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Glass roof of the Great Court at the British Museum in London above the round Reading Room

Free museums in London: why the London Pass saves nothing there

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The British Museum, Natural History Museum, IWM London and National Gallery charge no admission. A museum day within your pass period still costs you money. We work out how much.

In short: at least four major museums in London charge no admission, and we have checked this for these four. The London Pass saves nothing there. If you put a museum day in the middle of a 3-day pass, you pay £44.00 more than for the 2-day pass, without gaining a single admission. Plan free museums before or after your pass days. The pass costs £155.00 for 2 days and £199.00 for 3 days, as of 31 Oct 2026. The London Pass calculator works out your pass days.

These museums charge no admission

For these four places we checked the free admission on the museum's own website:

  • British Museum: "Free entry"
  • Natural History Museum: "Get your free ticket"
  • IWM London: "Entry to the museum is free"
  • National Gallery: "General admission free"

Go City itself writes that London has world-class museums that are completely free. We have not checked any other places and therefore do not name them.

What the pass includes at these museums

Go City's attraction list contains at least 3 entries for these places. According to these entries they are extras, not admission: an audio guide with priority entry at the British Museum and souvenir guides at the Natural History Museum and at IWM London. We have not collected a price for these extras. In our calculation they therefore count as £0.00. That is why we do not list free museums under attractions on the London Pass, otherwise the saving would look too high.

What a museum day costs on the pass

According to Go City, the All-Inclusive Pass is valid for consecutive calendar days, counted from the day of the first scan. A day at the British Museum therefore counts too, even though you save nothing there. An example with our individual prices:

PlanPassAdmissions individuallyResult (online from-prices)
City, Westminster, then museum day without the pass2 days: £155.00£185.80£30.80 saved
City, museum day, Westminster3 days: £199.00£185.80£13.20 extra cost

The City day (Tower of London, St Paul's, Monument, HMS Belfast) costs £97.80 individually, the Westminster day (Westminster Abbey, London Eye and Madame Tussauds at online from-prices) £88.00. With the 3-day pass and a museum day, the two paid days would have to bring in £199.00 together, an average of £99.50 per day. The City and Westminster days together come to £185.80, which is £13.20 less. With the 2-day pass you save £30.80 on the same admissions. The museum day in the middle therefore costs you £44.00.

How to plan free museums

  • Put museum days before the first scan or after the last pass day. The pass only starts with the first scan.
  • Shorten the pass by every museum day. The difference between 2 and 3 days is £44.00, and £20.00 for the child pass.
  • Do not count an extra such as the audio guide as a saving as long as you would not buy it without the pass.
  • You pay for the journey to the museum yourself anyway: public transport is not included in the pass, and a single journey with a contactless card, for example from Oxford Circus to Bank (zone 1), costs £3.00 off-peak.

Which duration suits your paid days is shown in the overview on the London Pass prices page. Whether the pass pays off without the museum days is checked by the London Pass calculator.

Calculate the London Pass for my trip

Frequently asked questions

How much does the London Pass cost?

At Tiqets the All-Inclusive Pass costs adults £155.00 for 2 days and £199.00 for 3 days, the child pass £95.00 and £115.00 (as of 31 Oct 2026). The durations from 1 to 10 days are on our London Pass price page.

Is the British Museum included in the London Pass?

Admission to the British Museum is free anyway. According to Go City's attraction list, the pass includes an audio guide with priority entry there, not an admission you would otherwise have to pay (as of 24 Sep 2026).

Should I put a museum day within my pass days?

Better not. According to Go City, the pass days run back to back. A museum day with free admission extends the pass without saving anything. From 2 to 3 days the pass costs £44.00 more (as of 31 Oct 2026).

Sources

Prices can change. Admission and card prices change, sometimes at short notice. We check admission prices at the official source and card prices with the ticket provider you book through. We show the date for every price and check all prices again once a month. The price shown to you at checkout is always the one that applies. If you spot an outdated price, let us know at info@citycardcheck.com.

Data source: Admission information for 4 museums from their own websites, attraction list and terms from Go City (gocity.com), individual prices for 7 attractions and public transport price from TfL, checked on 1 Oct 2026. London Pass prices from the ticket provider Tiqets, where you can book, as of 31 Oct 2026.

Photo: Adrien Olichon / Unsplash

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