Best Museums in London
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From the classic Science Museum and Natural History Museum, to lesser-known spots worth adding to your trip.
★ 4.6 · 76,620 reviews
Explore the Science Museum in South Kensington, a hands-on trip through space, aviation, and computing history. Get up close to the Apollo 10 command module and historic steam engines through interactive exhibits made for curious minds of all ages.
★ 4.6 · 37,688 reviews
Step into the Natural History Museum's cathedral-like halls in South Kensington. Wander beneath Hope the blue whale skeleton, explore dinosaur galleries and mineral collections, and take in the ornate terracotta architecture around you.
★ 4.4 · 1,287 reviews
Step inside the British Museum, one of the world's great encyclopedic collections. Wander beneath the glass-roofed Great Court to see the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies, and the Parthenon Marbles, all free to explore.
★ 4.8 · 68,143 reviews
Step into the V&A, the world's leading museum of art and design. Wander galleries of fashion, jewellery, photography, and sculpture spanning 5,000 years, then explore its ornate Victorian courtyard.
★ 4.5 · 83,333 reviews
Step inside the former Bankside Power Station, now home to Britain's national collection of modern art. Wander the cavernous Turbine Hall's large-scale installations, browse works by Matisse, Picasso, Rothko, and Warhol, then take in Thames views from the top-floor restaurant.
★ 4.8 · 62,817 reviews
Step into one of the world's great painting collections, right on Trafalgar Square. Wander grand galleries lined with Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Turner's seascapes, and masterworks of Dutch and Italian Renaissance art, all free to explore.
★ 4.6 · 15,806 reviews
Step into the underground bunker where Churchill ran Britain's war effort. Wander through the Cabinet Room and Map Room exactly as they were left in 1945, guided by an in-depth audio tour.
★ 4.7 · 30,847 reviews
Step into the Imperial War Museum, housed in a former Lambeth psychiatric hospital. Walk beneath tanks and aircraft suspended in the atrium, explore galleries on the World Wars and the Holocaust, and hear personal testimony brought to life through volunteer-led talks.
★ 4.5 · 85,970 reviews
Step inside Madame Tussauds London on Marylebone Road for a playful brush with fame. Pose for photos beside lifelike wax figures of musicians, actors, athletes, and royals across nearly two hours of interactive rooms.
★ 4.7 · 15,767 reviews
Step into the National Portrait Gallery, right beside Trafalgar Square. Wander through faces spanning Tudor monarchs to modern musicians, tracing British history for a free, roughly 90-minute stop.
★ 4.7 · 3,294 reviews
Step inside Stamford Bridge on a guided tour that goes far beyond the stands. Walk through the home dressing room and players' tunnel, pose with Chelsea FC's trophies, and take on a goalkeeper challenge in the museum.
★ 4.7 · 23,208 reviews
Step into Tate Britain's neoclassical halls on the Thames at Millbank. Wander from Hogarth and the Pre-Raphaelites to the Clore Gallery's Turner masterpieces, all free and easily covered in about 90 uncrowded minutes.
★ 4.6 · 23,249 reviews
Step aboard the Cutty Sark, the last tea clipper of its kind still afloat in dry dock. Explore every deck from the rigging above to the cargo holds below, then walk beneath the hull itself for a rare view of the ship's copper-clad keel.
★ 4.6 · 15,190 reviews
Explore the world's largest maritime museum in the heart of Greenwich. Wander through galleries of ship models, navigational instruments, and Nelson memorabilia tracing Britain's seafaring history, all free to enter.
★ 4.7 · 5,552 reviews
Step into Sir John Soane's Museum, the architect's own townhouse left exactly as he arranged it. Wander mirrored alcoves and ingeniously lit rooms crammed with sarcophagi, classical fragments, and Hogarth paintings.
★ 4.4 · 14,181 reviews
Explore the Design Museum in Kensington, set beneath its striking hyperbolic paraboloid roof. Browse the free permanent collection of industrial design classics, then catch a buzzy ticketed exhibition on subjects like Wes Anderson's film work.
★ 4.4 · 13,201 reviews
Step inside the London Transport Museum, tucked into a former Covent Garden flower market. Climb aboard restored buses and trams, try a driving simulator, and browse iconic Underground posters tracing the city's transport history.
★ 4.7 · 550 reviews
Step inside Allianz Stadium, English rugby's national ground, on a guided tour through the changing rooms and pitchside areas. Follow up in the World Rugby Museum, where the sport's history from its origins to today comes alive through stories of historic matches.
★ 4.7 · 3,123 reviews
Step into The Courtauld Gallery, tucked inside Somerset House. See masterworks by Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gauguin up close, including Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, in a collection compact enough to explore in about an hour.
★ 4.5 · 1,578 reviews
Step into the Royal Observatory Greenwich, home of time and longitude itself. Stand astride the Prime Meridian line, explore Flamsteed House and its historic telescopes, then take in sweeping views over the Thames toward Canary Wharf.
★ 4.6 · 9,661 reviews
Explore the Horniman Museum's eclectic collections in South London. Wander galleries of taxidermy and world musical instruments, visit the aquarium, then stroll the gardens for sweeping views over the city.
★ 4.8 · 20,228 reviews
Explore over a century of flight at the RAF Museum London. Walk right up to Spitfires, early biplanes, and Cold War jets displayed across several free-entry hangar halls in Colindale.
★ 4.5 · 10,038 reviews
Step into the Saatchi Gallery's former Chelsea barracks turned contemporary art space. Wander the large white-walled rooms for a rotating exhibition of bold, large-scale, and provocative work, free of charge.
★ 4.5 · 3,422 reviews
Descend seven meters beneath the City of London to the actual remains of a 3rd-century Roman temple to Mithras. Watch a free atmospheric light and sound show recreate ancient rituals before viewing the preserved ruins up close.
★ 4.8 · 10,838 reviews
Step into Hertford House, a Marylebone townhouse hiding one of London's best-kept museum secrets. Wander free of charge past Fragonard, Rembrandt, and Velazquez paintings alongside a remarkable arms and armour collection, all in about an hour.
★ 4.4 · 2,211 reviews
Step into Somerset House's grand neoclassical courtyard just off the Strand. Wander the seasonal fountain or ice rink outside, then head into the galleries for rotating exhibitions like photography and design retrospectives.
★ 4.4 · 6,270 reviews
Discover Young V&A in Bethnal Green, the V&A's playful spin-off made for kids and the grown-ups with them. Explore hands-on design, art, and performance galleries, with a paid activity zone for extra play if little ones want to linger.
★ 4.6 · 5,794 reviews
Discover The Postal Museum in Clerkenwell, home to Britain's quirky postal history. Ride the miniature Mail Rail train through the disused underground tunnels once used to move post beneath London, then explore the exhibits above.
★ 4.5 · 3,144 reviews
Step into the Queen's House, England's first classical building tucked away in Greenwich. Wander the striking spiral Tulip Stairs and browse maritime portraits and historical paintings from the Royal Museums Greenwich collection, free of charge.
★ 4.5 · 893 reviews
Step into Dennis Severs' House, a Spitalfields townhouse frozen mid-moment. Wander in silence through candlelit rooms of half-eaten meals and rumpled beds, imagining the fictional Huguenot family that's just stepped out.
London · 🎨 Museum
Science Museum
2h
Natural History Museum
The British Museum
2h30
Victoria and Albert Museum
Tate Modern
The National Gallery
Churchill War Rooms
Imperial War Museum
Madame Tussauds London
1h50
National Portrait Gallery
1h30
London · ⚽ Sport
Chelsea FC Museum
Tate Britain
Cutty Sark
1h15
National Maritime Museum
Sir John Soane's Museum
1h
the Design Museum
London Transport Museum
World Rugby Museum & Allianz Stadium Tours
1h40
The Courtauld Gallery
London · 🏛️ Landmark
Royal Observatory Greenwich & Prime Meridian Entrance Ticket
Horniman Museum and Gardens
Royal Air Force Museum London
Saatchi Gallery
London Mithraeum | Bloomberg SPACE
40 min
The Wallace Collection
Somerset House
Young V&A
The Postal Museum
Queen's House
45 min
Dennis Severs' House
50 min
