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Number 12 of 20 in London

The Natural History Museum: the whale, the dinosaurs and the building

The Natural History Museum opened in 1881 in a building made to look like a Romanesque cathedral, covered inside and out with terracotta animals. It holds some eighty million specimens, and it is the museum London's children know best.

What it is
Museum
Time to allow
2 to 3 hours
Cost
Free
Best time
A weekday in term time, at opening

London this week

    Why the Natural History Museum is worth it

    The collection began as the natural history half of the British Museum, which had run out of room. The anatomist Richard Owen, the man who coined the word dinosaur, argued for a museum of its own, and Alfred Waterhouse built it: living creatures carved on the west side, extinct ones on the east.

    What is on show is a small part of what is kept. Behind the galleries are the plants Joseph Banks gathered on Cook's first voyage, the specimens Darwin brought back on the Beagle, and a working research institute with some three hundred scientists.

    It is free, and it is the most visited museum in Britain after the British Museum. That is the one thing to plan round.

    What to see

    1. Hope, the blue whale

      A skeleton 25 metres long, hung from the roof of Hintze Hall in 2017 as if diving on its prey. The whale was stranded on the coast of Ireland in 1891.

    2. The dinosaurs

      The Blue Zone gallery, with the first Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever found, a Triceratops skull, and a moving, roaring model of T. rex at the end.

    3. The building

      Look at the columns, the arches and the ceiling panels of painted plants. Every one of the monkeys climbing the arches of the hall is different.

    4. The Earth Hall

      The Exhibition Road entrance, where an escalator rises through a giant globe. Sophie, the most complete Stegosaurus skeleton known, stands at its foot.

    5. The Vault and the Treasures gallery

      Meteorites from Mars and coloured diamonds in the Vault, and in Treasures a first edition of On the Origin of Species and an egg carried back from the Antarctic.

    6. The gardens

      Remade in 2024, with a bronze cast of a Diplodocus among ferns and a path that walks you through the history of life.

    How to do it well

    • Entry is free. Book a free timed ticket on the museum's site in holidays and at weekends, when walk-up queues are long.
    • The dinosaur gallery is the busiest room. Go there first, at opening, or last.
    • The side entrance in Exhibition Road is usually quicker than the main one in Cromwell Road.
    • School holidays are very crowded. If you can choose, come on a weekday in term time.
    • The V&A is across the road and the Science Museum next door, both free.

    Where it is

    Address

    Cromwell Road, South Kensington

    Nearest station

    South Kensington (District, Circle, Piccadilly), five minutes by the pedestrian tunnel

    Museums and sights nearby

    Distances are in a straight line.

    Tickets and tours: Natural History Museum

    Natural History Museum: common questions

    Is the Natural History Museum free?
    Yes. The museum is free every day it is open. Some temporary exhibitions and guided tours are charged for.
    What happened to Dippy the Diplodocus?
    The plaster cast that stood in the great hall for decades was replaced in 2017 by the skeleton of a blue whale. A bronze Diplodocus now stands in the museum's garden.
    How long do you need at the Natural History Museum?
    Two to three hours for the great hall, the dinosaurs, the mammals and the Earth galleries. With children, plan for breaks.
    How much time do you need for the Natural History Museum?
    Allow 2 to 3 hours. That is this site's estimate for an unhurried visit.

    What visitors say about the Natural History Museum

    Rating from Google

    4.6

    39,699 ratings on Google

    Google's figures as read on 8 October 2026.

    Read every review on Google

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