hotel, where waiters carve roast beef at the table from a silver trolley.

A guided walk through the London of the Harry Potter films: the Ministry of Magic, the hidden lanes and alleyways used in “The Sorcerer’s Stone,” Knockturn Alley, and the streets that inspired Diagon Alley, through Westminster, Covent Garden and the City. Older kids and mystery fans can add an afternoon on the trail of Sherlock Holmes, from St Bartholomew’s Hospital to Baker Street. An early dinner at a lively Bombay-style café in Covent Garden comes before a West End show.

A full English breakfast before a private transfer to Heathrow, or carry on north to Edinburgh, or across to Ireland.