Museums – they’re an undisputed must-see when you’re visiting a new place and keen to soak up some culture. Plenty are tiny, unique and full of niche artefacts, while others are mammoth institutions that sit atop many travel wishlists.
But which are the most visited museums on Earth? Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) has just produced its annual index of visitor numbers from 2025, ranking the 20 most popular institutions.
Claiming first place, it’s not the Louvre, nor is it London’s Natural History Museum or the Vatican – it’s the Palace Museum in Beijing.
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Also known as the Forbidden City, this place was established 101 years ago and is a beacon of traditional Chinese art, artefacts and relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties. So, how many people visit this place each year? Well, according to the index, it’s a staggering 19 million.
The Louvre was the highest-ranking spot outside of China, coming fourth with just over 9 million visitors. Alongside London’s Natural History Museum in seventh and the Vatican in eighth, the British Museum and the Palace of Versailles also claimed top-10 spots. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York claimed 17th place with nearly 6 million people visiting it last year, but the ranking was completely dominated by East Asia.
In fact, the Palace Museum was just one of the 12 Chinese institutions that made the ranks, with the Summer Palace (also in Beijing) and the Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site rounding out the top three.
The world’s 20 most-visited museums
- Palace Museum, Beijing – 19,000,000 visitors per year
- Summer Palace, Beijing– 17,381,000
- Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, Xi’an – 10,970,000
- Musée du Louvre, Paris – 9,046,000
- Palace of Versailles, France – 8,400,000
- Shenzhen Nanshan District Museum, Shenzhen – 7,455,000
- Natural History Museum, London – 7,117,000
- Vatican Museums, Vatican City – 6,934,000
- Opium War Museum, Dongguan – 6,929,000
- National Museum of China, Beijing – 6,900,000
- Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul – 6,887,000
- National Museum of Korea, Seoul – 6,507,000
- British Museum, London – 6,440,000
- Prince Kung’s Mansion Museum, Beijing – 6,120,000
- Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan – 6,080,000
- Chengdu Wuhou Shrine Museum, Chengdu – 6,030,000
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – 5,984,000
- Nanjing Museum, Nanjing – 5,860,000
- Shenyang Palace Museum, Shenyang – 5,852,000
- China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing – 5,530,000
🏛️ While you’re here, have a look at our roundup of the museums that everyone should visit in their lifetime.
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