Free Entry
The British Museum
History & ArchaeologyBloomsbury, WC1B
A museum of the world, for the world
Museums in London
There are 194 museums, galleries and heritage sites in Greater London on MuseumsUK, and 98 of them are free. Below they are grouped by the area you can walk between them in — because the useful question in London is rarely "which museum is best", it is "which ones can I do in one afternoon".
194London museums
98Free to enter
95Wheelchair access
2,758UK-wide profiles
Quick Answers
- Best free museum, if you only have one afternoon
- The British Museum for world history, or the National Gallery for painting. Both free, both central, both about a fifteen-minute walk apart.
- Best area if you want several museums in one day
- South Kensington — the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and V&A are within 300 m of each other and all three are free. Greenwich is the runner-up, with six sites inside 700 m.
- With children
- The Natural History Museum and Science Museum are next door to each other and both free. Young V&A in Bethnal Green is built specifically around younger visitors.
- Do I need to book?
- Sometimes, even where entry is free — several national museums use free timed-entry tickets at busy periods. Booking requirements are recorded on each profile page rather than guessed at here.
- Step-free access
- 95 of the 194 London sites record wheelchair access. Provision differs enormously between a national museum and a listed historic house, so every profile lists physical, sensory and assistance detail separately.
Start Here
Three free national collections, each worth a half-day on its own
Free Entry
Free Entry
Victoria and Albert Museum
Art & DesignSouth Kensington, SW7
The world's leading museum of art, design and performance
Free Entry
Natural History Museum
Natural SciencesSouth Kensington, SW7
Explore the natural world
The Essential Twelve
| Museum | Area | Subject | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| The British Museum | Bloomsbury, WC1B | World history & archaeology | Free |
| National Gallery | Trafalgar Square, WC2N | European painting, 13th–19th c. | Free |
| Tate Modern | Bankside, SE1 | Modern & contemporary art | Free |
| Natural History Museum | South Kensington, SW7 | Natural sciences | Free |
| Victoria and Albert Museum | South Kensington, SW7 | Art, design & performance | Free |
| Science Museum | South Kensington, SW7 | Science & technology | Free |
| Tate Britain | Millbank, SW1P | British art from 1500 | Free |
| National Portrait Gallery | Trafalgar Square, WC2H | Portraiture | Free |
| Imperial War Museum | Lambeth, SE1 | Conflict & its consequences | Free |
| National Maritime Museum | Greenwich, SE10 | Seafaring & exploration | Free |
| Sir John Soane's Museum | Holborn, WC2A | An architect's own collection | Free |
| The Wallace Collection | Marylebone, W1U | Old Masters, arms & armour | Free |
London Museums by Area
London's museums cluster tightly. These six areas each hold several within easy walking distance of one another — the practical way to plan a day.
South Kensington
Three national museums share one street corner, and all six sites listed here are free to enter — the shortest walk between major collections anywhere in London.
Bloomsbury & Holborn
The largest cluster by count. The British Museum anchors it, but the specialist collections around it — a toy museum, a zoology teaching collection, an architect's house left exactly as he arranged it — are the reason to linger.
- The British MuseumFree
- Sir John Soane's MuseumFree
- Grant Museum of ZoologyFree
- The Foundling MuseumTicket
- Cartoon MuseumTicket
- Pollock's Toy MuseumTicket
- Library & Museum of FreemasonryFree
- Charles Dickens MuseumTicket
Trafalgar Square & Whitehall
Two free national galleries face each other across one square, with the wartime bunker, the transport museum and the Courtauld's Impressionists all inside a ten-minute walk.
Bankside & Southwark
A riverside walk rather than a district: a power station turned art gallery at one end, a reconstructed Elizabethan theatre next door, and some of London's strangest small museums in between.
The City
The Square Mile hides its museums inside working institutions — a Roman temple in a bank's basement, the Bank of England's own gold, a hospital museum that has been on the same site for nine centuries. Several are free; check opening days on each profile, as some keep office hours.
Greenwich
The most self-contained museum day in London, and the one that justifies the river boat. A maritime national museum, a tea clipper in dry dock, a Palladian house and the observatory the world sets its clocks by, all in one park.
Free Museums in London
98 of London's 194 museums cost nothing to enter — just over half
Free entry in London means the permanent collection. Temporary exhibitions inside an otherwise free museum are usually ticketed separately, and a handful of free national museums ask you to reserve a free timed slot at peak times. Where a museum records a suggested donation or a booking requirement, it is on that museum's own profile page.
Browse London by Interest
Every count below is the number of London museums in that category
London Guides
Longer reads for when you have chosen the area but not the day
London Museums: Common Questions
How many museums are there in London?
MuseumsUK holds detailed profiles for 194 museums, galleries and heritage sites across Greater London. 98 of them are free to enter and 96 charge for general admission. That count includes university collections, regimental museums and historic houses, not just the national institutions.
Which museums in London are free?
98 of the 194 London museums in our directory are free, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the V&A, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum and the Wallace Collection. Special exhibitions inside a free museum are usually ticketed separately.
Which London museums are closest together?
South Kensington is the densest cluster: the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, V&A and the Clockmakers' Museum all sit within about 300 metres of one another, and all four are free. Greenwich is next, with the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory inside roughly 700 metres.
Which London museums are best with children?
The four free, large-collection museums with dedicated provision for children are the Natural History Museum and Science Museum in South Kensington — which are next door to each other — Young V&A in Bethnal Green, and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The London Transport Museum in Covent Garden is ticketed, but its adult ticket is an annual pass rather than a single visit.
Are London museums wheelchair accessible?
95 of the 194 London museums in our directory record wheelchair access. Provision varies a great deal between a purpose-built national museum and a listed historic house, so each profile page lists the physical, sensory and assistance details recorded for that specific site rather than reducing it to a single yes-or-no flag.
Do I need to book London museums in advance?
It varies by museum and by season. Several free national museums operate free timed-entry booking at peak periods even though entry costs nothing. Booking requirements, and the museum's own booking link where one exists, are recorded on each individual profile page — we do not summarise them here, because they change.
Beyond London
London is 194 of the 2,758+ expertly curated UK museum profiles on MuseumsUK
- South East England
- South West England
- East of England
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- North West England
- North East England
- Yorkshire & the Humber
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland
- A–Z of every museum
Museum counts drawn from the MuseumsUK database. New museums are added weekly.