16 best museums in London: our top picks

London’s packed with museums—more than 240 of them—and they cover just about every interest you can think of. A lot of that has to do with the city’s long history, from its days as the center of an empire to the multicultural place it is now. Here’s our pick of the best museums in London, from the well-known favorites to the odd hidden gems.

1. The Tates: Tate Modern & Tate Britain

The two Tate galleries give you a broad view of British and international art, each with its own focus and atmosphere. Tate Britain is the older of the two, showing British art from the 1500s through to today. You’ll find big names here—Turner, Constable, and the Pre-Raphaelites 

Tate Modern, on the other hand, is across the river in a repurposed power station. It’s known for contemporary art and often features large-scale installations in the old turbine hall. The permanent collection includes work by Picasso, Warhol, Hockney, and many more. It’s a very different experience from Tate Britain—more experimental, more global, and a bit more unpredictable. Together, the two museums give you a solid sense of how art has evolved and how it's still being shaped today, especially in England.

2. British Museum

The British Museum covers human history across cultures and centuries. It’s been open to the public since the 1700s and still feels like a place where you can learn something new every time you visit. It's a great addition to any England itinerary.

Some of the better-known pieces in this London museum include the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, and the Lewis Chessmen. The Egyptian galleries are especially popular, with mummies, tomb artifacts, and plenty of details about everyday life in ancient Egypt. One quieter part of the museum worth checking out is the Reading Room—Marx worked there, and it’s been used by generations of scholars.
 

3. National Gallery

Right on Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery is easy to get to and worth popping into, even if you’ve only got an hour or two. It focuses on European painting from around the 1200s to the 1900s, so you’ll see a lot of the names you probably learned in school—da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh. The gallery is organized chronologically, so you can walk through time and see how art styles changed.

The Sainsbury Wing holds some of the earlier works—mainly religious pieces from the Renaissance—while the main building moves into the later centuries. If you’re looking for a few highlights, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, and Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire are all here. This is one of the best things to do in London.

4. National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery has been around since 1856 and focuses on portraiture as a way to explore British history. It’s not your typical art museum—it’s more like walking through a timeline of faces, from medieval royalty to musicians and politicians from the last few years. 

You’ll see things like the Armada portrait of Elizabeth I, the only known painting of Shakespeare done during his lifetime, and modern portraits of people like David Bowie and Malala. The layout moves chronologically, so you get a sense of how style, status, and identity have changed over time. 

Recently, they’ve been adding more work by contemporary photographers and digital artists that explore what identity looks like today. The gallery also has a London rooftop bar and restaurant with wide views.
 

5. Victoria and Albert Museum

The V&A is a massive museum focused on design, art, and everyday objects from around the world. It’s easy to spend a few hours here without seeing the same thing twice. The galleries include post-classical sculpture, Renaissance paintings, Islamic art, and decorative objects from around the world.

One area a lot of people head for is the fashion section, with iconic pieces by designers like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.

One of the more unusual features of this London museum is the Cast Courts—two large halls filled with full-size plaster casts of famous sculptures and monuments, like Michelangelo’s David and Trajan’s Column. The museum building itself is impressive, especially the entrance with its high ceilings and detailed tilework.

Staying near the V&A can be a great place to base yourself. See our guide to the best areas to stay in London.

6. Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is housed in a grand 19th-century building that looks more like a cathedral than a museum. Inside, there are more than 80 million specimens that cover around 4.5 billion years of Earth’s history. The central Hintze Hall is dominated by a blue whale skeleton named Hope.

One of the biggest draws of this London museum is the dinosaur gallery, with animatronics and interactive exhibits that bring prehistoric life to scale. 

You’ll also find the Minerals gallery, which includes the Aurora Pyramid of Hope—a case filled with 296 diamonds in every color. 
The mammal hall covers everything from shrews to elephants, and there’s a detailed human evolution gallery that traces our species' development. Behind the scenes, it’s also a working research institution where current scientists have described over 700 new species.
 

7. Wellcome Collection

The Wellcome Collection looks at how medicine, life, and art all intersect. Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical magnate, founded it with the goal of making medicine feel accessible and human—less textbook, more real life.

Medicine Now is one of the permanent galleries, focusing on current medical challenges like genetic engineering, climate-related health issues, and access to healthcare around the world. Then there’s Medicine Man, which pulls from Wellcome’s personal collection. It’s a strange but fascinating mix—things like Napoleon’s toothbrush, antique surgical tools, and Florence Nightingale’s moccasins.

The temporary exhibitions tend to take on big questions around health and humanity—how we think about illness, how society treats disabled people, how medical systems shape personal identity.

8. Sir John Soane's Museum

Sir John Soane’s Museum is one of the more personal-feeling museums in London—it’s the actual home of Soane, a 19th-century architect, and it’s been preserved almost exactly as he left it in 1837. He designed the space himself and crammed it full of his collection: ancient artifacts, architectural models, paintings, sculptures, and odd bits of history.

He collected everything from ancient Roman sculptures to paintings by Hogarth and Canaletto. One of the most memorable parts is the Sarcophagus Room, where he built a dramatic space just to display a 3,000-year-old Egyptian sarcophagus. The Picture Room is another highlight—paintings are hung on hinged panels that fold open like doors so he could fit even more on the walls.

If you visit this London museum in the evening on one of the candlelit tours, you’ll get a better sense of what the house might’ve felt like when Soane lived in it. See our England travel tips to help prepare you for your next trip.
 

9. Bart’s Pathology Museum

Bart’s Pathology Museum is tucked inside St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and it’s definitely not your standard museum. The collection started in the 1800s and now includes over 5,000 preserved body parts and medical specimens—some normal, some strange, and some that make you stop and read the label twice.

The hospital itself goes way back—it’s the oldest in the UK—and the museum is still part of the medical school. It’s mainly used for teaching, but they sometimes run events open to the public. If you’re curious about things like surgical history or disease, it’s worth checking out.

They’ve done workshops like “Taxidermy for Beginners” and other hands-on events that definitely aren’t typical museum fare.

There’s also a weird bit of history here: the skull of John Bellingham, the only person to ever assassinate a British Prime Minister, is on display. And if you’re into Sherlock Holmes, you’ll like knowing Arthur Conan Doyle studied medicine here—some people say he drafted early Holmes stories in one of the hospital’s offices. The museum isn’t open every day, so it’s a good idea to look it up in advance.

10. Museum of London Docklands

Set inside a Georgian-era sugar warehouse in Canary Wharf, the Museum of London Docklands traces the city’s long relationship with the Thames and how the river helped turn London into a major trading hub.

You’ll follow the story from Roman times through to the 20th century, with a mix of historical objects, immersive displays, and timelines that connect the docks to the city's growth. One of the most important sections is “London, Sugar & Slavery,” which lays bare how the wealth generated by the port was closely tied to Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. 

Other galleries recreate scenes from different eras—medieval markets, sailors’ taverns, and the working docks of the Victorian period—with sounds and even smells that bring the past to life. For families, the “Mudlarks” gallery gets kids involved with Thames archaeology in a hands-on way.
 

11. Science Museum

The Science Museum in South Kensington covers seven floors and spans everything from early inventions to modern tech. It’s been around since 1857 and has built up one of the most extensive collections of objects tied to science, engineering, and medicine. This is easily one of the best places to visit in England.

The Flight gallery walks you through the development of air travel, while the Information Age section focuses on how communication has evolved—from telegraphs to the internet. The Science Museum in South Kensington covers seven floors and spans everything from early inventions to modern tech. It’s been around since 1857 and has built up one of the most extensive collections of objects tied to science, engineering, and medicine. 

One of the big draws is Stephenson’s Rocket, one of the earliest steam locomotives. Down in the basement, there’s a section called “The Secret Life of the Home” that shows how everyday household items actually work. The Wonderlab upstairs is a great place to go if you are visiting England with kids.

12. Churchill War Rooms

Below the streets of Westminster, the Churchill War Rooms are the actual underground bunkers where key WWII decisions were made. The rooms have been left pretty much how they were in 1945—maps on the walls, phones still in place, and even Churchill’s chair still showing wear from use. 

You can walk through the Cabinet Room where the war cabinet met, see the Map Room that was staffed around the clock, and peek into Churchill’s bedroom. There’s also a museum section that gives more context about Churchill’s life and career.

It’s not flashy, but that’s what makes this London museum interesting—you’re literally in the rooms where some of the most intense wartime planning happened. Audio guides include Churchill’s own voice.
 

13. Wallace Collection

Tucked inside a grand townhouse in Manchester Square, the Wallace Collection feels more like stepping into someone’s home than a traditional museum.

The collection was put together over generations by the Hertford family and has been open to the public since 1897. It covers European art from the 15th to 19th centuries, with works by painters like Fragonard, Watteau, and Gainsborough. But it’s not just paintings—you’ll also see 18th-century French furniture, detailed Sèvres porcelain, and one of the most impressive armor collections in Europe. Some of the suits were actually worn by royalty. 

The rooms are set up to reflect how they might’ve looked when people still lived here. The beautiful glass-roofed courtyard in the middle are worth lingering in, especially on sunny days. See our guide to the best time to visit England to time your trip with  the best weather.

14. Grant Museum of Zoology

This one’s small and kind of odd—but worth the visit if you’re interested in natural history or just want to see something a bit strange. 
It holds the largest collection of its kind in the UK, with over 1,000 separate species, many of them rare or extinct. They’ve got a dodo, a Tasmanian tiger, and one of the rarest animals in the collection—a quagga, which was a zebra relative that’s now extinct. 

One of the most talked-about exhibits is a jar containing eighteen moles preserved in formaldehyde. It’s oddly popular, even having its own Twitter account. 

There’s also a lineup of preserved brains and the Negus Collection, which includes sliced and preserved mammal heads—a chimp, a rabbit, and even a sloth. It’s a small museum, and you won’t need long, but it’s packed with strange and memorable things you probably won’t see anywhere else.
 

15. Design Museum

Since moving to its new home in Kensington in 2016, the Design Museum has focused on showing how design connects with everyday life.

It’s dedicated entirely to contemporary design, and covers a wide range—architecture, fashion, product design, graphics, and more. The permanent collection walks through how design evolved from the 20th century to today, with well-known items like the original iPhone, Dyson vacuums, and iconic furniture pieces.

A lot of the temporary exhibitions at this London museum dig into bigger ideas, like sustainability or how tech influences the way we live. It’s hands-on in places, and there’s enough variety to keep it interesting even if you’re not a design nerd

16. Freud Museum London

The Freud Museum is in the house where Sigmund Freud spent the last year of his life after fleeing Vienna in 1938. It’s tucked away in a quiet street in Hampstead and still has a lived-in feel. 

Freud’s study is basically untouched—you’ll see his desk, library, and the famous couch where patients used to lie during analysis, still draped in the same Persian rug. He brought over a huge collection of antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Asia, and they’re all still arranged on shelves and tables, just as he had them.

The museum explores the development of psychoanalysis and how Freud’s work still influences psychology, art, and culture.