Timed entry has spread from blockbuster exhibitions to the front door at busy times, and a few minutes of planning can save an hour in a queue
Free Museums in London: How to Visit and When to Book
If London has one unanswerable advantage over other great cities, it is this. You can walk into a building holding the Rosetta Stone, or a blue whale skeleton, or a room of Turners, and nobody asks you for money.
A visitor site’s summary puts the essentials plainly. Permanent collections at the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, V&A, National Gallery and Tate Modern are free to enter. Temporary blockbuster exhibitions are ticketed separately, and most museums invite an optional donation on the way in.
That has been the case for a generation and remains so. What has changed is the door.
Booking a Free Ticket
Several guides published this year carry the same warning. One states that at the busiest times of year the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, among others, now ask visitors to hold a timed slot, so that even free entry has to be booked ahead. Another advises that free museums often use timed entry slots, so it is worth reserving one.
The reason is crowds. The most popular museums receive millions of visitors a year and at busy times the queues to get in stretched round the block. Timed tickets spread arrivals through the day.
Policies differ between museums and change with the season, so the reliable course is to check each museum’s own website a few days before you go. Where booking is offered, do it. It costs nothing and takes two minutes. Even where walk-ins are allowed, those with a booking are usually admitted first.
What Is Free and What Is Not
To be clear about the distinction. General admission to the permanent galleries of the national museums is free. Special exhibitions, the ones advertised on posters in the Tube, have a charge, sometimes a substantial one, and often sell out.
You do not need to see the special exhibition to have a full visit. The permanent collections are what made these institutions famous.
There is usually a donation box or a card reader near the entrance with a suggested amount. It is entirely voluntary. If you can afford to give something, it helps. If you cannot, walk past without embarrassment. That is the point of free entry.
Which to Choose
You cannot do them all. A rough guide to the major ones.
The British Museum, in Bloomsbury, for world history and antiquities. Enormous. Pick three or four rooms.
The National Gallery, on Trafalgar Square, for European painting from the medieval period to about 1900.
Tate Modern, on the South Bank in a former power station, for modern and contemporary art.
The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, which stand side by side in South Kensington. Design and decorative arts, the natural world, and science and technology respectively. The last two are favourites with children.
There are many more: Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the Wallace Collection, and smaller places that are often the most memorable.
When to Go
Weekday mornings in term time are quietest, though you will share the building with school groups. Weekends and school holidays are busiest, and a wet day sends everyone indoors.
Several museums open late one evening a week, typically Friday. Late openings are less crowded and have a different atmosphere, sometimes with music and a bar.
The first hour after opening and the last ninety minutes before closing are generally calmer than the middle of the day.
Practical Matters
Bags. Expect a security check at the entrance. Large suitcases are often not admitted, and cloakrooms may charge or have limited space. Do not arrive with your luggage on the way to the airport.
Food. Museum cafes are convenient and not cheap. You are usually allowed to bring a sandwich and eat it in a designated area or outside.
Time. Two to three hours is about as much as most people can absorb. Plan one museum for a morning or afternoon, not three in a day.
Maps. Pick up a floor plan or use the museum’s website to decide what you most want to see, and go there first while you are fresh.
Children. Most of the big museums have family trails and activity packs, often free. Ask at the information desk.
Not Everything Is Free
Visitors sometimes assume all London attractions follow the same rule. They do not. The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, the royal palaces and the London Eye all charge, and not modestly. For those, as the same visitor site notes, advance tickets are usually cheaper than buying at the door, and they regularly sell out in summer and school holidays.
Churches, including the Abbey and St Paul’s, are free to enter for services. You will not be able to wander as a tourist, but you will see the building and hear the choir.
Why They Are Free
General admission charges at the national museums were abolished in 2001, and visitor numbers rose sharply afterwards. The principle is that the collections belong to the public. It is paid for through taxation, donations and the income from shops, cafes and special exhibitions.
There are periodic suggestions that overseas visitors should be charged. So far the principle has held. It is one of the things Londoners are quietly proud of.
The Summary
The best things in London cost nothing. Check each museum’s website, book a free slot where one is offered, go early or late, choose a few rooms and see them properly. And if there is a queue, remember what you are queueing for, and what you are not paying.
And for Amusement
Museums and their visitors are a gentle comic subject. The London Prat treats them in its British satirical news on museums and London satirical news about the British Museum. Bohiney Magazine covers the Smithsonian.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
