30 Things to See First

Thirty places to see first, in order, for somebody who has never been to London. Each says what it is, whether it is free, whether you must book, and whether the queue is worth it.

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Cutty Sark Museum

The last of the tea clippers, built for speed under sail, and raised three metres off the ground so you can walk under the hull. Ticketed.

The clipper, held above her glazed dock.

Also in Museums and Science & Engineering.

Cutty Sark was built at Dumbarton in 1869 to carry tea home from China, at the very end of the age when the fastest way to move cargo was under sail. Clippers were built for speed and raced each other home, because the first tea of the season fetched the most money, and she was among the quickest of them. Steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal killed that trade within a few years, and she spent the rest of her working life bringing wool from Australia, on passages nothing else could match.

She is the last one left. At Greenwich she has been lifted three metres off the ground and glazed in underneath, so you can stand below the hull and see the shape that made her fast, with the ship's collection of figureheads in the shade around you. A fire in 2007 destroyed a great deal above deck, and much of what you walk on is replacement.

Where
43 King William Walk, SE10 9HT
Nearest station
Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich · 2 min walk

On here now

Coming up

Hours

Monday10:00 – 17:00
Tuesday10:00 – 17:00
Wednesday10:00 – 17:00
Thursday10:00 – 17:00
Friday10:00 – 17:00
Saturday10:00 – 17:00
Sunday10:00 – 17:00

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 6 September 2026.

Last entry 16:15; closed 24, 25 and 26 December.

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