37 must-visit London museums in 2025

Step into the world-famous British Museum, the most visited museum in London*, and revel in its amazing collection of rare and historic artefacts from around the world. Highlights include the Rosetta Stone, Parthenon sculptures and Egyptian mummies.

Best for: History, ancient treasures, vast collections
Where: Bloomsbury (Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG)
Price: Free
Visitors per year: 6.7 million*

Explore our planet's living wonders at the Natural History Museum. Inside the striking building, favourites include the Dinosaurs gallery, the blue whale model and the state-of-the-art Darwin Centre, where you can see hundreds of specimens, as well as scientists at work.

Best for: Natural history, family activities, landmark Victorian building
Where: South Kensington (Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD)
Price: Free
Visitors per year: 5.2 million*

Don't miss Tate Modern, the iconic power station turned art gallery, which houses modern and contemporary art from round the world. See the latest installation in the massive Turbine Hall and admire works by Picasso, Bourgeois, Warhol, Rothko and more.

Best for: Contemporary art, special exhibitions, architecture
Where: Bankside (Bankside, SE1 9TG)
Price: Free
Visitors per year: 4.8 million*

Get hands-on at the Science Museum's interactive galleries and simulators. Trace the journey of scientific breakthroughs, then visit the in-house IMAX 3D cinema and take a trip deep underwater or zoom high up into space.

Best for: Science, interactive galleries, award-winning exhibitions
Where: South Kensington (Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD)
Price: Free
Visitors per year: 3.3 million*

Be dazzled by the eclectic art and design on offer at the Victoria and Albert Museum, one of the most famous and striking museums in London. Its vast collections include everything from ceramics and fashion to wallpapers and jewellery, spanning 5,000 years.

Best for: Art, design, fashion
Where: South Kensington (Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL)
Price: Free
Visitors per year: 3.2 million*

Explore the realities of modern wartime history, from the First World War to the present day, at one of the best museums in London, IWM London present day. Its permanent displays include Peace and Security, The Holocaust Exhibition and the First World War Galleries.

Best for: History of war, free exhibitions, expert talks
Where: Elephant and Castle (Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ)
Price: Free

Discover how public transport played a part in the development of London with a visit to the London Transport Museum. See the original artwork for Harry Beck’s Underground map, the world’s first Underground steam engine, old London Routemaster buses and more.

Best for: History of London's transport, iconic vehicles, interactive galleries
Where: Covent Garden (The Piazza, WC2E 7BB)
Price: £24.50 (free for children)

Chart Britain’s rich naval history at the National Maritime Museum, from sea battles to voyages into the unknown. Among the museum's free galleries, you can explore Polar Worlds, go on Pacific Encounters, see Turner's Battle of Trafalgar Gallery, and find unique exhibits such as the uniform Nelson was wearing at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Best for: Maritime history, art, kids activities
Where: Greenwich (Romney Road, SE10 9NF)
Price: Free

Spend a day at east London’s Young V&A, a favourite and one of the best London museums for kids looking to discover their inner artist. Get hands-on with interactive displays and workshops, then take to the amphitheatre-style stage to show off performance skills.

Best for: Art, children activities, interactive displays
Where: Bethnal Green (Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA)
Price: Free

The London Museum Docklands houses all manner of objects charting London’s history as a port. Exhibits found within this 200-year-old warehouse include Sailortown, recreating what life was like in 19th-century London; and London, Sugar and Slavery, about the capital’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Best for: History, free activities for children, Grade I-listed warehouse
Where: Canary Wharf (No 1 West India Quay, E14 4AL)
Price: Free

Take the ship's wheel, meet the crew and explore beneath the hull of Cutty Sark, the world's oldest surviving tea clipper. You'll uncover plenty of seafaring shenanigans and discover how the ship became the fastest of its kind during your time on board this Greenwich attraction.

Best for: Iconic boat, history, family activities
Where: Greenwich (King William Walk, SE10 9HT)
Price: £22

Experience the world of contemporary design at the sleek, modern Design Museum. Its exhibitions feature fashion, graphics, architecture and more, while its lineup of talks and events complements the stunning visual displays.

Best for: Design, architecture, fascinating exhibitions 
Where: Kensington (224-238 Kensington High Street, W8 6AG)
Price: Free

Marvel at space and time with Royal Observatory Greenwich's many attractions. Must-dos include straddling the Meridian Line, seeing a planetarium show and learning how a self-taught clockmaker made waves by solving the problem of longitude at sea.

Best for: History of space and time, Meridian Line, planetarium
Where: Greenwich (Greenwich Park, SE10 9NF)
Price: £24

See literary treasures, from Magna Carta to Shakespeare's First Folio and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook, in a permanent, free exhibition at the British Library. The UK’s national library also has a programme of world-class temporary exhibitions.

Best for: Literary treasures, free exhibitions, cultural events
Where: St Pancras (96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB)
Price: Free

Explore what it means to be human through science, medicine and psychology at the Wellcome Collection. Highlights include Darwin’s walking stick and Napoleon’s toothbrush. Look out for the schedule of thought-provoking talks and temporary exhibitions too.

Best for: Science, medicine, thought-provoking talks
Where: Euston (183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE)
Price: Free

Venture into the home of the famous fictional detective at the Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker Street. Inside his apartment, life-size waxworks recreate breakthrough moments in the place where he solved many of his baffling cases.

Best for: Sherlock Holmes memorabilia, famous detective's apartment, gift shop
Where: Westminster (221b Baker Street, NW1 6XE)
Price: £19

Spend a day at south London's popular Horniman Museum and Gardens, a favourite with children and fans of natural history and anthropology, and one of the most interesting museums in London. Visit the famous stuffed walrus, see the aquarium, play in the park and enjoy events for all the family.

Best for: Natural history, anthropology, quirky displays
Where: Forest Hill (100 London Road, SE23 3PQ)
Price: Free

Encounter the exciting history of Royal Mail and the postal service at the Postal Museum. For an extra thrill, take a ride on the Mail Rail, the subterranean train that ran from Whitechapel to Paddington and kept London’s communications flowing for more than 75 years.

Best for: History of Royal Mail, train ride, interactive exhibitions
Where: Clerkenwell (15-20 Phoenix Place, WC1X 0DA)
Price: £17.60

Located right at Horse Guards, the Household Cavalry Museum celebrates the history and people of this renowned regiment, founded in 1661. Take a closer look at sharp uniforms, see troopers preparing their horses, and try on helmets and pieces of armour.

Best for: History, tradition, rare exhibits
Where: Westminster (Horse Guards, SW1A 2AX)
Price: £10

Uncover the history of the Bank of England from its beginnings in 1694 to the present day at the Bank of England Museum. Get your hands on a real gold bar and capture the moment with a selfie in the Bank's "gold corridor".

Best for: Historic items, economy, banking system
Where: Bank (Bartholomew Lane, EC2R 8AH)
Price: Free

Discover London’s rich Jewish culture, heritage and identity at the Camden-based Jewish Museum. Temporary exhibitions sit alongside permanent galleries on the Holocaust, Jewish ceremonial art and the history of Jewish life in Britain.

Best for: History, Jewish culture, heritage
Where: Camden (Raymond Burton House, NW1 7NB)
Price: Free

See the building where the great writer himself lived from 1837 to 1839. The Charles Dickens Museum spotlights the real life of a man best known for his fiction. Carefully restored rooms showcase the museum’s collection of letters, pictures and books, as well as temporary exhibitions.

Best for: Dickens memorabilia, literature, temporary exhibitions
Where: King’s Cross (48-49 Doughty Street, WC1N 2LX)
Price: £12.50

Witness the touching story of the Foundling Hospital, the first home for abandoned babies in London, at the Foundling Museum. Alongside the children's scant belongings are tokens left by their mothers, plus artworks by the likes of Hogarth and Reynolds.

Best for: History, artworks, events
Where: Camden (40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ)
Price: £12.75 (free for children)

Enjoy the delights of the Wallace Collection, a historic London townhouse whose 28 elaborate rooms are decorated with outstanding art. Visit the armouries, see paintings by Titian, Hals and Velázquez, and admire 18th-century French treasures – some once owned by Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Best for: Old Master paintings, decorative arts, world-class armouries
Where: Marylebone (Hertford House, W1U 3BN)
Price: Free

Step into Sigmund Freud's study and see his famous couch at the Freud Museum, located in the former home of the famous psychoanalyst. Discover his journey from Nazi-occupied Vienna to London, and muse on the inner workings of the mind.

Best: Freud's house, displays, psychoanalysis
Where: Camden (20 Maresfield Gardens, NW3 5SX)
Price: £14.50

Explore Sir John Soane's Museum, the architect of the Bank of England's former home. The house, untouched for almost 180 years, contains some 30,000 architectural drawings, as well as antiquities, artworks by Hogarth and Turner, and the sarcophagus of King Seti I.

Best for: Architectural drawings, antiquities, paintings
Where: Holborn (13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP)
Price: Free

Step back in time to the days when London’s canals were bustling with traders, boat dwellers and cargo – and its streets full of the clip-clop of horses pulling the boats and carts. Located in a former ice warehouse, the London Canal Museum even has a preserved ice well inside.

Best for: History of London's canals, ice industry, Regent's Canal location
Where: King’s Cross (12/13 New Wharf Road, N1 9RT)
Price: £7.50

Delve into the world of English Romantic poet John Keats at Keats House, the Grade I-listed building and garden where he once lived. The museum features paintings, prints and other objects belonging to him and his peers.

Best for: Keats memorabilia, poetry, historic house
Where: Hampstead (10 Keats Grove, NW3 2RR)
Price: £9 (free for children)

Revisit your childhood through the packaging and adverts of decades gone by. One of the quirkiest specialist museums in London, the Museum of Brands has more than 12,000 items, dating back as far as Victorian times, including sweets, household products and more.

Best for: Nostalgia, history of advertising, quirky displays
Where: Notting Hill (111-117 Lancaster Road, W11 1QT)
Price: £11.50

As any enthusiast of period dramas know, fans have all kinds of uses, from cooling to gossiping. Discover more about their history and see stunning examples from the 18th and 19th centuries inside the beautiful environs of the Fan Museum in Greenwich.

Best for: Exquisite fan collections, Japanese-style garden, fascinating gift shop
Where: Greenwich (12 Crooms Hill, SE10 8ER)
Price: £5

Find out about the history of the armed forces at the National Army Museum. Relive the heritage of the army from the English Civil War to the modern day, through a showcase of thousands of historical objects.

Best for: History of the Army, historical objects, exhibitions
Where: Chelsea (Royal Hospital Road, SW3 4HT)
Price: Free

Ever shared a drink with a lion? No? Well, now's your chance. Join Leonora, the full-sized taxidermy lioness, for a drink from the absinthe-inspired cocktail list at The Last Tuesday Society. Then, venture downstairs to Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and UnNatural History to discover more strange, shocking and sometimes macabre collections. One of the best museums in London for quirky and eclectic displays!

Best for: Eclectic objects, quirky art, absinthe parlour
Where: Hackney (11 Mare Street, E8 4RP)
Price: £12 (free for the absinthe parlour and galleries)

Fly back in time and discover the history of aviation at the Royal Air Force Museum. Learn about the earliest balloon flight, see the impressive collection of more than 100 aircraft and test your pilot skills in a 4D flying experience.

Best for: History of aviation, aircraft collection, wartime memorabilia
Where: Edgware (Grahame Park Way, NW9 5LL)
Price: Free

Go behind the scenes at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, the home of tennis in the UK. Take a tour of the famous grounds and learn about the players who found fame there. Sports fans should also check out London’s other sports tours.

Best for: Tennis, guided tour, sport history
Where: Wimbledon (Church Road, SW19 5AE)
Price: £15 (museum only), £30 (museum and tour)

Serve your time at the Clink Prison Museum, a recreated medieval prison located on the site of the original Clink. Discover the history of the gaol and its rowdy neighbourhood, and find out what it was like to be an inmate at one of England’s most notorious prisons.

Best for: Quirky museum, famous prison, family fun
Where: Bankside (1 Clink Street, SE1 9DG)
Price: £8

A pioneering centre of contemporary fashion, textiles and jewellery, the Fashion and Textile Museum was founded by colourful British design legend Zandra Rhodes. As well as permanent and temporary exhibitions, it runs courses for creatives.

Best for: Fashion, jewellery, creative courses
Where: Bermondsey (83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF)
Price: £11.50

Take a tranquil moment to celebrate British gardens and gardening at the riverside Garden Museum. Explore its temporary exhibitions before venturing into the garden to see the words and pictures come to life.

Best for: History of gardening, garden-inspired art, temporary exhibitions
Where: Waterloo (5 Lambeth Place Road, SE1 7LB)
Price: Free