Top 20 Museums to Visit in India

By - September 19, 2024 - Attractions, India

India, a land steeped in a myriad of cultures, traditions, and histories, offers a canvas as diverse as its geography. From the snowy peaks of the Himalayas to the golden sands of the Thar Desert, every corner of this vast country tells a story of its own, often preserved and narrated within the walls of its museums. These cultural and historical repositories serve as windows into India’s soul, showcasing everything from the opulent era of the Mughals and the Rajputs to the colonial times of the British Raj, each leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of the nation.

At Tusk Travel, we believe that to truly understand India’s essence, one must delve into its past, and what better way to do so than by visiting its top museums? These institutions not only exhibit artifacts and relics but also celebrate the country’s rich heritage, scientific achievements, and artistic prowess. They provide insights into the struggles and triumphs that have shaped India, making them a must-visit for anyone looking to explore the depth of Indian culture and history.

Embarking on a journey through India’s museums with Tusk Travel guides you to not just witness, but to experience the narratives of valor, spirituality, innovation, and revolution that echo through the corridors of these monuments of knowledge. From the iconic National Museum in New Delhi to the hidden gems in smaller cities, our curated list of the top 20 museums to visit in India promises an enlightening exploration of a civilization as ancient as time itself. So, as you plan your Indian escapade with Tusk Travel, remember that your tour is incomplete without immersing yourself in the extraordinary world housed within India’s museums, where every exhibit tells a story, waiting to be heard.

Here you will find the 20 Popular Museums of India:

1. National Museum, New Delhi

It is the largest museum in the country, being built in the middle of the 20th century in the country’s capital, Delhi. It is the right place to visit and to see the kings of Buddha rolling around. One can see here a lot of manuscripts, statues, utensils, craft items, armors, dresses, and many other gadgets such as old books, knives, spoons of silver, wax statues, and ceramic pots.

Location: Janpath Rd, Central Secretariat, New Delhi 110011

Timings: 10 am to 6 pm

Entry Fee: INR 20 – 500

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2. International Dolls Museum, Delhi

It is a fitful place to be visited with your child, where one can see a lot of dolls originated from Australia to Africa. This museum is located amidst New Delhi.

Location: ITO, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Nehru House, New Delhi 110002

Timings: 10 am – 6 pm

Entry Fee: INR 17/ adult, INR 6/ children

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3. Rail Museum, Delhi

The Delhi Rail Museum is the right place to be visited, being dedicated to trains in India. It covers 10 acres in area, and it has a toy train that will take you through various exhibits of the museum. Main trains are 1928 Electric Locomotive, ancient train saloons, and fire engines used in 1914 that ran on coals.

Read also: October Travel Guide: Best Places to Visit in India

Location: Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021

Timings: 10 am – 6 pm

Entry Fee: INR 50/ Adult, INR10/ Child

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4. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets, Delhi

It is an important place for toilets. It holds the place for several vintage and novelty toilets from around the world from ancient to modern ones. One can see artifacts from fifty different countries and some weird models too.

Location: SulabhBhawan, Mahavir Enclave, New Delhi, Delhi 110045

Timings: 10 am to 8 pm

Entry Fee: No Entry Fees

Suggested Delhi Packages:

5. Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur

Albert Hall Museum is one of the oldest museums in Rajasthan. It is a grand example of the famous Indo-Saracenic style. Its structure has been used as a museum since 1887. Being famous for its carpets, marble artworks, ancient coins, antiques, pottery, and other gadgets, it is called the Government Central Museum, and it has a separate exhibit for mummies from Egypt. The clay art gallery and jewelry gallery contain 19th paraphernalia. There is a special location for musical instruments too.

Location: Museum Rd, Ram Niwas Garden, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302004

Timings: 9 am to 5 pm – 7 pm to 10 pm

Entry Fee: India visitor INR 40, Overseas visitors INR 300

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Suggested Jaipur Packages:

6. City Palace Museum, Jaipur

It is a palace where a museum stands inside. Chandra Mahal has been transformed into a museum of this palace. It is a place for depositing paintings, carvings with inlaid structures and where one can find a large collection of armors, weapons, and other war equipment. It is the largest collection of handguns and weapons in India. One can find collections of ancient royal items in this gallery.

Location: Tulsi Marg, Gangori Bazaar, Pink City, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302002

Timings: 9 am to 5 pm

Entry Fee: INR 200/ Adult, INR 100/ Child

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7. Partition Museum, Amritsar

It is a token museum for the story of the partition of British India into India and Pakistan. It was built in 2017, and it holds newspapers, articles, photographs, journals. One can discover here videos and oral presentations about this partition. The Boundary Commission Room has a census and maps about these boundaries. A replica with a train stands here to show how the transportation of refugees was done between the two countries. Dairy entries from 1948 related to the partition are hosted here too.

Location: Hall Rd, Town Hall, Katra Ahluwalia, Amritsar, Punjab 143006

Timings: 10 am to 6 pm – (Closed on Monday)

Entry Fee: INR 10/ Indians, INR 250/ Foreigners

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Suggested Amritsar Packages:

8. City Palace, Udaipur

This palace is opened to the public as a museum. One can find photographs, portraits of kings, a silver collection, a musical instrument gallery, and other artifacts. One can find here the Pratap Gallery that holds collections of weapons and armors, including an elephant trunk stuck to the horses to disguise as elephants. The Mor Chowk is renowned for peacock decorations and inlay works. One can find mosaic artworks in this yard. Musical artifacts can be found here, too, pertaining to the Mewar family.

Location: Old City, Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001

Timings: 9.30 am to 5.30 pm

Entry Fee: INR 250/Adult, INR 100/ Child

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9. Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur

Umaid Bhawan Palace is one of the famous tourist destinations from Jodhpur. A large area of this palace is dedicated as a museum to present the royal antiques and artifacts. One can find the Victorian flag given by the Queen to Maharaja Jaswant Singh. Collection of cars, stuffed wild animals, photographs, miniature paintings, unusual royal objects, artistic murals, and vintage clock collections are other exhibits of this museum.

Location: Circuit House Rd, Cantt Area, Jodhpur, Rajasthan 342006

Timings: 10 am to 4.30 pm

Entry Fee: INR 30/ India, INR 100/ Foreigners

Read Also: 20 Best Most Visited Tourist Places in Rajasthan

Suggested Rajasthan Packages:

10. Vintage and Classic Car Museum, Udaipur

This loyal luxury museum holds the obsolete cars owned by the kings of Udaipur. The museum holds twenty antique vehicles, including four Rolls – Royce, twelve Mercedes models, MG – TC, Cadillac from 1939, Vauxhall – 12 of 1936, Ford A convertible. Apart from cars, one can find rickshaws operated via solar power, Shell Petrol Pump.

Location: Gulab Bagh Rd, nearby The Garden Hotel, Udaipur, Rajasthan 313001

Timings: 9 am to 9 pm

Entry Fee: INR 250/ Adult, INR 150/ Children

Suggested Udaipur Packages:

11. Sarnath Museum, Sarnath

It is a museum that holds objects from the excavations in Sarnath. It holds five galleries of exhibits, and the two verandahs of this one hold antiquities. The main artifacts of this museum are edifices, sculptures, images, artwork related to Buddhism, between the 3rd century BC and 12th century AD.

Location: Sarnath Station Rd, Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221007

Timings: 9 am to 5 pm – (Closed on Friday)

Entry Fee: INR 200

Read Also: Top 10 Attractions In Sarnath

Suggested Sarnath Package: 2 Nights 3 Day Trip to Sarnath, Varanasi Itinerary

12. Dogra Art Museum, Jammu

Also called Dogra art gallery, it holds a collection of numerous miniature paintings of the Basohli region. The museum houses more than 7000 artifacts, including rare manuscripts, metal objects, the gold bow of Shah Jahan, marble jharokhas. Here one can find paintings, decorative art displays, and terracotta artifacts famous in this museum.

Location: Panjtirthi, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 180001

Timings: 10 am to 5 pm

Entry Fee: INR 10/India, INR 50/Foriegners

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Suggested Jammu & Kashmir Packages:

13. Patna Museum, Patna

It is one of the most renowned museums of Patna, showcasing Hindu and Buddhist artworks. The museums hold a place for rare paintings of the Victorian era, original canon used in WWI, Holic relic casket with Lord Buddha’s ashes, and around 50 000 more delicate and rare up–to–date objects.

Here one can find large structures of animals, including a large bison. The stone sculpture gallery is renowned for Buddha statues and artifacts from the Gupta reign.

Location: Madiri kat pur musuam k bagl m, Patna, Bihar 800001

Timings: 10.30 am to 4.30 pm

Entry Fee: INR 20/Indians, INR 250/Foreigners

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14. Princes of Wales Museum, Mumbai

This museum is in Mumbai, near the Gateway of India. It was founded in the 20th century. Here one can find many sections such as history, archaeology, art, and so on. Details related to Chaulkyas and Gupta era can be found here too.

Location: 159-161, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400023

Timings: 10 am to 3 pm

Entry Fee: INR 85/India, INR 500/Foriegner

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15. Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai

Jehangir Art Gallery is a place to showcase artifacts of prestigious artists. The gallery was founded in 1952, and today it is renowned for art exhibits. This large mansion holds a gallery or paces for visual arts, photography, terrace art, etc. Yearly, there is a meeting that takes place, and three hundred shows are scheduled.

Location: 161B, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001

Timings: 11 am to 7 pm

Entry Fee: No Entry Fees

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16. Mani Bhavan, Mumbai

This historic place dedicated to Gandhi in Mumbai has been converted into a museum. The structure had been once the ltd of Gandhi. Nowadays, the museum has a large library, a collection of ancient photographs from Gandhi’s life, press clippings, a room of Gandhi, a token of Gandhi’s deathbed, spinning wheels

Location: 19, Laburnum Rd, near Police Station, Babulnath, Gamdevi, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400007

Timings: 10 am to 5.30 pm

Entry Fee: No entry fees

Suggested Mumbai Packages:

17. Chitra Museum, Goa

It stands for the museum with more than 4,000 artifacts from ancient colonial times. The museum holds traditional artifacts, ancient tools, vessels, farming equipment. Here are disposed festival palanquins, musical gadgets, showcases of organic farms.

Location: H.No. 498, Near Auxilium High School, Benaulim, Goa 403716

Timings: 9 am to 6 pm

Entry Fee: INR 100/Adult, INR 30/ Children

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Suggested Goa Packages:

18. Hal Aerospace Museum, Bengaluru

It is famous for aircraft being presented out of entire India. It was inaugurated by HAL in 2001, meaning two decades ago. The museum holds numerous artifacts related to aviation, like displaying obsolete models of Indian aero engines. One can find here engines used by the Indian navy and aviation industry. Some of them come from Kiran, Jaguar, and Dornier aircraft. Someone who enjoys aviation can simulate flight in special airplanes by mocking with several gadgets such as a maneuver.

Location: Near HAL Police Station, HAL Old Airport Rd, Marathahalli, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560037

Timings:  9 am to 5 pm

Entry Fee: INR 50

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19. Folklore Museum, Mysore

This museum is renowned for folklore-related issues, and it gathers artifacts from all over the state of India. There are three wings in this museum: folklore section, large doll wing, and folklife wing. The former section displays costumes, Hanuman crown, Kathakali costume, leather dolls, puppets, 200-year-old ink preparation, wooden altar, folk musical instruments, figurines, deities, etc. The doll wing houses dolls and statues. The third section houses daily instruments, agriculture tokens, weaving gadgets, folk games, baskets, utensils, etc.

Location: Manasa Gangothiri, Mysuru, Karnataka 570006

Timings: 8.30 am to 6 pm

Entry Fee: INR 15/ Adult, INR 5/ Child

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Suggested Karnataka Packages:

20. Indian Museum, Kolkata

It is a unique style museum. This contains a skeleton, unique Mughal collections, ornaments, and many others. It is one of the oldest structures in the world. It is in Kolkata,

, and it is worth visiting. One can found here galleries related to archaeology, economic beauty, art, and geology.

Location: 27, Jawaharlal Nehru Rd, Fire Brigade Head Quarter, Taltala, Kolkata, West Bengal 700016

Timings: 10 am to 5 pm

Entry Fee: INR 50/ Adult, INR 20/ Children – INR 500 /Foreigners

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