Favourite museum?

About 30 years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Florence one very cold February. 

The weather was dry, bright and clear - proper jumper / pullover / sweater weather. 

The bonus was that the museums etc. were quieter as it was out of the main tourist season.

I enjoyed visiting the museums you listed, plus Palazzo Pitti (artworks, architecture and gardens), numerous Churches with frescos and significant art and Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure with the intricate mosaic designs made from slithers of semi-precious stones.

My Florence visit was only brief and there was so much available to see and experience - amazing.

I agree, Booklands has an interesting collection of things. The site has more history than might be expected.

The SS Great Britain in Bristol is very well done. I took my father there because he was interested and I expected to be bored senseless, but it was actually brilliant.

Roy said:

I can recommend The Uffizi Gallery and The Accademia in Florence

I second your recommendation. There is a lot to to see and I needed to break it down into several visits.

I haven’t visited Brooklands or The British Motor Museum but I would like to. I know of them from people of my parents’ era and earlier. 

Doagh Famine Village in Ballyliffin, Co Donegal, Ireland https://doaghfaminevillage.com  A small village museum which shows how life was for Irish people during the famine and afterwards in Ireland. It is located in a beautiful part of Ireland that has stunning beaches with miles of sand. The area rarely gets overly hot and it never gets crowded.

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/ hascollections dating from prehistory to relatively recent times. It’s probably best known for housing many of the artefacts from Pompeii, Hurculaneum and other Roman sites.

The Archaeological Museum of Pithecusae https://www.pithecusae.it/en/ A small museum on the island of Ischia, Italy with artefacts dating back to the Neolithic. It’s best known for its evidence from the first Greek colonies in the western Mediterranean but it has interesting evidence of connections to the Arameans and Phoenicians from the 8th century BCE.

My favourite museums are Brooklands and The British Motor Museum, Both are usually quiet and not too full of people. Both often have outdoor displays.
further afield I can recommend The Uffizi Gallery and The Accademia in Florence. Botticceli’s Birth of Venus is magnificent. I also got to see the statue of Dave! 

Never heard of it, where was it?

That's how the Museum of Mankind was laid out - in different historical periods. No idea why it closed.

I think I'd like exhibits orgainised according to context, all the ROman stuff together so as you can see how the occupation developed over the centuries, the same with both earlier and later stuff. I'd like to see some kind of historical narrative, and the same with paintings too.

I understand that, but would prefer alternative categories to rigid rows of cases of the same thing. I think de Botton's idea a good one - but yes, there would have to be a diverse selection in each area, then you could hopefully find one or two that, for you, fit the theme.

I like chaotic museums like Pitt Rivers in Oxford. That said, I haven't been to a museum for a long time but I'll try my local one, if I can find it open as it has strange hours. It's probably run by volunteers.

I don't think I saw the Great Train Robbery room at the Postal Museum, but it sounds very cool, maybe I will try and go back to see what's on there currently. Statfold Country Park also looks great - I'd forgotten about transport-related museums before this thread!

Ooo this is interesting thank you - I've actually not heard of some of these despite them being the most popular!

That's a good suggestion, I do like the quiet hours in my local shopping centre and hadn't thought about other places doing something similar

I just had a look at the National Museum of Scotland and the structural design alone looks amazing! I bet that was a headache for some engineers.

I think I've also visited the air museum in Duxford, and agree it's pretty cool. I do think transportation has very interesting history. I wonder what developments will be made in our lifetime - though I'm not holding out much hope for flying cars!

The Irish National Heritage Park looks like a wonderful place, so beautiful and so much history. I think they have an easter egg hunt on at the moment, and it looks like an amazing place for that kind of thing.

Thank you for all these replies! I'm looking forward to having a proper look through them :) 

A survey of the UK's most popular tourist attractions 2025 has as the number one entry:

The Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London:

www.bbc.co.uk/.../c70n09pz4y1o

I go to a lot of museums, it is my life’s work. The museums which get me every time are the historic houses- not always English Heritage or National Trust, sometimes independent ones. There are big museums I like because of the buildings and small ones I like because the the collections and what they can do in a shoe string. Greenwich Observatory is incredible. So are Marble Hill House, and Orleans House Gallery (the Octagon Room). My favourite object is a porcelain monkey with symbols on the writing desk in Charles Dickens house.

Marianne, I think a museum laid out like that would put me off, I'd feel like I was being told how to experience and feel about an exhibit, there are paintings and pieces of music that I've had a totally different reaction to What "I'm supposed " to have, the same with some sculpture.

I found the natural history museum in London incredibly boring, admittedly I went some years ago, I also never got on with the Science Museum, it had been made "interactive" and it both bored and overwhelmed me.

The Natural History Museum in Dublin, because it has not been modernised (ruined by modern thematic nonsense aimed at appealing to eejits), it is laid out in Linnean style, by taxonomy. It made an old zoologist very happy.

For some museums - even if it isn't immediately obvious on their main website / what's on webpage - it can be worth trying emailing their Education Officer; to ask if they ever arrange an out-of-hours, quieter, neurodivergent-friendly event.

Some museums do try to hold such an event - maybe a few times a year.

Depending on the museum, you might be able to register to receive their email newsletter to alert you to such an upcoming event.