This guide of best museums in London It will help you complete the cultural offer on your trip to this historic European city, which we are sure, will become one of your favorites in the world.
In addition, all these museums, the vast majority free, will allow you to learn and learn about many disciplines in a pleasant way, thanks to their good organization and accessibility.
Based on the experience of our numerous trips to one of the cities with the greatest cultural offer in the world and the visit to most of its museums, some of them on several occasions, we have made this list of those that are for us, the 5 most essential free and paid London museums, according to our preferences. We start!
1. British Museum
On a trip to London you can not miss the visit to the British Museum, the third most visited museum in the world, behind the Louvre in Paris and the New York Metropolitan.
Although the origin and doubtful methods of how some of the great pieces were achieved, are not exempt from controversy, the conservation task and the value for the knowledge of the history of humanity that this museum has represented must be valued.
There are several essential works to see in the British Museum such as the Rosette Stone, the mummy room, the Elgin Marbles, the Moai Hoa Hakananai'a, the Chess of the Isle of Lewis, the Monument of the Nereids, among many others .
Although the museum is free, it is very advisable to know the history of the best pieces, book this guided tour in Spanish with an expert in art and history or book this free tour of the museum Free !.
The best way to get to the British Museum is to take the red metro line and get off at the Holborn or Tottenham Court Road stops.
Visiting hours: every day from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except on Fridays, which closes at 8:30 p.m.
The Rosetta Stone
2. Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is another of the best museums in London and another of the essential places to visit in London.
This beautiful brick building, with relief sculptures of flora and fauna outside, and a large hall that will leave you speechless inside, already deserves the visit to the museum alone.
In addition, admission is free, a plus so you can enjoy without excuses one of the largest collections of natural history in the world, with more than 70 million species from various fields.
Among all the rooms where all these pieces are perfectly organized, we recommend the dinosaur room, the fossil room, the mammal room and the hall where the impressive skeleton is suspended from a huge blue whale.
To get to the Natural History Museum you can take the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines of the London Underground and get off at the South Kensington stop.
Visiting hours: every day from 10 am to 5:30 pm.
Museum of Natural History
3. National Gallery, one of the best museums in London
Touring the most important rooms of the National Gallery and then sit on the stairs of the lively Trafalgar Square, is one of the best things to do in London for free.
This free gallery is the most important art museum in the city and one of the most valued in the world for the quality of the works on display, among which you can enjoy the more than 2000 paintings that make up the National Gallery collection, where are masterpieces of Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Goya, Van Eyck, Rafael, among many other geniuses.
You can reach the National Gallery with the Northern and Bakerloo subway lines stopping at Charing Cross, and with the Northern and Piccadill lines going down at Leicester Square.
Visiting hours: every day from 10am to 6pm, Fridays close at 9pm.
National Gallery, one of the best museums in London
4. Science Museum
The Science Museum is another of our London museums Free favorites, by combining a large exhibition of objects, which have changed the world with interactive activities.
Among the most impressive museum rooms is the space where you can see the Apollo X command module and the aviation with several historical models. Other essential objects of the museum are the Foucault pendulum, the Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Earl of Rosse telescope, The Rocket locomotive and a reconstruction of the DNA molecule.
If you have the London Pass, the tourist card that includes more than 80 attractions in the city, you can also watch a movie in the museum's fantastic IMAX cinema.
For more information about this card you can consult this London Pass post.
To get to this museum, located very close to the Natural History Museum, you can take the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines and get off at South Kensington station.
Visiting hours: every day from 10am to 6pm.
Science Museum
5. Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is the most famous wax museum in the world and although it lacks the historical value of the other 4, it is well worth it, so we recommend a visit especially if it is your first trip to the city.
In addition, this museum is the oldest of the Madame Tussauds that are scattered throughout the world, when it was inaugurated by the descendants of Marie Tussaud in 1884.
The museum is divided into different themed rooms with wax reproductions of famous people so similar to the real one that leave you speechless where you can take pictures with the British Royal Family, Einsten, Brad Pitt, Barak Obama, Mohammed Ali, Freddy Mercury, Ghandi, Comics superheroes, Star Wars protagonists, etc ...
The entrance to Madame Tussauds costs 35 pounds at the box office and you will have to stand in line that at certain times of the day can be quite long so a good option to avoid waiting and save a few euros at the entrance is to book this ticket in advance.
Another option is to book the London Explorer Pass, which allows you to enter 3, 5 or 7 of the main attractions of the city including Madame Tussauds, skipping the lines and saving up to 40%.
You can find more information about this tourist card in this post of the London Explorer Pass.
The museum is located next to the Baker Street subway stop (Circle, Jubilee, Bakerloo, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City lines).
Visiting hours: open every day from 9 a.m. and closing varies between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Madame Tussauds
Other museums in London that could be perfectly included in this list are Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert, Museum of London, Churchill War Rooms, Museum of Transport, Imperial War, Tate Britain and Sherlock Holmes.
If you feel like helping us complete the list of the 5 best museums in London, add yours in the comments.
