British Museum Out-of-hours tour

I have not done that early tour but I have done a number of the free tours during regular hours. Their docents are excellent. I often recommend those to others.

I haven't taken the tour, but the ground floor (especially) of the British Museum is really packed most of the time, to the point that you cannot move around it very rapidly and may have trouble getting close enough to relatively small objects (like the Rosetta Stone) to see them. A before-opening tour sounds like a brilliant idea to me. It will allow you to see a lot more than would otherwise be possible in a fixed amount of time. The upper floor is usually a lot more sane, so spend any remaining after the tour ends and before the rest of the world descends on the ground floor. When the ground floor becomes problematic, head upstairs.

Laurie Ann and acraven - thanks for your responses. I really like the idea of seeing some of the museum without all of the crowds. Unfortunately, they don't offer the Out-of-hours tours everyday so I'll need see what works with my schedule.

Sounds like a great option. I think London Walks
www.walks.com does a British Museum tour as well. Yours sounds better.

I will say after decades of London visits I do try to take a London Walk each visit. Last one in 2022 was Inns of the Court.

Always find the walks informative and well run. Simply an FYI if you are interested.

Have a great time in my favorite city on the planet.

Lots to see and explore.

I've taken the London Walks tour of the British Museum. They do the best they can; it's obviously helpful to have a guide who knows exactly where everything is, and tour groups have very little, if any, wait in the security line. But even London Walks can't do anything about the crowding in the Museum.

Like others I have not done this one and truthfully didn't know they had an out of hours tour. I would definitely do it and yes, I'd love an update after you have done it, lol! Last spring when I visited I got in at opening time and zoomed directly to the Rosetta Stone so saw it with just 1-deep crowds around it instead of 5-deep. I'm going to remember this for a next visit as well!

I did one and would do it again. I originally signed up for an upstairs Egypt one but it was cancelled and I moved to one downstairs on the history of the museum. The tour was quite interesting, but the benefit of being downstairs is that you can then head immediately to the Rosetta Stone and really have time to see it while the museum opens and crowds come in. I can’t remember if they have one on the Assyrian exhibits, but that would be a good choice since it’s more unknown (to me anyway) than ancient Egypt.

Thanks everyone,
I’m looking into the Intro to Egypt tour that focuses on Room 4. I believe that’s the same room that the Rosetta Stone is in. I would really like to see it up close.

Claudia, thanks for the tip about London Walks. I’ve taken two tours, Harry Potter and the Hampstead Heath. Both were great and I’m considering the Kensington and Little Venice tours for June.

I’m terrible about writing trip reports, but I’ll report back if I take the out of hours tour.

Oh yes, Room 4 would be excellent! And that IS where the Rosetta Stone is located.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/visit/museum-map

If you have time after the tour and are not pooped, head upstairs to Room 40 for the adorable Lewis Chessmen and Room 41 for the fabulous Sutton Hoo Collection with the awesome helmet.