Nobody needs to buy a ticket to the Natural History Museum, and a great many people do. Entry to the galleries is free. What is sold is two exhibitions, one for 15 pounds and one for 17, and a free entry ticket that exists to guarantee you a place when it is busy. Most of the pages ranking for natural history museum tickets are selling you something. This one tells you what you can skip.
There is one date to know first. The South Kensington museum is closed on Friday 9 October 2026, because it is hosting a charity gala. It is the kind of closure that does not appear on the tube map and does show up at the door.
What is free and what is not
The museum’s galleries are free to explore. That is the museum’s own wording, and it covers the main halls, the dinosaurs and the permanent collection. What costs money is a ticket to a temporary exhibition, and the free entry ticket is not a charge at all: it is a booking that guarantees your entry.
The museum says it can get busy at weekends and during school holidays, and that you may have to queue to enter. Members and ticket holders can skip the queue. The free ticket is therefore worth taking if you are going on a Saturday or in a holiday, and it is not worth thinking about on a Tuesday in term time.
Expect a bag search on the way in. The museum says your bags may be searched, and has published its security measures, so a large bag is slower.
The two exhibitions, and what they cost
Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep runs until 3 January 2027. Adult off peak tickets are from 15 pounds. Entry is from 10am to 4.30pm daily, it is in the Waterhouse Gallery, and the museum recommends it for fearless underwater adventurers aged 8 and over. It covers the pliosaur, the ichthyosaur and the mosasaur, with fossils you can touch, including a mosasaur tooth. It is a family exhibition and it is honest about it.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year opens on 16 October 2026 and runs to 11 July 2027. Adult off peak tickets are from 17 pounds. It is 100 award winning photographs in a calm, contemplative room, in the Central Building. This is the one for an adult visiting alone: it is quiet by design, it changes every year, and it is on for nine months.
Both prices are “from” prices for off peak adult tickets, so the figure on a Saturday afternoon will be higher. Together the two come to 32 pounds at their cheapest, and members get free entry to both.
The quiet ways in
Relaxed viewings of Wildlife Photographer of the Year run from 10am to 11am on the first Saturday and the first Wednesday of each month. They are designed for disabled and neurodiverse visitors and are an hour away from the daytime crowd.
An exhibition tour runs from 9am to 9.45am on various dates from 23 October, which is before the museum opens at ten. There is also a Jurassic Oceans Early Riser tour that goes into the Jurassic collections before opening.
The ice rink has gone
The Natural History Museum Ice Rink has closed, after 16 years. The museum says the five acre gardens the rink stood on have been transformed into a hub for urban wildlife, as part of a national campaign to encourage people to help nature on their doorsteps. Plenty of London ice skating lists still name it, and our rinks page covers what is actually opening this winter.
Opening hours
The museum is open daily from 10am to 5.50pm, with last entry at 5.30pm. It is closed on 9 October and from 24 to 26 December. The address is Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD.
The Natural History Museum at Tring in Hertfordshire is a separate site, open Tuesday to Sunday and bank holidays from 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm, and is not the one you want for London.
Pairing it with something
The museum sits in South Kensington beside the other museums, and the free museums list covers what else costs nothing within the same walk. Knightsbridge and the restaurants to the west are the obvious next stop for dinner, and our rainy day list places it where it belongs on a wet afternoon.
Natural History Museum
- Address
- Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
- Nearest
- South Kensington
- Hours
- Daily 10am to 5.50pm, last entry 5.30pm. Closed Friday 9 October 2026 for a charity gala, and 24 to 26 December
- Booking
- A free entry ticket is optional and guarantees entry at busy times. Exhibitions are ticketed
- Price
- Galleries free. Jurassic Oceans from 15 pounds and Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 17 pounds for an adult off peak. Members free
- Standing
- One of the national museums, with free entry to its galleries
How to get in
Bags may be searched. Queues are possible at weekends and in school holidays, and members and ticket holders skip them.
Where to go next
The free museums in London covers the rest of the walk, and what is on across the galleries dates each show so you know what is still true when you read it.
Central London in Zone 1 covers what sits inside the same ring, and the best parks is the answer when the day turns out to want air.
Questions we get asked
Is the Natural History Museum free?
Yes. The museum describes its galleries as free to explore. What is ticketed is the temporary exhibitions, Jurassic Oceans from 15 pounds and Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 17 pounds, both for an adult at off peak times. A free entry ticket can also be booked, which guarantees your entry when it is busy.
Do you need to book Natural History Museum tickets?
Not to enter. The galleries are free and you can turn up, though at weekends and in school holidays there may be a queue. A free entry ticket guarantees entry, and members and ticket holders skip the queue.
Is the Natural History Museum closed on 9 October 2026?
Yes. The South Kensington museum is closed on Friday 9 October 2026 because it is hosting a charity gala. Outside that it is open daily from 10am to 5.50pm, closing 24 to 26 December.
What time does the Natural History Museum open and close?
It opens at 10am daily and closes at 5.50pm, with last entry at 5.30pm. The Jurassic Oceans exhibition admits from 10am to 4.30pm daily.
How much is Wildlife Photographer of the Year?
Adult off peak tickets are from 17 pounds, and members get free entry. The exhibition opens on 16 October 2026 and runs until 11 July 2027, with 100 award winning photographs.
How much is the Jurassic Oceans exhibition?
Adult off peak tickets are from 15 pounds. It runs until 3 January 2027 in the Waterhouse Gallery and is recommended for ages 8 and over. Members get free entry.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 181 in the guide.
Last checked 3 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
