Imperial War Museum or Churchill War Rooms

The Churchill War Rooms come with a museum as well on Churchill and are well worth the admission fee. You don't need a timed ticket, just get them for the day you need ahead of time and you should be fine as well as being able to skip the lines. I have heard good things about the Imperial War Museum as well, though have not been. Perhaps the question should be focus on WWII or multiple wars??

They are really quite different. CWR is focussed on one thing: Churchill's running of the war. IWM covers the vast scope of British military history. I have been to CWR once, liked it, but no need to go back. I go to IWM every chance I get.

We missed the IWM because my DH lost his wallet that day :) but we did do the CWRs. We thought they were just OK, and my husband is a huge WWII history buff.

For military history buffs the IWM is hard to beat. Keep in mind, both World Wars were existential events for Great Britain, particularly WW I. America was late to that war, but Britain suffered tremendous losses. The WW I exhibit is very impactful. Even a little pre reading on WW I will add to your experience. The Holocaust exhibit also very moving.

Thank you for your prompt replies. I am concentrating on WW2 as that is the time period for my historical novel.

I have been only to the CWR. It focuses on Churchill and the survival of the bombing of London. You can see the command center and how it was set up. The museum is mostly about the career of Churchill. It was a good museum. Once will be good for me.

The tickets to the Churchill War Rooms are now for specific times. This is a very recent change.

I prefer the Cabinet War Rooms. It is a unique, real, historic site rather than a museum with a collection of artifacts. It really gives you a perspective on operations during the war. I've visited three times.

I would do both.

Both if possible. If I had to choose one, it would be the Imperial War Museum. My husband and I spent an entire day of our London vacation in the Imperial War Museum - it was that captivating to both of us.

The Churchill War Rooms were well worth our time, but they weren't the highlight I was expecting them to be.

There are plenty of other wartime sites and tours. For WW2, the relatively new codebreaker museum at Bletchley Park, an hour by train from central London, is engrossing. https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
Churchill's bunker is okay but a small part of history. The Imperial War Museum is central to British Imperial History, and has been extensively renovated to teach history as well as show off relics.

A better use of time? Both are worth the time! Don't do them both in the same day. It's too much.

Thank you for your prompt replies. I am concentrating on WW2 as that is the time period for my historical novel.

Then you really need to go to both.

We've done both. The Churchill War Rooms are impressive because they were left exactly as they were during the war. It's as if the staff got up and just walked out, leaving everything in place. It would be especially meaningful if you've had a chance to see "Darkest Hour." The Imperial War Rooms house artifacts and information from 1917 onwards. They have a very thorough collection on WWII. One of their missions is to collect information in one place for research purposes. They have permanent exhibits on the Holocaust, Victoria & Georges Cross recipients as well as a number of others. The intent is to cover not just the conflicts, but the impact on civilian life as well. Hope this helps you decide what will be most useful for you.

Let me put more info out there: I'm going to be visiting many WWII sites on the continent: The WW2 museum in Gdansk, The Home Army Museum in Krakow, Auschwitz/Berkinau, Pustkow concentration camp, Blizna and interviewing historians and very old eyewitnesses. Also, I am spending one day at the British museum, and really only have one full day in London. I've been there before, so I don't need to do the routine things.

In that case, you might want to give your brain a rest and just do the Churchill War Rooms. There's a lot to see, but not as much as the Imperial War Museum.

I would do the War Rooms. This is where Churchill walked, ate, slept (some) during the Blitz. Absolutely amazing to me to walk those same tunnels he did and listen to the oral histories they've included in the audio tour from the staff who worked for him. Their stories just add more layers to understanding how it must have been to work there, including the young women who were secretaries who could not tell their families where they were working and for whom.

I've been multiple times including back in the 80's when they first opened it. It is as if staff have just walked out as mentioned above.

I like war museums but was less than inspired by the IWM. It just didn't catch me at all. I did get interrupted while I was in the Holocaust exhibit as the whole museum was evacuated for a possible bomb threat. I liked the Army Museum in Paris much better.

Churchill does a really good job of giving you a sense of everyday life during the Blitz and I'd find it most useful if you were trying to improve accuracy for that kind of historical novel.

Donna,

If time and money permits, I would suggest visiting both sites, as they provide different perspectives of the war. If you are only able to visit one, I'd recommend the Imperial War Museum, as it provides a more complete view of all aspects of the war. The IWM has some moving displays such as the Holocaust area. Once you enter it seems a bit hard to get out and I think that was intentional. I vaguely recall a display on the top floor that was very moving, covering one of the female French SOE agents, possibly Violette Szabo. There are also displays on WW-I and lots of military hardware. It's an enormous museum and easily possible to spend almost a full day there. If you're researching a book, that should provide lots of information.

Donna -

Depending on the focus of your research, I'd consider some of the other towns near London which also suffered during the Blitz. (Manchester comes immediately to mind.)

If you're doing the Churchill part, we just returned from London. The line to get in there was insanely long. I'd book tickets ahead of time if interested in doing that.