Royal Museums Greenwich

Royal Museums Greenwich is four world-class attractions in one glorious World Heritage setting: the tea clipper Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House. Together with the green slopes of Greenwich Park they make one of the great full days out in London — and two of the four are completely free.

Cutty Sark

The world’s sole surviving tea clipper — once the fastest ship of her age — now sits raised in a gleaming glass dock so you can actually walk beneath her golden hull. On board you’ll explore three decks of stories from the tea and wool trades, take the wheel, and marvel at eleven miles of rigging overhead. Brave souls can even book to climb the masts.

The Royal Observatory

At the top of the park stands the home of Greenwich Mean Time, where you can do the essential Greenwich thing: stand astride the Prime Meridian with a foot in each hemisphere. Inside Wren’s lovely Flamsteed House are the Harrison timekeepers that solved the longitude problem, and there’s a planetarium alongside for journeys deeper into space.

The Free Museums

The National Maritime Museum — the largest of its kind in the world — is free to enter, with Nelson’s Trafalgar coat among its treasures and brilliant interactive galleries for children. Beside it, the Queen’s House, England’s first classical building, is also free and houses a superb art collection including the famous Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I.

Visiting Royal Museums Greenwich

All four sites are within an easy walk of each other; Cutty Sark DLR and Greenwich stations are both close, but the best arrival of all is by riverboat from central London. Book Cutty Sark and Observatory tickets online in advance — a combined Day Pass covering both is the best-value way to do the paid sites, and children’s discounts run through summer 2026. Allow a full day for the lot, with a picnic in the park in between.

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