Horniman Museum and Gardens
What Visitors Say
We visited the Horniman Museum and Gardens during half term, which meant it was very busy, but we didn’t mind at all. We went for a special (paid) workshop that was put on at the museum, which was fully worth the visit. While there we walked around one gallery and it was very interesting. Lots to look and interact it, especially for children. Would love to visit again and with better weather to enjoy the gardens. The view of central London is pretty awesome too.
Lovely place to visit with the family and kids. The animals were great to show the kids. The museum is beautifuly maintained and the exhibits are interesting and have something for everyone. The canteen, restaurant on site has a great selection of food. The rosemary potatoe tots and Incredible. Get a couple of bowls of them bad boys. Great place to visit, highly recommend.
The staff were extremely helpful and friendly. I thought it was a littler smaller than suggested online, but they are doing some improvements at the moment, so that's probably why. We booked the butterfly house, aquarium and robot zoo in advance. We were late because of an issue on trains but they still let us in as it was a quiet day and couldn't be helped. We were amazed at the variety of butterflies. The robot zoo was definitely smaller than expected. The animal walk through is free, which is always a bonus.
Really lovely free museum of antiquities containing an aquarium (extra) and a butterfly house (extra). The add ons were worth it. I could've stood in the butterfly house for hours. Would reccomend pre booking for the optional extras though. We went at half term and thr aquarium was quite busy Cafe was surprisingly well priced (we're not from London) and really tasty too.
Horniman Museum is relatively small but really well done. It doesn’t feel overwhelming, which makes it enjoyable to explore without getting tired. The aquarium was £6.50 and honestly worth it — there were colourful fish, seahorses, jellyfish, and even some tiny poisonous frogs that were oddly cute. There were loads of Finding Nemo–type fish too, which made it fun and familiar. There was a butterfly house too, but I found it uninteresting to visit the place. The gardens are nice, but I’d definitely recommend visiting in spring or summer rather than post-autumn when everything looks a bit dead. Overall, a solid visit and very satisfying for a short museum day.
Highlights
The Walrus
London’s famous overstuffed walrusTaxidermists in the 1880s had never seen a live walrus, so they over-filled the skin until the folds disappeared, creating the museum’s most loved oddity.
Ground floor, Natural History Gallery
Music Gallery
Global instruments collectionAn award-winning space showing thousands of instruments from every continent, with sound stations that let you hear how each family sings and resonates.
Ground floor, Music Gallery
World Gallery
Cultures and stories worldwideOpen since 2018, the gallery brings together objects and voices from across the globe, exploring identity, belief and everyday life through vivid displays.
Ground floor, World Gallery
Aquarium
Living ecosystems in miniatureFrom coral reefs to mangroves, small tanks show how habitats work as systems; look for seahorses and the mangrove roots alive with tiny creatures.
Lower ground floor
Gardens View
16 acres of hillside gardensLaid out on a south London ridge, the Grade II-listed gardens sweep over 16 acres and frame one of London’s loveliest skyline panoramas.
Terraces and bandstand, outdoors
Opening Hours
Fun Facts
Horniman won the Art Fund Museum of the Year award in 2022.
The gardens cover 16 acres and are listed at Grade II for historic interest.
In 2022 the museum returned 72 Benin objects to Nigeria after a provenance review.
The famous walrus was overstuffed in the 1880s because taxidermists hadn’t seen a live one.
Frederick Horniman opened the museum in 1901 using wealth from his family tea business.
