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Ninety seconds on Imperial War Museum
Yes. Entry is free and no timed ticket is needed. That covers the First World War, Second World War and Holocaust galleries as well as the top-floor art galleries.
The museum opens at 10am and closes at 6pm, daily apart from 24 to 26 December. The cafe off the atrium serves from 10am to 5.30pm, so food stops half an hour before the galleries close.
The museum recommends at least three hours to take in its permanent galleries on the First World War, the Second World War and the Holocaust. The Blavatnik art galleries and any temporary exhibition add to that.
The nearest stations are Lambeth North, seven minutes on foot, Elephant and Castle at ten, and Waterloo at fourteen. Buses 344 and 360 stop on Lambeth Road, and routes 3, 59 and 159 on Kennington Road. There is no general car parking.
Afternoons after 3pm are the quietest part of the day. Large school and tour groups can still fill the building at any hour, and the museum's access guide includes a sensory map to help plan a calmer route.
Yes. Use the West Entrance, to the right of the building when facing the naval guns, which is step-free and starts on Level 0. Inside, lifts and ramps serve every floor. The North Entrance has nine steps to the door and three more inside.
Only small ones. Suitcases and wheeled cases cannot be brought in or left. The largest lockers measure 55 by 33 by 43 centimetres, enough for airline carry-on luggage, and are subject to availability.
Both world wars and the Holocaust are told here through the diaries, keepsakes and film of those who lived them, and you walk in free with nothing to book. Set aside at least three hours.
Naval guns stand on the lawn in front, and inside the galleries rise off a central atrium across six floors.
The First World War Galleries show more than 1,300 objects, among them weapons, uniforms, diaries, keepsakes, film and art. Several rooms are kept in low light, so watch your footing.
The Second World War Galleries and The Holocaust Galleries sit on the floors above. At the top, the Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries show work by artists, filmmakers and photographers, exploring the tension between creativity and destruction.
The museum was founded while the First World War was still being fought, and the collection is built from what ordinary people kept, wrote and filmed.
Up through the building, the galleries run in order of history: the First World War at the bottom, the Second World War on Level 1, the Holocaust on Level 2, and the art galleries on Level 3 as a quieter last stop.
The step-free West Entrance brings you in on Level 0 beside the Information Desk. The North Entrance has steps and starts the visit on Level 1.
The cafe sits off the atrium. At weekends a lunchroom past the exit of the Second World War Galleries lets you eat food brought from home.
Pair it with Churchill War Rooms, the other IWM site in central London.
Leave The Holocaust Galleries for a point in the day when you have time and energy to spare, not the last ten minutes. The Quiet Room on Level 1 is open to anyone who needs a pause afterwards.
Small lockers by the North and West Entrances take a carry-on sized bag and take a coin that is returned when you collect your bag.
Childhood in War, a free family exhibition on how children have lived through conflict, runs until the end of February 2027.
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