David Attenborough's free NHM audio guide: how to find and listen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a David Attenborough audio guide at the Natural History Museum?
Yes. A free 24-track audio tour of Hintze Hall narrated by Sir David Attenborough, published by the NHM on SoundCloud in May 2018 and still available. You stream it on your own phone.
Is the Attenborough audio guide free?
Yes. No ticket, no rental, no app purchase. The museum confirms all NHM audio content is free and can be played on personal devices on-site or at home.
Where do I find the audio guide?
The playlist lives at soundcloud.com/nhmlondon/sets/hintze-hall. A full transcript is on the NHM website on the Hintze Hall audio guide transcript page.
How long is the Attenborough audio tour?
Twenty-four tracks of roughly 1 to 2.5 minutes each, about 45 to 55 minutes total if played straight through.
Is this the same as Our Story with David Attenborough?
No. Our Story is a ticketed 50-minute 360 degree immersive in the Jerwood Gallery, 20 to 25 pounds per adult. The Attenborough audio guide is free and covers Hintze Hall only.
Are there Attenborough audio guides for other galleries?
No. Attenborough only narrates the Hintze Hall tour. Other NHM galleries have separate audio guides with different narrators.
Do I need headphones for the audio guide?
Yes. Hintze Hall is echoey and crowded, so phone speakers do not cut through. Any wired or Bluetooth pair works.
Yes, David Attenborough narrates a free 24-track audio tour of the NHM's Hintze Hall. It has been published by the museum since May 2018, it lives on SoundCloud, and you stream it on your own phone. No app, no ticket, no rental counter. Most visitors never find it, which is why we wrote this piece.
If you only want the link: the playlist is soundcloud.com/nhmlondon/sets/hintze-hall. The rest of this article explains what each stop covers, how to access it on the day, and how to avoid confusing this free audio with the paid 2025 "Our Story with David Attenborough" immersive.
What it actually is
The tour runs 24 tracks, roughly 45 to 55 minutes if you play straight through. Individual tracks sit between 1:17 and 2:25. Each stop follows the same rhythm: Attenborough sets the scene, then an NHM curator or invited expert gives a 60 to 90 second take. It is English only and it has not been refreshed since release. More on that dating point below.
The tour maps onto the Wonder Bays on the ground floor of Hintze Hall, the upper balcony cases, the ceiling, and Waterhouse's architecture. If you know Hintze Hall already, the track list will look familiar. If you do not, our Hintze Hall audio guide walkthroughhintze hall audio guide maps each stop to a physical location.
How to access it
Open SoundCloud in your phone browser, or install the free SoundCloud app. You do not need an account.
Bring wired or Bluetooth headphones. The museum is loud and Hintze Hall echoes.
Start with track 1 under the blue whale, then follow the numbered order around the hall.
The museum's own signposting for this is thin. There is a small CTA on the Hintze Hall page that reads "Take an audio-guided tour narrated by Sir David Attenborough," but there is no QR code in the hall itself and no mention of it at the Cromwell Road entrance. A full transcript is posted at nhm.ac.uk/visit/galleries-and-museum-map/hintze-hall/audio-guide-transcript-hintze-hall.html if you prefer reading, or if your signal drops inside the building.
Tip: download the tracks over wifi before you arrive. Mobile coverage in the hall is patchy.
The 24 stops
Tracks 1 to 5 are the core ground-floor sweep under Hope the blue whale. Tracks 6 to 12 carry you through the remaining Wonder Bays, including the 385 million year old fossil tree and the Imilac meteorite. Tracks 13 to 22 move up to the balcony and through the five Victorian "cabinets of curiosities" cases. Tracks 23 and 24 look up at the ceiling and at Waterhouse's Romanesque architecture.
Welcome (1:17)
Blue Whale with Richard Sabin, Senior Curator of Vertebrates (2:11)
Explorers case, Captain Scott, with Prof Sara Russell
Collectors case intro with Dr Tim Littlewood
Collectors case, Sir Hans Sloane, with Dr Victoria Pickering
Founders case intro with Sir Michael Dixon
Founders case, Richard Owen, with Prof Gowan Dawson
Preparators case intro with Hein van Grouw
Preparators case, Dorothea Bate, with Karolyn Shindler
Thinkers case intro with Prof Ian Owens
Thinkers case, Darwin's Toxodon, with Prof Ian Barnes
Ceiling with Dr Sandy Knapp
Architecture with Prof John Holmes
Most listeners drop off after five tracks
SoundCloud's own play counts tell a clear story. As of April 2026, the Welcome track has 42,430 plays. The blue whale track has 28,035. By track 5 (Turbinaria coral) it is down to 7,793. By track 8 it sits at 6,992. The rest of the playlist trails off into the low thousands and the last dozen tracks have no public play count at all.
There are two readings of that. The cynical one is that people start, get bored, and stop. The more useful one is that the tour is front-loaded with the biggest crowd draws (Hope, the giraffes, the marlin) and that the quieter back half of the playlist, the Victorian cases on the balcony, is actually where the stories get richest and the crowds thin. If you only have 20 minutes, play tracks 1 to 5. If you have an hour, keep going upstairs; that is where most visitors stop listening and where you will have the specimens essentially to yourself.
A note on dating
Stop 17 introduces "today's Director, Sir Michael Dixon." Sir Michael left the role in 2021. The director since January 2022 is Doug Gurr. The audio has not been refreshed in eight years, so treat the institutional framing as a 2018 snapshot. The science on the specimens is unchanged. A 4.5 billion year old meteorite does not age.
This is not the "Our Story" immersive
The single most common mistake when people search for an Attenborough audio guide at the NHM is landing on Our Story with David Attenborough and assuming it is the same product. It is not.
"Our Story" is a 50-minute 360° projection-mapped cinematic experience in the Jerwood Gallery. It opened 19 June 2025, has been extended to 30 August 2026, and adult tickets run £20 to £25. Attenborough narrates throughout, but it is a film-style immersive in a ticketed room, not an audio tour you play on your phone around the galleries.
The Hintze Hall audio guide is free, self-guided, and always available while the hall is open. "Our Story" is ticketed, timed, and sits in a different part of the museum. If you came expecting one and found the other, our comparison pieceour story attenborough vs audio guide walks through which one fits which kind of visit.
FAQs
Is there a David Attenborough audio guide at the Natural History Museum?
Yes. A free 24-track audio tour of Hintze Hall narrated by Sir David Attenborough, published by the NHM on SoundCloud in May 2018 and still available. You stream it on your own phone.
Is the Attenborough audio guide free?
Yes. No ticket, no rental, no app purchase. The museum's accessibility page states explicitly that all NHM audio content is free and can be played on personal devices on-site or at home.
Twenty-four tracks running 1:17 to 2:25 each. About 45 to 55 minutes total if you play straight through.
Is this the same as "Our Story with David Attenborough"?
No. "Our Story" is a ticketed 50-minute 360° immersive experience in the Jerwood Gallery, £20 to £25 per adult. The audio guide is free and covers Hintze Hall only.
Are there Attenborough audio guides for other galleries?
No. Attenborough only narrates the Hintze Hall tour. Other NHM galleries (Volcanoes and Earthquakes, Human Evolution, the Evolution Garden, Wildlife Photographer of the Year) have their own separate audio guides with different narrators. See does the NHM have an audio guidedoes nhm have audio guide for the full map.
Do I need headphones?
Yes, in practice. Hintze Hall is echoey and crowded. Phone speakers will not cut through. Any wired or Bluetooth pair works.
About the author
Hendrik Schafer is the founder of Musa, which builds AI-powered audio tour guides for museums. We spend a lot of time listening to what museums already publish, and a lot of time wondering why the best material is so hard to find. This series is our attempt to make the NHM's own audio holdings easier to navigate.
Want a guided Attenborough-style tour of the whole museum?
The Hintze Hall audio covers one room. If you want a conversational guide that follows you through the dinosaurs, the mammals, the human evolution gallery, and the treasures on the third floor, Musa builds that kind of tour. It is not Attenborough, but it answers back.