Short answer
Neither museum has a classic rentable audio guide. The Natural History Museum (NHM) offers free self-guided audio on SoundCloud, including a 24-stop Hintze Hall tour narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The Science Museum has no comprehensive audio tour for general visitors; its audio offering is narrower and accessibility-focused, built around the "Audio Eyes" app for two galleries and a QR-triggered trail in the Technicians gallery. If you are choosing which museum to use audio in, NHM gives you more to listen to. If you prefer to poke buttons and read panels, the Science Museum is designed for that.
Both museums are free, sit 400 metres apart in South Kensington, and can be combined in a single day.
What each museum actually offers
Natural History Museum
All of NHM's official audio content is free and lives on SoundCloud (nhmlondon) with transcripts mirrored on nhm.ac.uk. There is no NHM app. Content is English only.
Available tours:
- Hintze Hall narrated by Sir David Attenborough, 24 stops, roughly 45 to 55 minutes total.
- Evolution Garden audio-descriptive guide, 39 tracks, about an hour.
- Nature Discovery Garden audio-descriptive guide, 33 tracks, about an hour.
- Volcanoes and Earthquakes audio-descriptive guide, 16 tracks, about 40 minutes (launched January 2026).
- Treasures, Dinosaurs, Earth's Treasury, From the Beginning, The River shorter playlists.
The gardens and Volcanoes and Earthquakes guides were built with VocalEyes and are designed for blind and partially sighted visitors first, which means they describe objects in unusual detail. Sighted visitors find them slower but richer than a standard audio tour.
For a deeper look at the limitations of the NHM audio, see does nhm have audio guide and our ranked comparison in best nhm audio guide.
Science Museum
The Science Museum takes a different approach. Most galleries are built around interactive exhibits, touch screens, and staffed Explainer demonstrations, so audio is layered in rather than packaged as a single tour.
What exists:
- Audio Eyes app, free on iOS, covering two galleries: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries and Information Age. Audio-only descriptions of key objects and tactile displays. Bring headphones.
- Technicians: The David Sainsbury Gallery has an audio-described trail triggered by QR codes on object labels.
- Hearing loops at most audio exhibits and ticket desks. Assistive listening headsets at the IMAX.
- Language maps in French, Spanish, and Italian at the Information Desk, but no translated audio.
There is no general-visitor audio tour of the Science Museum in the way Hintze Hall is covered at NHM. No Smartify partnership, no museum-wide narrated guide. For most visitors, exhibit labels and interactives do the work that audio does elsewhere.
Side by side
| Natural History Museum | Science Museum |
|---|
| Entry | Free, book timed slot | Free, book timed slot |
| Flagship audio | Hintze Hall, Attenborough, 24 stops | None |
| Other audio | 6+ SoundCloud playlists, gardens, treasures | Audio Eyes app (2 galleries), Technicians trail |
| App required | No, streams from SoundCloud | Yes for Audio Eyes (iOS only) |
| Cost | Free | Free |
| Languages | English only | English only (maps in FR/ES/IT) |
| Headphones needed | Bring your own | Bring your own |
| Accessibility focus | Strong (VocalEyes partnership) | Strong (Audio Eyes, tactile) |
| Best for | Narrated tour, Attenborough fans | Hands-on, kids pressing buttons |
Which audio is better for kids?
Neither audio product is built for children specifically. The NHM Hintze Hall tour features scientist interviews that are accurate and warm but not theatrical; younger kids (under 8) tend to drift after two or three stops. Play-count data on SoundCloud backs this up: the Welcome track has roughly 42,000 plays, but by stop 5 (Turbinaria Coral) it drops to about 7,800. Most listeners give up early.
The Science Museum does not rely on audio for kids. Its Wonderlab gallery (paid), the rocket hall, and the Who Am I? interactives are self-explanatory and physical. For families, the Science Museum's interactives beat either museum's audio. If your kids enjoy dinosaurs and sitting still to listen, NHM. If they like pushing buttons, Science Museum.
Which audio is better for adults?
If you only count Hintze Hall, the NHM wins on content quality. Attenborough's voice is the draw, and the scientist interviews are substantive. But the delivery (SoundCloud, no routing, 2018 recordings) drags it down. The gardens audio has a different tone because VocalEyes produced it for blind visitors; sighted visitors find it slower but more descriptive than a standard tour.
The Science Museum's Audio Eyes content is useful inside Medicine and Information Age and nowhere else. For an adult walking the full museum, it will not carry you through the visit.
Can you do both in one day?
Yes, and it is a popular South Kensington itinerary. The two museums are a three to four minute walk apart above ground, or you can use the pedestrian tunnel that runs from South Kensington tube station under Exhibition Road directly into both museums (look for signs to "Museums" once through the station barriers). The tunnel skips rain and crossings.
A realistic day:
- 10:00 NHM timed entry. Head to Hintze Hall first for Attenborough (45 to 55 minutes of listening while walking the hall and the surrounding cases).
- 11:00 Dinosaurs gallery. Expect crowds.
- 12:30 Lunch. Both museum cafés are busy; consider walking up to Exhibition Road for options.
- 13:30 Walk to Science Museum via the tunnel or along Exhibition Road.
- 14:00 Science Museum timed entry. Making Modern World, Exploring Space, Technicians. If you want audio here, load Audio Eyes before you go in.
- 16:30 Leave with energy left over, or stay for a late afternoon slot when crowds thin.
NHM is busiest between 11:00 and 15:00. Science Museum follows a similar curve. Arriving at NHM for the 10:00 slot and moving to the Science Museum after lunch is the least painful order. For a more detailed time plan, see how long does nhm take.
Practical notes
- Book timed tickets for both even though entry is free. Weekend slots sell out days ahead in summer and over UK school holidays.
- Bring headphones for either museum if you want audio. Neither loans them.
- Download before you arrive. SoundCloud streams fine on museum Wi-Fi but pre-loaded is faster. Audio Eyes is iOS only, so Android users will not have Science Museum audio.
- Charge your phone. Three to four hours of museum use plus audio drains batteries.
- Plan bag storage. Both museums do security checks; oversized luggage is not accepted.
The verdict
If your reason for choosing between the two is audio, the Natural History Museum gives you more, better produced, and covering more of the building. The Science Museum is a stronger experience if you learn by doing and do not need a narrator. Most visitors doing both in one day get the most out of listening at NHM in the morning, then putting the phone away at the Science Museum in the afternoon.
FAQ
Does the Science Museum London have an audio guide?
Not in the traditional sense. It offers the free Audio Eyes app (iOS) covering Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries and Information Age, plus a QR-triggered audio-described trail in the Technicians gallery. There is no museum-wide narrated tour.
Is the Natural History Museum audio guide free?
Yes. All official NHM audio lives on SoundCloud (nhmlondon) and streams free on your phone. You need your own headphones.
Can I visit both museums in one day?
Yes. They are less than five minutes apart on foot, or connected by a pedestrian tunnel from South Kensington tube station. Three to four hours at each is realistic if you pace the day.
Which audio guide is better for families with young children?
Neither is built for young kids. The Science Museum's interactive exhibits are a stronger fit for under-8s. Older children who like natural history engage with the Hintze Hall tour.
Are audio guides available in languages other than English?
No. Both museums publish audio only in English. Third-party tour operators on Viator and GetYourGuide advertise multilingual audio guides, but these are not produced by the museums.
Do I need to download an app for either museum?
NHM audio streams from SoundCloud with no app install required. The Science Museum's Audio Eyes is an iOS-only download.
About the author
Musa Editorial writes about museum audio guides, accessibility, and visitor experience in London. We test every tour we recommend and disclose when we are comparing our own product against others.
Planning a single museum day in South Kensington? Musa builds location-aware audio tours that work on any phone, offline, in 30+ languages. Try a tour.