British Museum

Boasting a collection of eight million exhibit objects spanning two million years of human experiences, the popular British Museum enjoys annual 6 million visitors. Its collection features galleries from Africa, the Americas, Ancient Egypt, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Classical Greece and Rome, among many others.

The Museum owes much of its existence to Sir Hans Sloane. A physician, naturalist and avid collector, Sir Hans Sloane collected over 71,000 objects in his lifetime. In 1753, he gave the collection to King George II in return for 20,000 pounds for his heirs thus establishing the British Museum.

Audio guides are available for a fee in ten languages (e.g. Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese), which keeps track of what you have seen and creates a digital note of your visit for you to take home. Book one to enjoy a themed guided tour with fun anecdotes on the connection between objects, or simply soak in the history on your own. Interactive game-based guides are also available for a fee for families with children. You can even touch the objects in special object handling sessions, where you can hold the artifacts, and ask volunteers questions about them.

Free eye-opening tours of the various galleries are available. Guest speakers or the curator also give gallery talks occasionally (about 45 minutes long). A comprehensive 90-minute tour, Around the World in 90 Minutes is available for a fee, for a more mature audience (not recommended for children under 12).
The British Museum is open daily from 10:00 to 17:30 (Closes on 24, 25, 26 December and 1 January). Most galleries open until 20:30 on Fridays. Admission is free.
To get there, travel by Tube to Holborn Station via Central or Piccadilly line.