29 Free Online Museum Tours To Take Right Now

Stuck at home and not able to travel? These free online museum tours might be just the distraction you need right now.

I’m going to go ahead and state the obvious here.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, lots of museums around the world are still closed, and the rest are working towards re-opening soon.

If you don’t live anywhere near the museums you want to visit, that might be a problem for a while. The travel restrictions in place will make it more difficult to travel for the foreseeable future, plus you might not feel comfortable with it right now anyway.

So until travel is a thing again, creativity is key. Go check out some of the greatest collections and exhibitions in the world with these free online museum tours. No need to get off the couch if you don’t want to 😉.

Related Post: Virtual Travel Tours Around The World – When You Really Need A Getaway, But Can’t Get Away.

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Give yourself a dose of culture with these virtual museum tours

The Louvre in Paris

Musée du Louvre is one of the best galleries in the world and also the biggest. Inside of its walls are some of the most notable pieces of art to see – the most famous of course, being the Mona Lisa.

The Louvre itself though, is something to see all on its own. The palace that houses the museum was originally built as a fortress back in the 12th century.

What’s really cool that a lot of people don’t know about, is that you can visit the lower ground floor, beneath the museum. You’ll be able to walk around what remains of the original moat and fortress walls and learn about the history of the Louvre through the centuries.

If you can’t make it there in person or run out of time, they also have a virtual tour of the lower ground floor so you won’t miss out.

The National Museum of China

Now on to the second most visited museum in the world, The National Museum of China in Beijing.

This huge museum has the biggest amount of gallery floorspace in the world that’s all in the same building. It takes up more than 17 acres of land and houses over 1.4 million artifacts, art and books.

But there’s no need to tire yourself out if you want to see a couple of exhibits. The museum has 2 exhibits available online for you to check out virtually – no walking required.

Definitely worth a visit if you’re in Beijing though.

The Guggenheim in New York

If you’re a fan of modern and contemporary art, you’ll want to check out the Guggenheim museum for sure.

You can visit the museum virtually for now, through Google Arts and Culture.

The National Gallery in London

The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square has over 2300 pieces of work in its curated painting collection. Artists range from the 13th century all the way to the early 20th century and include some very famous artists and pieces.

Notable paintings to see are “Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt’s “Self Portrait at Age 34” and Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”.

PS: If you want to go there in person (when the world reopens again) admission is free. Nice to know, since most things in London aren’t cheap.

The Art Institute of Chicago

The second biggest art museum in the United States, the Art Institute of Chicago houses almost 300,000 different works.

See pieces from everyone, artists you know and ones you’ve yet to discover. Everyone from Monet and Picasso, to Dali and Warhol are hanging in the galleries of the Art Institute.

Visit virtually through Google Arts and Culture or by other ways on their own website.

Museo Larco in Lima, Peru

So it’s obviously not anywhere near the same as visiting in person, but the Museo Larco in Peru is worth checking out online. Even if it’s just to take a little look at the weird erotic pottery gallery. [You can also see some good photos on this writer’s post]

That’s right, you’ll see all sorts of sexual activities depicted in well, pottery lol.

Hey don’t look at me – the whole museum is pre-Columbian art and these are part of it!

What’s unique about the Museo, if you ever visit in person, is that they keep every artifact that isn’t on display in open storage. That means instead of being hidden away like most museums, you can walk through and see the 30,000 other pieces that aren’t being showcased.

The Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi’an, China

One of the most amazing discoveries of the 20th century, was of the buried terracotta warriors in Xi’an.

Discovered in the 70’s by farmers digging for well water, the estimated 8,000 terracotta warriors were made sometime during the Qin dynasty around 221-206 BC. They were created for the first emperor of China to protect him in the afterlife, along with terracotta horses, chariots and bronze tipped weapons.

A museum was built for the site not long after the excavations began, but if you’re not able to visit in person, you can see them for yourself with this virtual tour.

The Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece

The Acropolis Museum in Greece houses more than just interesting artefacts and exhibits.

Lying underneath the museum, is where you can see an excavated part of an ancient city that was in use up until the 12th century. Part of the museum inside has glass floors that give you a peek at the uncovered ruins down below.

Picasso Museum in Barcelona

Whether you’re a fan of Pablo Picasso or not, you’ve definitely heard of him.

In Barcelona was where he spent some of his most important, early years in life. At the age of 13, he was accepted into an advanced art program at a school for fine arts and made connections with other notable artists.

Because of his love for Barcelona, he wanted a museum that showcased his work to be built there. See a timeline of some of his incredible work in the free virtual tour online.

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

A visit to the MMCA in Seoul will let you discover Korean art in all it’s forms, from past to present. The museum also houses international works from different time periods in history. Go visit online and see some for yourself.

National Museum Of Anthropology In Mexico City

This national museum is the biggest and most popular to visit in Mexico. And being the biggest, it makes sense that they house the world’s largest collection of Mexican art as well.

Check out some of the most notable pieces on Google Arts and Culture. Things like the famous Aztec sunstone that was discovered in the 1700s and dates back to the 15th century.

The Metropolitan

You can visit all three of The Met museums online with 360 degree video.

Obviously there’s The Metropolitan on Fifth Avenue you probably know of, but there’s also The Met Cloisters and The Met Breuer – and they’re all in Manhattan.

While you won’t get to see everything, you can take a look at The Temple of Dendur which was gifted from Egypt and see other certain areas of the museums too.

This is one of my favourite museums to visit, and I especially love seeing the fashion exhibitions.

The British Museum in London

Step into the architecturally beautiful, Great Court in The British Museum in London. The circular room in the center is what used to be the original reading room, which housed the museum’s library of books.

This museum has around an incredible 8 million pieces in it’s permanent collection, including the famous Rosetta Stone.

Check out the these free online museum tours if you can’t get to the museum in person. Google Arts and Culture has one where I linked to above, and you can also try out their interactive time line for something a little different.

FYI, admission in person is free for most exhibits at The British Museum too.

The Vatican Museum

I know a lot of people only go visit The Vatican Museums because of Michelangelo’s famous work in the Sistine Chapel. And yes, you should definitely see his paintings, they’re absolutely incredible!

But there are a TON of other amazing works of art to see throughout the museums, and painted on the walls and ceilings.

If you’re ever in Rome, I definitely recommend going to visit The Vatican in person. Luckily they have really good, free online museum tours, so you can visit virtually for now!

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

The Getty Museum displays and keeps works in its collection from periods dating from the 8th to the 21st century.

Take a look at some of the collection online, and admission in person is free.

Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany

While you might not be able to get to Museum Island to visit the Pergamon Museum or any of the others on the island, virtual museum tours are a thing for a reason.

Some of the most important pieces of history are located in this museum that you’ll definitely want to check out. Go virtually visit and see things like: The Ishtar Gate from the ancient city of Babylon which existed between the 18th and 6th centuries BC. (The gate was constructed sometime around 575 BC).

Check it out in the link above and with this other 360 degree tour.

The Canadian Museum of History in Quebec

The Canadian Museum of History is mainly all about the 20,000 year timeline of human history in Canada. Everything from Aboriginal history in North America to present time.

You can’t really see a wholllle lot online, but there’s several online exhibits you can check out including the beautiful Morningstar ceiling mural.

Also the world’s oldest ice hockey stick, hand carved in the 1830s has a home here. How very Canadian of us.

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in The Netherlands

Being that it’s literally called The van Gogh Museum, it seems pretty obvious that this museum is all about Vincent van Gogh and his work. They’ve got the largest collection of his work in the world.

If you don’t know his story for whatever reason – he’s the one that cut his ear off and later killed himself, because of his mental health. The poor guy wasn’t even considered to be a successful artist when he died, and only became famous after he was gone.

Anyway, check out these free online museum tours of The Van Gogh Museum in the link above, and also here and here.

Musée d’Orsay in Paris

If you’re a lover of French artists, a virtual visit to the Musée d’Orsay is a must. This art museum houses mainly French art of all kinds from the 1800s and 1900s and is one of the biggest art museums in Europe.

The museum is housed in a really cool building that was originally built as a railway station in the early 1900s.

The Andy Warhol Exhibit at Tate Modern in London

So this Andy Warhol exhibit just opened at the Tate Modern on March 12th – but you know what happened then right? Oh yes, the good old pandemic happened, and they closed about five days later.

The good news is, the Tate Modern made a free virtual tour of the show for us. So go check out this awesome Andy Warhol exhibit, complete with commentary.

The Anne Frank House Museum

I’m sure you know who Anne Frank is, and her story. She must be one of the most talked about victims of the Holocaust. A young, Jewish girl who wrote in her diary while in hiding with her family during World War II.

You can check out this exhibit about her on Google Arts and Culture in the link above, and learn more. I remember reading the book of her diary, if you haven’t it’s a good read and shows you a different view of how it would have been during the Holocaust. You can get the book here or it’s available for free on audiobook if you have Audible. If you want, you can try it for free for 30 days here.

Visit the house where Anne Frank and her family lived before going into hiding, with this free 360 virtual tour (the house isn’t open to the public). And explore the secret annex where she and her family hid during the war with this free VR app.

Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum has over one million pieces in its repertoire and usually shows around 8,000 works at a time. Their collection includes several thousands of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age from artists like Rembrandt.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC

One of the most visited museums in the world, the National Museum of Natural History holds over 145 million artefacts and specimens in its collection. Some of the things you can expect to see are plants, reptiles, mammals, birds and insects.

Visit them virtually with their free online museum tours; and admission is free when you visit them in person too.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy

The most famous, priceless piece in the Uffizi Gallery collection is probably The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. The museum holds a collection of other priceless pieces from the Italian Renaissance including, Annunciation, a collaboration by Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Verrocchio.

Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

The MFA has over 450,000 works of art, in all different kinds of mediums in its collection. Styles and periods vary and include, French impressionist and post like Monet and Van Gogh, ancient Egyptian artefacts and the biggest collection of Japanese pieces outside of Japan.

The De Young Museum in San Fransisco

The fine art museum houses pieces from around the world, and includes American art from the 17th to 21st centuries.

The Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City

Visit The Blue House as it’s known, where Frida Kahlo was born and where she died. Some of her most important paintings are kept in this museum that was once her home.

You can also see this free virtual exhibit all about her, called Faces of Frida.

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Spain

The Museo Thyssen’s collection is mainly European paintings from the 13th to 20th century. They also have a collection of North American paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Broad in Los Angeles

If you love contemporary artists like Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol and Takashi Murakami, you should definitely take a look at the free online museum tours put on by The Broad.

Ps. if you’re ever in LA, admission is free.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York

Aka the MoMA, check out some of their amazing collection online through Google Arts and Culture. You can also watch these virtual exhibitions online with MoMA curators every Thursday and catch up on past ones you missed.

The National Gallery in Victoria, Melbourne

Australia’s biggest and most popular art museum houses works from all over the world, as well as Aboriginal Australian art.

If you’re planning a visit in person, admission is free.