British Museum
London, United Kingdom
Two million years of human history under one roof in Bloomsbury, and it's free to enter.
Checked 6 October 2026
London's oldest public museum holds the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the Sutton Hoo helmet and, until 11 July 2027, the Bayeux Tapestry. General admission is free: book a free timed ticket on britishmuseum.org to get priority entry, and never pay anyone for 'entry tickets'. Only the special exhibitions cost money, and in October 2026 every Bayeux Tapestry ticket to 31 December 2026 was already sold out.
About British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of the whole world, not just of Britain. More than 60 free galleries take you from early human tools to Egyptian mummies, Assyrian palace walls, Greek temple sculpture, Chinese porcelain, samurai armour and modern money. In 2025 it had about 6.4 million visitors, making it one of the busiest attractions in the UK.
It was founded in 1753, mostly from the collection of the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane. It opened to the public in 1759 in Montagu House, a mansion on the same site, and is often described as the world's first public national museum. The Greek Revival building you see today, with its colonnaded front on Great Russell Street, was designed by Sir Robert Smirke and went up in the first half of the 1800s.
At its heart is the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, the largest covered public square in Europe. Its glass-and-steel roof spans the old courtyard around the round Reading Room, where scholars read and wrote for more than a century before the British Library moved to St Pancras in the late 1990s.
Some objects in the collection are the subject of requests for their return. The best-known case is the Parthenon sculptures, removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin's agents between 1801 and 1812, when Athens was under Ottoman rule: Greece has asked for their return since 1983, and the museum's position is that they were legally acquired. The museum is also at the start of a long rebuild, its Masterplan, beginning with the galleries west of the Great Court, and says it will stay open throughout.
What to see
The Bayeux Tapestry (Room 30, until 11 July 2027)
The nearly 70-metre embroidery of the Norman Conquest of 1066, on a historic loan from France. It's a separate paid experience with timed entry: a one-way route of about 40 minutes, with no photos and no bags or buggies. In October 2026 every ticket until 31 December 2026 had sold out; tickets for January to March 2027 go on sale on 21 October 2026.
The Rosetta Stone (Room 4)
A decree from 196 BC carved three times, in hieroglyphs, demotic and Greek, which became the key to reading Egyptian hieroglyphs. It sits just off the Great Court in the Egyptian sculpture gallery, with the colossal bust of Ramesses II nearby, and always has a crowd round it. Go early or late, or look at it from the side. Room 4 is due to close from 11 to 22 January 2027.
Parthenon sculptures (Room 18)
The frieze, metopes and pediment figures from Athens' temple of Athena, on show here since 1817. The frieze shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival, and the reclining gods from the pediments are at either end of the long room. Rooms 18a and 18b explain how the pieces sat on the building.
Assyrian palace reliefs (Rooms 6–10)
Huge carved stone panels and gateway figures from the palaces of Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad in what is now Iraq. Don't miss the lion hunt reliefs and the Siege of Lachish in Room 10, one of the most vivid things in the museum. Rooms 6b and 7–8 are due to close from 8 to 19 February 2027.
Egyptian mummies (Rooms 62–63)
Painted coffins, mummified people and animals, and burial goods, upstairs on the north side. This is the most crowded part of the museum, so come first thing or in the last hour. The tomb-chapel paintings of Nebamun in Room 61 next door are often quieter and just as good.
Sutton Hoo ship burial (Room 41)
The treasure of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial dug up in Suffolk in 1939: gold jewellery, Byzantine silver and the famous iron helmet (a replica beside it shows how it once looked). Room 41 is partly closed from 12 to 23 October 2026.
Lewis Chessmen (Room 40)
Twelfth-century chess pieces, most of them carved from walrus ivory, found in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland: the worried-looking queens and the shield-biting warriors are what everyone comes for. They're in the Medieval Europe gallery, next to Sutton Hoo, with the Royal Gold Cup nearby.
Hoa Hakananai'a (Room 24)
A moai (ancestor figure) taken from Orongo on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) by the crew of a British ship in 1868, with birdman-cult carvings on its back. It stands in the Living and Dying gallery on the ground floor at the north end of the Great Court, by the Montague Place side, so it makes a good first or last stop.
British Museum tickets: which to buy and where
Entry to the permanent collection is free for everyone. The museum advises booking a free timed ticket on britishmuseum.org: it gets you priority entry when it's busy, but you can still walk up without one. You only pay for special exhibitions (Korea from £18, the Bayeux Tapestry from £25) and for tours. Bayeux tickets are in the booker's name and ID may be checked, so resold tickets are a risk.
The official ticket site
The British Museum
Information is on britishmuseum.org and booking on ticketing.britishmuseum.org. On busy release days a Queue-it waiting room (britishmuseum.queue-it.net) sits in front of the whole booking site (on 6 October 2026 it showed a wait of over an hour), so you may have to queue online even for free tickets.
General admission (free timed ticket)
Free
Official ticketsSkips some lines
- Includes
- Entry to the permanent collection at your chosen time, with priority entry at busy times. You still go through the security bag check. Up to 9 people per booking; groups of 10 or more need a group ticket.
- Best for
- Everyone, especially at weekends and in school holidays
British Museum (official) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Walk-up entry (no ticket)
Free
Official ticketsDoes not skip lines
- Includes
- Entry to the permanent collection if there is space. Walk-ups are let in every day, but at busy times you queue behind ticket holders.
- Best for
- Quiet weekdays, Friday evenings and anyone who decides on the day
British Museum (official) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)The Bayeux Tapestry
£33 adult standard, £27 off-peak, £25 super off-peak (term-time weekdays 15.30–16.20); students, 16–18s, jobseekers and disabled visitors £25; under 16s free (book with an adult)
(€39 · €32 · €30)
Official ticketsSkips some lines
- Includes
- A timed entry to the Tapestry experience in Room 30 (10 September 2026 – 11 July 2027; about 40 minutes, one-way), plus the rest of the museum. Open Sun–Wed 10.00–18.00 and Thu–Sat 10.00–21.00. Sold out until 31 December 2026 (October 2026); January–March 2027 goes on sale on 21 October 2026, and April–July 2027 in early 2027. Tickets are emailed four days before.
- Best for
- Anyone in London before 11 July 2027 who can book on release day
British Museum (official) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Korea (special exhibition)
£20 adult standard, £18 off-peak; students and 16–18s £18 (£16 off-peak); under 16s free; Members free
(€24 · €21 · €19)
Official ticketsSkips some lines
- Includes
- Timed entry to the exhibition in Room 35 (1 October 2026 – 31 January 2027; closed 1–2 December for a rotation). Allow about an hour.
- Best for
- Visitors who want an exhibition on top of the free galleries
British Museum (official) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)Out-of-hours tour
£35 adult; £32 students, jobseekers, disabled visitors and Members; £17.50 ages 5–15
(€41 · €38 · €21)
Official ticketsSkips the ticket line
- Includes
- A volunteer-led tour of one area (introduction to the museum, ancient Egypt, Egyptian life and death, China or the ancient Greek world) from 08.50 to 10.00, before the doors open. You can stay in the museum afterwards.
- Best for
- Seeing Room 4 or the Parthenon galleries without the crowds
British Museum (official) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)2h British Museum guided tour with priority entrance
from €34
ResellerSkips some lines
- Includes
- A 2-hour guided highlights tour, meeting inside by the information desk. The 'priority entrance' is a timed entry slot booked by the operator: the same free timed ticket you could book yourself on the museum's site, not a separate door. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
- Best for
- People who want a guide; the entry part on its own is free on the official site
GetYourGuide (operator: Best Tours London) · as of October 2026See this ticket → (opens in a new tab)
How to buy
- Go to britishmuseum.org, open Visit, and click Book tickets. Booking runs on ticketing.britishmuseum.org.
- Choose General admission, pick a date and time, and add up to 9 people. The ticket costs nothing and is emailed to you.
- If your slot shows no availability, check again later: the museum releases tickets regularly. You can also just walk up on the day.
- Arrive at your booked time, not before it, and have the email ready on your phone.
- For an exhibition, book from the exhibition's page. The exhibition ticket also gets you into the permanent collection, so you don't need two tickets.
- For the Bayeux Tapestry, sign up to the museum's newsletter and be online at the release (21 October 2026 for January–March 2027). Book in the name of the person who will visit: tickets are non-transferable, ID may be checked, and you can have at most 10 tickets per booking.
Look-alike sites
Entry to the British Museum is free, so any site asking you to pay for general admission is selling a tour or adding a fee for a free ticket. The only official sites are britishmuseum.org and ticketing.britishmuseum.org (with britishmuseum.queue-it.net as its waiting room on busy days). Paid 'priority entrance' or 'skip-the-line' products usually just book the same free timed slot for you; pay for them only if you want the guide. Be wary of anyone reselling Bayeux Tapestry tickets: they're issued to the named booker and may be refused at the door.
We can never guarantee a ticket seller, tour company or deal. Prices, opening hours and what is included change, often without notice: check the details on the seller’s own page before you pay, and book through the official site where you can. How to avoid ticket scams · Disclaimer.
Guided tours of British Museum
The museum is free and huge, so a guide earns their fee by choosing for you: a good 90-minute to 2-hour highlights tour covers the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the Assyrian reliefs, the mummies and Sutton Hoo. Before you pay, try the museum's own options: free 40-minute volunteer Eye-opener tours every day, a £15 highlights tour from Friday to Sunday, and the £6 Audio app. Note that no guided tours are allowed inside the Bayeux Tapestry experience.
Free gallery talk
Eye-opener tours
British Museum (volunteer guides)
Short tours of one gallery at various times through the day, usually limited to about 15 people, no booking: arrive early at the meeting point. There are also free 20-minute spotlight tours on Friday evenings (17.00–19.00) and of the Reading Room on Tuesdays at 11.00 and 12.00. No tours on Saturday 17 October 2026, and no Friday spotlight tours on 16 October 2026.
Official guided highlights tour
Around the world in 90 minutes
British Museum
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11.30 and 14.00, up to 20 people, for ages 16+ (12+ with an adult). Covers several floors, so expect a lot of walking. The cheapest guided highlights tour on offer.
Small-group or private guided tour
British Museum Highlights Guided Small Group Tour
Babylon Tours London (sold on GetYourGuide)Semi-private, with at most 8 guests (minimum 2 per booking), or private. Covers the Rosetta Stone, the Assyrian lion hunt, the Parthenon sculptures, the Lewis Chessmen, the Oxus Treasure and the Royal Game of Ur. In English. Not suitable for wheelchair users except as a private tour. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Local walking-tour company, guided museum tour
British Museum Tour
London WalksEvery Wednesday at 14.15, meeting outside Russell Square Underground station, then a short walk through Bloomsbury to the museum. Booking is optional: you can turn up and pay on the day. A long-running London walking-tour company; cheaper than the platform tours.
£20 adult; £15 students and seniors; £5 children
(€24 · €18 · €6)
See this tour → (opens in a new tab)Self-guided audio and video guide
British Museum Audio app
British Museum
Commentary on 250 objects and 65 gallery introductions (free), in English, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French, Korean, Japanese, German and British Sign Language. Download it before you go and bring headphones; phones can't be charged inside the museum.
Free gallery introductions; full bundle £6 per language; single themed tours £1.99–£2.99
(€7 · €2–4)
See this tour → (opens in a new tab)
We can never guarantee a ticket seller, tour company or deal. Prices, opening hours and what is included change, often without notice: check the details on the seller’s own page before you pay, and book through the official site where you can. How to avoid ticket scams · Disclaimer.
British Museum deals and discounts
Entry is free, so the real saving is not paying anyone for it. If you pay for anything, it'll be exhibitions: under 16s go free, off-peak slots are cheaper, an Art Fund National Art Pass halves the price, and membership pays for itself if you'll see two exhibitions.
Free entry to the permanent collection
Everyone gets in free, every day the museum is open, including Friday evenings until 20.30. The free timed ticket is optional but gives priority entry at busy times. Donations are welcome and some exhibition tickets show an optional donation price: untick it if you only want the ticket.
Under 16s free, off-peak prices for exhibitions
Under 16s go free to the Korea exhibition and the Bayeux Tapestry (for the Tapestry, up to four per adult; book their free ticket with yours). Off-peak slots are cheaper: Korea £18 instead of £20, and the Bayeux Tapestry £27, or £25 on term-time weekdays from 15.30 to 16.20. For Korea, over-60s pay £9 after 12.00 on Mondays, and students get 2-for-1 on Fridays.
Half price with an Art Fund National Art Pass
National Art Pass holders pay £10 (£9 off-peak) for Korea and £16.50 (£13.50 off-peak, £12.50 super off-peak) for the Bayeux Tapestry. Worth it if you already have the pass or will use it at other UK museums.
British Museum membership
Individual membership costs £82 a year by card, or £72 by Direct Debit, with discounts for under-26s. It includes free entry to all exhibitions (Korea needs no booking), two Bayeux Tapestry visits at no extra cost (with Members' priority booking, though you still need a timed slot), the Members' Room, a free cloakroom and 10% off in the shops and cafés. Add a guest on every visit for £30 more.
Best time to visit British Museum
Time of day: the queue outside the gates is often longest at the 10.00 opening, especially on weekends and in school holidays, and regular visitors say it is usually shorter around midday and in the afternoon. Inside, the mummies (Rooms 62–63), Room 4 with the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon galleries are busiest from late morning. The museum says Rooms 1–2, 15, 19–21, 42–43, 46–48, 90 and 92–94 tend to be quieter.
Friday evenings: the museum stays open until 20.30 every Friday (last entry 20.15, except Good Friday, 26 March 2027), and most galleries stay open until 20.20. It's free, and calmer than a weekend afternoon. Book a timed slot to guarantee entry (last slot 19.00).
Season and week: weekends, British school holidays and summer are the busiest. For exhibitions, the museum says the first and last weekends of a run are the busiest and suggests midweek in the middle of the run. Check the planned gallery closures before you go: in autumn and winter 2026–27 several rooms close for a week or two each, including Room 41 (partly, 12–23 October 2026) and Room 4 (11–22 January 2027).
Tips and tricks
Gathered from travel forums, locals and the sight’s own advice, rewritten in our own words. What worked for others, not a guarantee.
Try the Montague Place entrance
The north entrance on Montague Place, behind the museum, often has a much shorter security queue than the main gate on Great Russell Street, and it's step-free. It isn't always quieter: groups are sent there, and in busy periods it's used for walk-ups, so ticket holders can be sent round to the front.
From TripAdvisor London forum, 2025; British Museum visit page, 2026
Travel light to get through security faster
Every bag is searched at the entrance. Visitors with no bags are often waved through quicker. Wheeled cases of any size, and bags over 40 x 40 x 50 cm or 8 kg, aren't allowed on site at all, and there is no luggage storage: use the left luggage at Euston, King's Cross or Charing Cross.
From British Museum visit page, 2026; TripAdvisor London forum, 2025
An exhibition ticket gets you in by the members' line
If you're seeing Korea or the Bayeux Tapestry anyway, your exhibition ticket also covers the permanent collection. Visitors report that exhibition ticket holders can use the members' line at the main gate, which often has little or no queue, though not if the queue already stretches outside the gates.
From TripAdvisor London forum, 2025
Be online when Bayeux tickets are released
In October 2026 all dates to 31 December 2026 had sold out. January–March 2027 goes on sale on 21 October 2026, and April–July 2027 in early 2027. On the Members' release day (6 October 2026) the booking site's waiting room showed a wait of more than an hour, so log on as soon as sales open. Allow about 40 minutes for the Tapestry itself.
From British Museum Bayeux Tapestry page and booking queue, October 2026
Plan your route on the map first
With over 60 galleries on several floors, wandering wastes time. Pick five or six objects, mark them on the museum map and do the busiest room first. The upstairs Egyptian rooms get the most crowded.
From TripAdvisor London forum, 2025; British Museum accessibility page, 2026
Get the free gallery introductions on the app
The Audio app's 65 gallery introductions are free; only the object commentaries cost extra (£6 for the full bundle). Download it on your hotel wifi, and bring charged headphones and a power bank: you aren't allowed to charge devices inside.
From British Museum Audio app and visit pages, 2026
Handle the real thing at a Hands on desk
Volunteers let you hold genuine objects from the collection at free Hands on desks, daily 11.00–16.00, in Rooms 1, 24, 33, 42–43, 49 and 68. It's a quiet highlight and good for children.
From British Museum tours and talks page, 2026
Leave the tripod and selfie stick at home
Photography and video for personal use are allowed in most galleries, but tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are banned inside. Photos are not allowed in the Bayeux Tapestry.
From British Museum visit page and Bayeux Tapestry page, 2026
How to get to British Museum
- Underground: Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines) is a 5-minute walk. Holborn (Central and Piccadilly) and Russell Square (Piccadilly) are 7 minutes away, and Goodge Street (Northern) is 8 minutes. Russell Square is closest to the Montague Place entrance.
- Bus: routes 1, 8, 19, 25, 38, 55, 98 and 242 stop on New Oxford Street. Routes 14, 24, 29, 73, 134 and 390 stop on Tottenham Court Road (northbound) and Gower Street (southbound). Routes 59, 68, X68, 91, 168 and 188 stop on Southampton Row.
- Addresses: the main entrance is on Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. The north entrance is on Montague Place, London WC1E 7JW.
- Taxi and bike: there's a black-cab rank on Great Russell Street by the main gates. The museum's bike racks are closed during building works, but there's a Santander Cycles docking station at the corner of Great Russell Street and Montague Street.
- Car: there's no parking at the museum, and it's inside the Congestion Charge zone. Public transport is much easier.
Scams and problems to watch for
Paying for 'entry tickets' to a free museum
Ticket and tour sites sell 'British Museum tickets' with fees, or 'priority entrance' that is just the free timed slot. If the price is for entry alone and the site isn't britishmuseum.org or ticketing.britishmuseum.org, you're paying for something free. Only pay if you want what's added, such as a guide.
Resold Bayeux Tapestry tickets
Bayeux tickets are sold out for 2026, which attracts resellers and 'packages'. The museum says tickets can only be used by the booker, ID may be checked, and multiple bookings from one email address are cancelled. A ticket in someone else's name, or a tour 'including' the Tapestry, may be refused at the door, and no guided tours are allowed inside.
Pickpockets in the crowds
The security queue on Great Russell Street, the crowded Great Court and the packed Rosetta Stone and mummy rooms are easy places to lose a phone or wallet. Keep bags zipped and in front of you, and don't leave anything unattended.
Accessibility
Entry is step-free through either entrance: at the main entrance on Great Russell Street, lifts on both sides of the 12 front steps take you up, and the Montague Place entrance has the North lift just inside. Tell the staff at the gate if you need the easy access route and to skip the queue. Lifts serve most floors, but the Room 16 mezzanine, Room 67 (Korea), the Room 69 mezzanine and Room 95 have no step-free access. Free manual wheelchairs can be reserved with at least two working days' notice (tickets@britishmuseum.org or +44 (0)20 7323 8181). There are accessible toilets but no Changing Places toilet; the nearest is at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Touch tours run in Room 4 and Rooms 18–18b. At the Bayeux Tapestry, disabled visitors pay £25 and an assistant goes free (book their ticket too).
Combine it with
British Library
The national library on Euston Road at St Pancras has a free Treasures Gallery of some of the most important items in its collection. The building is open Monday to Thursday until 20.00 (Fri 18.00, Sat 17.00, Sun 11.00–17.00), so it fits well after an afternoon at the museum.
Sir John Soane's Museum
An architect's house crammed with antiquities and paintings, including Hogarth's A Rake's Progress, on Lincoln's Inn Fields, 5 minutes from Holborn station. It's free and you don't need to book, but space is limited, so expect a short wait. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10.00–17.00, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Bloomsbury squares
Russell Square, Bedford Square and the other garden squares around the museum make a quiet break between galleries. Russell Square has a café and is right by the Montague Place entrance.
Covent Garden
The market halls, street performers and restaurants are a short walk south via Holborn or Tottenham Court Road, so it's an easy lunch or dinner stop after a morning in the museum.
Tower of London
On SightsaleThe other big London museum day: the Crown Jewels and the Beefeaters, on the Thames in the City. Do it on a separate morning, or go there first and come to the British Museum on a Friday evening.
Questions people ask about visiting British Museum
Is the British Museum free?
Yes. Entry to the permanent collection is free every day, including Friday evenings until 20.30 (October 2026). You pay only for special exhibitions, such as Korea (from £18) and the Bayeux Tapestry (from £25), and for some tours.
Do I need to book a ticket for the British Museum?
No, but the museum advises it. A free timed ticket from ticketing.britishmuseum.org gives you priority entry when it's busy; walk-ups are let in every day, but may wait longer at peak times. Everyone, with or without a ticket, goes through the same security bag check.
How can I see the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum?
It's on show in Room 30 from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027, with timed tickets from £25 to £33 for adults (under 16s free). Every ticket until 31 December 2026 is sold out. January–March 2027 goes on sale on 21 October 2026, and April–July 2027 in early 2027. Tickets are in the booker's name and ID may be checked.
What are the British Museum opening hours?
Daily 10.00–17.00, and until 20.30 on Fridays; last entry is 16.45, or 20.15 on Fridays (October 2026). The museum is closed 24–26 December, and there's no late opening on Good Friday, 26 March 2027.
How long do you need at the British Museum?
Two to three hours covers the main highlights: the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, the Assyrian reliefs, the mummies, Sutton Hoo and the Lewis Chessmen. Add about 40 minutes for the Bayeux Tapestry and an hour for the Korea exhibition. Entry is free, so you can also split it into two shorter visits.
Is a guided tour of the British Museum worth it?
It's worth it if you have one visit and want someone to choose the highlights for you. Start with the museum's own options: free 40-minute Eye-opener tours daily, the £15 'Around the world in 90 minutes' tour from Friday to Sunday, or the £6 Audio app. Platform tours start at around €34 for 2 hours; the guide is the only thing you're paying for, because entry is free.
Can I bring luggage to the British Museum?
No large luggage. Wheeled cases of any size, and bags over 40 x 40 x 50 cm or 8 kg, aren't allowed on site. The cloakroom takes smaller bags (£4 up to 4 kg, £6 for 4–8 kg) while it has space. Leave suitcases at Euston, King's Cross or Charing Cross stations.
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- From
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- From
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Before you go
The things that apply at every big sight: booking ahead, what skip-the-line really means, and the scams that follow tourists everywhere.