Natural History Museum, London, July 2025

On our London trip, the Natural History Museum was always on the itinerary for the last day. We had our Merlin Pass activities like Madame Tussauds and Shrek’s Adventure, some sightseeing around Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and trip to the Lego shop in Leicester Square, then onto Babylon park before heading to the museum. Unfortunately for us, the weather interfered in our plans…

As we were prepping to get to the Natural History Museum, the heavens opened. By the time we got to the museum, so had everyone else trying to escape the rain. We couldn’t stop to take in the outside areas and Dino statues as we were straight in the queue from the train station, The queue to get in was massive and took around 15 mins of standing in the rain, plus they were only letting people in in batches as it was busy.

It was heaving inside. An absolute sea of people escaping the rain inside the museum.

It’s a museum, so free to enter. There are donation points by the door for you to scan to make a quick £10/15/20 donation if you wish. You can also get a map which again are free or you can pay a £2 donation for one.

Stepping foot in that large, iconic hallway – the Hintze Hall – was amazing. The room itself is a piece of architectural beauty, and then you have the 25 metre Blue Whale skeleton overhead which is fantastic, and to the sides are doorways to different areas and displays of Mastodons, giant Marlin fish and dinosaurs.

It’s massive in there, corridors for days. At the Natural History Museum you can find exhibitions of Dinosaurs and Fossils, The Animal Kingdom,, Earth, Minerals and the Environment and the History of Natural History. We didn’t have time to see it all, and it was hectic inside, so we just went for our priority areas. The first of which was Dinosaurs.

The kids have always been Dino fans from an early age, so any opportunity to see some Dino fossils is great. We were first met by the large T-Rex animatronic. Getting to it in this busy atmosphere was a challenge as it was poorly organised here. The animatronic was cool though.

Next stop was a long winding room of prehistoric fossils. Some amazing displays all around the room and overhead. Skulls of Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurus and Parasaurolophus, Troodon eggs, Apatosaurus thigh bones, Iguanodon hands, full skeletons of Stegosaurus and Gallimimus, Velociraptor animatronics, T-Rex jawbones, a full Camarasaurus skeleton and so many more exhibits and info boards explaining everything.

There’s even a green screen photo op at the centre if you want a family photo with a Dino backdrop as a souvenir.

After visiting the dinosaur section, with the heat and congestion from all of the visitors, plus near 3 days of walking around London, we were already starting to flake.

We headed into the large mammals room with its giant whale model centrepiece. Hanging above and around were skeletons of Bowhead Whale, Right Whale, models of Dolphins and Orcas. Around the lower section were Elephant and Mammoth skulls, tusks and models. Some brilliant things to see. On the balcony above were more cabinets with skeletons of Sea Cows and Narwhal Tusks. The view from here was incredible too.

We had to take a break in here as there was a giant fan cooling the room. It had become quite stifling and the kids were beginning to show they’d had enough. After a sit down and some sweets we carried on.

There was a whole room dedicated to sea creatures: molluscs, crabs, coral, squid, with hundreds of examples of shells and creatures. Other cabinets containing shark jawbones, swordfish swords, anglerfish, pufferfish and more.

We saw crocodile and rhino skeletons, models of bison, deer and bears, hippo skulls and even a sabre tooth tiger. Amazing.

If you’ve got kids who watch Cbeebies, you might be familiar with Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures, where Andy Day pretends to work at the museum and goes on time travelling prehistoric adventures using his time travelling clock. Well, at the museum, there is a section where the clock usually is. Today though, it was not there. It had gone on an adventure, but the had left a cut out of it on the wall for the kids to see.

We weren’t planning on eating here but they do have some places to eat. We stuck our heads around the door of the T-Rex cafe to see what it was like. I was expecting a bit more theming inside, but it was just a few Dino models by the door and pictures on the wall. The menu did sound nice though.

As well as T-Rex Restaurant, the Natural History Museum has the Central Cafe, Earth Hall Cafe, the Shake Bar and the Garden Kitchen to grab some food and drink from. They even do an afternoon tea option. Plenty to choose from.

Outside the T-Rex Restaurant were some more Dino related fossils. There were several fossils mounted on the wall of marine lizards like Plesiosaur and Pliosaur, and one of Elliott’s favourite Jurassic World creatures: the Mosasaurus.

The last big area we visited was home to creatures with more legs than necessary. The bugs. Displays dedicated to all kinds of insects lice centipedes, millipedes, butterflies, ladybirds, scorpions and spiders. They even had a fake house in the middle displaying beetles and other weird things that live in your home.

We took a final stroll around the massive gift shop. They had so much to choose from and some really nice things too, not just the usual merchandise, but Museum branded items in different collections, t-shirts, tote bags, keyrings and magnets, along with dinosaur toys, games, books, Lego, plushes, models, and other souvenirs. Everything was reasonably priced too. £3 for a magnet, not the usual theme park £6+ for a tiny plastic one. Elliott got himself a cool 3D printed Spinosaurus toy for £10 and he was happy with that.

We’ll have to visit the Natural History Museum again as we didn’t do it justice. It was too hot and busy to fully enjoy. What we saw was brilliant. The models, skeletons, dinosaurs, fossils and all of it was brimming with interesting information. But for everything we did see, there was a lot we didn’t. The Earth & Minerals exhibit and History sections, the galleries, exploring the upper levels and even the gardens. Plenty to occupy the time on a second, or even third visit.

We were just a little too late and a lot too tired to make the most of it. The building itself is stunning and worthy of exploring to the fullest. We’d definitely recommend visiting it, but make sure it’s a cooler, quieter day. And if it’s raining heavily, go somewhere else!

Find full info on the official Natural History Museum website.