Which London museums are free?

The general rule

Like all UK national museums, the great collections of London charge no admission fee for their permanent displays. That covers the British Museum, the National Gallery, Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum, which together hold some of the richest collections in the world. You can walk in, look at what you like, and leave without paying.

Canary Wharf's towers seen across the ThamesВвласенко, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The free entry is a matter of national policy, and it means that a visit to London can include several of the best museums on earth at no cost for admission. The exceptions are special exhibitions, which charge, and a small number of places that are not national collections.

What is free

The British Museum in Bloomsbury holds some eight million objects and charges no fee except for loan exhibitions. The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square has more than 2,300 paintings and is free for the main collection. Tate Modern charges nothing for its collection displays, which take up most of the space.

In South Kensington, the V&A and the Natural History Museum are both free, along with the Science Museum next door. Together the three form a cluster that can fill a whole day for a family with no admission cost.

What costs money

Waterloo Bridge and the dome of St Paul's with the City's towers beyond, under a grey skyCharles from Port Chester, New York, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Several well-known places charge for entry. The Tower of London, the royal palaces run by Historic Royal Palaces, the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace and the climb at St Paul's all have admission fees, as do the London Eye and the Shard's viewing gallery. Westminster Abbey charges visitors, though worshippers do not pay.

Special exhibitions at the free museums are also ticketed, and the popular ones sell out. A free museum is not a free outing if the show you want is a paid one, so check the exhibition programme before you plan the day.

Why there are timed slots

On busy days a free museum may ask you to take a timed entry slot, which is also free. The reason is crowd control: the galleries are old buildings with limited space, and a rush at weekends or in school holidays can make a visit unpleasant. The slots are a way of spreading the load across the day.

The practical advice is to look at the museum's own website before you go, take a slot if one is offered, and arrive a little early. Weekday mornings are generally calmer than weekend afternoons, and the last hour before closing is often quiet.

Tips for visiting well

The City's towers and the Tower of London seen across the river from Potters FieldsВвласенко, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Free entry removes the pressure to see everything, so use it. Choose two or three galleries and see them properly, then leave and come back another day if you can. The museums are large, and trying to cover them in a single visit is the most common mistake. A free museum is also a good shelter on a wet afternoon and a good place to rest between sights.

Many of the museums ask for donations at the door, and a contribution is welcome but not required. Cloakrooms may be limited, and large bags can be refused at the door, so travel light. Cafes and shops in the museums are not free, but there are benches and quiet corners.

Other free museums

The national museums are not the only free ones. The Science Museum in South Kensington and the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth are national collections that charge nothing for their main displays. The National Portrait Gallery, behind the National Gallery, and Tate Britain, on the river at Millbank, are also free. Several smaller museums and houses, such as Sir John Soane's Museum, the Wallace Collection and the Horniman, charge no admission either.

Empty red seats and curtains in a box at the Royal Albert HallTed Potters, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Small free museums often reward the visitor most, because they are quiet. Check each one's own site for current arrangements, as some have changed their rules over the years, and some ask for booking on busy days or for a donation.

What free entry does not cover

Free admission does not cover everything inside a museum. Audio guides, guided tours, cloakrooms, workshops and some family activities may charge. Cafes and shops are commercial, and a large lunch at a museum cafe can cost more than you expect. A packed lunch on a bench in a nearby square is a traditional answer.

Special exhibitions are the biggest extra. They are often the most talked-about part of a museum's year, and tickets can be bought in advance or at the door, depending on the museum. If you have your heart set on one, book it first and plan the free visit around it.

How the free arrangement began

Free entry has not always been the rule. The British Museum was founded in 1753 as the first national museum open to the public, belonging to neither church nor king, and it admitted visitors without charge from the start, although at first by application. The National Gallery, founded in 1824, has been free in the same spirit, and the Victorian museums of South Kensington were created to educate the public.

Riverside towers seen from under a bridge on a river boat, with blue sky and cloudDiscoA340, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Charges were introduced at some museums in the late twentieth century and then removed again in 2001, and since then free admission to the permanent collections has been the practice at the national museums. It is a policy that governments can change, which is another reason to check the museum's own site before you go.

The principle behind it is the one that founded the first of them: that a nation's collections belong to its people, and anyone who comes through the door, from a schoolchild to a visitor from abroad, is welcome to look. It is also why the museums are staffed and funded as public institutions, and why they sit at the heart of the city's tourism and its sense of itself.

Planning a free day

A fully free day could begin at the British Museum in the morning, walk south to Trafalgar Square for the National Gallery after lunch, and finish with a walk along the river to Tate Modern. Another day could be spent in South Kensington with the V&A and the Natural History Museum, followed by Hyde Park.

The view through red curtains from a box at the Royal Albert Hall to the stage during a concertMarathon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

The full list of which sights need tickets and which do not is in Booking Ahead, and the routes that combine them are in Itineraries.