Some of the greatest collections on Earth, open every day and free to enter: the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures, Renaissance masters, a blue whale over a Victorian hall, and two thousand years of design.
Britain's national museums have been free since 2001. In London that means a week of world-class collections for the price of a coffee.
The British Museum in Bloomsbury holds the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures and the Sutton Hoo treasure, around Norman Foster's glass-roofed Great Court. Until 11 July 2027 it also displays the Bayeux Tapestry, on loan from France; those tickets cost £27 to £33, are released in phases and sell out months ahead.
On Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing reopened in 2025 with its early Renaissance paintings rehung. In South Kensington, the Natural History Museum's blue whale skeleton hangs in the cathedral-like Hintze Hall next door to the V&A's galleries of art and design. Out in Stratford, the V&A East Storehouse opens its stores to anyone.
All are free and open daily. Book a free timed slot for weekends and school holidays.
Do two at most in a day: Bloomsbury and Trafalgar Square, then South Kensington.
Arrive at opening; Rosetta Stone first, then the Parthenon galleries and Sutton Hoo.
Walk down to Trafalgar Square for the Sainsbury Wing and the Impressionists.
Hintze Hall and the blue whale, then the dinosaurs.
Fashion, casts, jewellery and the garden café.
See the stored collection open to the public in east London.
Tottenham Court Road or Holborn for the British Museum; Charing Cross for the National Gallery; South Kensington for the rest.
Free slots are recommended at weekends; paid exhibitions need tickets.
Several museums open late on Fridays, the calmest time to visit.
London practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
