London's Best Museums

If you're a dedicated museum maven, London's selection will keep you going for days, weeks, months, even years. London is loaded with every conceivable kind of treasure from all over the world. And, amazingly enough, entrance to all the great national museums is free. Below are the best museums London offers:

• The venerable British Museum, with its unparalleled collection of antiquities, comes out on top — the magnificent Parthenon sculptures (formerly called the Elgin Marbles) understandably hold pride of place there, but you'll be amazed by the superlative Egyptian and Roman collections, as well as the ancient treasures found in England.

• The National Gallery houses the nation's greatest collection of British and European paintings from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Here, you find works by Italian masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael; canvases by every great French Impressionist; a stunning Rembrandt collection; and paintings by great British artists, such as Turner and Constable.

• If you tire of the great Western European masterworks hanging in the National Gallery, you can walk next door to see images of pop icons like Elton John and Princess Di in the National Portrait Gallery. Here, you'll find a visual who's who of every famous Brit in history, captured in paint, stone, bronze, and photographs.

• Keen on decorative and applied arts? Then head over to the Victoria & Albert Museum, a linchpin in the cluster of great South Kensington museums. The V&A, as it's called, houses wonderfully decorated period rooms, a comprehensive fashion collection, Italian Renaissance sculpture, and acres more.

• The other two outstanding museums in South Kensington are the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Animatronic dinosaurs, including a hungry T. rex, are the cold-blooded stars in the Natural History Museum's famed dinosaur exhibit. But while you're there, check out the mind-boggling collection of gems. In the Science Museum, you come face to face with legends from the world of science and technology.

• London's South Bank is buzzing with the addition of the stunning Tate Modern. Housed in a former power station on the river, the museum exhibits an international roster of contemporary greats.

• Tate Britain holds the world's greatest collection of British art. Wander through rooms filled with works by William Blake, Turner, Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Constable, and all the pre-Raphaelites.

• London lovers will love the Museum of London, probably the world's most comprehensive city museum, which features an amazing collection of Roman antiquities (the museum incorporates part of a 2,000-year-old Roman wall) and tells the fascinating story of London through the ages.

• You can also enjoy masterpieces in museums that were built as private palaces, such as Spencer House, former home of Princess Diana's family; Apsley House, home of the first Duke of Wellington; and Hertford House, home of the Wallace Collection, a national museum.