Free to Enter: London's Major Museums and How to Skip the Queue
The British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate galleries charge nothing for general admission — here's how to make the most of that, and where the real cost hides.
Most of London's largest museums — the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and both Tate galleries — charge no general admission. It's one of the best-value propositions in European travel, with a few caveats.
Where the cost hides
Special/touring exhibitions inside these free museums almost always carry a separate ticket, often bookable online in advance. The permanent collections that make these museums famous — the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the National Gallery's Impressionist rooms — remain free.
Booking ahead still helps
Even with free entry, the British Museum and the National Gallery both offer free timed-entry booking online, which is worth doing in peak season purely to skip the general queue at the door.
Quieter hours
Late-opening evenings — Fridays at the National Gallery, selected evenings at the British Museum — are consistently the calmest time to visit both, with a fraction of the daytime footfall.
Cloakrooms and bags
Large bags and backpacks are commonly required to go through security screening and, at some sites, aren't permitted into galleries at all — worth checking the specific museum's bag policy before arriving with luggage.