Museums & Attractions

For this annual event that is guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit, the arboretum is decked with coloured lights, creating an atmospheric winter path which can be walked in around an hour, past many species of trees and a frosty lake....

Held on the last Friday of each month (except December), Friday Lates comprise mostly free, mostly drop-in events, workshops and entertainment, with a different theme each month.

Alongside the V&A, Science, Natural History and British Museums, the capital has a host of smaller, lesser-known...

As well as stalls selling Christmas gifts such as clothes, jewellery, glassware and foodstuffs, there are free tours of the garden and workshops at which children can make seasonal decorations. The Tangerine Dream café offers game stew and...

A time capsule in which visitors are immersed in a unique form of theatre. Guests are escorted, in total silence, into candlelit chambers from which, apparently, their eighteenth- and nineteenth-century inhabitants have only just withdrawn....

The attempts by science to determine human identity are the subject of this exhibition. What makes one person distinct from another, and what influences our sense of who we are is examined through ten displays, covering subjects including DNA...

After-hours museum visits cater perfectly for people who want to combine a bit of culture with a sociable night out....

A handy round-up of the big-hitting exhibitions currently on in London museums

The final exhibition in the BM's series repositioning four great historical leaders in the context of their times looks at Moctezuma II (aka Montezuma), the last elected ruler of the Aztecs, who put up surprisingly little resistance when the...

A career survey of the German industrial designer best known for his product design for Braun.

The sheer volume of historical facts to be gleaned from the current crop of exhibitions on the reign of Henry VIII...

An exhibition of new toys t o stimulate imaginative play, designed by students at Middlesex University and tested by a six year-olds at Christchurch Primary School, who have also produced drawings of their own ideas for creative playthings.

You don't have to leave town to discover National Trust treasures, as the organisation has a diverse list of historic...

The Geffrye's period rooms, which include examples from the past four centuries, can once again be seen in their full festive glory - which is actually rather more subtle than you might expect, reflecting the ongoing research that informs the...

In addition to the hundreds of varieties of fish and sea life from all over the world, including stingrays, sharks, piranhas and sea scorpions, the recently reopened and renamed aquarium, has a new attraction, the Shark Walk, which allows...

Atmospheric candelit tours - conducted in silence - through the historic house, which is decorated for the festive season. Tours take place on weekdays 6-9pm, except on December 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, when Silent Night Exclusive events take place;...

Stunning images of the cosmos. The overall winner is Martin Pugh with his image of the Horsehead Nebula, a body of swirling dust and gas at the base of which young stars are visible. The image took 14 nights to capture with a total exposure time...

A magnificent World Heritage Site covering 300 acres with over 30,000 species of plants; plus the tropical Palm...

The beauty, drama and infinite variety of the natural world is celebrated in this annual photography competition and exhibition, a joint enterprise between the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. This year the exhibition is housed...

The museum goes back to the sixties to celebrate the Foale and Tuffin exhibition, with two nights of dancing, live music, film, fashion shows, dressing-up boxes, the David Bailey photo booth, groovy makeovers and DJs. On Friday the featured...

Focusing on key events during the lead-up to and start of WWII, the exhibition is linked to an ITV1 documentary of the same name. It includes the personal accounts of journalists and soldiers on the front line, toys and possessions of young...

‘That’s the easiest question anybody’s ever asked me!’ roars Edward Mayer, vice president of...

Based on 'The Trenches Handbook', one of the books in Terry Deary's popular 'Horrible Histories' series, this family exhibition employs the same irreverent tone to explain how soldiers dealt with fierce flies, foul food, gruesome gas, sickness...

On a clear day the world's largest observation wheel offers views as far as Windsor Castle, 25 miles away. There are a number of flight options, for instance you could combine your flight with a river cruise, take a champagne flight (£29.50) or...

Photographs by Gideon Mendel and pupils from Kingsmead School in Hackney, who worked together to capture the cultural diversity of the area and everyday life at the school.

This new, permanent attraction on the top floor of The O2 includes a music memorabilia exhibition featuring David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust costume and Noel Gallagher's Union Jack guitar. The main focus, however, is on interactive exhibits such as...

Until recently if you wanted to explore London by boat, you could expect a pretty sedate experience. Charlie Matheson's slick RIB (rigid inflatable boat) operation has changed all that. You can book by phone or online or turn up at Waterloo...

Part of the 'Photomonth' festival, this selection of images is from photographer Paul Trevor's 'Eastender Archive' and surveys the area as from a child's point of view from the 1970s to the 1990s.

A palladian civic palace between the Strand and the Thames by Waterloo Bridge, built as government offices in the last quarter of the 18th century by George III's architect William Chambers, Somerset House is home to the Courtauld Gallery (see...

The V&A's ten new galleries, which cost £30 million and occupy an entire wing of the museum, cover European art and design from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the Renaissance period. Highlights of the collections include dramatic...

One of the world's oldest museums, the BM is vast and its collections, only a fraction of which can be on public display at any time, comprise millions of objects. First-time visitors generally head for the mummies, the Rosetta Stone, Lindow...

Thrones, gem-encrusted weapons, a Rolls Royce… there's nothing particularly subtle about the world of the maharajas as explored in this major exhibition, which covers the period from the collapse of the Mughal empire in the early eighteenth...

An exhibition of photographic prints and objects drawing connections between structures in nature and iconic shapes and forms in the world of design.

Exhibition bringing to life the process of creating fashion imagery through film, interactive installations and live fashion shoots. Contributing photographers, designers and models include Nick Knight, founder of SHOWstudio, Alexander McQueen,...

Although the Monument, which commemorates the Great Fire of 1666, is often attributed to Christopher Wren - who did choose its location 202 feet from the baker's shop in Pudding Lane where the fire originated - it was almost certainly designed by...

It took Charles Darwin 30 years to write ‘The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals’ and it...