The best museums in London
The top 3 according to 136 votes from people: British Museum · Natural History Museum · Victoria and Albert Museum. (Updated Apr 22, 2026.)
London has more free world-class museums than any other European city. These are the ones Visit London, Time Out and visitors rate highest.
Top 15
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1
British Museum
The UK's most visited museum, free, with the Rosetta Stone and Lewis Chessmen.
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2
Natural History Museum
Victorian cathedral of nature with dinosaurs, a blue whale skeleton and an earthquake simulator.
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3
Victoria and Albert Museum
The world's leading museum of art, design and performance, with its cast courts and fashion galleries.
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4
National Gallery
Over 2,300 paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, free entry on Trafalgar Square.
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5
Wallace Collection
Free collection in Hertford House with Fragonard's The Swing and Frans Hals's Laughing Cavalier.
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6
Tate Modern
International modern and contemporary art in the former Bankside Power Station.
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7
National Portrait Gallery
Portraits of famous Britons from the Tudors to today, reopened in 2023 after renovation.
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8
Churchill War Rooms
The underground bunker from which Churchill directed the Second World War.
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9
The Courtauld Gallery
Impressionist masterpieces in Somerset House, including Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
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10
Wellcome Collection
Free museum and library on Euston Road exploring health, medicine and the human experience.
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11
Science Museum
Stephenson's Rocket, the Apollo 10 command module and the Wonderlab interactive gallery.
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12
Imperial War Museum London
Free museum of modern conflict, with Holocaust galleries and WWI and WWII exhibits.
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13
Tate Britain
British art from 1500 to today, including the world's largest Turner collection.
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14
Design Museum
Contemporary design and architecture in the former Commonwealth Institute in Kensington.
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15
Museum of the Home
Museum in Hoxton's 18th-century almshouses showing how London homes have changed over 400 years.
Candidates
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16
National Maritime Museum
Greenwich museum of Britain's seafaring history, part of Royal Museums Greenwich.
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17
Royal Academy of Arts
Burlington House gallery in Piccadilly, home of the annual Summer Exhibition since 1769.
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18
Sir John Soane's Museum
The architect's house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, kept as he left it in 1837, with Hogarth's Rake's Progress.
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19
Museum of London Docklands
The history of the Thames and its docks in a Georgian sugar warehouse at West India Quay.
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20
The Postal Museum
Clerkenwell museum on the history of the post, with a ride on the old Mail Rail underground railway.
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21
Hunterian Museum
Anatomy and surgery collection of the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln's Inn Fields, reopened in 2023.
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22
Horniman Museum and Gardens
Forest Hill museum with natural history, musical instruments, an aquarium and free gardens with views over London.
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23
London Transport Museum
Museum in Covent Garden with historic buses, trams and Underground trains.
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24
Dulwich Picture Gallery
England's first purpose-built public art gallery (1817), designed by Sir John Soane.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (2)
Natural History Museum with kids, a full day of dinosaurs.
Good list but it's missing loads: the Wellcome Collection, the London Transport Museum, the Royal Academy...