Horniman Museum and Gardens

Horniman Museum and Gardens

Horniman Museum and Gardens
4.5
Natural History MuseumsArt Museums
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
About
The Horniman Museum and Gardens is an inspiring, surprising, family-friendly, free attraction in South London’s Forest Hill.The Museum has been open since Victorian times, when Frederick John Horniman first opened his house and extraordinary collection of objects to visitors. Since then, the collection has grown tenfold and includes internationally important collections of anthropology and musical instruments, as well as an acclaimed aquarium and natural history collection.Unusually for such an important museum, you can see the collection up-close and face-to-face. You can even pick up, try on and play with some objects.Visitors come time and again to explore this free museum, take part in our activities and enjoy the 16-acre gardens.
Duration: More than 3 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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  • Aman Shrivastav
    India23 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing Experience
    Visiting the Horniman Museum and Gardens was a delightful experience! The museum is full of interesting artifacts from around the world, and I especially enjoyed the natural history exhibits. The gardens are stunning, with beautiful flowers and relaxing pathways to stroll along. I loved sitting by the pond and watching the colorful fish swim by. Overall, it's a wonderful place to spend a day exploring and enjoying nature and culture.
    Hi there, thank you for your comments. We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit to our Museum and Gardens.
    Written June 26, 2024
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 11, 2024
  • Barbara T
    Abingdon, United Kingdom574 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing!
    Even with some of the areas closed for renovation, this is one of the best museums and gardens I've visited, especially with adults and children. The natural history and world history and culture areas were fascinating. Not too big that it takes ages, but enough detail to suit all levels. Lots of hands on activities for children, especially the musical instruments area. It's free to enter, but you pay to go into some areas. Knowing we would return, we just paid this time for the aquarium, which was great - informative and well laid out, though didn't actually take long to go around. The gardens are fabulous, not too far to walk around and interspersed with areas of interest for kids, like the musical garden and the animal walk (llamas, rabbits etc). The cafe is good with seating inside and out. Not a huge choice but reasonable prices for this type of place. Be aware the kids' pizza is big - easily enough for an adult. There's no parking, but we drove around the housing estate and found a place easily. We will definitely return, especially when the renovated areas are open.
    Thank you for such lovely comments! We're so glad you had a good visit, and enjoyed the Aquarium, galleries and Gardens. Come back soon :o)
    Written September 23, 2024
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited August 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written September 4, 2024
  • Julia S
    London, United Kingdom10 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A hidden gem in London.
    The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a hidden gem in London! Its eclectic collection ranges from natural history and anthropology to musical instruments, offering something fascinating for everyone. The taxidermy animals and the giant stuffed walrus are fun highlights, but I also enjoyed the beautiful display of artifacts from different cultures around the world. The museum is family-friendly, with lots of interactive exhibits for kids. The surrounding gardens are equally lovely, with stunning views of the city, a small animal enclosure, and a gorgeous conservatory. It’s a peaceful, enriching place to explore, perfect for a relaxed day out!
    Visited May 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written October 8, 2024
  • 810astm
    Ipswich, United Kingdom287 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great for free visit
    We went there yesterday in a doomy day and there were quite a lots to see! We chose not to see the paid butterfly house since we were not too bothered with it! We went for a drink after in the only coffee shop and I had to say it was a bit on a high side but I suppose they have to make some revenue to keep the staff who look after the big place! In all fairness, it was great afternoon out without costing a fortune on entrance! I have to say, I am still looking to see the ‘walrus’.
    Visited December 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written December 29, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5 of 5 bubbles757 reviews
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Sarah O
Emersons Green, UK497 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Couples
Excellent museum let down by unruly children.
This is an excellent museum where you could easily spend the whole day.
Free entry to the museum with certain sections such as aquarium requiring payment.
Nice cafe but go early as post lunch most of the cakes were sold out. Lovely seating area in the conservatory.
Nice gardens with trails.
Museum itself is excellent with three exhibitions - natural history, world culture and musical instruments. Plus an exhibition (currently) on the history of tea.
I can see who this was voted the best museum in the UK and I can heartily recommend it for its well curated collections.
However, it was heavily let down by its acceptance of out of control, unruly and screaming children everywhere. A moving floor visual in the world culture section made this whole area unbearable as it encouraged running, jumping and screaming from children. Parents exerted no control and not did museum staff. The museum really needs to address this as it made the museum inaccessible for the disabled. I would advise those with neurodiversity, autism etc to carefully consider visiting as you need noise cancelling headphones.
Written October 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Sarah, thank you for your comments. We’re so pleased to hear you enjoy visiting the Museum and our natural History, Anthropology and Music Galleries. The Museum can be noisy at times, but afternoons during term time are usually the quietest times to visit. We run Bright & Early and Twilight sessions for neurodivergent families who cannot visit when the Horniman is busy
Written April 12, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Brian T
London, UK8,091 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021
This is a small but very popular museum in suburban Forest Hill. It seems to focus on the themes of the natural world and human cultures, spread across two main exhibition halls filled to the brim with showcases full of the likes of stuffed birds and animals, animal bones, musical instruments, and wonderful curiosities from various parts of the globe. You’ll see the huge old walrus that’s been there for decades, and the eyes of the stuffed primates seemingly following you around, and wonderful beadwork on tribal masks. Apparently there’s some 350,000 items for you to cast your eyes over.

Entrance is free, but you need to book a time slot online so that appropriate volumes of visitors can be maintained within the museum, as a Covid safety precaution. Unfortunately it was a bit of a free for all once inside the museum, with huge groups of adults blocking passageways, and children racing around unsupervised and unruly. As we’d been to the museum many times previously, we thus didn’t linger in the exhibition halls and focused this visit on the gardens. And what a riot of colour they were. The 16 acres of beautifully manicured gardens, set against the backdrop of the skyline of Central London, were a feat for the eyes and a beautiful kaleidoscope of summer colour. The Sunken Garden was a tranquil delight of yellows and oranges, and the Grasslands Garden was ablaze with spectacular flowering specimens native to the prairies of North America and the grasslands of South Africa. They were full of bees and butterflies, and a delight to wander and to just sit awhile. It’s a beautiful part of the museum complex that it’s often overlooked. Of course, expect seasonal variations, and understand that it may not be too colourful in winter.

The museum is not open on Wednesday. The gardens are open daily until 18:50. There’s a cafe at the museum, with seating in the fabulous Victorian conservatory. But take a picnic and enjoy it in the garden if weather permits.
Written September 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SKA1982
London, UK67 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
I have fond memories of visiting the museum on school trips in primary school and now my daughter is 5 I felt she was at the right age to appreciate it too.

She had a great time and was fascinated by what was displayed.

We had paid in advance to visit the butterfly garden but it was out of action due to issues with the heaters so we bought tickets for the aquarium instead and she also loved this.

We had lunch at the cafe which was busy but the staff were so lovely and hardworking. I stupidly forgot to wait for my tea and had already sat down but a lovely young lady who was bringing out the food orders kindly retrieved it for me.

Next time we visit I’ll take a packed lunch to enjoy outdoors in the lovely gardens. The view from the bandstand was also fabulous.
Written July 31, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there, thank you for your comments. We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit to our Aquarium and Cafe.
Written April 4, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

HappyTraveller
52 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023 • Family
I was hugely impressed by my visit to the Horniman Museum.

There was a great welcome at the main entrance and the children loved the free galleries, especially the world gallery and seeing the walrus. There was a handling table where my little niece loved touching the snakeskin. They loved the musical instrument galleries and playing all the different instruments.

We paid for the aquarium and butterfly house and it was well worth it. The boys and girls with us (2, 6, 8 and 11) all loved these. The guide in the Butterfly House who took the time to show us all the chrysalis under a leaf made the visit there.

We had a child with Autism with us and I was very impressed by the museum approach to ASD. I called in advance. There was a queue skip option and although we didn’t need to ask to use it knowing it was there really helped both the child in question and the adults. There is an amazing quiet space just off the music galleries with floor mats, cushions and books and he loved this. It made me realise that just that little bit of time to recharge in a peaceful space was something that made such a difference. Thank you Horniman Museum ❤️

Just one small suggestion - when I called to say I was bringing a child with autism the quiet room wasn’t mentioned. It would be great to suggest to all staff they highlight this.
Written February 19, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your lovely review and we're so glad that you all had a nice time. We've passed your comments onto the team!
Written March 31, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Josepha M
181 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2023 • Family
I went with family including a young child in a pushchair. The museum is very welcoming and family friendly. There were lifts to access the different floors and baby changing facilities. The cafe served tasty food and was reasonably priced. Part of the museum is free - the musical instruments, the stuffed animals, the world collection. Other parts have a fee [the butterfly house, the temporary softplay, the aquarium and the current exhibition of brick dinos}. We had art fund, which gave us free entry to all but softplay, or there was a membership scheme. The place was teeming with life from babies and school groups to old people. Our young child loved the fish, the softplay and playing with bricks in the dino display. The park is free and extensive. It included a playground and animals, a flower garden and a band stand. The museum won the Art Fund Museum of the year in 2022 and it certainly was used by the local community. This was my first visit and I intend to return.
Written June 29, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there, thank you for your comments. We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit to our Cafe, Aquarium, Softplay, Gardens and Brick Dinos.
Written April 4, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Rachel R
London, UK1,195 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023 • Couples
Free entrance to main museum and gardens, you can pay extra for temporary exhibits and the aquarium. Very popular soft play if you have children, ditto small crazy golf for kids outside. On a sunny day it’s a glorious place to have a picnic. There’s also a small outside animal enclosure with goats, alpacas and various other creatures - this too is free.
Written June 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there, thank you for your comments. We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit to our Soft Play and Gardens.
Written April 4, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

VinnieLondon
London, UK12,778 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021 • Friends
Museum and gardens located in Forest Hill on South Circular London Road. Street parking at back of gardens. Gardens themselves worth a visit with some great views over London, and some interesting gardens (Sunken garden and Prairie garden) which must look spectacular in the summer. There is also a Butterfly house which you can buy separate tickets for in the museum as well as a small farm including Llamas. A nice museum cafe in gardens as well. Must book tickets/time slots in advance on line and then pay extra for the Aquarium, current visiting exhibits and the Butterfly house. Current Monkey Business (World Wildlife conservation) and Hair (history and applications for hair) were both really interesting and well presented. The original galleries are of course still interesting and the World Gallery showcasing different cultures is very engaging and cleverly displayed. Great interactive exhibits throughout the museum and work spaces for children. Great little museum and gardens in the heart of South East London well worth a visit.
Written December 20, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review and great pictures.
Written December 22, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Vanessa R
22 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2024 • Family
I visited with a curious 5 year old...we paid to visit the Dinosaur Revolution and the Aquarium. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed...the dinosaur area had about 5 robotic dinosaurs and some skeletons. The colouring/ book/ play areas lacked imagination and were uninspiring. We spent max 20 mins in the dinosaurs. I think it was not worth £15. Also visited the Aquarium - another £9 - which was lovely but small and so took another 20 mins to view. I was glad there was the park/gardens..
best feature being the musical garden. In fairness it would be better when the Natural History area is open but I felt it disappointed and I would have preferred to spend £24 elsewhere.
Written October 22, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Vanessa, thanks so much for the feedback, although we are sorry to hear you were disappointed by your visit. We have passed this feedback on to the relevant teams at Horniman. Thanks again.
Written November 7, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Maisie W
40 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Family
This museum is now just a yuppie money grab. Been coming here since I was a child with a reasonably priced cafe and always something on for kids to do. The aquarium and butterfly house are extortionate and prices out anyone who isn’t on benefits (you can get £1 tickets on UC which is fabulous but some people are just slightly out of the UC bracket and can’t afford £20 to look at three fish tanks).
Written November 30, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We’re sorry you weren’t happy on your recent trip to the Horniman. We do have lots of free things to do see and do across the site, like our permanent Galleries, Gardens, Animal Walk and events like the free Family Crafts and Horniman Lates. The Aquarium and Butterfly House raise vital income that allows us to look after these free spaces and the collections. A Family ticket to the Aquarium is £13 and a Family ticket to the Butterfly House is £21.
Written December 11, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Rosemary C
United Kingdom38 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Family
This has been on my list of “place to visit” since just before the pandemic. I had chosen it because it sounded different from the normal museum
We travelled to the museum by train (3 each way) and a walk from the station.

We had a quick visit to the cafe for a hot drink and cakes. Excellent choice of cakes and they were lovely. Café was clean with a seating area outside. If it had been a sunny warm day it would have a lovely to sit outside.

We had limited time there so only visited the natural history and world culture exhibitions and an exhibition (currently) on the history of tea. It was here that I found some information about its founder. Also there were activities which I did which related to tea.

There were lots of children there as part of a school visit but they were well behaved and there was plenty of space

I so enjoyed the world exhibition which is different as it had lots about the “lost history” of Africa. It was some recognition of the narrative white people created and set out to change this. I like that it tackled issues e.g. migration, slavery, etc
The exhibits of different native clothes and artifacts from around the world were interesting.

It was intriguing walking around the displays taxidermised animals (birds, fish, etc). We are so used to seeing them on TV in natural history programmes. It was quite quaint looking at them as innate objects.

We then did a quick visit of the garden. Because of the time of year there was not a lot to see and some parts were closed off as work was being carried out. But I did enjoy walking around the outside animal enclosure with goats, alpacas and various other animals including the largest rabbit I had ever seen. We did have an amazing view of central London and because of the weather it looked a surreal grey/silver.

I would visit again as I know I missed parts. Also assume that the museum hosts other exhibits sometimes.
Written November 13, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there, thank you for your comments. We're so pleased to hear you enjoyed your visit to our World Gallery and Animal Walk.
Written April 4, 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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