The 12 museums everyone should visit in their lifetime

Paris has many incredible museums, but the Louvre is the jewel in its crown with more than 35,000 works on display in the former French royal residence. The Mona Lisa draws the most crowds, but there’s a lot to get through here, from the Venus de Milo to the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Big hitters are housed in the Denon and Sully Wings, but detailed sculptures await in the Richelieu Wing, and the Egyptian Antiquities section is overflowing with ancient wonders. Arrive early or late to avoid crowds and save photos of the sparkling pyramid outside for afterwards. 

Don’t miss: One of the world’s most famous paintings, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci – it’s admired by millions each year, so head to the Denon Wing stat when you arrive.

🖼️ Discover the best museums in Paris

If you go for archaeology over art, the brand-new, immense Grand Egyptian Museum is the world's largest archaeological museum, holding more than 100,000 artefacts from the country's ancient civilisation. This vast collection fully opened to the public in late 2025 and sits close to the pyramids at Giza. Whether you're an ancient Egypt fan or not, the museum's famous Tutankhamun Collection won't fail to impress. Paired with objects like Khufu’s Boats (the oldest wooden boats in the world), the imposing Grand Staircase lined with ancient gods, and the monumental statue of Ramses II, let's just say an hour won't be enough.

Don’t miss: The Tutankhamun Galleries, a collection of more than 5,000 artefacts from the boy king’s tomb housed together for the first time in over 100 years.

🇪🇬 Read Time Out’s review of the Grand Egyptian Museum

Not just the venue for the iconic gala, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is one of the world's largest art museums. The two-million-square-foot space holds thousands of pieces, spanning Old Masters to contemporary works. Make like a local and admire Monet's Water Lilies and Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock. And if you can't make it to Egypt, the Temple of Dendur here is one of just four Egyptian temples located outside of Egypt, inside the museum's Sackler Wing. If you're visiting in summer, head up to the Cantor Roof Garden for panoramic views and the space's annual art installation. 

Don’t miss: Possibly Van Gogh’s most well-known self-portrait is housed in the MET’s Annenberg Galleries: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, capturing the artist in his quintessential vibrant brushstrokes. 

🗽 Discover the best museums in New York

Spain has produced some of history's greatest artists, and the Prado is where you'll find their works: Velázquez, Goya and El Greco feature, alongside collections by renowned Flemish and Italian masters like Raphael, Titian and Brueghel. The museum sits within Madrid's Golden Triangle of Art, part of a wider UNESCO site; the Prado easily warrants a full-day visit, but the most famous artists are mostly housed within the first-floor galleries. There's much beauty to be found across the other floors, though, from Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights to exhibitions in the impressive Jerónimos Cloister extension. 

Don’t miss: Admire the incredible detail within The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, a five-panel piece depicting Eden, Earthly Delights and Hell. 

🎨 Discover the best museums in Madrid

The architecture of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum is almost as impressive as the art within its walls, making it far and away the most popular museum in the Netherlands. Go for the world-famous The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn in the Gallery of Honour, but stay for incredible art from the Dutch Golden Age, smaller works by Vermeer and the pretty stained glass windows in the Great Hall. Another spectacular section missed by many is Cuypers Library, with its neo-Gothic design and soaring shelves, which hold the Netherlands’ oldest art history books. 

Don’t miss: The Night Watch, Rembrandt’s most important masterpiece, which has survived vandalism, being hidden in a cave and two world wars. 

🇳🇱 Discover the best museums in Amsterdam

Of all the museums in London, the Natural History Museum's stunning Romanesque design and artefacts (read: dinosaurs) is a winning combination you simply can't miss. The soaring Hintze Hall, home to Hope, the blue whale skeleton, is enough to stop visitors in their tracks, but the galleries filled with stuffed specimens, from birds and sea life to insects and extinct species, will have adults and kids alike pressed against the glass. Divided into coloured zones on zoology, botany and palaeontology, the highlight is the Dinosaur Gallery, but elsewhere you’ll find a genuine moon rock, an earthquake simulation and a collection of over 300 diamonds. 

Don’t miss: The first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, and part of the first Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, within the Dinosaurs Gallery.

📍 Discover the best museums in London

This UNESCO-listed complex in Xi'an is the home of the ancient Terracotta Warriors – sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The thousands of sculptures are laid out in pits, with endless rows of warriors, cavalrymen and officers in battle formation, which you can admire from elevated walkways. An on-site exhibition also provides a close-up look at the artistic detail on individual figures and the history of their discovery.

Don’t miss: Pit 1 has the largest concentration of more than 2,000 warriors over a space the size of two football fields.

Merritt Island in Florida is the site of NASA’s real-life spaceship launches, taking the cake for one of the world’s coolest museums. For anything space-related, this is the place, from the Saturn V rocket to the Atlantis orbiter – plus, you can meet a real-life astronaut (yes, really). The centre takes a close-up look at historical and present-day space programmes and the heroes who have explored beyond our planet. It’s also unmissable for kids, who can experience a simulated shuttle launch, learn about NASA’s plans to visit Mars and discover what it takes to become a future astronaut. 

Don’t miss: The only remaining Saturn V rocket, which got astronauts to the moon during the Apollo missions.

The Vatican Museums are at the heart of Italy's Eternal City, and contain one of the world's most extraordinary art collections, featuring tapestries, paintings and sculptures by history's greatest artists. Prominent works such as Madonna di Foligno can be found in the Raphael Room, while the Octagonal Courtyard houses Renaissance sculptures, and the Map Hall is a glowing corridor of illuminated cartography. Somehow, the Sistine Chapel outshines them all. The Pope's private chapel is adorned with detailed frescoes, including Michelangelo’s world-famous ceiling – just don't be tempted to snap a pic, as photography is strictly banned. 

Don’t miss: The Sistine Chapel, one of Michelangelo’s seminal works of spectacular wall and ceiling frescoes, including The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement.

🇻🇦 Read Time Out’s guide to visiting the Vatican Museums

Sci-fi heads will love the exhibits at Dubai's egg-shaped Museum of the Future, which eschews history to explore the progress and innovation of the human race. The building’s seven sections cover space travel, AI, transport and health through interactive works, including a ‘mixed reality’ immersive Amazon Rainforest experience and a virtual voyage to the moon. Look out for life-like robot guides, holographic teachers, 3D food printing and a zero-gravity simulation; not to mention the building’s intricately carved exterior facade.

Don’t miss: Exhibitions here are constantly changing, but of the four areas, Tomorrow Today frequently showcases cutting-edge future technology, like robot dogs and flying cars.

📍 Discover the best museums in Dubai

The Smithsonian Institution isn’t just one museum, it’s an entire group of 21 museums, 21 libraries, research centres and even a zoo, with many concentrated in Washington D.C. Each one is a treasure trove of artefacts – at the Museum of Natural History, you can see the infamous Hope Diamond, while the original star-spangled banner is on show at the Museum of American History. Celebrating its decennial in 2026, the National Museum of African American History and Culture houses Harriet Tubman’s hymnal and Chuck Berry’s famous red Cadillac, and for a final stop, the Air and Space Museum holds the Wright Brothers’ first powered aircraft and the Apollo 11 Command Module, along with a dizzying array of aircraft, Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit and even R2D2. 

Don’t miss: The American History Museum, to see artefacts like the Declaration of Independence desk, Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and Thomas Edison’s first lightbulb.

​​🏛️ Discover the best museums in Washington, D.C.

One of the most remote but rewarding museums in the world, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in the Aussie state of Tasmania is anything but normal. The museum is semi-subterranean, built into the bank of the Derwent River near Hobart. Experimental works here are ever-changing – there’s been a real, living man who sat in the museum for 4,200 hours, a working replica of the human digestive system, a sofa that purrs when you touch it and The Divine Comedy, an artwork taking you through stages of the afterlife. The founder calls it a subversive adult Disneyland; we say you need to see it to believe it. 

Don’t miss: Bit.Fall, a famous water-based work by Julius Popp, which drops water spray from above that forms individual words taken from current internet searches. 

🎨 Discover the best art in Hobart