travel
There are some 70 million specimens in the Natural History Museum’s fascinating collections. Originally the repository for items brought home by Charles Darwin and Captain Cook’s botanist, Joseph Banks, among others, the museum combines traditional displays with innovative, hands-on exhibits. With kid-pleasers such as the impressive dinosaur collection, it remains one of London’s most popular museums. Still a hot-house of research, the museum employs 300 scientists and librarians.

  • Cromwell Road SW7

  • 020 7942 5000

  • www.nhm.ac.uk

  • Open 10am–5:50pm daily. Last admission 5:30pm

  • Closed 24–26 Dec

  • Free


Museum Guide

The Natural History Museum is divided into four distinct sections: the blue zone, which includes the dinosaur gallery; the green zone, which includes the ecology and creepy-crawlies galleries; the orange zone, which includes a wildlife garden; and the red zone, which incorporates the geological displays.

The ornately embellished Cromwell Road entrance leads to the imposing central hall with its grand staircase.

An additional entrance on Exhibition Road leads to the red zone.


Main entrance

Try the restaurant in the green zone, or the other two cafés and snack bars.


A number of different tours are available, including a visit to the outdoor Wildlife Garden. Details at the Central Hall information desk.


There are free guided tours of the Darwin Centre at 3pm & 4pm Mon–Fri (4pm only on Wed).




Top 10 Exhibits
  1. The Vault

    The museum’s extensive collection of gemstones, rocks and minerals includes brilliant red Rhodochrosite from the USA. The displays of glittering and colourful stones and rocks include descriptions of how we depend on them.

  2. Earthquake Simulator

    The Power Within looks at volcanoes and earthquakes. Experience a simulation of the 1995 Kobe earthquake in a Japanese supermarket.

  3. Journey Through the Globe

    Approach the red zone by an escalator that travels through a giant globe. The model is made of iron, zinc and copper to symbolize the Earth’s composition.

  4. No. 1 Crawley House

    Perhaps the most hair-raising display is housed in No. 1 Crawley House, an exhibit which shows just how many of the 1.3 million known kinds of arthropods, or creepy-crawlies, share our homes.

  5. Model Baby

    A giant model of an unborn baby in the Human Biology galleries demonstrates sounds heard in the womb. Other hands-on exhibits test abilities and reactions and show how physical characteristics are inherited.

  6. Water Cycle Video Wall

    A semi-spherical video wall in the Ecology Gallery shows the water cycle and how it links all life on the planet. A walk-through leaf shows how plants make oxygen.

  7. Fossils

    Marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs have survived in some remarkable fossils, such as the pregnant female Ichthyosaur, found in a Dorset garden, which lived 187–178 million years ago.

  8. Blue Whale

    The Mammal gallery houses this fascinating exhibit, where both modern mammals and their fossil relatives are dwarfed in comparison to the astounding life-sized model of a blue whale, the largest mammal in the world.

  9. Dinosaurs

    T. Rex, one of the museum’s impressively life-like animatronic models, lurches and roars in this hugely popular gallery. More traditional exhibits of fossilized skeletons and eggs are also on display.

  10. Darwin Centre

    The centre features an eight-storey concrete structure in the shape of a cocoon, which is home to over 200 scientists, and provides protection to millions of insects and plant specimens.

Top search
Women
- Foods That Cause Miscarriage
- Losing Weight In A Week With Honey
- Can You Eat Crab Meat During Pregnancy?
- 4 Kinds Of Fruit That Can Increase Risk Of Miscarriage
- Some Drinks Pregnant Women Should Say No With
- Signs Proving You Have Boy Pregnancy
- Why Do Pregnant Women Have Stomachache When Eating?
- Top Foods That Pregnant Women Should Be Careful Of
- 6 Kinds Of Vegetable That Increase Risk Of Miscarriage
Other
travel
- London's Top 10 : Tate Britain
- Berlin's Top 10 : Schloss Charlottenburg (part 2) - The Hohenzollern and Berlin
- Berlin's Top 10 : Schloss Charlottenburg (part 1)
- Berlin's Top 10 : Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche
- San Francisco's Top 10 : San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (part 2) - Yerba Buena Gardens’ Features
- San Francisco's Top 10 : San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (part 1)
- San Francisco's Top 10 : Grace Cathedral
- Washington, D.C.'s Top 10 : Washington National Cathedral
- Washington, D.C.'s Top 10 : Library of Congress
- Rome's Top 10 : The Colosseum and Imperial Fora
- Rome's Top 10 : Galleria Borghese
- Hong Kong's Top 10 : Temple Street Night Market
- Hong Kong's Top 10 : Stanley
- Madrid’s Top 10 : Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales
- Madrid’s Top 10 : Plaza Mayor
- Beijing's Top 10 : Bei Hai Park
- Beijing's Top 10 : Lama Temple (Yonghegong)
- Chicago's Top 10 : John G. Shedd Aquarium
- Chicago's Top 10 : Navy Pier
- Munich's Top 10 : Oktoberfest
 
women
Top keywords
women
Miscarriage Pregnant Pregnancy Pregnancy day by day Pregnancy week by week Losing Weight Stress Placenta Makeup Collection
Women
Top 5
women
- 5 Ways to Support Your Baby Development
- 5 Tips for Safe Exercise During Pregnancy
- Four Natural Ways Alternative Medicine Can Help You Get Pregnant (part 2)
- Four Natural Ways Alternative Medicine Can Help You Get Pregnant (part 1)
- Is Your Mental Health Causing You to Gain Weight (part 2) - Bipolar Disorder Associated with Weight Gain