The best free day out in the UK is at one of Time Out’s favourite museums

With just days until Halloween and Bonfire Night are upon us, there’s no denying that autumn is officially here. And we all know what that means: the long, dry days of summer are well and truly over. 

If you’re on the hunt for indoor activities to entertain the kids on rainy weekends, chances are a trip to a new museum is high on the to-do list. And it just so happens that one of the best cultural hubs in the UK will also cost you precisely zilch. 

Each year, Time Out’s team of editors and writers test out to the UK’s galleries, archives and exhibits and pluck out the best of the best. The 20 museums on our guide to the greatest in the UK right now range from the crustacean-centric to the downright futuristic. Cardiff’s Celtic cultural hub – complete with an Iron Age roundhouse, a saddler’s workshop or a row of miners’ cottages – scored 15th place on the list, and it has also just been named the best free day out in the UK.

Comparison company Which? says it has spent the last few years collecting prices for hundreds of days out around the country. It turns out many of them can set you back a pretty penny. ‘If you want to visit a theme park it will typically cost a family of four over a hundred pounds. Wildlife attractions such as London Zoo can be over £30 - just for one adult,’ the website said of its findings. ‘Even visits to many of our great historic buildings can be over £35 and are often around the £20 mark.’  

According to Which?, Wales’s St Fagans National Museum of History is officially the greatest free day out in the country. The 100-acre open-air site earned a total score of 94 percent. It’s home to more than 40 historic buildings which have been reconstructed just 11 miles west of Cardiff. Alongside the Grade I-listed sixteenth century St Fagan’s Castle, you’ll find a post-World War II prefab home and can even see people demonstrating traditional crafts like blacksmithing and clog-making.

York’s National Railway Museum and Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow also made the Which? list as well as Time Out’s top 20. They beat more famous free attractions like the Natural History and Science museums in London and the Tate Modern. 

Did you see that the UK is one of the world’s top countries for tourism in 2026?

Plus: a British theme park has just been named one of the best new attractions in Europe.