rockets, engines and a moonshot
Seven floors of science and engineering, free in South Kensington. Apollo capsules, steam engines and hands-on halls.
Free to visit · South Kensington · South Kensington · SW7 2DD
Opening: Daily 10am–6pm
The Science Museum is seven floors of how the modern world got built, and the main galleries are all free. Stephenson's Rocket, a real Apollo command module, the first jet engines, the code-breaking machines, laid out across halls big enough to park a plane in.
It is properly hands-on in places and a brilliant rainy-day fix, especially with kids, though it floors grown-up nerds just as hard. The Making the Modern World gallery on the ground floor is the greatest-hits room if you are short on time.
Worth being straight about the money. The permanent galleries are free, but the IMAX cinema, the flight simulators and the Wonderlab interactive zone are ticketed. You can still have a cracking few hours without paying for a single one of them.
Getting there: On Exhibition Road, a short walk from South Kensington, right next to the Natural History Museum.
Best time to go: Weekday mornings outside the school holidays. The hands-on Wonderlab is the one paid bit, the rest is free.
Insider tip: Head straight up to the top-floor galleries first while everyone else clogs the ground floor. You work down through the crowds instead of against them, and the views over the rooftops up there are a quiet bonus.
Official site: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
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