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Complete Guide to London's Museums

London has more world-class museums than any other city and the majority are free. Here is the full landscape organised by subject.

History & Archaeology

British Museum (world civilisations, 2 million years, free). Museum of London at Docklands (city history from Roman to today, free). Sir John Soane's Museum (Holborn, eccentric house-museum, free). Geffrye Museum / Museum of the Home (Hoxton, domestic interiors through history, free). Horniman Museum (Forest Hill, world cultures & natural history, free).

Art

National Gallery (1250–1900 European painting, free). Tate Modern (modern & contemporary, free). Tate Britain (British art 1500–present, free). National Portrait Gallery (portraits of notable British figures, free). Wallace Collection (18th-century French & Old Masters, free). Courtauld Gallery (Impressionist & Post-Impressionist masterworks, ticketed). Dulwich Picture Gallery (oldest public gallery in England, ticketed). Saatchi Gallery (contemporary, free).

Science & Nature

Natural History Museum (80m specimens, free). Science Museum (five floors, free). Wellcome Collection (medicine, science & art, free). Royal Observatory Greenwich (ticketed, Prime Meridian). Kew Gardens (botanic, ticketed).

Military & Maritime

Imperial War Museum (all conflicts from WWI, free). National Maritime Museum (Greenwich, free). Cutty Sark (Greenwich, ticketed). RAF Museum Hendon (free).

Specialist & Unusual

Dennis Severs' House (Spitalfields, ticketed living history). V&A Museum of Childhood (Bethnal Green, free). London Transport Museum (Covent Garden, ticketed). Freud Museum (Hampstead, ticketed). Bank of England Museum (City, free).

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