Brompton Oratory

Named in honour of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert, this museum has existed for over 150 years. It contains a huge collection of decorative arts from all over the world and far back in time. Trying to see everything in one day would be exhausting, so use the excellent maps the V&A provides to plan where you want to go. There are regular exhibitions concentrating on a particular theme from Chinese art to fashion designers. Frequently they put on children's activities and late DJ nights.

Dedicated to scientific exhibitions and collections bar those related to the life sciences. A number of famous historical machines and inventions are housed here, from steam locomotives to the Apollo 10 command module. The space exhibits are especially popular. Exhibitions tend to concentrate on explaining scientific principles with working models and there is a strong emphasis on education and attracting children. The Science Museum opened a "Children's Gallery" in the 1930s and it continues to lead the way in this area; now, there are three separate galleries aimed at all ages of younger visitor, from 5 to 16. The museum also runs "Science Nights" whereby children spend an evening learning principles and participating in experiments before spending the night sleeping in the museum with the exhibits. Also houses a vast library of scientific and medical books and journals.

Constructed in the Lombard style as an Anglican church in the 19th century, and passed to the Moscow Patriarchate in 1956. Rather beautiful and unique in London.

Probably the most popular of all the museums here and a must see for many visitors to London. Home to at least 70 million specimens from across all the life sciences. It's difficult to say what the most popular exhibit here is; the blue whale which towers over the entrance hall, the (now slightly tacky-looking) animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex in the dinosaur gallery, or the life-size model blue whale in the mammals gallery. Also well worth a check are the Darwin Centre (book on a free tour to see some of the most interesting, and sometimes gruesome, specimens not on public display); and the studio dedicated to BBC wildlife personality extraordinaire, David Attenborough. The NHM's "Earth Galleries" were once the adjacent Geological Museum, an independent institution until the 1980s, and still located in a separate building with a separate entrance.

Following the mass murder perpetrated by the Nazis, the Jewish population of postwar Czechoslovakia was a tiny fraction of its former size, and religious persecution continued under the communist regime. This tiny museum tells the fascinating story of how, in 1964, 1,500 Torah scrolls were rescued from rotting in Prague and brought to London, where they were painstakingly restored by hand. 130 scrolls remain in situ, but the rest have been distributed among synagogues across the UK and around the world.

This venerable old institution was absorbed by the neighbouring Natural History Museum in 1985 but still has something of a separate identity. Unsurprisingly, devoted to all things geological with especially popular exhibits on vulcanology and earthquakes and fossils of all types. Very popular with kids and often underrated.