I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum about two weeks ago. I think the V&A might be the first…read moremuseum I ever loved. I remember going as a little girl, seeing their fashion gallery, and falling in love. I hadn't been in years, and I was excited to see it through my adult eyes that have visited a lot more museum than 12-year-old me. The museum is incredible. It's enormous, labyrinthine. I got lost repeatedly. But it's the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design, so that's no surprise. I had a glass of wine in the Garden Cafe, while I studied the map. Then we went up the Ceramic Staircase (a incredible architectural feature that dates back to 1865-1871) and wandered through gallery after gallery (Tapestries, Theatre & Performance, Photography Centre). We probably saw 8% of the museum's galleries. Then it was time for us to make our way to the exhibition "Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art." This exhibit was incredible, showcasing designs by Elsa Schiaperelli back in the 1920s all the way to the present (designs by the fashion house's current creative director Daniel Roseberry). Since the fashion gallery is closed until 2028, it was great to see some fashion on my first visit to the V&A in at least a decade. The museum is free to visit (exhibits have an admission cost), and it's an incredible museum - well worth a visit for anyone visiting London for the first time or the 100th. Even if you just have a half hour, you can't go wrong with a stroll through this incredible, beautiful museum.

Date: August 29, 2026…read more Experience: I will say this about each museum we got to stop by at during our tour: "I wish I could've stayed there longer." Our restroom breaks on the tour were sometimes at museums since museum entry was free in the UK, which I am totally jealous of because I come from the US and we pay to enter museums. We had about 30 minutes to use the restroom and to look around at the displays on top of checking out the gift shop. If memory serves me right, this museum displayed the best of the best from the different countries. My mom and I explored as much as we could with the little time we had, with my interests being perked by the religious items on display to only discover sections for Asian countries and a whole two rooms housing gigantic statues and artwork. I took as many pictures as I could to view for later, but we only made a small dent on what we could see with the little time we had. I did end up getting postcards from the gift shop that also housed so many different items to pick from related to both the museum and just the UK in general. Hands down would go back in the future to check it out fully.

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.

Better than Cadbury's or any BS french chocolate, the most tasty and filling chocolate in the…read moreworld. The staff there are very nice if you want to book a chocolate-making workshop!

From the owner: The only place in London where you can make, taste and learn about chocolate.read more

Tate Britain is a museum with the collection of some great Art work. I most enjoyed the display of…read moreart works of JMW Turner. The collection being called as "JMW Turner: Rise to Fame" is a beautiful collection of different art works created over several years by the artist. The works are displayed in a certain order. Admired closely along with the notes on display, almost feels like a story being told. Post the viewing of the entire collection, we stopped by to watch the 30 mins documentary being played on the artist and his works, it feels so good and achieved coz the documentary is such a great depiction and familiarisation of those paintings, the rationale of the order of their display and the history associated. The viewing felt like I was revising my already learnt syllabus :-). After finishing the documentary, then went back to see a couple of works again as some of those had been magnified and shown to such detail in the documentary that I got even more curious to have a second look! We took so much time to watch this collection, rather admire it, that rest of the collections din seem to impress us comparatively as much and hence we spent just a couple of hours to view the rest of the series. ** we love viewing art at all the museums that we come across, be it in other locations in the UK such as the beautiful assimilation in the museums in Scotland, in Italy particularly Florence and in Rome, in Austria, in Chicago and in London!! Art is never admired enough even if one as me is not much of a painter or a sculptor themselves :-b

If you want to see a specific exhibition be sure to book in advance. Sadly we missed out on the…read moreexhibition we went to see, it was sold out all day. Luckily, the permanent collection is amazing.

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.

Crowded and Hot…read more There are some awesome artifacts here. It is questionable how these items were obtained. You should visit this museum on a trip to London. I do LOVE how they had a USA 250 exhibit.

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.

My very kind & generous sister treated us to lunch at The Keeper's House restaurant located on the…read moregrounds of this lovely place. Afterward we went to the Oceania exhibition which was really fascinating. From historic to contemporary, there was plenty to see. There are about 200 artifacts that range over a 500 year span. From shell, greenstone and ceramic ornaments, to huge canoes and stunning god images, you travel from room to room mesmerized by the craftsmanship & artistry. Please note that there are some human remains used in some of the displays. Really fascinating! The academy is based in the Burlington House which used to be the private residence of the Earl of Burlington. It's absolutely gorgeous! The institution is an independent & privately funded which got us the reservation at The Keeper's House. While this is not the usual museum or art gallery, this place is worth the trip.

My husband and I visited the Royal Academy of Arts a couple of weeks ago when we were visiting…read moreLondon for a few days. I'd never visited before and didn't know what to expect! The Royal Academy of Arts has an incredible and interesting history. It dates back to 1768, when it was founded through a personal act of King George III with a mission "to establish a school or academy of design for the use of students in the arts." Joshua Reynolds was its first president, but the Royal Academy has had dozens if not hundreds of famous leaders and students throughout its history. The Royal Academy's building in Piccadilly is beautiful, but it's not large. There is some art displayed in a few rooms of the building, but the main draw (certainly ours when we visited recently) is the large upstairs space used for the Academy's temporary exhibits. When we visited (and through October 25, 2026), the temporary exhibit is "Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam." Dadd was a student of the Royal Academy School. In the 1840s, he was becoming known as a painter of Shakespearean fairy scenes and paintings of his travels across the Mediterranean when he suffered a psychotic break and killed his father. He spent the rest of his life as a patient in two different psychiatric hospitals in London where he continued to produce oil paintings and watercolors. The exhibit was incredible. In addition to everything else, the Royal Academy has to offer, there's a little cafe in front of the museum, where lots of people were enjoying coffees and pastries on a beautiful day. Especially as the museum is in such a convenient location, with other attractions, amazing shops, restaurants, and bars around it, the Royal Academy is a great museum to include on a London itinerary - especially if you're interested in the temporary exhibit!

I absolutely love this place…read more The gallery is decked out in Monet, Van Gogh and Holbein. The best piece in this gallery is the execution of Jane grey(in my opinion). Additionally, the gift shop had the cutest totes and post cards. You can honestly spend the whole day here if you wanted to. The only downside was the fact that the place was busy beyond imagination.

This is a really great museum. It's free, and it's at Trafalgar Square, so even if museums aren't…read morereally your thing, you can stop in. You will see a lot of famous pieces and a lot you haven't seen. We started out looking at a lot of religious art, and some of that is SO ancient. There is a painting from the 1200s! But that does get, uh, old to me soon. Good news is they have lots of other things as well through other artistic styles and eras. There is a restaurant and a cafe, I think. We didn't eat there (went to a Greek restaurant down the street instead - called The Real Greek, if you are interested). They have a couple lovely gift shops with lots of art books and activity books, and a lot of art supplies including some gorgeous rough rag-paper sketchbooks that I am pining for right now, though I do probably have enough other sketchbooks to last the rest of my life, unless I start to draw much faster. I am such a sucker for a good museum gift shop. I did prefer the one on the second floor.

This was by far the most interesting site we visited in London! We bought tickets a few days in…read moreadvance and came at 3p. There was no line and someone came to the door to get us. We checked in and grabbed out audio tour. There was a kid's version of the audio guide and it was great! You start off walking through the space and learning a bunch of history. A little before midway is the museum, which we spent of our time in. The exhibits and displays were very well put together and interactive. From there, we continue on the one-way path and saw where they did the mapping, which was largely unchanged and was my favorite room. We were there about 2 hours and felt that we saw everything.

My husband and I visited the Churchill War Rooms when we were in London for a few days about two…read moreweeks ago, and it was fascinating. The Churchill War Rooms is a museum that allows you to visit the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground complex that housed a British government command center through the Second World War. Before the War, the British government estimated that aerial bombing of London could potentially kill 200,000 individuals per week. That ended up being an overestimation, but the British government knew they would need a secure place to run the government during bombing raids. The construction of the Cabinet War Rooms is the result. The War Rooms weren't in use by many staff at all times of the War, but they were used throughout the War. Churchill hated being in the War Rooms and was reluctant to spend much time there. When you visit, you can wander through the War Rooms. You can see the Cabinet Room through glass (the room where Churchill and his advisors met with the three chiefs of Staff). You can see the Map Room, Office-Bedrooms of important staff, Clementine Churchill's room, Churchill's Office-Bedroom, and more. There's also a Churchill Museum - a fairly large museum with Churchill artifacts and that tells the whole history of Churchill's life before, after, and during the War. The Churchill War Rooms are incredible and well worth a visit for anyone interested in the Second World War or Churchill. However, I had read that the museum gets very busy and crowded. That made me nervous, because I get grumpy in crowded spaces and inevitably just run through the space without paying much attention so that I can get out of there. Then I learned that they offer an early-bird tour, a guided tour that starts before the museum opens for the day. It costs about 20 pounds more than general admission, which I think is totally worth it. Since the tour occurs before the museum opens to the public and is guided, you can see and experience the museum in a much more in-depth way. Our tour guide was incredible. I learned so much from her. After the tour, you can get a headset and then head back into the museum to see any space you missed (the Churchill Museum is not included on the tour, so we wandered back to see some of that). Our tour started at 8:30 am, and when they let the public in at 9:30, the museum became totally packed! I didn't make it much longer since I couldn't get close to much with so many people in the museum. I highly recommend the early bird guided tour. But if that's not for you, I would recommend going later in the day. If you go when they open, you'll be going in with hundreds of people. Later in the day at least admission has been staggered! There's incredible history at the Churchill War Rooms. Incredible history to see and learn about. I think almost anyone would enjoy a visit here. I highly recommend it on a trip to London.

The Wallace Collection is a free museum in a beautiful townhome near Manchester Square. I visited…read morewith my husband about two weeks ago to see their current temporary exhibit (more on that below), and we had a great visit. The museum is located in the former townhouse of the Seymore family - the Marquesses of Hertford. The museum is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built a collection of fine and decorative arts from the 1th to the 19th centuries along, with the Marquesses of Hertford. The collection opened to public view in 1900. The townhouse itself is gorgeous. From the second I walked in and saw the staircase in the Entrance Hall, I knew I was in for a treat. With several gorgeous rooms, the museum is worth visiting to see a beautifully preserved 19th century London townhome. Each room has beautiful chandeliers, furniture, paintings, sculptures, and more. The museum also has a collection of European arms and armor, which take several rooms to display. In addition to their permanent collections, they also show temporary exhibitions. Right now and through November 29, their exhibit is "Winston Churchill: The Painter," which is the first major retrospective of Sir Winston Churchill's paintings since his death and brings together more than 50 of his works (half of which come from private collections). While visiting the museum is free, there is a fee to visit the temporary exhibit (20 pounds for adults, 18 if you buy online ahead of time). The exhibit was incredible and well worth a visit. I learned a lot about Churchill that I didn't know prior to the exhibit (most of what I knew about him concerned his political leadership), and I found many of his paintings quite beautiful and moving. Whether you're visiting for a temporary exhibit or just to see the townhouse and its permanent collection, the Wallace Collection is incredible. It's a special museum in London, well worth including on an itinerary for a trip to London.

I went to see the exhibition of Churchill paintings. It was absolutely stunning! It was well…read morecurated, and the audio guide really gave you a sense of importance of painting in his life. I walked through the rest of the collection, which is almost overwhelming. There is a lot to see there. You really do need to use the audio guide, because there is so much art in a small space. I also appreciated the staff. They were helpful, without being intrusive. One of the things I enjoy the most was that people there were truly interested in art. They stopped and looked. Unlike the crowd at the National Gallery, which just went up to a painting, took a photo, and left without ever even looking at it.