The 18 Best Museums To Visit In London

Time, when you think about it, can be a confusing concept to put into concrete terms, but at this destination in East London, time, for many years, was given its identity. Located in a neighborhood called Greenwich, the Royal Observatory is where Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) exists, for decades a benchmark for clocks around the world. Just as the Equator, at 0 degrees latitude, marks the central ring around the globe east-west, the Prime Meridian, or 0 degrees longitude, is the equivalent north-south. 

Starting in the 1880s, GMT was used as the anchor that grounded the world's clock — times zones would frequently refer to themselves as GMT +/- a number of hours to signify how to calculate their time. In 1972, Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, became the framework for global timekeeping, and GMT became just another time zone, not an abiding point of reference. GMT is still referred to in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, underscoring its importance, and at the Royal Observatory, you can see actual GMT at the Shepherd Gate Clock.

If the name of this museum, located in the posh South Kensington part of London, seems a little baffling, it's because the initials stand for Victoria and Albert, the revered queen and her husband. Prince Albert founded this place in the 1850s, building on the success of the Great Exhibition in 1851 — the originator of what we now call the World Expo. If there is one museum most beloved by Londoners, it is definitely this one, perhaps because its scope and remit are so all-encompassing. Here you will be able to wander round shows on art, design, performance, and so much more. 

To call the collection here diverse understates the breadth of subjects. You can peruse 2,000 pairs of shoes, from some hand-cobbled in Ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago to a see-sawing pair made more recently by the late architect Zaha Hadid. There are even exhibitions on tiles, wedding dresses, fashion, hats, digital art, wallpaper, opera, underwear, and cartoons by the Renaissance artist Raphael, and all that just scratches the surface of what this jewel box contains. The V&A has a number of satellite museums around the country, and some references will name this as the V&A South Kensington.

Just behind the Natural History Museum, this is another place that appeals to kids — both big and small — who will relish the chance to discover the wonders of science. A hugely popular department is the Wonderlab, because it's a gallery that is interactive, with a chance to work in concert with staff who explain phenomena, see live demonstrations, and take part in scientific trials and shows. You might get to witness how lightning forms, appreciate the power of friction while riding a slide, or imagine what it's like to travel through space. 

Other parts of the museum look at the incredible work done by engineers, the way mathematics has shaped the world, and even a gallery filled with aircraft (there's a simulator of the UK's famous Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force's aerobatic flight squad). A topical exhibition that runs until early 2024 looks at the speed and efficiency in making vaccines that were used to tackle the COVID pandemic.

The West End of London is usually high on the list of locations that tourists gather, with attractions like Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, and the many theaters that stage nightly shows. It's also where to find Trafalgar Square, anchored by Nelson's Column, erected to commemorate the demise of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. The square, a popular spot for crowds on New Year's Eve, is also home to the National Gallery, where European artwork is the primary focus. 

Visitors will encounter some truly iconic pieces here, among them "Sunflowers" by Vincent Van Gogh, "Venus and Mars" by Sandro Botticelli, and "Bathers at Asnières" by Georges Seurat. Wandering the galleries, you'll find yourself transported through eras, with paintings that explore landscapes, intimate portraits of aristocrats, and snapshots of a moment in time. The building itself is as impressive as the collection here, the Portico Entrance defined by its high stone columns and stately domed roof.

The idea of this institution was first aired during World War I, and it was housed in a number of locations before its current home in South London, not far from Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. The subject matter is self-explanatory — the study and effects of wars, both past and present, recounted both on a macro and micro level. The centerpiece of a visit would be the two floors of displays devoted to the Second World War — the most brutal conflict in the planet's history — and the Holocaust, with photos, books, individual items, and letters lending these devastating periods a deeply personal, intimate face. 

Yet the museum isn't just a look into events of the past, with current hot topics very much mediums open for discussion. New shows analyze the way that video games relate to armed conflict, and photographs of life in Ukraine as war continues in the country.

At their heyday, London's docks, in the city's east, were thriving hubs, with ships coming and going, supporting Britain's power as an empire. But these docks sustained significant damage during World War II, and slowly faded in importance, this part of the city gradually diminishing in economic heft. A huge redevelopment of the area started in the 1980s, and now the Docklands are again thriving, with towers of corporate offices, sleek housing, and plenty of shops and restaurants that pull in visitors from around the city. 

At this museum, the permanent collections include one that explores the role of London's docks as a global trade nexus, with warehouses that sat along the riverside brimming with goods from all over the world. Shows also uncover many other aspects of the city, from the effects of centuries of public executions to how black entrepreneurs have helped to regenerate this part of London.

It's hard to overstate how design touches all our lives — it's in everything from the screens we use to read stories like these to the shape of the shoes we wear as the tread around this planet, day in and day out. It's also responsible for the sweeping, swooping roof lines of this museum that probes the multifold ways that design all around us. Much like the restless ambition of design, exhibitions are constantly changing, evolving as the world and its whims move forward. 

You might come here to see a show on how sounds and textures can help to create euphoria or calm, or how design is helping people to live with joy and comfort as they age, even as automation and climatic devastation threaten to change the face of life beyond anything we can imagine. The museum also hosts talks and workshops for visitors that want to explore the umbrella of design in more depth.

It's not often that fictional characters get their own museum, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth does. Holmes is perhaps the most famous detective in the world — real or imagined — first debuting in the late 1800s, his escapades lovingly detailed through Doyle's floral prose. Today, Sherlock Holmes' name continues to be synonymous with watertight investigative work, even though the last Holmes novel was published more than a century ago. This museum is where he was purported to live, 221B Baker Street (as the plaque outside proudly proclaims), on the southern cusp of Regent's Park. 

Entering the building recreates what characters in the book will have experienced, greeted by a member of Holmes' staff and shown into his study, where Victorian-era detailing and a trove of possessions from the book come to life. Elsewhere, you'll stumble on Watson's bedroom, the room where Holmes' landlady lived, and life-size wax figures of characters from the various books in the series. A trip here is truly transportive, it really is like walking into the past.

This museum is named for the man who made his name as a leading British architect, and who also renovated three buildings in The City of London (the square mile that is home to many financial institutions) that now house this place. The site is amply filled with Soane's immense collection of antiquities, a trove of items purchased by an inveterate collector. There is so much to sift through here, antiques, drawings, sculptures, books, furniture, and paintings by the likes of English master J.M.W. Turner, hung in the Picture Room where almost every scrap of wall space is taken up by a masterly canvas. 

In the Model Room, you can marvel at model of the excavations at Pompeii, or the Greek Temples of Paestum, all made of cork. For something even more rare, stop by the room that is home to the sarcophagus of Egyptian pharaoh Seti I, who died in 1279 B.C.