The Natural History Museum is one of London’s most popular attractions, it is considered a little wonder because its home to the world’s finest collection of natural history artefacts and to life and earth science. Specimens comprising some 70 million items within its five main collections: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology.
The museum is a world-renowned centre of research, specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, such as specimens collected by Darwin himself.

The main attraction is a vast collection of dinosaurs and for many years the centrepiece was Dippy, a 26 foot long Diplodocus residing in the main hall but the museum is also home to some rather more fierce creatures, one of them the T-Rex built so that when people move around the gallery it can identify colours and turns its head – it sort of follows colours and people get that eerie feeling that the dinosaur is actually following them.
The museum is more than a museum of stuffed animals. There are lots of hands on opportunities throughout the building. Within the human biology section it has many interactive activities and also don’t forget the earth lab where you can actually bring your own rock or mineral to be looked at by a scientist.
The exhibition has 78 million objects and the main purpose of the museum is to bring the visitors to the collections and thus teach them.
A prime example of that – and where the exhibition is really succeeding is the Darwin centre. Within the Darwin centre they have over 20 million objects that the public can see on organised tours.
If you spend just two hours there (that is what the average visitor spends in the museum) you’ll be inspired and it will enable you to really understand the place and their role in the natural world
Opening times
1000–1800, Late Night on the last Friday of each month
Entrance Fee
FREE
Location
South Kensington
Distance from our London hostel
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You can purchase discounted and fast track tickets from the Travel Desk
Or contact the team on travelshop@generatorhostels.com or 020 7388 7655 for more information
More staff reviews on other famous London sights popular London attraction reviews
Not to forget the Free London walking Tour from our London hostel
