One of the UK’s great gifts to visitors is that its national museums are free. You can walk in, see a dinosaur or a Rembrandt, and walk out again without spending a penny, though a donation is always welcome. Special exhibitions often charge, and opening hours vary, so check before you go.
Free entry means you do not have to see everything in one visit. You can pop in for an hour to see a favourite painting, or spend a whole rainy day wandering the galleries. Here are ten of the best across the UK, with tips for making the most of each.
1. The British Museum, London
The British Museum, in Bloomsbury in central London, is one of the greatest museums in the world. It was founded in 1753 as the first national public museum in the world, and it holds around eight million objects covering two million years of human history. Millions of people visit every year.
Among its most famous treasures are the Rosetta Stone, which helped scholars decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs, the sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, whose return Greece has long requested, and the Sutton Hoo treasure, the burial of an Anglo-Saxon king. The Egyptian galleries, with their mummies and coffins, are always crowded. The Lewis Chessmen, carved from walrus ivory, are much loved.
At the heart of the museum is the Great Court, a huge courtyard covered by a spectacular glass roof designed by Norman Foster. In its centre stands the old Reading Room, where writers and thinkers once worked. The museum has cafés and a restaurant.
The museum is huge, so go early and pick three galleries rather than trying to do the lot. Free tours and talks run through the day. Bags are checked at the entrance, so allow a little time, and it is a short walk from Tottenham Court Road and Holborn stations.
2. The Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum, in South Kensington, is one of the most popular museums in Britain, and the building alone is worth the trip. Designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1881, it is a cathedral of terracotta, decorated with carvings of animals and plants. Its great central hall is breathtaking.
Hanging in the hall is the skeleton of a blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived, named Hope. The dinosaur gallery, with its moving model of a Tyrannosaurus rex, is a favourite with children. The Earth galleries are entered by an escalator that rises through a giant globe.
The museum’s collection holds around eighty million specimens, from meteorites to insects, and scientists work behind the scenes on research about the natural world. The Darwin Centre shows some of this work. The wildlife garden outside is a peaceful spot.
The museum gets very busy at weekends and in the school holidays, and there can be queues to get in, so arrive early or visit on a weekday. A tunnel links South Kensington station with the museum. Special exhibitions, such as the famous Wildlife Photographer of the Year, have a charge.
3. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Victoria and Albert Museum, known as the V&A, is the world’s leading museum of art and design. It was founded in 1852, after the Great Exhibition, and it holds millions of objects spanning five thousand years. It is next door to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.
Its galleries cover fashion, furniture, jewellery, ceramics, glass, sculpture, photography and much more. The fashion gallery shows clothes from the seventeenth century to the present day, and the jewellery gallery is dazzling. The Cast Courts, full of plaster copies of famous sculptures and buildings, are astonishing.
The museum’s original refreshment rooms, decorated by William Morris and others, were the first museum restaurant in the world, and you can still have a coffee in them. The courtyard garden, with its shallow pool, is lovely on a summer’s day. The museum has also opened new sites in east London.
The Science Museum, also free, is next door on Exhibition Road, with space capsules, steam engines and interactive galleries. A whole day on Exhibition Road, visiting the V&A, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, is easy. Take breaks, as it is a lot of walking.
4. The National Gallery, London
The National Gallery, on the north side of Trafalgar Square, holds one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world. Founded in 1824, it has more than two thousand paintings, from the thirteenth to the early twentieth century. It is free to enter.
Its treasures include Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, Constable’s The Hay Wain, Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait and Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks. There are works by Titian, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Monet and many more. Seeing them in person is a very different experience from seeing them in books.
The gallery can feel overwhelming, so it is worth picking up a map and choosing a route, or joining one of the free talks. Some rooms are quieter than others. There are cafés and a restaurant.
The steps outside the gallery have one of the best views in London, down Whitehall to Big Ben. The National Portrait Gallery is around the corner. The gallery is a short walk from Charing Cross and Leicester Square stations.
5. Tate Modern, London
Tate Modern, on the South Bank of the Thames, is one of the most visited modern art galleries in the world. It is housed in the former Bankside Power Station, a huge brick building designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the red telephone box. It opened as a gallery in 2000.
Its collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Dalí, Warhol, Rothko and many more, arranged by theme rather than date. The galleries are free, with charges for major exhibitions. There is always something surprising.
The Turbine Hall, the vast space where the power station’s generators once stood, hosts a new giant installation every year, which visitors can often walk through or interact with. Some have become famous in their own right. It is an extraordinary space.
The viewing level at the top of the newer building has free, panoramic views across London, including St Paul’s Cathedral across the river. The Millennium Bridge links the gallery with St Paul’s, and the riverside path runs west towards the London Eye and east towards Tower Bridge. It is lovely to combine with a walk along the South Bank.
6. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
The National Museum of Scotland, on Chambers Street in Edinburgh, is one of the best museums in Britain. It combines a grand Victorian building with a modern extension, and it covers natural history, science, world cultures and the story of Scotland. It is free to enter.
The Grand Gallery, a spectacular Victorian hall with a glass roof, is the heart of the museum. Among its treasures are Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, and some of the Lewis Chessmen. The Scottish galleries tell the story of the nation from its geology to the present day.
There are galleries of animals, dinosaurs, inventions and fashion, and plenty of hands on displays for children. You could easily spend a whole day. It is very popular on rainy days.
The rooftop terrace has wonderful views over the Old Town to Edinburgh Castle, and it is free to visit. The museum is a short walk from the Royal Mile and the Grassmarket. See our Edinburgh guide.
7. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in Glasgow’s West End, is one of the most popular free museums in Britain. It opened in 1901, in a huge red sandstone building in Kelvingrove Park. Its central hall, with its great organ, is spectacular.
Its collections are wonderfully varied, with old masters, Impressionists, Scottish art, natural history, arms and armour, and ancient Egypt. A Spitfire hangs from the ceiling of one hall. The Glasgow Style gallery shows the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his circle.
Its most famous painting is Salvador Dalí’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross, which the city bought in the 1950s. A free organ recital is played every day on the great organ. The museum is lively and welcoming.
Kelvingrove Park and the University of Glasgow are next door, and Byres Road and Ashton Lane are a short walk away. The Riverside Museum, Glasgow’s free transport museum, is also nearby. See our Glasgow guide.
8. National Railway Museum, York
The National Railway Museum, near York station, is one of the largest railway museums in the world, and it is free to enter. It tells the story of the railways from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Rail enthusiasts can spend a whole day here, and so can children.
Among its stars is Mallard, the steam locomotive that set the world speed record for steam in 1938. You can also see a Japanese bullet train, royal carriages used by Queen Victoria, and locomotives from Stephenson’s era. The Great Hall has a huge turntable surrounded by engines.
There are displays about the people who built and worked on the railways, and interactive exhibits for children. Some trains can be climbed aboard. The museum’s collection is enormous.
The museum is a short walk from York station, and a small road train runs between the museum and the Minster in season. It combines well with a day exploring York. See our York guide.
9. Science and Industry Museum, Manchester
The Science and Industry Museum, in Castlefield in Manchester, stands on the site of Liverpool Road station, the terminus of the world’s first inter city passenger railway, opened in 1830. The original station buildings are the oldest surviving passenger railway buildings in the world. The museum tells the story of the city that led the Industrial Revolution.
Its galleries cover textiles, energy, communications and computing. The Power Hall is full of working steam engines, and there is a replica of the Baby, the world’s first stored program computer, built at the University of Manchester in 1948. Cotton machines are demonstrated working.
The museum is in the middle of a long programme of restoration, so some buildings and galleries are closed at times. Check what is open before you go. Entry to the main museum is free.
The canals and viaducts of Castlefield, around the museum, are lovely to explore afterwards. The museum is a short walk from Deansgate. See our Manchester guide.
10. St Fagans National Museum of History, near Cardiff
St Fagans National Museum of History, about four miles west of Cardiff city centre, is one of the most popular attractions in Wales, and it is free to enter. It is an open air museum, where more than forty historic buildings from all over Wales have been moved and rebuilt. It shows how people in Wales have lived over the centuries.
The buildings include farmhouses, a school, a chapel, a workmen’s institute, a row of ironworkers’ cottages and a medieval church painted as it would have looked. Each is furnished in the style of its period. Craftspeople demonstrate traditional skills.
The museum is set in the grounds of St Fagans Castle, an Elizabethan manor house with beautiful gardens. It has won a national award as museum of the year. There is plenty for children to enjoy.
St Fagans is a proper day out, not an hour, as the site is large. There are cafés and places for a picnic. See our Cardiff guide.
Museum days are long days on your feet. Being dropped at the door and collected at the end is a small luxury that makes a big difference, especially with children.
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