South Kensington museums: the V&A, Natural History and Science Museums
Three of the world's great museums on one street, and all three free. How to see them without burning out, what to skip, and what the collections say about empire.
Key facts
- Where: Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road, London SW7. South Kensington station (Piccadilly, District and Circle lines).
- Price: free entry to the permanent galleries of all three museums. Special exhibitions cost extra, often around £15 to £25.
- Booking: free timed tickets are recommended at weekends and in school holidays, especially for the Natural History Museum.
- Hours: usually daily from 10am to between 5.50pm and 6pm. Check each museum's website for late openings.
- Time needed: half a day per museum. Trying all three in one day is a mistake.
How to do it without burning out
The area is often called Albertopolis, after Prince Albert. Profits from the Great Exhibition of 1851 bought the land on which these museums, the Royal Albert Hall and Imperial College now stand. It was planned as a district of learning, and it still feels like one.
- Pick two, not three. With children: Natural History in the morning, Science after lunch. Without children: the V&A plus one other.
- Use the tunnel. A pedestrian subway runs from South Kensington station to the museums. It is dry, and you skip the crowds on the pavement.
- Avoid the queues. The Cromwell Road entrance of the Natural History Museum is the famous one; the Exhibition Road side entrance is often quicker.
- Donations. Entry is free but the boxes are everywhere. A few pounds is fair if you enjoyed it.
The Natural History Museum
The building, by Alfred Waterhouse, is the star: a Romanesque cathedral of terracotta, with monkeys and fossils carved into the walls. Hope, the blue whale skeleton, hangs in Hintze Hall.
- Don't miss: Hintze Hall, the dinosaur gallery, the earthquake room in the Volcanoes and Earthquakes gallery, and the minerals gallery upstairs.
- Skip if busy: the dinosaur gallery at midday in the school holidays: a slow queue with children on every side.
- Honest verdict: unmissable with children and worth it for the building alone, but very loud and crowded at weekends.
The Science Museum
Steam engines, the Apollo 10 command module, early computers and medicine across the centuries. Most of the museum is free; the interactive Wonderlab gallery, the IMAX cinema and the simulators cost extra.
- Don't miss: the Energy Hall on the ground floor, Making the Modern World, and the space gallery.
- Honest verdict: excellent for teenagers and anyone interested in engineering. Younger children love Wonderlab, but check the price before you promise it.
The V&A
The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world's great museum of art and design: fashion, furniture, ceramics, jewellery, sculpture and the plaster casts of whole buildings. It is the calmest of the three museums, and many visitors find it the most beautiful.
- Don't miss: the Cast Courts, the jewellery gallery, the fashion gallery, and the café rooms, among the first museum restaurants in the world.
- Garden: the John Madejski Garden in the courtyard is a good place to rest between museums.
- Honest verdict: the best choice for adults on a rainy day. It is big, so pick three or four galleries.
What the collections say about empire
These are Victorian museums, built at the height of empire, and some of their collections came from it.
Maqdala: Ethiopia's treasures at the V&A
In 1868 a British army stormed Maqdala, the mountain fortress of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. The emperor shot himself rather than be captured. Afterwards, British soldiers looted the fortress: crowns, crosses, manuscripts and church treasures. Some of these objects are in the V&A, which displayed them in 2018 with an honest account of how they were taken. Ethiopia has asked for their return. Some smaller items have gone back, but at the time of writing the main treasures remain in Britain.
Collecting the empire's nature
The Natural History Museum's 80 million specimens were gathered from across the world, often by colonial officers, missionaries and expeditions that relied on local guides and collectors whose names were rarely recorded. The museum now researches and tells these stories more openly.
For the bigger picture, see our page on Benin Bronzes, Asante gold and African treasures in British museums, and our honest guide to the British Museum.
Visiting: practical tips
- Getting there: South Kensington station, then the subway or Exhibition Road. Several bus routes stop on Cromwell Road.
- Food: the museum cafés are expensive. Bring sandwiches: the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum have picnic areas. South Kensington has many bakeries and cafés.
- Bags: cloakrooms charge a fee and fill up. Travel light.
- Nearby: Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Albert Memorial.
Tours and experiences
London sightseeing passes, museum tours and day trips from the capital. Entrance fees are included in the tour price; tips are not included but are always welcome.
Read next
The world's most argued-over collection.
What British museums hold, and how it got there.
How plants moved around the empire.
Museums, ceremonies, views and parks that cost nothing.
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