London Museums Guide: The Best Free Collections

Most of London's national museums are free, which changes how you use them, and the British Museum anchors day three of our 3-day itinerary. You don't need to see everything in one go. Walk in for an hour, see one gallery properly, and leave while you're still enjoying it. Book a free timed ticket online anyway, since it gets you in faster at busy times, and expect to pay only for temporary exhibitions.

Here are the big five, and what we'd head for in each.

The British Museum (Bloomsbury)

Two million years of human history, and the busiest museum in the country. With two or three hours, see the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the Egyptian mummies upstairs and the Anglo-Saxon ship burial from Sutton Hoo. The Great Court, with its glass roof, is often packed at the main entrance, so use the quieter back entrance on Montague Place. Weekday mornings are calmest.

The National Gallery (Trafalgar Square)

Western European painting from the 13th century to about 1900: Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, Turner, Constable and Van Gogh's Sunflowers. The Sainsbury Wing, reopened in 2025 with a brighter new entrance, holds the earliest paintings.

Tate Modern (South Bank)

Modern and contemporary art in a former power station. The Turbine Hall hosts a single giant commission each year, and the free viewing level near the top of the Blavatnik Building looks out over the river towards St Paul's. Combine it with the South Bank walk in our things to do list.

The Natural History Museum (South Kensington)

A cathedral of a building, with a blue whale skeleton hanging in Hintze Hall and the dinosaur gallery that every child in Britain seems to visit. Queues at the main entrance can be long in school holidays, and the side entrance on Exhibition Road is often quicker.

The V&A (South Kensington)

Design and decorative art from everywhere: fashion, furniture, sculpture casts, jewellery. It's less crowded than its neighbour and has one of the loveliest museum cafés in the city, in rooms decorated by William Morris's firm. In east London, the V&A East Storehouse opened in 2025 and the V&A East Museum in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park followed in April 2026, both free.

Smaller and just as good

The Wallace Collection in Marylebone and Sir John Soane's Museum in Holborn are both free, intimate and rarely crowded. The Imperial War Museum in Lambeth is free too. The new London Museum, the city's own history museum, is due to open in the old Smithfield market buildings on 28 November 2026. Check the website before planning around it.