Our experience of the British Museum very much matched the description of the product. Mary E. Was an experienced and very pleasant guide.
About Activity
What's Included
Includes
- All Fees and Taxes
- Professional English guide
Excludes
- Food and drinks
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Departure & Return
Departure Point
- On Montague Place next to the King Edward entrance. This is the north entrance, with the stone lions on either side of the doorway. We will be holding a sign for easy recognition.
Return
- On Montague Place next to the King Edward entrance. This is the north entrance, with the stone lions on either side of the doorway. We will be holding a sign for easy recognition.
Itinerary
In the heart of London exists a treasure chest, filled with objects spanning all continents and centuries of human civilization. These fascinating artifacts of priceless value tell the story of mankind and no comparable collection exists in the world. This treasure chest is called The British Museum. It houses over eight million pieces spanning two million years of human history, contained within a seemingly limitless space of nearly one million square feet. As a result, touring the British Museum without a guide to lead the way can be a daunting task. However fear not, on our specially designed private tour your knowledgeable guide, an expert who is passionate about the British Museum and its treasures, will keep you engaged and enthused by sharing the history and anecdotes that bring these ancient objects to life. Relax in the beauty of the wonders contained inside as your guide skilfully navigates you through the seventy galleries housing Athenian marbles, Egyptian Mummies, and Anglo Saxon treasures. You’ve probably heard of Rosetta Stone as language learning program, but what you probably didn’t know was that this is a real stone that played an instrumental role in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs and is now on display here. Another guaranteed highlight is the enormous Parthenon Frieze. Just over three feet high and 525 feet long, this incredible sculpture once stood in the Acropolis in Athens and is one of the most important surviving relics of classical Greece. Another group of “must see” highlights lie within the Egyptian Rooms and their impressive collection of mummies. Your guide will explain the importance of death and the afterlife in Ancient Egyptian culture as you witness this incredible piece of human history in person. The museum also contains a wonderful selection of artifacts representing the British Isles’ own Anglo Saxon culture, such as those found at the burial sites of Sutton Hoo. Your guide will share the amazing story of how these objects survived the centuries and the grave robbers, making them an improbable find. This private tour offers you the special opportunity to be shown around these highlights alongside your own personal guide dedicated to you and only you. As well as ensuring that you don’t miss the must see exhibits contained within, this will also give them the opportunity to tailor parts of the tour to your own desires and wants. Allow them to educate and elucidate you on the parts of history that you are most interested in. Use your own story to engage you with the story of mankind. All that’s left is for you to set off on an incredible time-travelling adventure through this chronicle of human culture from the beginning of time to the modern age, on our Best of the British Museum tour.
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Reviews
Mary gave our group of 4 adults an informative and very interesting tour of the British Museum. For 2 1/2 hours she lead us through time, from ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian to somewhat modern times in North America, easily navigating the crowded hallways, always finding a less crowded opportunity to see the amazing objects on display. It was sometimes difficult to hear her so perhaps using a headphone system would be better in the future. But she was prompt, very knowledgeable and clever with the information she provided. A great experience!
Alle over a superior tour. Our guide had the full understanding of our interest area. And was absolut fleksible to our wishes..
Rob was a simply terrific tour guide. She’s ranged from 10-52 and all of the members of the group weee engaged and enjoyed. We all learned something new and had a wonderful experience.
What an incredible collection of objects. Could have spent days exploring. We had an amazing guide. His knowledge was outstanding and he shared his passion with us.
Rosetta Stone was amazing, and the Frieze of the Parthenon and all the other Greek historical artifacts were incredibly impressive and very memorable. Had a fantastic experience here!
Our guide, Rob, was early waiting for us at the location that was also clearly indicated on the instructions. He's extremely knowledgeable about the Musuem and it's displays. He gave us briefing of items that are significant and 'must see' at the museum with just the right amount of info. Very, very helpful and very friendly. Definitely highly recommend. Even though the entrance is free, this tour is the most efficient way of going through the best part of the Museum if you only have 1/2 day or 1 day to spare.
Guide showed up right on time at Russell Square. Walked too far for older people. Spent twenty minutes outside. Once inside the museum moved around to maybe 10 of the biggest attractions inside. Place is huge so I understand that, just would’ve liked it to be more inside the museum and from top to bottom… we had no idea why or what we actually saw.
The tour was wonderful!!! Our guide [Mr. Rob Smith] was exceptional!!!! He was very knowledgeable on history of the museum, the collective pieces, and the architecture new and old. He was professional, patient, and human. I would highly recommend anyone reading this review to ask for him specifically. Great tour!!!!
On the positive side, it was nice to skip the line and our guide was able to navigate us to the top highlights of the museum. However, we struggled to find our guide. There was no sign, as indicated in the instructions, and we had to call the tour company to locate her. I never leave negative reviews, but our guide smelled overpoweringly of stale cigarettes and was a bit difficult to understand. Most of the time we felt like she was just reading off the display cards, and even offered incorrect information a couple of times (that we know of). She also used a flashlight in an exhibit where the light was intentionally low to preserve the artifacts, even after being told by a security guard to stop. Our ability to see clearly definitely isn’t worth the degradation of some of the worlds most precious antiquities. Eek!
It was fantabulous indeed. More than our expectations. We loved British Museum. the museum exceeded our expectations in terms of hugeness, variety of archives displayed and in toto it was one of the finest experience so far as visiting a museum is concerned. Overwhelmed!!
This is a very large museum with many floors and different periods of time. Very good, interesting and wonderful items.
We were in London for a limited time and realized that there was too much to see at the British Museum for an afternoon. We were so happy that we booked this tour with Viator because it concentrated on some of the top exhibits at the Museum. Our guid, Norma, was outstanding. She was enthusiastic and really "knew her stuff"! After our tour we were able to go back to areas of interest. This tour really cuts through the clutter of 'so much to see in a limited time". We definitely would recommend it to our friends.
This guided tour this is a good way to hit the major attractions at the museum like the Rosetta Stone several Egyptian exhibits. The tour guide was very knowledgeable although towards the end of the tour, she seemed a bit rushed. Overall though it was a good experience.
We missed the start of the tour because we did not pay careful attention to the instructions and waited outside the museum. But happily we found the guide in the museum and he accommodated our needs. It is great to hear some of the stories associated with the exhibits which are so impressive.
<p>Having a guide makes makes it feasible for a tourist to see the important items in a museum as large as this one. This is a quick tour of a museum that could occupy you for days, weeks, or months. We were glad we were with an expert.</p>
<p>Unfortunately my flight was delayed and I missed this tour-- I only had a 24 hr layover in London. The company was kind enough to give me 6 months to go on one of their tours in any other city they serve. Great customer service-- will attempt to take this tour next time I'm in Londo</p>
In reality, you don't NEED a guided tour to see this museum. It's well organized and signed and one can easily meander the exhibits at their own pace. However, this is one of the great museums of the world we with so much too see that it really should be experienced over the course of many visits. But most people visiting London only have limited time. That's precisely why I enjoyed visiting it with City Wonders. Our guide Mark was very knowledgeable and personable. He took us to the absolute highlights of the museum with interesting information about each. The tour ended with plenty of time to revisit certain exhibits or see others that were not included. I recommend this tour.
<p>Guy the guide gave us a great tour of the British Museum. This tour was great! Guy took us through the highlights and made everything very interesting!</p>
Love the tour. Ed is amazing, knowledgeable and a good sense of humour. It is also great to use a guide when you are short of time, Ed took us to ask the key exhibits, love his storytelling, and also pointed out other exhibits for us to come back to if we have more time.
<p>I would never do the British Museum without using Viator again! I could only hope to have the brilliant and energetic guide TRUDY again as well! She did a fantastic job of navigating the school groups who were there when we were. We didnt miss a thing! <br/> Look, the British Museum is a must see in any London trip. But take a guide with you to make sure you get a live explanation of what you are looking at. THEN when the 2 or 3 hour guided tour is over, grab the headsets or the paper guide and go through the rest of the museum. Dont miss out of the chance to ask a local historian questions about what you are seeing first though. <br/> We have used viator before and in other cities. I always look for them because the experience of getting my tickets at convenient times is easy and the guides that they hire are outstanding.</p>
<p>A wonderful tour to see and learn about a small fraction of the amazing artifacts in this museum. Our guide had a wide range of information about so much of the items that weren't even included on the tour.</p>
<p>wow!!! our Tour guide guy was amazing!! He loves his job!! 5 stars to him!!!</p>
<p>First understand that, like the Smithsonian, the British Museum is open to the public free of charge unlike museums we have encountered in Italy and France. It was a rainy Tuesday the day of our scheduled tour and the museum was absolutely jammed. Was glad that we had booked the small group tour as we got to see the museum highlights in spite of the crowd. Without the guide we would have missed many key exhibits.</p>
<p>Our guide, Trudy, was so full of life and enthusiasm for the museum. Very contagious! I can't imagine a better guide. She gave a lot of background and detailed information on all of the things we saw together. <br/> We covered the Rosetta Stone, parts of the Parthenon, Syrian reliefs that were fascinating as well as heartbreaking, big Egyptian section and a fascinating British find of an ancient burial place. Lots of other interesting things along the way.<br/> Highly recommend. Great way to gain an insight and overview of the museum. Can't imagine doing it without Trudy!</p>
<p>Had trouble finding place to meet tour guide. There was no specific address given. Called contact number and person answering wasn't able to help us.</p>
<p>Tour guide didn't show up when and where supposed to. Complete waste of money.</p>
<p>This is a great tour, a quick one for people who have a tight schedule. We were only 3 people so the tour seemed like a private one and we had the tour guide attention.</p>
<p>There is so much in this museum!! The guide helped me understand the history and the context of the various pieces in side. Great history lesson and the storytelling was amazing!!! Having learned about the rosetta stone in history books is one thing, seeing it in person is AMAZING. The reaches of the vast historical British Empire again what we Americans learn in history is literally right before your eyes!</p>
<p>Tour provides a great overview of some of the more important exhibits in the British Museum and points out the locations of the other major exhibits. Tour guide was very knowledgeable and articulate.</p>
<p>Wonderful tour and the guide was very knowledgable. The museum was crowded and very warm on the day we visited. I am glad we had our guide. Thank you for such a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>The tour was ok. We didn't really get to see very many exhibits in the time frame and it was really packed. To be honest i wish we'd allowed a whole day for the museum and just wandered around ourselves with a digital guide as there is way too much to see in the amount of time the tour allows, but if your pressed for time then the tour is definately the way to go.</p>
<p>My daughter loved it. Wish there was more walking around seeing things than looking on a iPad and listening to the tour guide.</p>
<p>Very glad I did this tour. There were only three of us and our guide can't remember his name - older gentleman, Irish did a really great job showing us the highlights and explaining why they were important. He orientated us to the museum, then took us to see various important exhibits in different portions of the museum. We were with him for a few hours, and he concluded the tour by making sure we knew where we were going in the museum for any follow on viewing we wanted to do. He answered those questions he could, and was honest when he didn't have an answer. Great tour. The museum is huge and intimidating. This highlights tour was great to see the highlights and figure out where things are.</p>
<p>The British Museum is wonderful. I have visited few museums with the vast number of exhibits that are on display here. It is well worth the time to pay a visit when in London.</p>
<p>We saw mostly Egyptian statues and some Roman, which was very interesting. Tour stated not available for wheelchairs, but we had a lady in our group in a wheel chair. Need to be reasonably fit as 2 hours of walking and stairs can be tiring. Knowledgeable guide. Only problem was finding the meeting point as Hotel mentioned has changed name.</p>
<p>ZoZo was very knowledgeable about all the artifacts we saw. Very interesting history</p>
<p>Very well done, with an enthusiastic guide who made the whole tour interesting. I believe that she did an excellent job of touching lightly on a sample of the huge amount of material in the museum.</p>
<p>Wonderful time, good way to see the highlights in the museum in a short time.</p>
<p>Trudy was a great tour guide who really knew about the museum and its artifacts. She was very passionate about the exhibits, and really brought the history to life for me. Without her stories and background on the pieces, I can't imagine taking away even half as much from the museum. I was also incredibly lucky to have a group of only 2 people!</p>
<p>Knowledgeable and friendly guide ready to answer any and all questions. Great museum.</p>
<p>The trip was so interesting, The guide was very enthusiastic and informative. Thank you</p>
<p>One of the best ways to get around the museum to see the essentials.</p>
<p>Great place to have a guided tour . You will learn things that you never heared .</p>
<p>Sorry but I waited at the nominated location for about 40 minutes before and after the start time and there was no show from the guide. I spoke to several people around my area to check if they were my guide but no luck. I then started by myself.</p>
<p>I saw a lot of museums on my tour through Europe and this is an exemplary one. It's a must see!</p>
<p>This tour would have been great if the fine print had been more clear. When I booked the tour, the Viator agent told me that the tour would start at 2pm, because the voucher had different starting points for different months and I was confused. On the day of the tour we got a call at 10am from the local tour company asking where we were....we were an hour away and so we missed our tour completely. There went the tour and our money, it was really disappointing. I wish Viator would make their information more clear and that customer service would read things more carefully when customers call specifically for this reason. </p> <p>We have used Viator many times in the past without issue, but this experience made me hesitant about using it in the future.</p>
<p>Our guide took the amazing amount of sights in the museum and connected them all. We loved the museum and our guide gave us the inside story on the highlights.<br/> Highly recommended!</p>
<p>Tour Guide was very enthusiastic and had lots of interesting information to share with us.<br/> I would recommend that after the tour you take the time to go around again and look at the things of interest to yourself.</p>
<p>Alicia, the guide, was great. She went into depth for the whole tour.</p>
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