Best World War 2 museums: relive the past and walk in the footsteps of our wartime heroes

Learn life on the Home Front during World War 2, when we were threatened with invasion, and how the Allies eventually overcame the might of the German Army with these fascinating museums

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Published: Friday, 31 May 2024 at 14:06 PM

Rediscover what life was like on the Home Front as well as the Front Line during the Second World War at these fascinating museums, says Emma Field

Best World War Two museums

Eden Camp Modern History Theme Museum

  • Malton, North Yorkshire

Originally built to house prisoners of war, this museum lifts the lid on wartime life through medals, photos, contemporary newspaper front pages, POW artefacts and a Dig for Victory garden. 
www.edencamp.co.uk

Ramsgate Tunnels

A group of people in Ramsgate tunnel during an air raid by German bombers. Getty images
  • Ramsgate, Kent

In 1940, the Daily Express called Ramsgate’s deep-shelter system of tunnels “the safest spot in Britain”. The tunnels were designed to shelter 60,000 people, and about 1,000 people lived down here permanently.
www.ramsgatetunnels.org 

Royal Navy Submarine Museum

The British Royal Navy’s HMS Alliance, the only surviving British WWII era submarine, stands in dock following a £7M conservation and restoration project at The Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport on April 3, 2014. HMS Alliance, launched in 1945 as one of fourteen A class submarines built for service in the Far East, is now open at The Royal Navy Submarine Museum, allowing visitors to gain insight into life onboard. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

Gosport, Hampshire

Experienced submariners lift the hatch on life in the Silent Service on a tour of HMS Alliance, the only surviving British ocean-going submarine from WWII. Atmospheric noises and smells included.
submarine-museum.co.uk

Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park
  • Milton Keynes, Bucks

No list of WW2 museums would be complete without a mention of the world famous Bletchley. Vital intelligence activity took place at Bletchley. Alan Turing and a team of codebreakers played a crucial but top-secret part in helping Britain win the war by cracking the Enigma code from a hut in the grounds. www.bletchleypark.org.uk

Churchill War Rooms

Getty images
  • London

Churchill, key cabinet members and government staff took shelter in this underground bunker beneath the streets of Westminster. The Map Room has been left exactly as it was when they emerged in 1945.
www.iwm.org.uk

Orkney Wireless Museum

G J Coyne, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Kirkwall, Scotland

WWII maps, Allied and German radios and photos of wartime Orkney are displayed, along with information on how wireless helped defend the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.
orkney.orkney-wireless-museum

Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

Getty images
  • East Kirky, Lincolnshire

    Sited on an original WWII airfield. There’s a restored Control Tower, a hangar filled with RAF memorabilia and the chance to taxi in a Lancaster bomber.
    lincsaviation.co.uk 

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Header image: The Map Room in Cabinet War Rooms bunker, which has been preserved entirely unchanged since the second World War. Getty Images

Best World War 2 museums

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