London Transport Museum Review |

This month I took the boys to the London Transport Museum, a museum that explores London’s transport history, and the stories of those who have travelled and worked in London over the last 200 years.

We’ve visited a couple of London museums before, including the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum, and wanted to add this London museum to our list due to having a transport obsessed toddler.

Here’s my London Transport Museum review from our visit, which I hope helps you decide if it’s somewhere that you’d like to visit as well.

In this review I’ll cover:

In this post

I hope you find this London Transport Museum review helpful, and would love to know if there’s anything you think I should add to it so it’s as helpful as can be.

Museum location

The London Transport Museum is located at:

Covent Garden Piazza
London
WC2E 7BB

For details on how to get to the museum, please visit getting to the London Transport Museum.

Things to do

Things to do at the museum include:

Galleries and exhibitions

There are three floors to explore at the London Transport Museum, each with different galleries and exhibitions.

On the day we visited, our favourite galleries and exhibitions were:

19^th Century London and Victorian Transport

This was the first gallery we went into, which was located on level 2, and was where the first stamp Ryan needed for his stamper trail card was located.

Upon entering the museum, Ryan was given a stamper trail card, a card with different items on it that Ryan had to find, and once found he put a stamp against the item using a stamping machine.

This gallery detailed what London’s transport was like in the 1800s, and had horse and carts on display, as well as a large tramway being pulled by horses. There was some horse poo here too, which the boys found amusing.

Many of the displays in this gallery were roped off, but there was a large Omnibus at the back that you could sit in.

Thomas was too scared to sit in it, so after climbing a few stairs, he quickly got back down.

There was a lot of information in this gallery, which was mainly located on the walls, which meant younger children could walk near the horse and cart without being in the way of other visitors.

Steam Underground

Located on level 1, was the Steam Underground gallery, which featured a train with a carriage you could sit in, as well as a lot of information on how London’s underground was constructed.

Transportorium

This was Ryan’s favourite gallery, located on the ground floor, and containing many different things within it, all of which are well suited to school aged children.

One of Ryan’s favourite exhibitions in this gallery was Future Engineers, where he was able to choose what type of engineer he’d like to be, drive a train using an interactive screen, be on the cover of a magazine, and help fix a train.

He also enjoyed looking at the different types of double decker buses that have been designed over the years.

All Aboard Play Zones

There are two All Aboard Play Zones in the museum, which is where Thomas and I spent the majority of our time, and which in my opinion were the parts of the museum most suited towards toddlers.

These play zones were located on level 1 and the ground floor, and are areas where kids 0-7 can play in different vehicles like buses, taxis, and boats, as well as dress up.

The dress ups they can wear include bus drivers, mechanics, boat captains, taxi drivers, and more.

Family friendly events

The museum has many family friendly events throughout the year including:

Songs, stories, and crafts for under 5s
Explorer mornings
School holiday activities

Please visit London Transport Museum events for up to date event information.

Museum shop

There’s a museum shop next to the entrance that sells official museum products, posters, books, toys, homewares, gifts, and more.

You can visit the shop without visiting the museum.

Food options

Food options at the London Transport Museum are:

Canteen

Canteen is a café selling soup, burgers, salads, sandwiches, and other hot and cold food, as well as baked goods, and drinks.

It’s located on the floor above the museum’s entrance, and you can eat here without visiting the museum.

Lower Deck Café

Located on the ground floor next to the All Aboard Play Zone is the Lower Deck Café, which is open every weekend and school holidays.

This café sells ice cream, sandwiches, snacks, kid’s lunchboxes, hot and cold drinks, and more.

Picnic areas

You can bring a picnic to the museum during weekends and school holidays, which you can eat at one of the tables outside the Lower Deck Café.

Family friendly facilities

Family friendly facilities at the London Transport Museum include:

Free cloakroom
Buggy storage
Flat surfaces and lifts
Baby change facilities in male and female toilets
Breast feeding room on the ground level, with breastfeeding being welcome anywhere in the museum
Highchairs
Two play zones

Opening times

The London Transport Museum is open daily from 10am – 6pm, with last entry at 5pm.

For up to date opening times please visit London Transport Museum opening times.

Ticket prices

To visit the museum you need an annual pass, and a timed entry ticket.

Annual passes are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase, and you can visit as many times as you like during this time.

There are three types of annual passes available from £22. Kids under 17 are free.

For more information on the annual passes please visit London Transport Museum ticket prices.

Once you buy your annual pass, you need to book a timed entry slot into the museum.

Parking

There’s limited parking near the museum, and the spaces that are available cost £4.90 per hour, with a maximum stay of around 4 hours.

My thoughts on the London Transport Museum

We spent 1.5 hours at the museum, and there was more than enough to see during this time.

I visited the museum with a toddler and a school aged child, and my toddler wasn’t interested in any of the galleries, all he wanted to do was play in the play zones.

However, my school aged child had many things to keep him entertained and happy within the galleries and exhibitions, which means in my opinion, whilst I think the museum is well laid out, colourful, interactive, and highly informative, it’s somewhere that’s best suited towards families with kids aged 5+.

Another thing that’s great about this museum is its location, it’s in Covent Garden, which means you can make it part of a London day out.

I hope you’ve found this London Transport Museum review helpful, and that it’s helped you to decide if it’s somewhere you’d like to visit.

What activities do you do when visiting a large city?

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London Transport Museum Review

Museum location