Discovery Museum
Discovery Museum
4.5
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
11:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
It’s free to get in to Discovery Museum, which is a massive space showcasing the best of Tyneside’s heritage over three floors and extensive galleries crammed with inventions, world-firsts, model ships and interactive activities for curious kids – and adults! Telling the story of Newcastle and its people from Roman times through to the present day Discovery Museum champions the spirit of the north east area. With events on all year. Closed on Bank Holidays.
Duration: More than 3 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingWhat is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience nearby attractions
Are you currently on your trip?
Help us find experiences available for you.
The area
Address
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
1,439 within 3 miles
Attractions
372 within 6 miles
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
1,781 reviews
Excellent
1,082
Very good
531
Average
127
Poor
25
Terrible
16
GlennA946
Whitehaven, UK265 contributions
Jul 2024 • Solo
I haven't visited the Discovery Museum for many years, so was interested to visit it agsin as I enjoyed my last visit 10 years ago. Glad to say the museum is still well worth a visit and free, and is popular with families with children who will love the interactive features and the Science Maze.
I really loved the model of the ship Turbinia, the history of Newcastle from the Roman era to the Millenium, and the section devoted to the local army regiment from the 18th century to the present day. You want to see a football ticket from the 1970s, an early machine gun and one of the first mobile phones, the Discovery Museum is the place to go. It seems to combine its role as a science museum, local history museum and military museum very well and the staff are both knowlegeable and helpful. Being an electronics geek, I was also delighted to see a display of valve radios, early television sets, video recorders and brick like moblle phones from the eighties.
The Discovery Museum gets a deserved five stars from me as it is such a diverse and interesting museum and you can spend a whole afternoon looking at the exhibits. Note- the museum is better visited by public transport as parking outside is quite limited.
I really loved the model of the ship Turbinia, the history of Newcastle from the Roman era to the Millenium, and the section devoted to the local army regiment from the 18th century to the present day. You want to see a football ticket from the 1970s, an early machine gun and one of the first mobile phones, the Discovery Museum is the place to go. It seems to combine its role as a science museum, local history museum and military museum very well and the staff are both knowlegeable and helpful. Being an electronics geek, I was also delighted to see a display of valve radios, early television sets, video recorders and brick like moblle phones from the eighties.
The Discovery Museum gets a deserved five stars from me as it is such a diverse and interesting museum and you can spend a whole afternoon looking at the exhibits. Note- the museum is better visited by public transport as parking outside is quite limited.
Written 26 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Natalie D
14 contributions
Apr 2024 • Family
The best free attraction around. We have a 11yo 9yo and a 2 yo and they have had so much to do. The museum had so much we had no idea about and things we do remember but our kids called us old. I would recommend everyone who’s got little people and who are in Newcastle to visit this museum and just have some time as a family and enjoy everything Newcastle has to offer.
Written 27 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michelle-Louise S
Bristol, UK57 contributions
Aug 2024 • Family
Never been before but we decided to give it a try. My children really enjoyed themselves in the science maze where they had things to play with.
It is free to go in but the cafe is a bit pricey-and you aren’t allowed to bring outside food. As per every museum the gift shop is expensive.
It is free to go in but the cafe is a bit pricey-and you aren’t allowed to bring outside food. As per every museum the gift shop is expensive.
Written 24 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Roderick D
Buckfastleigh, UK38 contributions
Sept 2024 • Couples
We visited this museum and really enjoyed the experience. We particularly liked the exhibition about people who had made their home in Newcastle as immigrants. Very poignant in parts but also uplifting.
The exhibition about the history of Newcastle was enthralling and we spent over 2 hours here in our second visit of the week.
The cafe staff were very helpful and the food well presented and tasty.
A great museum , a great experience.
You must not miss it when you are in the City
The exhibition about the history of Newcastle was enthralling and we spent over 2 hours here in our second visit of the week.
The cafe staff were very helpful and the food well presented and tasty.
A great museum , a great experience.
You must not miss it when you are in the City
Written 14 September 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
romeo4
Dundee, UK170 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
Fascinating museum with history of Newcastle, star attraction to me was Turbinia, pity you could not get a closer look but I guess the H and S would be a nightmare. Judging by the children’s excitement they enjoyed it too, a great place to entertain youngsters for the day.
Staff are excellent, explaining where they can, unfortunately for me the resident expert on Turnbinia was not there today but a friendly guide gave the the email address of the guide who could answer my questions, impressed!
Cafe is excellent, spotlessly clean and very good staff who ensure you get what you want. The fruit scones were so fresh I struggled to get the jam and real clotted cream onto them without them breaking up. Jam first then cream if you put cream on first the jam just slides off never understood the argument about which is first. Decent coffee too. Recommended.
Don’t forget to give a donation on the way out, they deserve it
Staff are excellent, explaining where they can, unfortunately for me the resident expert on Turnbinia was not there today but a friendly guide gave the the email address of the guide who could answer my questions, impressed!
Cafe is excellent, spotlessly clean and very good staff who ensure you get what you want. The fruit scones were so fresh I struggled to get the jam and real clotted cream onto them without them breaking up. Jam first then cream if you put cream on first the jam just slides off never understood the argument about which is first. Decent coffee too. Recommended.
Don’t forget to give a donation on the way out, they deserve it
Written 8 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Susan E
Philadelphia, PA1,138 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
On our way from Wales to the Scottish coast this was a perfect stop to stretch our legs and learn about the history of Newcastle. It has interactive exhibits for the young and young at heart with o variety of interesting collections. There is metered parking out front
Written 1 October 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Mike
Glossop, UK1,506 contributions
Nov 2024 • Solo
Whilst quite enjoyable I did find the museum a little confused about its identity. There were extensive local history displays and a lot of model ships, plus a military section and a section about people who had come to the city from elsewhere.
A small number of displays were badly lit and difficult to read and it’s quite poor to have the lift for wheelchair users out of action for what looked like a long period.
The best bit is the local history section that takes you on a journey through from Roman times to present day. There are interesting features on specific areas of the city like Byker. Another very interesting section was about the Mauretania and I would like to have found out a bit more about the rise and decline of the shipbuilding heritage.
A small number of displays were badly lit and difficult to read and it’s quite poor to have the lift for wheelchair users out of action for what looked like a long period.
The best bit is the local history section that takes you on a journey through from Roman times to present day. There are interesting features on specific areas of the city like Byker. Another very interesting section was about the Mauretania and I would like to have found out a bit more about the rise and decline of the shipbuilding heritage.
Written 15 November 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Julie H
39 contributions
Dec 2024 • Friends
Was born in the outskirts of Newcastle but have never been to the Discovery museum. Brought university friends for a visit- all in our 60’s now and learnt so much. Excellent museum, liked the stories of the inspirational women can highly recommend
Written 3 December 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
AnatoliZ
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK467 contributions
Apr 2024 • Family
It is an excellent museum. We visited it with children a couple of times recently and will revisit it in the future. It has excellent facilities and many exhibitions. We especially liked the ground-floor exhibition about the history of Newcastle and the top-floor technological maze. The staff and supporters did a great job. There are plenty of parking options within a short working distance.
Written 21 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lorraine M
1 contribution
Apr 2024 • Family
We had a fun family visit with our 5 year old Grandson. We all enjoyed it, great interactive things, although a few of them do require some maintenance, and lots of interesting exhibits, especially the Turbinia!
Didn’t have time today to see everything, but we definitely want to come back.
However we won’t be visiting cafe next time. £2.90 for a mug of tea, and our sandwiches which were £5.50 had very minimal fillings (a small sprinkling of grated cheese and a few wafer thin slices of tomatoes (and the bread was dry)!! 👎
Didn’t have time today to see everything, but we definitely want to come back.
However we won’t be visiting cafe next time. £2.90 for a mug of tea, and our sandwiches which were £5.50 had very minimal fillings (a small sprinkling of grated cheese and a few wafer thin slices of tomatoes (and the bread was dry)!! 👎
Written 27 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Is the museum suitable for a 2 year old is there plenty for them to do?
Written 31 October 2020
It was LEGO tables as well as interactive displays
Written 11 December 2020
Hi I would like to know if there are any human remains like bones and organs in the discovery museum newcastle
Written 18 October 2017
Showing results 1-4 of 4
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing