On a Saturday evening in London, the National Portrait Gallery is open until nine o’clock and the National Gallery, two minutes across the square, is not.
Open daily 10.30 to 18.00. Friday and Saturday 10.30 to 21.00.
The National Gallery runs late on Friday only. Tate Modern runs late on Friday and Saturday too. So Saturday night in London offers exactly two free world-class collections, and this is one of them.
It publishes the times the others do not
Three figures the National Gallery leaves out entirely, and they decide whether you get in.
Last entry: 17.30. On Friday and Saturday: 20.30.
The Gallery begins closing ten minutes before the stated closing time.
So a 21.00 close really means being inside by 20.30 and rooms emptying from 20.50. That is a precise and honest timetable, and the kind of thing most galleries make you guess at.
It also opens half an hour later than the National Gallery, at 10.30 against 10.00. If you are doing both in a morning, start across the square.
Free, and the booking is free too
The Gallery is free to everyone. There is a charge for some exhibitions.
Advance free booking is recommended to guarantee entry and to get updates before your visit. Recommended rather than required, but on a Friday or Saturday evening it is worth doing.
Three galleries are shut right now
Published room closures as at 6 October 2026, and they are unusually specific:
Floor 1: Room 32 closed from Monday 24 August to Thursday 8 October 2026 for a display changeover.
Floor 1: Rooms 30 and 31, Contemporary Conversations and Gillian Wearing’s Spiritual Family, closed from Monday 21 September to Thursday 8 October 2026.
Floor 3: Making Portrait Miniatures, Room 5, closed from Thursday 8 October to Monday 12 October.
Read those dates together and there is a neat handover: the three Floor 1 rooms reopen on Friday 9 October, the day after the miniatures room on Floor 3 shuts. So between 9 and 12 October you can see the contemporary galleries but not the miniatures, and from 13 October you can see everything.
Every entrance is step-free
A genuinely unusual claim and worth stating plainly.
All of the Gallery’s entrances have step-free access.
The main entrance is at Ross Place. The groups entrance is on St Martin’s Place.
For wheelchair users the Gallery recommends taxis and cars drop off on the corner of Orange Street and Charing Cross Road, then using the main Ross Place entrance.
The Heinz Archive and Library has its own entrance at 39 to 45 Orange Street.
There is a cloakroom, with its own hours
The cloakroom is listed among the Gallery’s facilities with published opening hours of its own, alongside the Portrait Restaurant, the Café, Larry’s Café bar and the Heinz Archive.
That is a difference from the National Gallery, where a complimentary cloakroom appears as a Member benefit. Here it is simply a facility.
Also published: toilets and baby change, and guidance on prams and buggies, which few galleries address directly.
The free digital guide is on an app you may already have
There is a digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, with audio tours and exhibition content, covering the Collection.
Bloomberg Connects is free and carries dozens of museums worldwide, so if you have used it elsewhere the Portrait Gallery is already in it. That is a free audio tour without hiring a handset.
Group visits, audio tours and guided tours are all separately available, and there are specific programmes for families, schools, groups and youth.
Eating with a view
The Portrait Restaurant is the one with panoramic views, and there is a Café and Larry’s Café bar as well. All three publish their own opening hours separately from the Gallery’s, so check them rather than assuming they match.
Where it is
St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE, with the main entrance on Ross Place.
Charing Cross and Leicester Square are both a couple of minutes, and it backs onto the National Gallery.
How to plan it
Saturday evening: here or Tate Modern, and nowhere else free.
Last entry 17.30, or 20.30 on Friday and Saturday.
Doing both Trafalgar Square galleries: start at the National Gallery at 10.00, because this one opens at 10.30.
Book the free ticket to guarantee entry, especially on a late night.
Wanting the miniatures: not between 8 and 12 October.
Wanting the contemporary rooms: from 9 October.
Free audio guide: Bloomberg Connects on your own phone.
Step-free access: every entrance, with drop-off at Orange Street and Charing Cross Road.
National Portrait Gallery
- Address
- St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE. Main entrance at Ross Place, groups entrance on St Martin’s Place
- Nearest
- Charing Cross and Leicester Square, both a couple of minutes away
- Hours
- Daily 10.30 to 18.00, Friday and Saturday 10.30 to 21.00. Last entry 17.30, or 20.30 on Friday and Saturday. The Gallery begins closing ten minutes before the stated time
- Booking
- Free advance booking recommended to guarantee entry
- Price
- Free to everyone. Some exhibitions are ticketed
- Standing
- The national collection of portraits, behind the National Gallery, with a restaurant looking out over the rooftops
How to get in
Open until 21.00 on Friday and Saturday, which makes it one of only two free world-class collections available on a Saturday evening in London. It publishes last entry and a ten-minute closing warning, which the National Gallery does not, and it opens half an hour later at 10.30. Every entrance is step-free, and the free Bloomberg Connects app carries an audio guide.
Where to go next
The National Gallery is behind it, free as well, open to 9pm on Fridays but not Saturdays.
Tate Modern and Tate Britain are the other free national collections, and the free museums page covers them all.
Questions we get asked
Is the National Portrait Gallery free?
Yes, free to everyone, with a charge for some temporary exhibitions. Advance free booking is recommended to guarantee entry rather than required.
What are the National Portrait Gallery's opening times?
Daily 10.30 to 18.00, and Friday and Saturday 10.30 to 21.00. Last entry is 17.30, or 20.30 on Friday and Saturday, and the Gallery begins closing ten minutes before the stated closing time.
Is the National Portrait Gallery open in the evening?
Yes, until 21.00 on Friday and Saturday. That makes it one of only two free world-class London collections open on a Saturday evening, the other being Tate Modern. The National Gallery closes at 6pm on Saturdays.
Are any rooms closed at the National Portrait Gallery?
As at 6 October 2026, Room 32 on Floor 1 is closed until Thursday 8 October, along with Rooms 30 and 31, Contemporary Conversations and Gillian Wearing's Spiritual Family. On Floor 3 the Making Portrait Miniatures gallery, Room 5, closes from 8 October to 12 October. So the Floor 1 rooms reopen the day the Floor 3 room shuts.
Is the National Portrait Gallery accessible?
All of its entrances have step-free access. For wheelchair users the Gallery recommends taxis and cars drop off on the corner of Orange Street and Charing Cross Road, then using the main entrance on Ross Place. There is a cloakroom, toilets and baby change, and published guidance on prams and buggies.
Is there a free audio guide at the National Portrait Gallery?
Yes, through the Bloomberg Connects app, which is free and carries audio tours and exhibition content for the Collection. If you have used the app at another museum it already includes the Portrait Gallery.
Which entrance do you use at the National Portrait Gallery?
The main entrance is at Ross Place. The groups entrance is on St Martin's Place, and the Heinz Archive and Library has its own entrance at 39 to 45 Orange Street.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 292 in the guide.
Last checked 6 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
