Be warned you have to walk up a hill to get here but the views are great once you do and you will…read morefind yourself near the Prime Meridian a line that changes traveling forever. I've been to a lot of planetariums as my kid has an interest. I was expecting a lot of stars and space but gladly found this spot was all about longitude and latitude and how one instrument made traveling the ocean so much easier. I learned a lot here. Small but mighty in info. Make sure to take part in some of the free tours they offer to get the real historical point of view. Oh and make sure to be there at 1pm each day to see the ball drop. I won't explain as I will let you discover that on your own.

We hiked up the hill to the Royal Observatory but we decided not to pay the admission fee of about…read more£20. There is joint admission that includes the Royal Observatory and the Cutty Sark for £38. We did enjoy observatory park and the fantastic views of London. We also got to see the "ball drop" at 1pm which used to be how ships in the harbor could calibrate their clocks. Well worth the hike up the hill just for the view.

We were in London during a heat wave and decided a museum day was in order, to entertain our…read morechildren away from the scorching sun. We settled on the Natural History Museum, and by the time we realized it would provide but faint relief, it was too late to go somewhere else. The Natural History Museum is one of London's spectacular free museums, a beautiful building on Exhibition Road in South Kensington. We were not, apparently, the only family who decided to visit on this hot Thursday afternoon in July, and we ended up waiting in a long, slow line, completely exposed to the sun. They might have put up some umbrellas, but I guess the weather was atypical. Once we were in, we learned that the museum is an old, historic building without much in the way of air conditioning. It was crowded and steamy in there, though still preferable to being outside. There were also a few newer exhibition halls that had proper AC. Thankfully, my three-year-old has a lifelong fascination with fans, and there were dozens of these on display, giant machines designed to ventilate large spaces. He was, in fact, more into these than he was into the dinosaurs, which scared the bejeezus out of him. The museum was definitely top tier, with tons of interesting exhibits to entertain both children and adults. We entered right into Hintze Hall, where a full blue whale skeleton hung suspended over our heads. We also admired a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, dating back to the beginning of our solar system. The dinosaur hall was excellent, even if the animatronic T-rex made my little boy cry. We fell prey to one of the photo op stops, and I definitely paid for the downloads like a sucker--what, was I not gonna own the silly green screen pictures of my family among dinosaurs, and more importantly, looking at a camera at the same time? The mammal hall was cool, though I have to say, I missed the grand diorama displays of the mammal halls I've seen back home. We went into a newer exhibit on how to fix our broken planet, mostly for the air conditioning. My kids were less into the conservation stuff than the dinosaurs and fans, but I thought it was quite well done. I actually stopped buying beef treats for my dog as a result of one of the placards, which talked about the impact on the planet of using beef for pet food. We went to two gift shops, the one by the dinosaur hall and the main one near the entrance, and both were quite nice, with lots to look at for our kids. We allowed them to buy stuffies, and our three-year-old bought a tiny dodo and a tiny ankylosaurus (on theme, good job), while our six-year-old bought a flamingo to add to his flamingo collection. If there was a flamingo display at the museum, we missed it, though I suppose I wouldn't be surprised. I can tell by looking at the map now that we missed plenty. We spent a little time in the cafe, for fans and beverages, and I realized as we were leaving that I'd left my sunglasses there over an hour earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to find it at the register waiting for me. We take the kids to natural history museums at home, and I have no doubt we'd make good use of this one if we were raising them nearby. It's a wonderful place, expansive and educational, a truly amazing free resource to anyone spending time in London.

Lots of bones! Plenty of old stuff! Great turn-of-the-century over-the-top ornate architecture!…read morePlan on an hour unless you're hardcore. Ride the escalator into the middle of the earth to find out what music is playing inside. See extraordinary taxidermy handiwork. Even see a fake dodo bird thought to be an adjacent species that didn't exist. And if you like dinosaurs this is your Mecca. Just don't dare sit anywhere like on some stairs in the corner or some overzealous guard will kick you right out. But otherwise you'll have a great time. Also enjoy the outside grounds for a stroll, and hit up the West entrance for zero lines while the hoards line up on the other side.

Outstanding world class science museum. Mostly technology oriented or applied science. It consist…read moreof five floors, with different themes: flight, energy, information age, mathematics, medicine, engineering, technicians, space, etc. Great place to bring the family and lots of hands-on exhibits for the kids as well as the adults. plan to spend a full day there.

Okay, I didn't spend too much time here, but like a lot of London's museums it is free, which I…read morehave to admit is pretty awesome. This, as the name implies, is basically a science museum, and it is where you can find a couple of models of the difference engine created by Charles Babbage (though I'm not sure if they can be used, but apparently even though he never got to build it, it does work). It's pretty cool, and it's a great museum for those, like me, who are science heads.

Battlebridge Basin is one of the larger basins on the Regent's Canal, located just north of King's…read moreCross station. It's home to the London Canal Museum, housing and offices, as well as the brand new 'Kings Place' office and cultural centre. The Regents Canal opened from Paddington to Camden in 1816 and throughout to the basin at Limehouse in 1820. Battlebridge Basin, originally called Horsfall Basin, was opened in 1822. Like the other basins, it was originally intended for the trans-shipment of goods to and from the canals. Among the unusual cargoes carried were ice - imported from Norway from the 1820s - used for making (among other things) ice cream. The former ice warehouse is now the London Canal Museum. Over the years, goods traffic declined, due largely to competition from the railways and then the roads, although some traffic continued until the late 1960s. The canal basin was privately owned until 2000 when it was purchased by British Waterways. The basin has since been redeveloped and gentrified, and provides moorings as well as an attractive urban space. Since 1989 it has been the home of the London Canal Museum, and in 2008 the Kings Place development opened, with a cafe, restaurant, art gallery space and two auditoriums for music recitals and concerts. NB: The main towpath is on the other side of the canal from the basin. Access (except by boat) is easiest via the Canal Museum, as most of the moorings are private. For information about boat moorings, contact British Waterways' London Office on (020) 7985 7200. The museum itself opened in 1992 and is based in a former ice warehouse, dating from the 1860s. The main hall includes a view down into one of the two large circular ice stores. The museum tells the story of canals in general, and in particular how the canal network developed around London. There's a small section of a narrow boat which illustrates how the canal families lived, a small tractor used from the 1940s onwards in place of horses on some of the London canals, and a wide range of smaller canal items. The upstairs is largely given over to exhibition space, showing newsreels from the 1920s-50s depicting canal life in London, wildlife in canals and the story of canal restoration. Downstairs there's access to the side of the Battlebridge Basin, from where the museum runs canal trips in the summer. By the entrance there's a small shop selling books and souvenirs. Staff a friendly and very knowledgable. A diverting hour or so if you are in the Kings Cross area.

I'm glad we stopped in this museum. It was very interesting! Bonus points for the opportunity to…read morestep outside onto the canal walk. Make sure you watch the video upstairs for some rare peeks at the canal and area long ago (humor included).

Somerset house is supposed to have a great ice skating rink and holiday d decorations right in the…read morecenter of London. If I'd known about that in advance I would have never come as I never developed skills to ice skate having lived all my life in California. Normally I would not pay money to see a museums in London as all the big government funded museums for the public are free of charge for entry. However we were walking down the embankment area next to the Thames and came across free public bathrooms something unheard of in Europe. The bathrooms were connected to a restaurant which was part of the somerset house. Wife and I feeling relieved gladly paid the money for the entry fee. Several buildings with paintings and photographs from around the world both of people and of animals in their natural setting. Looked like a series of pictures from covers of national geographic magazines. Ended up paying 30 GBP or $39 for two entries, an expensive public bathroom visit.

Funky little art gallery / museum in a historic building…read more When I was passing by I saw this strange exhibition called 'Cute'. I didn't expect to see this pop-art show here. I'm going to make this a regular stop while in London because I like the weirdness of it all.

The staff are very friendly and efficient with getting everyone in the museum…read more Didn't care for the rappers, Rianna, and Beyonce. Thought they could do better with representing famous actors.

Every location of Madame Tussaud's is a little different - always uniquely tailored towards the…read morelocal culture and geography. This one has geographically irrelevant exhibits such as the theme park ride The Spirit of London, collection of various heads of State and royalty, and of course, media celebrities unique to the United Kingdom. This one location seems uniquely interactive as I've never seen attendees touching the wax figurines as much as here. The chamber of horror section here is focused on England's darker past. And there is currently a Marvel 4-D theater experience included in the entrance fee. on peak days the pre-reserved double Price ticket with a time slot might be convenient for the longer lines that conform here. Otherwise the wait time in queue is not very long and you might as well save your funds for more merchandise purchases from the gift shop within.

Big! Giant! Huge Collection! I think that describes this museum. Be prepared to spend at least half…read moreday here. For fast pace like me, it takes us 3 hours. This museum need reservations ahead of time. It is free to public. The museum is popular, if you try to get in at the day arrive, you have to hope not many reserve the ticket. The museum has a lot room with different regions in the world. Many of the collection even the host country doesn't have it. The Egypt collection includes the many types of mummies. This collection not even the Egypt has it. The entrance basically enter to the round section that connected to the different room. You may need a good leg to walk entire museum. They also have folding chairs that you can use and portable to open at the display.

Late Saturday afternoon in the summer:…read more The Good: *Admission is free! *No cattle crowd lines for security check, I basically walked up. *The new (compared to the original) Grand Courtyard is stunning and a fantastic photo op. *Enlightenment Room 1 is literally the coolest place in the summer. *The Rosetta Stone, Room 4 is a don't miss. *ditto the Tang dynasty figures and China history which was eye-opening in Room 33. Jade story was interesting too in Room 33a. The Bad: *Probably because it's free, the place is super crowded with students, elderly, tourists and large tour groups of all stripes. *The security line was empty because everyone was already inside. *Most of the rooms are hot in summer. I was sweating and clammy. I was surprised people weren't fainting due to the stuffy air. *You have about 10 seconds to see the Rosetta Stone due to the crowd who also don't want to miss it. *Enlightenment Room 1 was filled with people sitting and resting and cooling off in the library-like space. *Special exhibition-Declaring Independence, USA 250 was super small but I guess appropriate given the British lost the war. Room 3. I forgot I had already been to the British Museum 12 years ago. I think I've seen enough but maybe return in the midweek and when it isn't so hot. Sometimes the museum closes early due to the heat.

The London Film Museum is essentially the James Bond Museum, with the "Bond in Motion" exhibits…read moreoccupying the vast majority of the space. It is a rather small museum though, and even if you take the time to look at every detail, one to two hours will be more than enough. The main exhibits are the hot cars that 007 gets to drive, as well as a few other cool surprises - remember the car that turned into a submarine when it hit the water (The Spy Who Loved Me)? Or the plane with folded wings that emerged from a trailer (Octopussy)? Many of those exhibits include detailed specifications as well as videos of the scenes that highlight the vehicles. Some exhibits also play the theme songs in the background. Other memorabilia that Bond fans would love include original costumes, props, photo of backstage scenes, theatrical posters, etc. Admission is GBP14.50 (about USD18), which is rather expensive for such a small place (hence only 4 stars). But Bond fans, don't you dare say it's too expensive so you'll never go. Never Say Never Again! You Only Live Twice! You can go tomorrow since Tomorrow Never Dies. Go see it with your own Golden Eye. After all, this museum is For Your Eyes Only...

007 fans, you do NOT want to miss this!! This was only ever meant to be a temporary museum, but was…read moreso successful, they've opened it indefinitely. What you'll find in here is gold if you're a Bond fan; from the first ever original car insurance deal for filming, props used in the films like passports, keys, money to a range of vehicles used throughout all the films - it's well worth the money. Here's a tip - buying tickets online is actually more expensive than in person, only by a couple of pounds, but when there's six of you going, that's 6 coffees I could buy at Pret a Manger around the corner!!!! Keep your change, and buy when you get there.