💷 Free entry
Ashmolean Museum
Free world-class university museum in central Oxford with Egyptian mummies, the Alfred Jewel, Pre-Raphaelite paintings and hands-on family trails.
✦ We visited
Borrow an activity backpack at the desk before you start; the children used it to hunt objects across three floors. The Egyptian mummies and the Alfred Jewel are the moments they talked about on the way home.
The Ashmolean on Beaumont Street is one of the great art and archaeology museums in the world, and the fact that entry to its permanent collection is free makes it an extraordinary family day out. Founded in 1683 and the oldest university museum anywhere, it holds collections spanning five thousand years: Egyptian mummies and painted coffins, Greek and Roman sculpture, the Anglo-Saxon Alfred Jewel and rooms of Pre-Raphaelite paintings are among the things that stop families in their tracks.
For children the museum provides family trails tailored to the collections, activity backpacks to borrow at the desk, handling sessions on selected days and regular drop-in family workshops at weekends and in school holidays. The building is airy and well laid-out, so it is easy to follow children as they drift between the Egyptian galleries, the medieval section and the paintings. There is a cafe on the ground floor and a roof terrace restaurant with views across Oxford for those who want a proper lunch stop.
It suits toddlers upward, with the youngest captivated by the mummies and the gleam of ancient gold, and older children getting progressively more from the antiquities and paintings. Being entirely indoors and free makes it the obvious rainy-day choice in the city centre. Park and ride into Oxford is strongly recommended, as central parking is very limited.
Good for: history, arts, rainy-day, sensory. Ages: 3–4, 5–7, 8–11, 12+.
Good to know
Is the Ashmolean Museum free?
Yes, entry to the permanent collection is free. Special exhibitions are ticketed separately.
Is the Ashmolean Museum good for children?
Yes, family trails, borrowable activity backpacks, handling sessions and weekend workshops make it genuinely engaging for all ages.
What should you see at the Ashmolean?
The Egyptian mummies, the Anglo-Saxon Alfred Jewel, the Pre-Raphaelite paintings gallery and the ancient world collections are the highlights for most families.
