Guided museum tours in London are the best way to enjoy the city’s museums and galleries.
These tours help you understand much more of what you see, focus on the highlights, cover themes you want to learn about, and generally make the museum visit more engaging.
I’ve taken many tours in London’t museums and every time I go back to London I take even more.
This guide will help you pick the best tours to add to your London itinerary. I included different types of tours that can suit any travel style.
Table of contents
The types of guided museum tours in London you can take
There are guided museum tours in London that are run by the museums themselves. These are often free to join 🙂 They’re group tours led by volunteers.
Where possible, I pointed out the free tours in the guide below. If they fit your schedule, that’s a great option to add to your London plan.
The alternative is taking private museum tours in London. These are in-depth tours led by expert guides, such as historians, artists, or art experts.
Private tours are easier to fit into your schedule, as their starting times are more flexible.
On a private tour, you can ask your guide in advance to tailor the tour to your own interests.
For example, if you want to learn about a specific time period or art movement, a particular artist, and so on, these private tours give you an opportunity to do just that.
You can also take self-guided audio tours at some museums. That’s a good option if you want full control of your time and pace.
Why I take guided museum tours in London
I’ve taken plenty of guided tours in museums in London, first and foremost because they feed my curiosity 🙂
They also make the museum experience more memorable. I’m more likely to retain information coming from a live guide than from text on the wall.
Guided museum tours are a way to deal with information overload. Some of London’s museums are massive, with so much to see it’s impossible to cover everything in one visit. Guides help out by picking the right items to focus on.
London guided museum tours are the ideal choice if you’re:
- Short on time and want someone to show you the highlights, making sure you don’t miss out on anything worth seeing;
- Got a short attention span and need an experienced guide to keep you engaged (a good guide would know how to do that);
- Feel like you don’t fully understand what you see at museums, and need more accessible guidance with the opportunity to ask questions.
The list of guided tours in London
In this post, I’ve listed the most popular museums in London that you can see on a guided tour.
The British Museum
One of the most visited museums in London has an extensive history and culture collection, with some world-famous objects, including the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies.
It’s a great place for anyone interested in ancient cultures, such as Rome, Greece, and Egypt. It has all sorts of antiquities from all over the world.
But it’s not only about ancient civilisations. I especially like the Enlightenment section of the museum, which covers the 18th century. It has an interesting perspective on the scientific revolution, alongside the tragedies of colonialism and slavery.
The British Museum is simply massive and it could take weeks to see even half of it… It’s the kind of museum you want to return to again and again to see more. There’s always more to learn.
I recommend seeing the museum on a guided tour, either with a private guide or on one of the museum’s free tours.
Private tours of the British Museum
Take a private guided tour of the British Museum that focuses on the highlights and famous artefacts, alongside some hidden gems.
The professional guide has a wealth of knowledge and is skilled at bringing ancient items to life with engaging stories.
You can ask the guide to tailor the tour to suit your interests, given the huge range of themes in this museum.
Check availability here:
Free tours of the British Museum
The museum itself offers a free tour called “Eye-opener”.
It’s a group tour run by volunteers, who take you on a quick 30-40 minute tour to see some of the items in the collection.
You don’t have to book in advance, just ask at the ticket desk when the next tour takes place. It’s best to go to the meeting point early to reserve your spot, as there’s a limit of 15 people per tour.
These tours are great if you’re on a budget and want to get a taste of some of the museum’s highlights with a guide.
The National Gallery
The remarkable collection of paintings at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square includes works by famous artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet.
You can easily visit this gallery in one day. There’s a lot to see, but it’s not overwhelmingly large like the British Museum or Victoria & Albert.
The added value of a guided tour lies in good storytelling. Each painting has a story. Learning about it from an expert guide really makes the visit more meaningful.
Free tours of the National Gallery
I’d been to the National Gallery many times before learning that they were offering free guided tours.
Joining one of the gallery tours in the middle of August wasn’t the best idea though.
As soon as I got there I saw about 50 other people, all taking the same tour with only one guide (who didn’t have a mic…).
However, if you don’t go in high season you may have a better experience. Check the official website for dates and times.
Private tours of the National Gallery
When you take a private tour of the National Gallery you can ask the guide to customise your tour to include the paintings that interest you personally.
Even if you’ve been to the National Gallery before, this kind of tour will give you new insight.
Plus, you won’t find yourself in a crowd of 50 people, unable to hear the guide…
You also get to choose a morning or afternoon tour to fit your London schedule.
Check availability here:
British Museum and National Gallery combined tour
You can take a combined tour of the British Museum and the National Gallery in one day.
It seems like quite a bit of information to process, so I haven’t done it myself, but these “combo” tours are popular, judging from online reviews.
If you have limited time to spend in London, this could be a great solution.
Check availability here:
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum in London is famous for the life-sized dinosaur that greets you when you enter.
The museum has a huge collection, ranging from human evolution to botanical specimens, and of course wildlife, dinosaurs, and various other creatures.
The building housing the museum is one of the most impressive buildings in London.
It’s a large museum with plenty to see; I personally can’t say I’ve seen it all even after quite a few visits over the years.
To make sure you cover all the highlights without getting too overwhelmed, explore this museum with a private guide.
You’ll learn more about the stories behind the displays and get to ask the guide about the parts of the museum that interest you most.
Check availability here:
Victoria and Albert Museum
This museum covers just about every aspect of art, design, and culture from around the world.
The collection is massive, diverse, and endlessly fascinating.
The museum changes the display every once in a while, as there are many more items waiting in storage and not enough space to display everything at once.
This means that no matter how many times you visit, there will always be more to see.
I’ve been there countless times and keep coming back every time I’m in London.
Unlike some other museums, it’s impossible to see everything at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in one day. This museum is enormous. It is also notoriously difficult to navigate on your own (I got lost there so many times…)
That’s why I highly recommend you see it with a guide.
You can choose to see just the highlights, or you can focus on a certain theme (such as fashion, architecture, etc.) or certain regions (such as Britain or Asia).
You can take one of the free tours run by the museum itself, or book a guided tour with a private guide and get a customised itinerary to match your interests.
Free group tours
The V&A offers its own guided tours at different times of the day.
There’s no need to book these in advance, just ask at the ticket office about the next tours scheduled.
I’ve been on quite a few of these tours and really enjoyed them.
Each volunteer guide tells you about their own selection of items, with stories and anecdotes they researched.
You only get a small taste of the extensive collection the museum has to offer, but you do get a deeper understanding of each item you see on the tour.
As these tours are led by volunteers, they may be cancelled from time to time, so you want to check on the day what’s available.
I especially enjoyed the themed tours on theatre and performance, architecture (covering the history of the building), and LGBTQ history.
If you have enough time and energy, it’s a good idea to take more than one of these free tours.
Tailored private tours
Book a private tour if you want more control of your time and itinerary.
These tours are led by expert guides who can tailor the experience to suit your interests.
This tour focuses on the highlights, though you can also have it personalised, if you let the guide know about your special interests.
The tour lasts 3 hours, which is just about enough time to cover some of the best parts of the museum, without getting too tired…
Check availability here:
Tate Modern
For lovers of modern art, this is a must-see place in London.
If you’re new to modern art, Tate Modern is definitely the place to get your “Modern Art 101” education.
It has an impressive collection with pieces by iconic artists like Picasso, Warhol, and Hockney, alongside contemporary art, innovative installations, and special exhibitions.
Everything I’ve ever seen at Tate Modern has always been carefully curated, with a good balance between the deep and the communicative.
Tate Modern is a huge art space. It takes quite a bit of time to see even one floor. You can easily spend an entire day there (which is what I often do on rainy days in London…).
Tate Modern offers its own guided tours. You can join the Official Discovery Tour that covers the main highlights and famous artists, as well as the unique architecture of the building.
Check availability here:
If you take a private tour, you can ask the guide to tailor it to your own taste and interests.
You can take the opportunity to learn about specific styles or artists that interest you, as well as view the famous artworks at Tate Modern.
Tate Britain
A great place for art lovers, dedicated to British art. I’ve been there many times and each time I discover something new.
The collection spans several centuries and includes famous works by JMW Turner, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, and many other great artists.
Tate Britain offers its own guided tours. If you want to make sure you see all the highlights and famous artworks, explore Tate Britain with the Official Discovery Tour.
Check availability here:
The National Portrait Gallery
Right next to the popular National Gallery, there’s another London institution you don’t want to miss.
The National Portrait Gallery is dedicated to portraits, with a vast collection that takes you through the history of Britain.
I love wandering around this gallery and after many, many visits, I found out that it runs guided tours.
The tours run daily, last 45 minutes, and are free to join. The gallery itself is free to enter (only some temporary exhibitions are paid). Ask at the ticket desk about times and meeting points for the tours. There’s no need to book ahead.
I took the tour and discovered some portraits I’d never noticed to before. The guide had some great stories to tell us about the people, the paintings, and the historical context.
Each tour has a different guide and different highlights, so it’s the kind of tour you can take more than once.
Another option is to take an audio tour with the Bloomberg Connects app. You download it to you phone and use your own earphones.
I tried it at one of the special exhibitions last year. It’s easy to use and has audio, text, photo, and video.
The same app covers many other museums and galleries worldwide.
The National Portrait Gallery is also included in the 3 Most Famous Art Galleries Tour, alongside Tate Modern and the National Gallery.
This is a good option especially if you’re short on time and want to see all 3 galleries in one day with a guide who’ll show you around shows you the highlights.
The Science Museum
A super popular science and technology museum that’s on the standard London bucket list.
It’s a fun museum for kids and adults, with plenty of interactive experiences.
Guided tours of the Science Museum are a great way to explore the best parts of this huge museum.
Free tours at the Science Museum
The Science Museum runs its own tour of the museum highlights. These tours are run by volunteers, so dates and times vary (depending on the volunteers’ availability).
The tours last 30 minutes and the guides highlight some of the items in the collections. These tours are limited to 15 people per tour, so get there early to reserve your spot.
You can check the Science Museum website to find out when these tours run. I recommend checking on the day you plan to visit the museum, because last-minute cancellations can occur.
Private tours at the Science Museum
An alternative would be a private tour. The 3-Hour Guided Tour of the Science Museum is suitable for groups and available in many different languages.
It covers the Science Museum collections and its special interactive activities, such as the 3D IMAX cinema and the flight simulator.
Check availability here:
Churchill War Rooms
The guided tour of the Churchill War Rooms by the Imperial War Museum runs daily.
You’ll learn about the London Blitz, the daily life of Londoners during WWII, and the leadership of Prime Minister Winston Churchill during that war.
If you prefer a self-guided tour, get the audio guide. It includes an entry ticket for the Churchill War Rooms, an audio guide to the Churchill War Rooms, and another audio guide on Political London.
Design Museum
This is definitely one of my favourite museums in London.
It has a permanent exhibition about the history of design and it covers a great range of items and styles.
The temporary exhibitions are fascinating and always have an original twist.
The Design Museum runs its own guided tours from time to time. For dates and details, check the What’s On page on the museum’s website.
More London cultural tours
Save this post on guided museum tours in London on Pinterest
3 Comments
Absolutely loved this roundup of museum tours in London! It’s super helpful to know where to find guided experiences that truly bring the exhibits to life. Can’t wait to check them out with friends next weekend—thanks for the awesome recommendations!
Love this roundup of museum tours in London! It’s so helpful to know where to find guided tours that really bring the exhibits to life. Can’t wait to explore these with friends next weekend. Thanks for the great recommendations!
What an insightful read! Your passion for exploring London’s museums shines through every word. I’ve been looking for the perfect guided tours to delve deeper into these cultural treasures, and your recommendations are just what I needed. Can’t wait to embark on these enriching adventures!