Take your family on a perfect weekend adventure this summer holiday

Start the day with an alfresco dip in one of the city’s best lidos. This 50-metre pool is the perfect spot to cool down on a hot summer day. Little ones can splash around in the Olympic-sized waters with colourful floats or chill out on the Sun Terrace. What's more, the pool is heated, so even on chillier days there's still scope to swim. 
£5, £2.95 child
Getting there: Overground to London Fields. 
Local bus routes: 30, 48, 55, 106, 236, 254, 277, 394, D6.

Kids can spy Asian bamboos, South American ferns and plenty more exotic plants in this stunning rooftop garden. It's a leafy oasis in one of London's busiest districts and the greenery reflects its history as a trading hub in the nineteenth century with flora native to countries visited by ships of the West India Dock. Look out for fun-packed workshops, live music and kid-friendly theatre performances taking over the space over the summer holidays.
Free 
Getting there: DLR to Canary Wharf. 
Local bus routes: D3, D7, D8, 135, 277. 

Round off the day with a romp through one of the biggest green spaces in the City and the oldest enclosed Royal Park. This picnic-friendly spot is ideal for a fun family evening that won't break the bank: all you need is a rug and a ball or whatever other portable activities you have in mind. While you're there, make sure you stroll past the boating lake, the regal sights of the Queen’s House and National Maritime Museum, and if there's still some energy left, take the trek up to the Royal Observatory where you can jump over the Greenwich Meridian line, then watch the sun set over London.
Free
Getting there: DLR to Cutty Sark.
Local bus routes: 53, 386.

Hard-to-please little ones will fall in love with this haven of beautifully designed gardens and pretty parkland. This patch of gorgeous greenery next to Hampstead Heath packs in water gardens, table tennis tables, a children's play area, a butterfly house, deer park and even a zoo where you can spy ring-tailed lemurs, kookaburras and other interesting critters. 
Free
Getting there: Northern line to Golders Green. 
Local bus routes: 210, 268, N5.

A stone’s throw from Columbia Road lies this buzzy urban farm thriving with happy animals, a pottery studio bee hives and a farm shop. Pet pigs, donkeys, sheep and goats, or run around with the ducks, geese and hens in the cobbled farmyard.   
Free
Getting there: Central line to Bethnal Green.
Local bus routes: 26, 48, 55, 394.   

This Grade II-listed icon on the London skyline has transformed from a derelict industrial building to a family-friendly medley of shops and cultural spaces. While big kids get stuck into some retail therapy, little ones can join one of the ‘Power of Summer’ workshops, where they can get involved in arts and crafts sessions and build colourful creations from big blue geometric shapes in the ‘Imagination Playground’. The workshops run until August 27, but there are plenty of family friendly activities all year round. 
Workshops are £5, or free if you spend £5 in a shop or restaurant at Battersea Power Station (and present a stamped receipt). 
Getting there: Circle line to Sloane Square. 
Local bus routes: 44, 137, 156, 344, 436, 452.

Yep, TfL’s off-peak fares mean travelling in the summer holidays doesn’t have to break the bank. 

Off-peak fares apply on weekdays before 6.30am, between 9.30am and 3.59pm, and after 7pm, plus all day at weekends and bank holidays. Fare shown is for an adult off-peak pay as you go journey not going via Zone 1 on Tube, DLR and most London Overground services. Always touch in and out with the same card or device to pay the right fare. To check your fare, search TfL Single Fare Finder.

And let's not forget the bus or tram! The Hopper Fare lets you take unlimited bus or tram journeys anytime, anywhere within one hour for just £1.50.

Got kids? 
Children under five travel free. With a Zip Oyster photocard, five- to ten-year-olds can travel free on all TfL services, while 11- to 15-year-olds can travel free on buses and trams and travel at half the adult rate on all other TfL services.
 
Apply for a Zip Oyster photocard today by going to tfl.gov.uk/zip.