One of this country's best museums. Stunning exhibits everywhere. The 'new' building is a work of art on its own. Interesting for kids as well. A very nice expensive restaurant on the roof but a much more affordable Cafe style place downstairs. Every time I go I see something new. Why is it free? If they charged £5 it would surely be acceptable to most people. It would be a huge source of income for the place.

Great Museum with wide range of items on display. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable about all the displayed items and the context that makes them important. Only annoying this is a stand that seeks people's opinion of colonialism that contained some polarising comments.

Fascinating old museum, well presented artefacts from all over world. Plenty of places to sit and appreciate the paintings. Smart restaurant on top floor with views over the rooftops and busy café in the basement with cafes and coffee etc. There are free exhibitions as well as ones those to pay to see. Thoroughly enjoyed spending a full day there. Place to leave coats in lockers £1 retained. Look forward to visiting again.

A number of great collections of works of art spanning all ages and locations. From china to Northern Europe, from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to modern paintings, allow not less then two hours to visit. Interesting information and descriptions of the artefacts.

A truly grand building! The architecture really is stunning and sets the canvas for a very well curated display of fine pieces that span thousands of years and tell the most interesting story of all our ages, cultures, traditions and beliefs. Easy to get around with helpful staff, a nice reasonable cafe and shop.

This museum is absolutely amazing, the displays are fantastic and it is very easy to get around. The building has many floors but there are lifts for those who cannot manage the stairs. An onsite cafe is available for drinks and snacks and of course there is the obligatory over priced shop, however as entrance to the museum is free you can over look this. You are encouraged to give a donation at the entrance which is not unreasonable.

Gorgeous private exhibitions, highly recommend! A beautiful place to explore on a day out. Not to mention the shop has access to a lot of great resources and information. The actual museum staff are great too, I wasn’t able to make an online talk I booked out and they gave me access to watch it later!

We arrived just after lunch time and very quickly realised we had made an error and not arrived early enough. This was further reaffirmed by the first staff member we spoke to who asked us what we were interested in see. Our reply “everything” was greeted with a “that will probably take you a month”. As with most museums, there is lots of information provided for each item, and there is a vast amount of items! We completed viewing the ground floor and were exhausted. There is so much to see, we definitely shouldn’t have been trying to read all the information as well. We completed walking around the lower floor and then had a cafe break. The cafe was busy, but we were served promptly and the drinks and food were the obligatory museum prices. The toilets were all clean and tidy, but unless we missed some, only on the lower floor. We skipped the main part of the second floor due to our senses being overloaded with trinkets and items, stopping off to see the Fang Lijun exhibition. This was impressive. Lots of different works and lots of thought provoking pieces. Definitely a highlight. We then made our way up to the third floor for the art. Most of the galleries were the standard fare: big framed oil paintings that you probably wouldn’t want in your home. Lots of religious themed paintings, portraits and bowls of fruit. We did see some of the familiar names; Reynolds, Van Dyck, Manet, Pissarro, as well as a Van Gogh (not the one currently listed on the museums website) a Matisse and some pretty nice sculptures scattered throughout. The modern art gallery was fine, nothing outstanding. Making our way back down we stopped at the musical instruments and admired the three Stradivari violins. Knowing nothing about violins, it’s still pretty cool to see these in flesh as it were. We ended our visit there, knowing we will come back in the future and see all the things we missed. Don’t underestimate how big this museum is. If you’re happy to aimlessly walk around not paying attention then you could do this in half a day. The displays are so vast if you are interested in just a particular historical moment then a couple of hours will suffice. One annoyance, they do ask you to put your backpack on your front or carry it, this is tedious. We used the park and ride and the bus drops you a five minute walk from all of the action. Overall a fantastic museum. The interactive stuff was all a bit tacky and tired, and not particularly engaging so bear that in mind if you’re taking young people.

This is clearly a popular museum with a lot of interesting exhibits, many of which are free. It is a vibrant and multicultural space, with so much going on (e.g. showcasing Indian dance while we were there). We primarily came for the Colour Revolution exhibition about Victorian art, fashion, and design. This was an interesting exhibition with quite a varied display of objects and art but, as a fee paying exhibition, I maybe expected a bit more. Exhibitions at other museums I've paid for have been much more extensive, or had much more "wow factor" exhibits displayed. It was worth going to, but we also paid half price with the Art Fund pass; I think I'd have expected more had I travelled further or paid more. The rest of the museum is clearly worth a look in too though and well worth a visit if in Oxford.

I have lived in the area for over 15 years and only just made it to the Ashmolean. I was blown away by it and had no idea it was as good as it was. We barely touched the surface in half a day and will go back. The exhibits are exceptional. We preferred it to the British Museum... it isn't on the same scale, but you could take your time and really appreciate the displays. Fascinating stuff. Thank you!