London Transport Museum: what is inside and who it suits

The London Transport Museum is on the Covent Garden piazza, in the old flower market, and it is one of the few museums in central London that charges. That puts people off, and it should not, because the ticket works differently from a normal museum ticket.

The ticket is not a day ticket

Entry is an Annual Pass valid for twelve months of unlimited visits rather than a day ticket, and children and under-18s go free on every version of it. That changes the arithmetic completely if you live in London or are taking children, and it is the single most useful thing to know before deciding the museum is expensive. The exact prices are further down and were checked in September 2026.

What is inside

Real vehicles, and you can get into most of them: Victorian horse buses, early Underground carriages, trams, Routemasters. It is a hands-on museum rather than a cases-and-labels one, which is why it works so well with children and why it is louder than the National Gallery.

The design and poster collection is the half adults come back for. London Transport commissioned some of the best British graphic design of the twentieth century and the museum owns it.

How long you need

About two hours, which makes it one of the few London museums you can do properly in a morning. It is small by London standards. With small children who want to sit in every cab, add an hour.

Who it suits

Children between roughly three and ten, more than almost anywhere else in central London. Adults interested in design or in how the city was built. It suits a rainy day, being entirely indoors and a short walk from Covent Garden station.

The Depot at Acton

The museum’s store at Acton holds what is not on display and opens to the public only on occasional days through the year. It is a different proposition, more warehouse than museum, and worth knowing about if the main site has already been done.

Nearby

Covent Garden itself is free and the street performers on the piazza are auditioned, which is why they are better than they need to be. Things to do in central London covers what else is inside a walk, and free museums covers the ones that charge nothing at all.

What it costs, and why the ticket is unusual

Checked on the operator’s own page on 9 September 2026. The museum sells Annual Passes, not day tickets, and they are valid for twelve months of unlimited visits from the date of purchase. The Unlimited Annual Pass is £27.00 for an adult, £25.00 concessions, £21.60 for local residents and £5.00 on Universal or Pension Credit. The Off Peak Annual Pass is £22.50 and admits you on weekdays after 2pm in term time and the summer holidays only, not at other half terms. Annual Pass Plus is £75.00 and adds free entry to Depot Open Days at Acton for you and two children.

Children and under-18s go free on every one of them. That is the fact that changes the arithmetic completely, and it is buried on the ticket page rather than led with. A family of two adults and two children pays for two adults, once, for a year.

You still need a free timed ticket for the day you actually visit, and you can only hold one at a time; book the next after the current visit has passed. The museum is open 362 days a year and is a registered charity, number 1123122.