Tours and Talks

Discover how the Museum examines, conserves, preserves and prepares collections for display in the public galleries and exhibitions. This volunteer-led tour of the paper, books, sculpture and textiles conservation studios is an opportunity to see the fascinating work which goes on behind the scenes.

Located in Kensington Gardens, it is one of London's most ornate ornaments. Unveiled in 1872, The Albert Memorial commemorates the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, who died of typhoid fever at the age of 42. Public tours are available.

Come along to a unique programme of talks and debates to learn more about the intriguing Kensington Palace.

Serpentine Mobile Tours offer visitors an interactive gallery experience providing access to additional content, including artist interviews and curator tours, from the Serpentine’s internationally acclaimed Exhibition and Architecture Programmes.

Get out and about this summer with the Mayor’s new London Curriculum Family Explorer Trails which includes the 'Creative Quarter' in South Kensington. Taking you on a circular trail starting at the V&A, up Exhibition Road and through the Royal Parks.

Take a self-guided tour and explore how London’s quarter for the arts and sciences was created. Discover more about it's great institutions and magnificent buildings.

Guided tours offer the inside story of the Royal Albert Hall, taking you on a fascinating journey through its unique history, incredible architecture and legendary performances.

Get closer to the Museum and its incredible collections with our wide range of free or paid-for bespoke tours.

The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk takes visitors through four of the most beautiful parks in the world, including Hyde Park and Kensington Palace.

Join expert science educators for a behind the scenes look at the Museum's fascinating zoology spirit collection.

Are you big on museums, but short on time? NHM's knowledgeable visitor assistants have designed just the dinosaurs tour for you. It will introduce you to some of the Museum's most famous and imposing specimens. One hour

The trail will include creative looking, thinking and drawing activities as you explore the museum and exhibitions. The trail asks the user to consider what it's like to be a designer, maker and user of some of the wonderful objects in the collection. Takes 30 - 40 minutes.

V&A Secret Seekers is a new mobile game for families, launched to coincide with the opening of the V&A's Exhibition Road Quarter. Let eight characters from the V&A's history guide you on an exciting treasure hunt to uncover some of the secrets of the Museum.

Download the free Time Explorers app and try the new Digital Mission at Kensington Palace for children and their families.

In honour of the 150th anniversary of the District line, this tour will discuss the history of the station, the architectural features dating from the Victorian, Edwardian, and modern eras, and the operational functions of the station. Staff-led tours every 60 minutes, pre-booked.

Open House London is the world’s largest architecture festival, giving free public access to over 800 buildings, walks, talks and tours over one weekend in September each year.

Ever experienced the joys of the London commute, sat in traffic on the M25 or worried about the carbon footprint of a summer get away, you may have wondered what the future of transport might deliver. Well now is your chance. Meet the scientists and engineers exploring the probabilities of our future mobility.

Join ‘infectious’ scientists to get hands on with everything from superbugs to a zombie apocalypse and state of the art diagnostics to STIs. Hear stories from the front line of the fight against disease, watch antimicrobial resistance theatre and try not to spend too long in our Infectious Arcade!

Our scientists are a globe-trotting, mountain climbing, ocean crossing and jungle trekking community whose careers take them all over the globe.... They will tell stories of exploration in a free evening of hands-on science, tech demos, geeky bar games, creative art workshops and lively talks.

Discover the hidden secrets of London’s historic green spaces on a Royal Parks walking tour. From an underground river running beneath Hyde Park, to a hidden hollow tree in Kensington Gardens. Monthly walking tours let you experience the Royal Parks from a whole new perspective.

The annual Viol Festival returns with plenty of performances and special guests. This year's guest performers and lecturers include Sarah Cunningham and The Spirit of Gambo.

In honour of the 150th anniversary of the District line, this tour will discuss the history of the station, the architectural features dating from the Victorian, Edwardian, and modern eras, and the operational functions of the station. Staff-led tours every 60 minutes, pre-booked.

1939 Art Deco Grade II listed building refurbished in 1950, then restructured and modernised in 2014. Contains an authentically classic cinema, private salons and multimedia library. Tours every 60 minutes, pre-booked from 12noon-5pm

To celebrate the centenary year of the era-defining Bauhaus school for art and design, join novelists Naomi Wood (The Hiding Game) and Theresia Enzensberger (Blueprint) for an evening of discussion about some of the most exciting designers and artists of the 1920s avant-garde.

Join a full day of presentations and stimulating discussions with the academics, research fellows and prize-winning PhD students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and find out about our innovative work. It's a great opportunity to engage with academics, early career researchers and postgraduate students.

For the finale of London Design Festival, there will be a special event on Exhibition Road focusing on design solutions to the climate emergency. There will be a street celebration to look at the role that design thinking can play in fostering new ideas and changing attitudes to the way we consume food, use energy and deal with waste.

It's been 50 years since the Internet revolutionised human connections. Join over 150 scientists to explore networks in nature, sustainable solutions to today's environmental issues and how delving into the past is key to protecting the future of our planet..

Global Design Forum is London Design Festival’s curated thought leadership programme, celebrating design and the minds shaping its future. Taking place throughout the Festival at the V&A, the Forum features a unique mix of talks, debates, tours and workshops that together reflects the most innovative thinking in the world of design today.

Celebrating the DSI’s 5th Anniversary, you are invited to the DSI Distinguished Lecture programme with invited speaker Prof Stephen Furber who is ICL Professor of Computer Engineering in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester

Ross D. King is Professor of Machine Intelligence at the University of Manchester, UK. He originated the idea of a ‘Robot Scientist’: integrating AI and laboratory robotics. His Robot Scientist ‘Adam’ was the first machine to autonomously discover scientific knowledge. His Robot Scientist ‘Eve’ is currently searching for drugs against neglected tropical diseases, and cancer.

This conference showcases the latest scientific and clinical work in Traumatic Brain Injury. It is a multidisciplinary conference with multiple themes, and this year we'll be covering paediatrics, mild TBI, CTE, the use of technology and more! Held at Queens Square in UCL.

Join the guided walks around the exterior of the unique group of studio-houses built by Victorian artist and President of the Royal Academy, Frederic, Lord Leighton and his contemporaries. Discover the fascinating story of how this corner of Holland Park became synonymous with a group of the leading artists of the late Victorian period.

Join this volunteer-led tour which explores gender and sexual identities through a selection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer related objects in the V&A's rich collections.

Isaac Newton never went to sea, but maritime affairs played an important role in his career, in studies ranging from resistance to the movement of hulls to the vexed problems of longitude determination. These techniques were mapped out by E.G.R. Taylor in her history of navigation, The Haven-Finding Art.

Join this architectural tour by one the V&A's fantasticeVolunteer Guides, who will take you through the history of the building, in a tour that focuses on the setting for the collections, rather than the collections themselves.

Join architecture collective Something & Son and invited guest speakers for a series of walks around kensington and Chelsea that explore how our every-day actions can benefit nature, rather than destroy it.

Liberty Drives is a voluntary service, helped by sponsors and donations, for people who find walking difficult. A fleet of six electric buggies can accommodate five passengers plus one person in a wheelchair. The tours last up to one hour and show visitors around the main sights.

Exploring an ocean of science, music, comedy and wonder, this inspiring and exhilarating new variety show will see the iconic Auditorium transformed into a virtual underwater playground with live performances, special effects, puppetry and lasers!

Discover the magic of Hyde Park in the palm of your hand! A free scavenger hunt game using mobile phones that takes you on an adventure through one of London's most popular parks.

The model for Fredric Leighton's famous painting 'Flaming June' is Dorothy Dene with whom the artist became obsessed and helped her get work. Authors of a new book will give a talk titled 'Because of her personal worth' which will take place in Leighton's studio with the opportunity to meet the authors.

Leighton’s studio opens up for an special evening to treat all your senses. Following a sell-out run the last season, Leighton House Museum, in collaboration with London Fine Art Studios, hosts a new series of Drink & Draw sessions that unite music, fine art and a tasting experience.