Five visitors looking at shelves of a different coloured agates.

Visit us

Visiting Scotland?

National Museums Scotland has four museums in and around Edinburgh with something for everyone

National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is a world class museum and Scotland’s most popular visitor attraction. The museum takes visitors on a journey through Scotland’s history and the wonders of the natural world, explores diverse civilisations and game-changing scientific breakthroughs, and introduces visitors to exquisite art, design and fashion from across the centuries. The museum has a vast array of interactive games and thought-provoking displays, which provide something for wee ones to adults to discover and enjoy, along with daily free tours and events for adults and families to get involved with.

The museum hosts numerous daily free tours and events which can be found via the What's On guide.

For those unable to visit, there is an online collections search, as well as a great range of stories and films about our objects in the Discover section.

A family of four holding hands, running in a grassy field, with a large Vulcan aircraft in the background.

National Museum of Flight

The National Museum of Flight is one of the most significant aviation museums in Europe and the best preserved WWII airfield in the United Kingdom. Based at East Fortune, it is home to an outstanding collection of aircraft including Scotland’s only Concorde and the oldest surviving Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet. The museum is also home to Scotland’s Annual Airshow, which usually takes place in late July and is a wonderful family event, including breathtaking aerial displays, fairground rides and an opportunity to meet the pilots.

A person with long blonde hair looking at a portrait of a Scottish soldier, surrounded by several glass museum cases.

National War Museum

Within the walls of the iconic Edinburgh Castle, the National War Museum tells the story of Scots in battles lost and won over the last 400 years, through the military artefacts and personal treasures that have been left behind.

Three cows in a stall eating hay through a railing.

National Museum of Rural Life

The National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride combines a modern museum, a Georgian farmhouse and a working farm, and is a great day out for kids of all ages. The farm’s prize-winning livestock include Ayrshire cows, Tamworth pigs and Clydesdale horses.

National Museums Collections Centre

National Museums Collections Centre in Edinburgh is home to millions of objects in the national collections not currently on public display. It provides a platform for digitisation, cutting-edge collections science, interdisciplinary study and advanced teaching as well as specialist training for people from Scotland and around the world. This centre is closed to the general public however tours do occur monthly, with advanced booking recommended.