Heard of them? These are Asia's most underrated museums

There are many blockbuster museums in Asia that we'd recommend to any traveller: the ArtScience Museum, the Hong Kong Film Archive, and the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, among others. But if you've ticked these off your list or are simply in search of something more quaint, then we've got a list of unsung heroes for you.

For International Museum Day (May 18), our team of global editors pitched in for a round-up of the world's most underrated museums. Three spots from Asia made the list, ranging from quirky miniature museums to larger-than-life playgrounds for naturalists. 

The first is the Miniature Museum Small Worlds in Tokyo, a stinking cute museum featuring small-scale reproductions of real-world and fictional places. Gallery A has seven zones to explore, including a miniature diorama of Kansai International Airport and a small-scale recreation of Tokyo's Azabu-Juban neighbourhood from the '90s Sailor Moon manga. We're always amazed at the intricacy and artistry on display: these tiny exhibits are complete with sound, light, and moving parts. And here's a cool bit: you can create a small-scale model of yourself to place into the miniature world for a whole year for just ¥2,000. 

Love instant noodles? There's a museum dedicated to cup noodles in Osaka called (what else?) the Cupnoodles Museum. Learn about the history of cup noodles, the creative thinking process of inventor Momofuku Ando, and even create your own cup noodle at the My Cupnoodles Factory. Don't miss out on Noodles Bazaar, where you can slurp noodle dishes and down canned drinks from around the world. 

If National Geographic and BBC Earth count among your favourite channels, then you'll love this natural history museum in Singapore. The Lee Kong Chiang Natural History Museum is low-key, but houses one of the largest collections of Southeast Asian animals in the region. Trace the history of life on Earth through 15 zones featuring specimens of plants, amphibians, mammals, and dinosaurs. Some of the most impressive exhibits: a trio of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur fossils and a skeleton of a female sperm whale found dead off Jurong Island in 2015.    

The most underrated museums in the world, according to Time Out:

• Miniature Museum Small Worlds, Tokyo
• Design Museum, London
• City Reliquary, New York City
• Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney
• Can Framis Museum, Barcelona
• Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore
• Bordalo Pinheiro Museum, Lisbon
• CupNoodles Museum, Osaka
• MOD, Adelaide
• Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena (Los Angeles)
• Museum of Desire, Melbourne

Have you heard? This Southeast Asian capital city is one of the world's best for culture right now

Plus: Two Asian museums have been named among the world's most beautiful for 2025