Portsmouth Museums

(Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK)

The museums at the Historic Dockyard are amongst the biggest attractions that the city of Portsmouth has to offer, with both the National Museum of the Royal Navy and also the Mary Rose Museum being huge tourist magnets. Three-for-two tickets and complete passport tickets are available here should you wish to visit all of these attractions, remaining valid for seven days and one year respectively.

The Dockyard Apprentice Exhibition is also located at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and concentrates on the history of shipbuilding. At the nearby town of Gosport, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and the Museum of Naval Firepower (Explosion!) await your visit and are well worth the short journey to reach them.

National Museum of the Royal Navy

Address: Historic Dockyard, Visitor Centre, Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3LJ, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9283 9766
Spread around five adjoining galleries, the National Museum of the Royal Navy (formerly the Royal Naval Museum) is part of the Historic Dockyard attractions and is quite simply enormous. Established as far back as 1911, the National Museum of the Royal Navy is brimming with maritime artefacts and celebrates the ships of the Royal Navy. Expect to find highly detailed models of ships, dioramas depicting historical naval battles, and an audio-visual of the famous Battle of Trafalgar, showing the HMS Victory. One of the gallery spaces is completely dedicated to the life and achievements of Lord Nelson and displays many of his personal effects and extravagant items from his ship quarters.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 17:00
Admission: charge, discounts for children

Mary Rose Museum

Address: Historic Dockyard, Visitor Centre, Victory Gate, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3LJ, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9283 9766
Also sited within the Historic Dockyard, the Mary Rose Museum is filled with information about the salvage operation. The exhibits remember a previous attempt by a pair of Venetians, who tried to raise the Mary Rose in the latter part of the 16th century and were completely unsuccessful. One of the most interesting attractions here is the short 15-minute video, which shows the raising of the Mary Rose and the technique involved in bringing this ship up in a floating cage, using air bags and a metal support crane. It took a total of four years to prepare the Mary Rose for raising and took many hours for the ship's intact starboard-side hull to finally reach the surface, although at one stage it was quite 'touch and go', when a corner of the lifting crane completely collapsed. The Mary Rose was then taken to its new home, a large dry dock, and sprayed constantly with chilled water, to prevent the wood from drying out and subsequently cracking.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 17:00
Admission: charge, discounts for children, ticket price also includes admission to the Mary Rose ship

Royal Navy Submarine Museum

Address: Haslar Jetty Road, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12 2AS, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9252 9217
Located in nearby Gosport, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum is actually the only attraction in the whole of Britain where you are permitted to climb aboard an actual submarine - the HMS Alliance. As you explore this submarine, it soon becomes apparent just how small and cramped the conditions were for its resident sailors. The HMS Alliance was completed in the late 1940s and has served as both a museum and a monument since 1981.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 16:30
Admission: charge, discounts for children

Museum of Naval Firepower (Explosion!)

Address: Priddy's Hard, Royal Naval Armament Depot, Heritage Way, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12 4LE, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9250 5600
Standing in the Priddy's Hard area of Gosport, close to Portsmouth, the award-winning Museum of Naval Firepower is affectionately known as 'Explosion!' As you explore the firepower-related exhibits you will learn about everything from gunpowder and state-of-the-art missiles, to the importance of this location in World War II, when more than 2,500 women munitions workers laboured on this very spot.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 16:30
Admission: charge, discounts for children

D-Day Museum

Address: Clarence Esplanade, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO5 3NT, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9282 7261
The D-Day Museum lies in the city's Southsea area and along the Clarence Esplanade, where it remembers the important part that Portsmouth played during the famous Allied D-Day events. Forces departed here in 1944 for their victorious Normandy Landings. Look out for the highly detailed Overlord Embroidery, which recounts the events of the war and measures more than 80 metres / 26 feet in length. The Overlord Embroidery is the world's longest work of this nature and was created in the late 1960s by the Royal School of Needlework.
Open hours: daily, April to September - 10:00 to 17:30; October to March - 10:00 to 17:00
Admission: charge, discounts for children

Royal Marines Museum

Address: Eastney Esplanade, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO4 9PX, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9281 9385
Another seafront attraction at Southsea, the Royal Marines Museum honours the Royal Navy's elite force and tells the story of the history of the marines. The Victorian building itself is particularly impressive and dates from the 1860s, when its was constructed as office space for the Royal Marine Artillery. Children always enjoy coming here and often head straight for the outdoor assault course.
Open hours: daily - 09:00 to 17:00
Admission: charge, discounts for children, families, students, groups, disabled visitors and seniors, children five years old and under are free

City Museum and Records Office

Address: 3 Museum Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2LJ, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9282 7261
Brimming with information about the life and history of Portsmouth, the City Museum and Records Office includes many aspects relating to bygone days. Various audio-visual displays are on hand and include reconstructed rooms, such as the 17th-century bedroom, a worker's kitchen from the 19th-century dockyard, and a lavish Victorian parlor. For fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories, there is also a display related to the life of famous novelist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived in Southsea for many years. On the second floor, there is a 'fine and decorative' art gallery, which is home to an impressive permanent art collection spanning some 500 years.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 17:00
Admission: free

Natural History Museum

Address: Cumberland House, Eastern Parade, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2LJ, England, UK
Tel: +44 023 9282 7261
The Natural History Museum is to be found at Cumberland House on the Eastern Parade at Southsea and explains how the city has become a very important spot for British wildlife. Attractions here include a tropical butterfly house, an aquarium and an exhibition room, with exhibits relating to local geology and nearby nature habitats, which include marshes, mudflats and wooded areas. Many visitors are surprised to learn that large numbers of seahorses reside just off the seashore.
Open hours: daily, April to October - 10:00 to 17:30; November to March - 10:00 to 16:00
Admission: free