Victoria & Albert Museum Tour
South Kensington underground station, London (meet just beyond the ticket barrier)
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Weekly | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter Summer | Reserve Online |
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) was the first museum not only in Europe but the world dedicated to art and design. It is now one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to decorative art and design.
The foundation stone for the V&A was laid by Queen Victoria herself at the building’s site along Cromwell Road and is named after her and her husband Prince Albert. Today the V&A is one of the United Kingdoms’ largest museums with a collection covering virtually every form of art and design such as sculpture, tapestry, ceramics and photography.
V & A MUSEUM TOUR PRACTICALS
The Victoria & Albert Museum Tour takes place every Friday at 10.45 am. The meeting point is just beyond the ticket barrier (in the booking hall) of South Kensington Tube. N.B. the walk ends at the V & A, a five-minute walk from South Kensington Tube.
The Victoria and Albert Museum Guided Tour
Short read: “It’s not what we see but what we see in it”
Well, yes and no. What you see – the route the guide takes and the selection she makes – is worth the cost of the tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum all by itself. You don’t think those matters are important in a museum built in the Victorian era that covers 11 acres, has 145 galleries, and runs to seven miles of exhibits and five million objects? Dream on. And logistics and savvy are just the basics. The real thrill is what you see in the pieces Simon W. and Molly, both blue badge guides, show you. These are objects that contain their history – that braid together culture and art. That’s why they’re in “the world’s greatest museum of art and design.” To see them – to see into them – the Great Bed of Ware, the Raphael Cartoons (“one of the supreme sights of the world”) the Ardabil carpet, etc…. well, it’s like sunrise on Mount Moses. And if you want to make a day of it, how about lunch in the V & A’s extremely civilised cafe followed by spot of shopping at nearby Harrods!
Tour highlights
- See the V&A’s cast of Michelangelo’s David, at the famous cast courts
- View the stunning Renaissance collection packed full of masterpieces
- Marvel at the pieces of domestic design of the Arts and Crafts movement
- Discover textiles spanning an incredible period of more than 5,000 years
- Explore the V&A’s vast Islamic middle east collection
How long does it take to tour Victoria and Albert Museum?
The tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum will take around 2 hours.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Don’t just take it from us…
And here’s an interview with Molly (who could well be London Walks’ most qualified guide – and boy does that speak volumes!)
PRIVATE WALKING TOURS
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, public V & A tours do think about booking one as a private tour. If you go private you can have the V & A tour – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. And – always with private London Walks and tours – we go to great lengths to make sure the guide-walker(s) “fit” is well nigh perfect. Ring Fiona or Niamh or Peter or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
Other related walks
- Buckingham palace
- Westminster Abbey
- The British Museum
- The Tower Bridge Quarter
- St. Paul’s Cathedral
- Natural History Museum Tour
- The Unchanging Changing of the Guard Tour
- Tower of London Tour
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Mary Lilley –
Sue was an excellent guide, informative, engaging, enthusiastic, clearly loves the V&A and delights in sharing her passion with others.
Marie and Tony Waugh –
My husband and I went on a guided London Walk today (Friday 12th April), and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our guide was Barry and I would like to comment on this very enjoyable experience. Barry proved an excellent guide, both extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. In the culturally vast, rich and potentially daunting context of the V&A, Barry’s explanations were informative, pertinent, often illuminating and witty. We spent an instructive and enjoyable morning! I would strongly recommend this introduction to the V&A!
Chris –
This lovely tour led by Molly was a most enjoyable and informative introduction to key exhibits in the V&A. Her enthusiasm and depth of knowledge was outstanding but just enough for us all. Thankyou for a great day.
Cinda Hugos –
Excellent. So knowledgeable and informative. Thank you London Walks! Thanks Simon W.
John Gallo –
Took this walk today with Simon W. What an adventure! Five stars for the walk and five stars for the guide.
Ann Cochran –
We toured the V&A with Sue yesterday. She was beyond outstanding! She is so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the lovely works in the museum that they come alive. She was gracious throughout. We would love to come back and do another tour with Sue!
Baruch Pinnick –
A most interesting and enjoyable morning. The guide – I think she was Sue – knows her material and (so important for a guide) knows how to project her enthusiasm for the topic to the group. She obviously loves the museum and it showed.
Her stories behind each exhibit were interesting and often amusing. Items that stand out were the Persian Ardabil Carpet, in its own display case, and the Great Bed of Ware.
Our main criticisms were that we sometimes walked too fast from exhibit to exhibit: the guide should look out for stragglers at the back; she sometimes talked too fast and not always whilst facing the group; and a group standing around a small exhibit isn’t easy for everyone to see: I would stick to the larger ones.
The V&A is a fantastic museum and this tour added a dimension to our appreciation of it. Overall a great morning – thank you very much!
Kellie Conn –
With such a gorgeous collection of thousands of items, this tour was perfect as an introduction and curated selection of the museum’s vast collection of design artifacts. Leave yourself time to explore the museum after your tour as well as enjoy the famous dining rooms at the indoor cafe.
Louise Reynolds –
Simon Whitehouse was a fantastic guide! His enthusiasm, his knowledge and his sense of humour was very engaging. We enjoyed it very much and would highly recommend the tour.
Hillary L. –
Our guide Molly’s enthusiasm for the V&A Museum was infectious! She was truly knowledgeable about this enormous collection and really brought highlights to bear with wonderful information. I can’t wait to return over and over to see all the V&A has to offer.