Best 12 museums I visited in 2019

Last year I was asked by someone doing research how many museums I’ve been to that year and he was shocked by my answer: 50. It was an estimation, but a very good one. So, that made me think of making a round-up of the museums I liked. Here it is: Best 12 museums I visited in 2019. Initially I wanted to pick only 9, but I found it too hard, so instead I’m sharing a list of 12. There is a list with all the museums at the end of this round-up. The museums are sorted by name, because I loved all of them equally, all links are towards my posts about them.

From top left to bottom right, the museums are:

Our visit to Balmoral was unplanned, as I had no idea, before arriving in Scotland that we can visit it. As the Queen’s holiday home, I had no idea this is possible. It was a privilege to be able to visit it. I loved it.

Big Pit was much better than I thought it would be. We had a great mine tour and the guide was fab. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

I picked Doune Castle because of its connections with Game of Thrones. I loved the series (not the last season though).

Groam House Museum must be quite an interesting choice. It is a small museum about the Pictish history in Scotland. It is a part of my best-12 because the guide was so excited about the place and I learned a lot. Sometimes the small museums are the ones who can give the best surprises.

Talking about small museums, the High Park Reservoir is one in Liverpool. Last year I managed to visit it, but it was not the first time I’ve tried, previously the queue was so long we gave up trying. It is open only a few times a year at the moment.

Madame Tussauds is in top 12 because it is such an unusual place and also because I learned about it in school and I was very curious about it.

Michelham Priory was interesting because after the dissolution so few survived that this is a precious reminder of how these buildings could have been made into family homes, but instead were destroyed.

Less known than Cutty Sark, HMS Trincomalee is a ship which can be visited up north. It was so interesting to have the tour, much better than my visit the Cutty Sark in London. I would gladly visit Trincomalee again.

St Fagans Museum just had to be on the list, it was so interesting. This is another museum I would love to visit again.

Another London landmark I’ve been to this year, St Paul’s Cathedral lived up to its reputation. I couldn’t take a picture inside, so this is a picture with the view of Tate Modern and the Millenium Bridge from St. Paul’s.

The Royal Pavilion was gorgeous. Even though I knew what to expect, it was still amazing. I loved it.

Finally, The Queen’s House in Greenwich, with the Armada portrait, it had to be one of the 12. I would like to visit it again, it is really beautiful and Greenwich is wonderful too. I went to the Royal Observatory too and that was, again, very special, as it was another thing I learned as an 8 year-old in school.

Best 12 museums I visited in 2019

I took out from the list Bodleian Library, Clava cairn (burial site), Highland Titles Nature Reserve, Glencoe National Nature Reserve. As these are not exactly museums. I left the castles though. I might have missed museums I did not blog about and I also did not include in the list museums from Liverpool that I visited with LightNight and sites which are not usually open to the public, seen on Heritage Open Days, last September. I’ve included special exhibitions though.

All of these are mentioned on the blog, so if you are curious about one of them, just search on the blog with the name.

Here is the full list of museums I’ve been to last year, 52 in total: