The British Museum: London Travel Guide (4.5★)

Forty-odd Ionic columns line the front of a pale stone building on Great Russell Street, and a queue for the bag check shuffles through the forecourt below them. Robert Smirke designed this Greek Revival facade in the nineteenth century. The museum itself goes back further: it was founded in 1753, and it has been collecting the world ever since.

Under the glass roof

Go through the doors and the space opens out. The Great Court is a covered square with a roof of steel and triangulated glass panes, designed by Norman Foster’s practice and opened in 2000. The round, drum-shaped Reading Room stands in the middle.

This is where you get your bearings. Maps and information desks sit here, and every wing opens off it. Most people drift left toward the Egyptian and Greek galleries on the ground floor, so that side fills first.

The rooms people come for

The editorial shorthand fits: this is a huge showcase for global antiquities, and Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek sculpture top most lists. You could walk for days. For a first visit, these are the anchors:

• Rosetta Stone, Room 4: expect a crowd three deep around the glass case
• Parthenon sculptures, Room 18: a long, top-lit hall of marble frieze and pediment figures
• Egyptian mummies, Rooms 62–63, upstairs: painted coffins and wrapped bodies in long cases
• Sutton Hoo treasure, Room 41: the Anglo-Saxon ship burial and its helmet
• Lewis Chessmen, Room 40: walrus-ivory pieces with glum, oversized faces

Two to three hours covers these at a sensible pace. A full day barely scratches the rest.

Timing your visit around the crowds

Opening hours shift across the week, so check the day before you plan. It opens at 10am daily. Most days it closes at 5pm, but Wednesday closes early at 3:30pm and Friday stays open until 8:30pm.

Our measured foot-traffic says weekdays are quiet right across the 10am–6pm window. In practice that means any weekday hour the doors are open. Weekends work differently. The calm stretch is 10am–11am, and the busiest period runs from 12pm to 4pm.

Arrive after noon on a Saturday and you will be queueing at the Rosetta Stone for a clear look. A Friday evening, after the school groups leave, is a good weekday alternative.

Getting through the doors smoothly

The museum is well known and gets plenty of visitors, so the goal is simply to avoid the worst of the crush. A few habits help:

• Book a timed slot. General admission to the permanent collection is free, and the museum often recommends booking an entry time on its official website. Check there before you go.
• Use the back entrance. Montague Place, on the north side, usually has a shorter bag-check line than the main Great Russell Street gate.
• Pack light. Every bag is searched on the way in, and large luggage is not accepted.
• Donate if you can. Donation boxes stand near the entrances, and that is the local custom in free UK museums.
• Pay for exhibitions separately. Special exhibitions need their own ticket, with prices on the official site.

Talk quietly in the galleries. Photos without flash are generally fine in the permanent collection, but watch for signs in exhibition spaces.

Getting there and what’s nearby

Several Underground stations are within a ten-minute walk:

• Tottenham Court Road: Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines
• Holborn: Central and Piccadilly lines
• Russell Square: Piccadilly line
• Goodge Street: Northern line

The full address is Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG. Around it, Bloomsbury is a district of garden squares and Georgian terraces. Russell Square and Bedford Square are close by for a sit on a bench. Covent Garden is about fifteen minutes’ walk south, and Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields makes a much smaller, stranger second stop.