Royal Museums Greenwich

Royal Museums Greenwich is not one museum but four, spread across the riverside park and the old royal estate at Greenwich in south east London. The National Maritime Museum tells the story of Britain and the sea, from exploration and trade to Nelson and the Royal Navy. Next to it stands the Queen's House, the elegant white villa designed by Inigo Jones that now holds the art collection. On the hill above sits the Royal Observatory, home of the Prime Meridian and of the clocks that solved the problem of longitude. Down by the river, the tea clipper Cutty Sark rests in her dry dock, raised so that visitors can walk beneath her copper hull.

The whole site is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, and much of the pleasure lies in walking between the buildings. The Maritime Museum and the Queen's House are free to enter, while the Observatory and Cutty Sark are ticketed. Allow a full day if you want all four, or choose two and take your time.

A first-time visitor usually starts at the Cutty Sark, walks through the Old Royal Naval College to the Maritime Museum and the Queen's House, and then climbs the hill to the Observatory for the meridian line and one of the finest views of London. Families will find plenty of hands-on displays in the Maritime Museum, and the park itself is a good place to rest between the galleries.