Natural History Museum Reviews 

Awesome day out! Free entry got the kids ViP packs which they loved would deffo recommend

This was an experience I wanted to share with my children. It was HORRENDOUS!
I suffer from DVT and walking for long periods can sometimes be troublesome. I googled accessibility before our visit and was ensure there were plenty of benches / resting places.
We sat down on a few chairs at the top of a large flight of stairs due to the above and was told to leave, that we could not be here. She was extremely rude, i tried to explain about needing to rest but she said no, we needed to go.

obvious over crowding, screaming toddlers that were running & rolling around on the floor.. it was just a terrible time.

We didn't donate due to this.

Haven’t been for 20 years or so, came with my daughter and mum. Def pre book, walked straight in which was great but then met with a swarm of people and made it really hot and unable to see a lot of the exhibits. Left after a couple of hours. Just way too many people.

Came here on a day trip, after my littlest son fell in love with Andy's Dino adventures.
Pre-booked entry and it was a really simple entry without having to queue up.
Started in the cafe, and apart from the price of the cakes, I actually found their prices reasonable, And very good quality.
We only wanted to visit the dinosaur part this time, and it was really interesting. Very hot and over crowded through, a lots of people who seemed to ignore there being children that wanted to take part with the T rex exhibit, like others have said and actually pathway to follow may be a suitable idea.

Also the staff taking the photos were really nice, not trying to do the big oversell that is normal, but a nice selection of digital downloads and a real nice photo.

Will definitely come again, to see the rest

I spent an entire day there. It is an amazing museum with a lot of great things to look at, including whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling and dinosaurs.

It is incredible and the best museum I have ever visited. You easily spend 4+ hours there even without reading the signs.

Worth every penny . Spent all day and I still couldn't get enough. Family loved it.

Nice place to visit
But !!!!!!!!!!!!
No form of direction
Place like an ants nest absolute chaos
If there was a form of direction
Ideally arrows to create a route
especially on stairs ways.
Best to book tickets
Other wise a long wait in a long queue (waited 1 1/2 hours)
Price of of items in cafe (£5+for piece of cake OMG 🤪) & shop need to be reviewed definitely over priced hence less business, other than that very interesting place

Fabulous museum. Really knowledgable staff.
Catering outlets were not too busy. Toilet queues short!
Crowded in the school holidays but quiet places can e found and places just to fit and look

Beautiful exhibition but seriously overcrowded. Like, insanely so. Made the experience terrible and I was rushed to just get out and leave because it was a terrible experience due to the crowds.

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I had a great time visiting this museum
Lots to see too much for one visit
Will definitely be back

Loved the dinosaur exhibits, so well done and put together - I could have spent much longer exploring. Also in awe of the whale skeleton hanging in the big hall. I found the other sections less impressive and lost interest there.

Amazing museum especially for kids however this time, even though we pre-booked, the museum was so full you couldn't see half of the exhibitions. it really ruined the visit as they should not allow so many people in the building at one time. Certainly a fire hazard too! Really disappointing.

This used to be the pride and joy of west London. It was brilliant full on and free. Now the new management are trying to bring it down to the ground by trying to make money for most parts. The free part is a complete waste of time and nothing of interest and they have the cheek to ask for borderline forced donations. It’s all down to covid Anne free payment by this inadequate vote buyers which meant there’s no money left in the tank to support either these simple pleasures or essential services provided by the local councils who now have to raise their own funds by any tricks in the book be it 20 mile zones and tricky traffic signs erected daily confusing drivers and issuing unfair pcn’s amounting to dishonest Day light robberies of residents they used to have had obligations to serve. Shame on this Tories and their their temps of useless pm’s

It's really annoying. It says the ticket is free but it isnt free. Without donation you cannot book any tickets. The people who donate can go straight inside. The free one, need to wait for 2+ hours in line.

I have been coming to this museum from childhood onwards. My most recent visit was the most disappointing.

The dinosaur exhibit used to be much better, the walk way is now out of action. I used to love the Darwin, ecology and human biology exhibits but all these have gone and the mammals exhibit was closed. There are a lot more 'pay for' areas.

I wish it could rewind back 20 years or so.

Couldn’t wait to get out, just too busy and it felt unfriendly for regular folks. Visit was less than thirty minutes and most of that was trying to leave. Happened to visit three other London museum's recently and all were better than this. I get how popular the place is but it’s just not worth it! I’ll stick to the Science Museum or V&A which felt much better and welcoming.

Went there on a Sunday in late September 2023. Went with the family, so wife and 2 boys 6 & 3 years old.
The queue for entering was very long, although booking via the website removed the wait, so why weren’t the hundred people queuing told about the online booking option? They weren’t queuing for fun!
Being bombarded with donation requests both online and on entering was a bit desperate. Rather than walk in through a grand entrance we were sidelined off to a row of plastic donation stands similar to when leaving a toilet and you are asked to press to say if you had a good experience or not. Very depressing.
The dinosaur exhibition was pointless as absolutely shoulder to shoulder packed. So the kids really saw nothing and hated it. Even though it was not a particularly hot day the museum was stiflingly warm and airless. So much so I needed to use my inhaler which I very rarely need.
There were no staff about and the ones that were looked harassed and unhappy, much like us and everyone else there.
The map is pretty poor, I’ve been around the world and it must be one of the worse ones I’ve used.
There are very little interactive displays for children, it really is a last century visitor experience, almost as old as the collections, so different than so many museums who have modernised.
I was warned by several people never to go at a weekend, but that was the only time we could go as we do not live in London. How we wish we had listened, but what an inditement! Perhaps a weekday outside of summer would be better, I would definitely suggest that if you are considering visiting. But really not sure if we'd want to risk go through such a miserable experience again.
Better if you can to go to the equivalent museums in Edinburgh and Glasgow which we have visited and where it’s not so overcrowded and you'll have an enjoyable and far more relaxing and so educational time.

Extremely over crowded, very hot inside, enjoyed the dinosaur exhibition but that was about it. The insect area was clearly aimed at young children which is a shame as it should be all inclusive. Sadly will not be returning in a hurry

What can I say one the best museums anywhere, beautiful building great exhibits, the food halls are good
However the Titanosaurus exhibition is basically a rip off
For 2seniors and an 6 year old cost £37.50 for what took us 20mins and then you exit through a toy shop!
There is a large dinosaur skeleton at the end but no other wow really they call it interactive but it’s a bit old school