British Museum Paid Exhibit(s) Question

Yes you need to pay separately for each exhibit that you want to see. They will be in different parts of the museum and your ticket is checked as you enter.

4 hours is nowhere near enough to see 2 exhibits plus the museum. I’d generally estimate 1.5-2hrs for a special exhibit if you want to read a lot and take it all in. The museum itself could fill probably several days! But even seeing the highlights would take a few hours. If you haven’t been before I wouldn’t bother doing the special exhibit, unless of course it is something that particularly interests you.

I think you have to reserve and pay separately for each of those. if you want to see two or more special exhibits, you might want to consider a British Museum membership, which will get you into either of them any time. The money you save on at least two paid special exhibits will go a good way toward reimbursing what you pay for the membership, plus there are other benefits and it supports a good institution. As for whether they are worth it, I saw the Roman Army one earlier this year (Michelangelo was not yet open) and I thought it was fine, but quite expensive, crowded, and some of it, although certainly not all, was aimed at children (follow the little mouse in his Roman army career, etc.). There are far more than four hours worth of amazing treasures in all the galleries you can see for free, including those on Roman Britain and the Roman Empire which are great. All else equal, if you aren't previously familiar with the British Museum, I'd do that rather than the special exhibits, unless you have a very strong interest in their subject matter. But then again, the permanent galleries will be there for you again on a later visit, while those particular special exhibits will not, so that's something to consider as well. Either way I'm sure you will have a worthwhile visit.

Thank you Helen & Slate for making this easier! Just secured general admission tickets. We are going to Stonehenge Mon then afternoon arrival in London. Tues am War Museum & Wed am British Museum in early June...Anything else you would suggest afternoons for Mon/Tues/Wed while also allowing for spaciousness? Aware that only 2.5 days isn't a lot of time. Thank you!

i’d tour the Leighton Museum, the Horniman Museum and the Water and Steam Museum.

I’d also meander about Queen Elizabeth’s Olympic Park as well as the Walthamstow Marshes but that’s my style and travel interests.

You should also check to see what’s on at the Royal Academy of Art. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/

Two tips based on recent British Museum experience: the lines for security can be long, even if you have an advance ticket. Many people don't know there is another entrance at the north end of the museum on Montague Row, so the line there is likely to be shorter. If you are able to visit without carrying a bag, that sometimes can expedite your entry compared to those who need the bag search, which is a manual, pretty slow process. If you go in the morning, that's fine, but I observed that the lines tended to be much shorter later in the day than they were right around opening time.

We were there today and I will say that four hours could be enough for the permanent exhibits, but adding in two paid exhibits might make it tight.

We entered at 08:50 for the Out of Hours tour of the Egyptian room (thanks to recommendations from the very smart and nice posters on this forum!). The knowledgeable and personable tour guide provided a remarkable amount of information in just under an hour, allowed us a few minutes to get a good look at the Rosetta Stone before the hordes of people that normally surround it during the day were there, and at the end of the tour, recommended that we take the lift directly to the mummies on the third floor so we take in that exhibit in the relative calm before the regular visitors had time to make their way up there.

We spent the rest of the day seeing as much as we could- we didn’t leave until 16:45! In seven hours and forty five minutes we were able to see maybe half of what is there. We didn’t want to leave, and we definitely want to go back. I know everyone is different about museums, but there is definitely enough in the permanent exhibits to fill four hours, in my opinion.

Thank you all, I so appreciate any tips and help! Health & Peace to you all

The Imperial War Museum is also quite large. It takes more than a full day to see the entire thing. For both those museums I recommend reviewing the websites and figuring out what your priorities are.

The British Museum is usually really crowded, but the upper floor isn't as bad as the ground floor, and the whole museum tends to get a bit better toward the late afternoon. I've never seen the IWM seriously crowded.

One tip about the audio guide at the IWM: It's perfectly fine, but it basically duplicates the info posted around the museum, so you can skip the audio guide unless you prefer to listen to the information rather than read it.