London/South Kensington-Chelsea: See
=== Museums ===
Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road in South Kensington are home to several world class museums and all have free entry, only charging for special temporary exhibitions. They do accept (and encourage) donations if you feel you have enjoyed your visit.
Each of them more than justifies a full day's visit. It's probably more rewarding to spend your time on a relaxed visit to one or perhaps two of the South Kensington museums, giving yourself a chance to breathe in the atmosphere of the institutions and wander through some of the less obvious galleries, than it is to attempt to fit all of them into one day.
1 Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Cromwell Rd (tube: South Kensington DIS PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7942-2000, vanda@vam.ac.uk. Sat-Thu 10AM–5:45PM, Fri 10AM–10PM. Named in honour of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert, this museum has existed for over 150 years. It contains a huge collection of decorative arts from all over the world and far back in time. Trying to see everything in one day would be exhausting, so use the excellent maps the V&A provides to plan where you want to go. There are regular exhibitions concentrating on a particular theme from Chinese art to fashion designers. Frequently they put on children's activities and late DJ nights. Free admission, some paid exhibitions. (updated Feb 2017)
2 Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd (tube: South Kensington DIS PIC ), ☏ +44 20 7942-5000, info@nhm.ac.uk. 10AM–5:30PM. Probably the most popular of all the museums here and a must see for many visitors to London. Home to at least 70 million specimens from across all the life sciences. It's difficult to say what the most popular exhibit here is; the blue whale which towers over the entrance hall, the (now slightly tacky-looking) animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex in the dinosaur gallery, or the life-size model blue whale in the mammals gallery. Also well worth a check are the Darwin Centre (book on a free tour to see some of the most interesting, and sometimes gruesome, specimens not on public display); and the studio dedicated to BBC wildlife personality extraordinaire, David Attenborough. The NHM's "Earth Galleries" were once the adjacent Geological Museum, an independent institution until the 1980s, and still located in a separate building with a separate entrance. Free/donation. (updated Apr 2017)
3 Science Museum, Exhibition Rd (tube: South Kensington DIS PIC ), ☏ +44 870 870 4868 (premium rate), feedback@nmsi.ac.uk. 10AM–6PM. Dedicated to scientific exhibitions and collections bar those related to the life sciences. A number of famous historical machines and inventions are housed here, from steam locomotives to the Apollo 10 command module. The space exhibits are especially popular. Exhibitions tend to concentrate on explaining scientific principles with working models and there is a strong emphasis on education and attracting children. …