Great Britain offers its publicly funded museums to visitors free of charge, and like the British Museum, the Greenwich Maritime Museum can be the focus of an entire day at minimal cost. There are sometimes exhibits here that will require a fee, and transportation from Central London requires a few pounds.
Few museums in the world are better at telling the story of seafaring than this one. Greenwich became so important to mariners that longitude was established at zero degrees at the next-door Royal Observatory. Ships of all descriptions passed by Greenwich from the London docks to the open sea for centuries. The need for deeper ports to host huge container ships changed all of that in the 1960s.
About 2.3 million visitors come here each year to see portraits and displays that chronicle maritime enterprises through the years.
Take the Docklands Light Railway from Central London to the Cutty Sark station. There are small take-away food operations on the walk from station to museum, but Greenwich for the most part is not a place with a wide selection of budget meals. The museum itself has a small coffee shop serving sandwiches and desserts.
Hours: Monday-Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last admission of the day at 4:30.
