british museum private tour

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Unveil History Privately: Exclusive British Museum Guided Tou

Delve deep into ancient cultures with personalized guidance on our private museum expedition.

• Babylon Tours London

From €71.25

Discover more about The British Museum

With a world-famous collection spanning 6000 years of human history and every corner of the globe, the British Museum can seem overwhelming – but not with our expert guides! They’ll lead you through a selection of carefully chosen exhibits to ensure you get the best out of your time at this one-of-a-kind museum.  

You’ll explore key highlights of the British Museum’s superb collection, learning all about ancient civilizations and forgotten tribes as you take in the Mummy of Katebet, the Parthenon Marbles, the Lewis Chessmen, beautiful Samurai armor, the ancient Rosetta Stone and so much more. After a few hours of fascinating insights and engaging tales from your guide, we hope you’ll leave inspired by the scope of human achievement contained within this museum’s hallowed halls.  

Highlights Generally Include: (if artwork is not on loan or being restored etc.)

The Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics

The Parthenon Marbles, created under the supervision of master architect and sculptor, Phidias

The Mummy of Katebet, the Chantress of Amun, who held the title “King of the Gods”

The Lewis Chessmen, a group of 12 th century game pieces carved out of ivory

“Private Tour” means tour guide exclusively for you.

“Semi-Private” means group size is never more than 8 guests maximum.

Prices Vary Based on Group Size

• Adult €71.25 - 570 18 years of age or older
• Youth €19 Between 10 - 17 years of age
• Child €9 Between 0 - 9 years of age

Craig was great, my mom has a hard time with her hip and he let us go at our own pace.

Our guide, Becky, was very knowledgeable, personable, and professional. She offered to customize her tour to our preferences as we were a small group. I would highly recommend taking this tour, as it gave us a foundarion to further explore the more than 4 million pieces in the museum's collection. Many Thanks!!!

Angus Templeton was an great expert guide who gave us a fantastic highlight tour of the British Museum. His insights were great and his personality and enthusiasm made us right at home. Before leaving us he gave us wonderful ideas about how to tour the rest of the Museum on our own.

My guide was awesome. It was very much worth the money. I only had 1 day in London, and I wanted to see as much as possible. One could spend the entire day at the museum, and she made sure I saw the most important artifacts. I would highly recommend the private guided tour.

Angus is a terrific guide. Very knowledgeable and patient too. Loved the Museum.

Cathy is a terrific tour guide - we had two tours with her -- one at the British Museum and one at the National Gallery -- and learned a lot about the exhibits as well as the other works on display. I think this is a tour that is a must when in London.

Great experience! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable! He kept it fun and exciting...He knew which items to see, explained the historical significance and could answer all our questions! Our teenager loved it too! We really valued this experience... Would recommend this to anyone going to the British Museum!

Christine D

The British Museum was my favorite tour of this trip! Our Tour Guide, Becky was great - she was very knowledgeable and gave us the top objects to see, and added some i was interested in. I was so impressed with her ability to answer all our questions and have very even-sided discussions on the items that specific countries wanted back - would definitely book this tour again on our next trip - in two hours you can only see a very small part of this museum.

Young lady was very knowledgeable and personable.

Private tour guide was knowledgeable, engaging and friendly personality.

FavoriteWalks

Highly recommend the 2.5 hour private tour with Becky who has such passion for history, myth, art and artifacts - all of which can be found in the British museum with its massive collection. The three of us all appreciated the time to stop and ask questions. We covered Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Mayan periods. Becky is completing a masters in museum studies and a perfect guide.

Y3181LMmichelleb

The British Museum is amazing and HUGE, and there are only so many tours of museums you can do in one trip right? This is not to be missed. We booked ahead of time for the 2 hour private guided tour. I remember thinking, maybe I should just go to the museum and get the audio tour. So glad we opted for this. The Tour Guide, Jake met us at 10:00 for a 2 hour private tour. Jake was extremely organized, took us on a great tour showing us several of the important exhibits in walking order, and pointed out things and highlights he thought interesting. The highlights were extremely interesting. But beyond that Jake had an educational background that made him the best guide for those exhibits AND he liked what he was doing. We were extremely pleased with the tour but the tour guide REALLY made it happen for us! Thanks Babylon for a great tour.

My husband and I had been to the British Museum a couple of times, but always felt a little overwhelmed and like there was a lot we were missing because there is so much to see. So, we decided to hire a private guide. Going through the museum with our guide turned out to be one of the highlights of our UK vacation. I highly recommend hiring a guide! We met up with our guide, Jake, outside the British Museum on Aug 27th. He was on time, friendly and instantly made us feel welcome. He was really knowledgeable about the museum and his passion about the history of the exhibits was obvious. As we moved through the exhibits and artifacts, Jake really made them come to life with his explanations, stories, and historical accounts. Thanks to Jake for making our day so special!

Our tour guide, Becky, was incredibly knowledgeable and adjusted the tour to fit our interests. The time flew by because she had such interesting insights on every major artifact. We'd visited the British Museum before but it was so much more meaningful with a great guide.

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British Museum Tour

Visit The British Museum on a private two hour tour, or include it on a flexible day in London.

TOUR PRICES

Prices include:.

Prices are per private group not per person. Prices do not include entrance fees or meals unless stated.

This tour is available in most languages. Select your language on checkout.

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About The Tour

Discover the highlights of the British Museum on a private two hour tour, or include the Museum on a flexible full day  London day tour

The British Museum was founded in 1753 and today has approx six million objects from antiquity to today's i-pod from all around the world giving an insight into ancient cultures and civilisations.

Our tour begins in Lord Foster's Great Hall: You will see the three ancient scripts on the Rosetta Stone from Egypt, as well as architectural relics from temples and mausoleums in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Greece etc. Hear about the Lion Hunt and see the huge statues of Pharaoh Rameses the Great who had over 70 children.

Lord Elgin transported many pieces of the friezes showing the pan-Athenic festival of the ruins of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Greece to London, and a special hall was constructed so they could be on permanent display to all.

The Enlightenment Gallery shows collections of souvenirs wealthy 18th century British travellers brought home from their journeys, appreciating art and cultures of other civilisations, and wishing to share these treasures with others.

You will learn about preservation of the dead from Egyptian Mummies, or "Ginger"- to the English bog-man.

In England, art objects and valuables were at times of trouble hidden underground for fear of invaders. Recently many such Hoards have been discovered. In the British Galleries you will see ancient Jewellery, weapons, armouries, plates, cutlery - even Roman postcards! Items were imported, brought by immigrants or produced in Britain, giving us an insight into earlier cultures and civilisations of our predecessors of Celtic, Roman, Ango-Saxon, Viking or Norman origin, as well as more recent world-wide migrants from which today's multi-cultural nation derived.

Harry Potter fans will love the Lewis chess set found on the Scottish island.

Further interest could include the Islamic gallery, European and Chinese porcellain, clocks, medicine or money from around the world.

On entering the museum, walk ahead into the Great Court. This is the brightly lit area with the geometric glass roof. Your guide will meet you by the benches immediately to your right as you enter the Great Court.

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Doncaster, UK

Why choose us?

Because you insist on the longest-established and most experienced service available in Britain. Founded in 1958, British Tours is still under the same management. About Us

Who is your Guide?

Our guides are personable educated men and women, chosen for their knowledge, special interests, backgrounds and personality. They will collect you by car from any central London location and guide you inside places of historic importance

Follow us on our journey

Private British Museum Tour

What to expect

With your very own expert historian on your  Private British Museum Tour , you will experience the museum in an intimate up close, and fascinating way, like no one else. Understanding, learning, and uncovering the secrets and hidden stories about the most famous objects on display as others wander around aimlessly through the gigantic and often overwhelming display. 

Maximize your time in a museum that boats over 8,000 fascinating objects from the past, as you discuss with your guide the importance of the objects, how we have come to understand them, and the incredible and often unbelievable stories behind them. Your customized private tour will take you to all the highlights the British Museum has to offer while allowing you the chance to pose questions to your guide getting to know them along the way, your time will allow you to focus more on your interest and see some sections in greater detail than others without feeling herded around. 

Opened in 1756 The British Museum is not only older than many counties but contains some of the oldest artifacts on earth, it is easy for even the most avid historian to be overmatured by this wealth of culture on a first or second-time visit, so join your local historian to see the best of this incredible and sometimes controversial collection of human history. From the groundbreaking Rosetta stone*, a tablet that allowed linguists to understand hieroglyphics, to perfectly preserved mummies, your personalized adventure through time is waiting for you.

Why book this tour

• Uncover the incredible stories from over 4000 years ago with an expert by your side
• Enjoy the Luxury of getting close and personal with the past with private guide
• See the museum like no other as your historian leads you too he highlights
• Marvel at objects from Ancient Marbles to Egyptian mummies
• Uncover the lesser known facts behind the best known objects in the world

Exclusive private Tours and Experiences. Also offered in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian

Our prices always include tickets and reservations fees (no waiting in lines!)

Our tour guides and staff are selected experts and speak perfect English

Easy to book and prepay your tours with our secure payment system

Eco-sustainable tourism, designed to respect and support local culture, art and traditions

Tour gallery

Read more about your private British Museum tour

Take a journey back in time with your LivTours  Private British Museum Tour , and experience an educational, enlightening, and entertaining way to get close and personal with the world’s greatest treasures. Kiss goodbye to wandering through the giant collections of great museums and follow your expert as they take you right up and close for the best way to view history. Benefit from an expert’s understanding of mysterious and ancient objects as they share with you their knowledge, ask questions, and customize your tour to ensure you focus on what interests you while discovering new interests. 

Meet your guide just outside the museum in fashionable Bloomsbury (Buckingham Palace was chosen as the original location for the museum before the queen lived there) Follow your guide into a building that is more than just a museum, but is rather a visual walk-through world history, an interactive conversation with the past, from all four corners of the globe. Your expert will guide you on the best route to see the top highlights ensuring you maximize your time as well as covering a comprehensive walk through time, ensuring you ask questions to focus on your favorite century and place in world history. Beginning as a small collection to growing into a national museum this is an unmissable London highlight and there is no better way to understand the past than with the masterful storytelling of a guide by your side. 

This Tour Includes

• Enlightenment Gallery
• Aztec and Mayan collection
• Easter Island head
• Sutton Hoo ship burial
• Roman Britain collection
• Ancient Egypt & mummies
• Ancient Rome collection
• Portland vase
• The Rosetta Stone
• Ancient Greece collection
• Parthenon Marbles
• Assyrian collection
• Privately guided experience

Know before you go

• Please note that due to the size of the museum, it may not be possible to cover every room. Your tour guide will tailor the tour to include key highlights and your personal preferences.

Our Sustainable Tourism Promise

LivTours’ group size of max 6 participants is and always has been based on sustainable travel, and we are proud to be at the forefront of change and innovation in the industry.   LivTours is committed to providing travelers with truly sustainable tours with the lowest possible environmental impact, all while supporting the local industries and people of each unique destination. To learn more about how you can actively support sustainable tourism  and how LivTours is contributing, click here .

About our Private tours

When you book a LivTours Private Tour or Experience , you are guaranteed a dedicated, expert guide that allows you the flexibility to start your tour at a time which is convenient for you, making planning easy. Our private tours ensure that you will get a tailored experience to meet all your needs so we go at your pace, perfect for families with younger children, elderly, or individuals with accessibility needs. Please be advised that all private tours begin at a base price starting at two people* . Prices are inclusive of entry tickets where applicable.  *Some Ferrari private experiences are inclusive of one person only.

Additional options

Make your experience even more unique by upgrading your LivTours experience. Please note: add-ons are non refundable.

British Museum tour

This is a museum where having a guide to help you navigate and explain all that you are seeing makes a huge difference as to how much you enjoy the visit and how much you will remember from the experience. Our LivTour guide, Mary, was an excellent guide, thorough, clear and precise and a lovely person as well. We saw the most important exhibits and learned so much from Mary. Thank you LivTour for this tour and for your wonderful guide, Mary.

British museum tour

Richard was our guide for this tour and he was amazing. Very knowledgeable and a great comunicator -- always very entertaining and never boring. The museum is one of the best in the world but there's alot to see. It's important to have a guide to help you navigate the museum, see as much as possible and learn about what you are seeing in a way that you'll remember. This tour, offered by LivTours, was the perfect way to see the British Museum. I'm sure their other museum tours, in other cities, are just as great!

Excellent tour

We booked the private tour of the British museum offered by LivTours and were very impressed with the entire experience. Friendly and competent customer service, excellent guide, perfect pace: all contributed to making this a really great tour. After this very positive experience, we will definitely book other tours with this company.

Definitely worth it

My wife and I were visiting London for the first time and decided to book this guided tour of the British Museum since we knew that the museum is one of the best (and most comprehensive) in the world. We enjoyed every minute of the tour and the time we spent with our excellent guide, Mary. She made history come alive and pointed out details and gave us insights that we wouldn't have known to look for without her. We both felt that the tour was worth every cent -- plus more!

My wife and I are museum buffs but we've found, over the years, that it is always best to visit a museum for the first time with a professional guide. We booked LivTours tour of the British Museum and we felt that we received an excellent introduction to this great museum and all that it has to offer. Our guide, Shelly, was wonderful -- very knowledgeable and also a very lovely person. She paced the tour to our possibilities and was always very attentive to our needs and special interests. There wasn't a question she couldn't answer. We will certainly try to book other tours with this company as we were very impressed with this tour and with their guide.

Choose dates later / Buy as a gift

By selecting Choose Dates Later / Buy as Gift at booking, any tour can be purchased without fixed dates. This is the perfect option if you want to purchase your tour as a gift for a loved one, or if you are in the pre-planning phase of your vacation. After booking, you will receive a Travel Voucher Code and full instructions on how to schedule your tours when ready. Once your travel plans are confirmed, you can easily use the Travel Voucher Code on the LivTours website to formally schedule your tours. You can find out more here .

Book your tour

Privacy overview.

Inside the British Museum Private Tour

The British Museum is home to  more than 8 million of the world’s treasures  from across the centuries. Take a private introductory tour to unlock the secrets behind some of the most legendary artefacts from history.

This private tour includes:

• Meet your private dynamic guide at your central London hotel or apartment.
• Free entry to the UK’s most famous and comprehensive museum.
• Hear stories and secrets behind the British Museum’s star exhibits, from the Rosetta Stone to the Elgin Marbles.
• Discover how objects arrived in the “Museum of the World” and hear the debates for and against keeping them.
• Recommendations for your own exploration of the collection or dropoff at a lunch/dinner booking made by us.

Tour Details

Monday through Saturday: 10.30AM – 1.30pm

Your private guide will meet you at your central London hotel or apartment.

Monday through Saturday, year-round

This tour doesn’t run 24th-26th December. If you would like a tour on these days, please email our team at requests@totallytailored.com .

If you would like this tour in another language please email requests@Totallytailored.com

Sample Itinerary

Meet Your Guide in the Lobby of Your Hotel Your private expert guide will meet you in the lobby of your central London hotel or apartment.

Pre-Booked Entry into the Museum We will pre-book your entry time for a smoother entrance into the museum. The bag check queue can often be 30-45 minutes long, because of this we recommend not brining any bags.

The Museum’s Origin Story Find out about the museum’s eccentric founder, Sir Hans Sloane, and how the British Museum came to be founded in the Bloomsbury district of London.

World Treasures in the World’s Museum Experience the world’s last surviving Assyrian temple guardians and the one-of-a-kind Rosetta Stone. You’ll also find out why the British Museum is the most visited museum in Britain.

Hear the Secret Stories Behind the Exhibits Hear how the Elgin Marbles went from Athens to London via a country house in Scotland and how the Rosetta Stone became key to recovering lost languages from ancient history.

Treasures of the World See the world-famous marble friezes and sculptures that once stood on the Parthenon in Athens and hear about their long and dramatic history.

Mummies, Heads, & Masks Learn how Ancient Egyptian kings were mummified, how Vikings played chess, and how to excavate an Anglo-Saxon helmet.

Are your tours private?

Yes, all our tours are private and can be customized to our guests’ interests.

Do you offer skip-the-line entry to the British Museum?

No, however if you want to lessen your wait time we recommend not bringing any bags (the bag queue can be a 30-45 minute wait during busier times).

Do you behind-the-scenes tours of the British Museum?

Yes we can absolutely do behind-the-scenes tours of the museum. Please email us at requests@totallytailored.com for more details and pricing.

Do you accommodate large groups?

Our tours are designed for groups of 1-14 people. However, we can certainly cater to larger groups. For groups of over 14 guests, please email us at requests@totallytailored.com and we’ll help you craft your ideal trip.

Should I tip my guide?

Tips for your guide are never expected, but they do show you think your guide did a brilliant job! If you would like to tip your guide, please do so directly during the tour (10 – 15% is customary).

Reviews of this Tour

“for the british museum our tour guide…asked us about our interest. the way [they] guided the tour was so good that we did not felt tired.  we saw all the master pieces and went thru the different eras with great explanation of the history of british.”.

Angeline V. via Yelp

“Angus led us through…[the] British Museum. Angus is a treasure. He asked us if we had any things we really wanted to see and tailored our tour around our requests. His knowledge of London, history, and art is vast.”

Jay via TripAdvisor

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Some of Our Marvelous Partners

The 5 Best British Museum Tours [2024 Reviews]

As the first national public museum of the world, the British Museum brings all kinds of cultures together with countless artifacts and historical accounts.

While there are plenty of incredible art museums in London, but if you’re a history buff like me, this is a can’t-miss! There’s a ton to see, however, so I highly recommend taking a proper tour to guide you through the most notable pieces.

I’ve carefully curated a guide to the 5 top tours of the British Museum out there, so you don’t have to worry about which ones are actually worth your time and money. Let’s jump right in!

Be sure to see our reviews of Thames Dinner Cruises , Windsor Castle Tours and Buckingham Palace Tours .

Best British Museum Guided Tours

Quick answer: the 5 best british museum private & guided tours for 2024.

• The British Museum London Guided Museum Tour – Semi-Private 8ppl Max
• Private Guided Tour of the British Museum
• Kid-Friendly Private British Museum Highlights and Walk to Covent Garden London
• The British Museum London – Exclusive Guided Museum Tour
• British Museum In-Depth Private Guided Tour

British Museum Tour Reviews

1. the british museum london guided museum tour – semi-private 8ppl max.

• Duration: 2.5 Hours
• Departure: Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG
• Departure Time: 10:00 AM, 1:30 & 5:00 PM
• Includes:  Semi-private museum tour, no more than 8 participants, professional tour guide

London’s cultural landscape is like some type of treasure trove filled with intense history, art, and fascinating artifacts. The British Museum London Guided Museum Tour – Semi-Private 8ppl Max  experience is one of those top-tier tours that I wish I’d found out about earlier.

If you want an in-depth yet intriguing way to see the over 6,000 years of history under one roof, look no further!

The tour starts off by meeting the guide right outside the museum gates, where we instantly hit it off and were able to ask them any questions we had along the way.

They asked us about any specific interests we had, and as our group was limited to just 8 participants, it felt very intimate and fun. We then received a briefing of what to expect and the history of the museum, which really set the tone for a fascinating next few hours.

Our whole group was open to seeing pretty much anything and everything, so we started off by following our educated guide through the different rooms to see a wide array of impressive ancient and medieval exhibits.

The Rosetta Stone was so fascinating to me, especially because it essentially unlocked the ancient Egyptian world, from the language to their afterlife beliefs.

Expand To See More See Less

I’m a huge fan of ancient Greek sculptures, so being able to see the Parthenon sculptures was something of a dream – we even learned how a massive gold and ivory image of Athena used to stand inside the Parthenon!

What was really cool was that we easily had the best guide in the place, who spoke to us more like longtime friends and relayed information about each artifact in a way that was easy to comprehend.

They never made us feel like we should have a certain level of knowledge, and while our group varied in education about certain subjects he spoke to all of us in a way that made sense.

Overall, this was a great tour that I’d recommend to anyone of any age or background who’d like to explore the British Museum in an effective way.

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience, other london experiences you may enjoy:, 2. private guided tour of the british museum.

• Duration: 2 Hours
• Departure: Great Russell Street, London, UK
• Departure Time: 10:00 AM, 2:00 & 5:00 PM
• Includes: Licensed and insured guide, entrance ticket

I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely taken some boring museum tours throughout my life and don’t always look forward to them. Many times, I’ve just wandered through museums and hoped for the best by reading up beforehand on some of the sites I’m most interested in.

However, with tours like the Private Guided Tour of the British Museum , my mind was changed and I discovered that with the right guide the entire experience can be elevated.

Upon meeting our guide, I was instantly captivated by both her knowledge and skilled way of speaking while showcasing the best the museum has to offer.

Sometimes it just feels like you’re wandering around or the guide is making things up as they go, but that was not the case here. She was a true leader and clearly knew exactly what she was talking about and where to go, taking a seamless route that tied everything together, effortlessly.

Even though the artifacts from room to room vary wildly, she somehow weaved each piece of history together, relating the different civilizations and discoveries to the other.

It was a super cool way to see the museum and learn, especially as I am a big fan of world history!

I learned a ton of fun facts and larger concepts that I admittedly didn’t even know about prior to this tour, and I loved how she included plenty of lesser-known artifacts, too.

The museum is so massive, that it will not only save you time but frustration by going on a curated experience such as this tour, with a guide who has a ton of in-depth knowledge.

While the tour lasts only a few hours, it flew by even faster than expected thanks to the captivating stories regaled to our little group. While it is a bit more expensive, this is a small-group experience maxing out at 6 people, so it’s well worth it!

Search For Other London Experiences You May Enjoy

3. kid-friendly private british museum highlights and walk to covent garden london.

• Duration: 3 Hours
• Departure Time: 10:00 AM & 2:00 PM
• Includes: Local guide, Professional Blue Badge guide, Private Tour

While the British Museum may not be the first sight that pops into your head when planning a trip with kids in tow, it’s actually perfect for curious young minds.

If that sounds like what you’re looking for, the Kid-Friendly Private British Museum Highlights and Walk to Covent Garden London Tour  is just the ticket!

Lead by expert guides who clearly have a knack for teaching and keeping younger people intrigued, this interactive tour is tailored specifically for children aged 6 to 12 years old. However, that’s not to say that it’s not for people older than that, or the information isn’t accurate.

In fact, I had a fantastic time and felt like this was some of the most fun I’ve ever had on a museum tour – as a child or as an adult!

The tour starts out with a warm welcome from your guide, who right off the bat created a space that made everyone feel comfortable enough to learn and ask any questions.

From Egyptian mummies and Greek sculptures to decoding hieroglyphics, this hands-on experience made these artifacts come to life.

As this is a private tour, you don’t have to worry about big groups and your guide will even help personalize the experience.

I know that moving through museums with kids can be a delicate manner, but our tour guide kept everyone so entertained that there wasn’t even a moment for them to think about “accidentally” touching something they weren’t supposed to or playing tag next to ancient artifacts.

They gave us a shortlist to the most popular sites, narrating each one with fascinating historical accounts in a way that younger kids can easily digest. If you’re looking to bring children to the British Museum, look no further, because this is the best tour of them all.

4. The British Museum London – Exclusive Guided Museum Tour

• Departure Time: 10:00 AM, 1:30 and 5:00 PM
• Includes:  Guided museum tour, tour guide

The British Museum holds around 8 million items – needless to say, you can spend quite a bit of time there if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

With The British Museum London – Exclusive Guided Museum Tour , you can rest easy knowing that your guide will create a custom itinerary designed around what you’re most interested in seeing!

These are the experts who know the museum like the back of their hand, maximizing your time in this absolute gem of an attraction.

Another huge pull for me with this tour was just how affordable it was for the sheer value received, making it one of those “biggest bang for your buck” experiences!

Lasting 2.5 hours, I wasn’t prepared for just how much I was able to see and learn about, at a pace that went smoothly and just made sense. This definitely isn’t one of those run-of-the-mill museum tours where the guide is just rattling off commonly known information!

We started out by meeting our guide right outside the museum gates, where they gave us a briefing on the history of the museum building and some of the most notable artifacts. We then got to head right inside, wasting no time to get to the best parts!

While the Rosetta Stone, mummies, and sculptures are absolute musts, I was surprised at the amount of amazing art!

Do not miss the drawings by Botticelli and Michelangelo, the Assyrian reliefs, the Lewis Chessmen, and much more! The tour consisting of carefully selected items was phenomenal, with our guide sharing tons of valuable, entertaining stories.

Our guide tailored our tour to lean a bit towards art as that’s one of my main interests, and I do recommend stopping by these exhibits! If you’re looking to gain a deeper understanding of what humans are capable of, let’s go!

5. British Museum In-Depth Private Guided Tour

• Departure: 49 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3BA
• Departure Time:  Varies
• Includes:  Private expert guide, customizable tour

Are you looking for a tour that’s just a couple of hours long to try and fill your itinerary with a fun, entertaining tour experience?

If so, then check out the British Museum In-Depth Private Guided Tour  is completely customizable, so there’s no more dealing with monotonous tours that you didn’t sign up for!

Known as the “World’s Museum”, expect to see lots of big tourist attractions, along with plenty of “hidden” gems that most don’t get to see.

I met up with my guide right outside the museum, and while I chose to do a morning tour, there are tons of different start times available for added convenience. As it’s just a few hours long, I’d say it’s super easy to fit into even the busiest of itineraries!

Before we got started, he did ask me if I had any specific interests or preferences as to what we explore inside the museum, creating a customized schedule based on that.

I couldn’t believe how affordable this tour was when I realized that it was completely private, which ended up literally just being me and my guide.

It was like I had a best friend local to the area taking me around to all the sites I want to see while giving me a fun, intriguing narrative on each one. I was able to ask plenty of questions, and he answered each one with confidence which only enriched my experience further.

I felt that this tour was very comfortable with a pace that wasn’t too fast nor too slow, even taking breaks intermittently to rest and go for a coffee/pastry!

I can say with confidence that this guide knew just about everything in the museum, and on the private tour I felt comfortable asking anything that came to mind. I highly recommend this tour for anyone!

Tour Guides

The The British Museum London Guided Museum Tour - Semi-Private 8ppl Max is our Editors Choice for the best British Museum tour

Robert Baker

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Travel Home > UK Tours > London > British Museum

British Museum Guided Tour

Officially licensed guides, guided walking tour, flexible rescheduling, private tour of british museum.

Visit one of the most renowned museums of the world with a private guide and view famous artifacts such as the Rossetta’s Stone, the controversial Parthenon marbles, and much more. 

Enjoy a brief stroll around the famous area of Bloomsbury and hear how the British Museum came to be before entering this magnificent institution.

Highlights of Our British Museum Guided Tour:

• Meet your professional  Blue Badge Guide  
• Visit one of the most important museums in the world
• Be shown incredible artifacts such as  The Rosetta Stone , the  Parthenon Marbles , and much, much more
• Skip the line access
• Free consultation with your guide to determine what exhibitions you want to spend the most time with

British Museum Tour Itinerary

The British Museum was the world’s free public museum and was first opened to the public in 1753. 

Sir Hans Sloane donated his extensive collection of 20, 000 pieces and the museum has grown ever since. And after visiting you will feel like you’ve traveled around the globe and seen so much along the way. 

Your guide will be sure to show you the museum’s highlights and believe us there are many. They include:

• The famous Rosetta Stone : the key to unlocking the hieroglyphic language
• The Parthenon Marbles : intricate statues from the Acropolis carved 2500 years ago in Athens
• The Sutton Hoo Hoard : the contents of a Saxon ship burial and the subject of the recent film, ‘The Dig’. 
• Ancient Egyptian Mummies
• The  Easter Island statue  called Hoakananaia 

*Please note that the British Museum may close off sections of the museum to the public without prior notice.

Interested in combining a tour of the British Museum with one of our other private guided tours of London, or as part of a larger multi-day tour of the UK?  Get in tou ch with our expert tour planners today and they will create a custom tour itinerary for you completely free of charge . 

Why Choose Us For Your Tour of The British Museum?

• See the British Museum the way you would like to see it – focus on the exhibits that are most important to you
• No following a guide with an umbrella. Your private guide will show you all the big exhibits and also some of the smaller ones that you would never learn about on a big group tour
• Customize your tour itinerary to suit you and your group

Tour Duration:  2-3 hours

Meeting point:  At your centrally located London accommodation OR at the Holborn Station station entrance

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Contact Us About Your Own British Museum Guided Tour

At London by Luxe we understand that no two private tours will be the same, and we endeavor to tailor every tour exactly to the tastes and requirements of our guests. So if there is anything we can do to customize your tour, just let our friendly planners know in the form below.

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Other guided day tours from london by luxe.

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Tower Bridge Exhibition & Tower of London Tour

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Guided Half-Day Tour of Westminster Abbey & London Eye

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Guided Tour of The National Gallery in London

Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral & Tower of London Tour

A Royal London Walking Tour Including The Changing of the Guard

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British Museum Tour: A Guided Crash Course

• Enjoy tailored insights and stories that cater to your interests, whether you're an art aficionado or a history buff.
• Navigate thousands of years of history and explore exhibits you might not see on your own with a knowledgeable guide who brings artifacts to life.

• You want to experience everything the museum offers with insights that go beyond what’s written on the plaques.
• You’d like a personalized experience tailored to your interests, whether in art, history, or archaeology.
• You're interested in exploring a collection that spans the globe, offering a deep dive into a myriad of cultures, from the ancient Greek masterpieces to the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphs and more.
• British Museum
• Depending on your group size, we may be required by the venue to order headsets, in which case you’ll see a “Headset Fee” added to your order. If you would like to guarantee headsets for your tour regardless of your group size, please email us and we’ll do our best to get them reserved for you.
• There will be a break in the tour to stop and use bathroom facilities as well as opportunities to stop and rest along the way if needed. Please communicate any mobility needs or concerns with our team at the time of booking. 

Additional Trip-Planning Resources

• Get the most out of your trip to the museum with a pre-trip talk: Must-See Treasures of the British Museum
• Be sure to wear comfortable shoes. While you’ll be inside, you’ll still be covering a lot of ground! The British Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, after all.
• Grab your sketchpad and channel your inner artist. Drawing is allowed in the galleries.

Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ .

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Uncover the secrets of history with british museum tickets and a local expert, book a tour.

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I took my kids on a British Museum out-of-hours tour and it was even better than I expected

I first learned about the British Museum’s Out of Hours tours while doing a general sweep of kid-friendly tour options for kids in London. I’ve had great luck in the past with family tours, since it takes some of the pressure off parents and lets everyone have fun and learn things. These tours are run by the museum and take place when it’s closed to the general public (hence the “out of hours” part, which is British English for outside of opening hours).

What to know about out-of-hours tours

Out of Hours tours run from 8:50 to 10 in the morning, and all enter through the main entrance (since the museum is closed, you wait and then someone comes out to collect you). The cost is £33 for adults (or £30 for members/students/etc.) and £16.50 for kids ages five to 15.

BRING THE KIDS: 11 best tour companies for family vacations around the world

These guided tours are led by expert guides and focus on specific collections at a time of day when the only crowd is your group (on the tour I went on, the group was probably about 30 people). It feels like a private tour without the private tour pricing .

There were a few tour options to choose among, including introductions to ancient Egypt, the ancient Greek world, China, and the British Museum along with a deep dive on life and death in ancient Egypt. You can book about a year out, and booking well in advance gives you the best chance at getting the tour you’re most interested in.

BEST TRIP EVER: 50 best family vacation ideas for all ages

Why pay for an out-of-hours tour?

While these British Museum tours aren’t particularly expensive, since the museum is free, any amount is necessarily a lot more than you need to pay. These tours also tend to book up in advance, so you’ll need to decide and book a few months ahead of time.

I have been to the British Museum dozens of times, but this was hands-down my favorite visit. Getting to enter the museum before it’s open felt fun and exciting. And it was so memorable to be able to be in the museum when it was quiet and crowd-free.

TEEN-FRIENDLY TRIPS: 10 best vacation ideas for families with teenagers

It was my kids’ first visit, and honestly and in the best possible way, I think it ruined them a little bit for future visits when they’re going to have to peer over people and deal with the standard jockeying for position to see the Rosetta Stone, mummies, and manuscripts.

What else to know about out-of-hours tours

These tours require a fair amount of standing around and listening, so that has to be a good fit for your family to work well. I took my kids and my nieces on the tour, and the older ones were rapt the whole time while the younger ones tried their hardest but were definitely getting bored by the end.

ISLAND LIFE: 8 Caribbean islands you can safely visit during hurricane season

The lesson I learned the hard way is that it’s nice to be able to stick around after the tour. As the tour ends, the general public starts to filter in but since you’ll be deep into the museum when the tour wraps up, you can pretty easily find uncrowded rooms and exhibits to enjoy before it gets crowded. I had planned an activity right after the tour, so we missed making the most of our time in the museum at this less crowded time.

More from FamilyVacationist:

• 17 best flight booking sites for cheap airfares
• 33 books like Harry Potter to binge on your next vacation
• The best European tourist attractions worth the hype

The post I took my kids on a British Museum out-of-hours tour and it was even better than I expected appeared first on FamilyVacationist .

The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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