National Art Pass: how to enjoy 250+ UK galleries & museums

Are you an art lover? Looking for a meaningful gift for someone who is? A National Art Pass opens up a whole world of artistic and cultural inspiration.

As a National Art Pass holder, you’ll get free access to more than 250 art galleries, museums and historic houses in the UK. And if that wasn’t enough, you’ll also unlock discounted entry at a range of other places, including must-see exhibitions.

In this guide, we’ll give you a rundown of all the things that make the National Art Pass fantastic. We’ve got information about the latest membership costs too. And because our passion is saving you money, we’ll also tell you how to unlock discounts, as well as how to maximise your pass to save the most money.

National Art Pass prices went up in January 2026, so before we get into the details, here’s a quick breakdown of the new membership fees. Remember, there are alternative, cheaper Art Passes available for students and teachers, so keep reading for more information.

What is a National Art Pass and what will I get?

The National Art Pass is a UK membership run by Art Fund, the national charity for art. Art Fund’s purpose is to support museums in the UK by raising all-important funds to help them maintain and grow their collections and, therefore, grow their audiences.

In order to get more people through the doors of museums and galleries, entry to these spaces needs to be more affordable. This is why Art Fund provide the National Art Pass, which grants you entry to hundreds of places across the UK for £65.25*.

Here’s what you’ll get with your annual membership:

🎨 Free entry to 250+ museums, galleries and historic houses in the UK
🎨 50% off entry to major exhibitions in the UK
🎨 Special offers at museum shops and cafés
🎨 Free and discounted entry to in-person and online events
🎨 A physical copy of the Art Map guidebook
🎨 Four copies of Art Quarterly magazine each year
🎨 Art In Your Inbox email subscription with the latest news and offers

Here are just a few places you can get free or discounted entry to with your National Art Pass in 2026. Keep reading to find more places to use your National Art Pass.

📍 National Galleries Scotland (Edinburgh)

📍 Scottish Maritime Museum (Dumbarton)

📍 Wordsworth Grasmere (Lake District)

📍 Chatsworth House (Bakewell)

📍 Colchester Castle

📍 The Design Museum (London)

📍 Natural History Museum (London)

📍 Apsley House (London)

📍 National Gallery (London)

📍 The National Maritime Museum (London)

📍 The Royal Pavilion (Brighton)

📍 Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

You can also enjoy discounts in shops and cafés at a wide range of UK museums and galleries. Bear in mind that a place offering shop and/or café discounts for Art Pass card holders won’t necessarily be offering free or discounted entry (although they may do).

Here are some of the galleries and museums where you may be able to enjoy 10% off in the shop or café with your Art Pass:

📍 ️Leicester Museum & Art Gallery

📍️️ Ikon Gallery (Birmingham)

📍 Thinktank (Birmingham)

📍 artFix (London)

📍 The William Morris Gallery (London)

📍 Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

📍 Folkestone Museum

📍 Georgian House Museum (Bristol)

📍 The Box (Plymouth)

📍 Falmouth Art Gallery

How much does a National Art Pass cost?

The National Art Pass is an annual membership that can be paid for by a one-off card payment or an annual direct debit. The annual direct debit option is cheaper, and you can cancel your commitment at any time (although you won’t get a refund).

You can find everything you need to know about membership prices, add-ons and discounts below. Remember that all of the prices shown are for annual memberships, and there are no monthly membership options.

While Art Fund don’t offer refunds for cancelled memberships, you can benefit from the annual direct debit discount even if you cancel your membership before you renew. If you do opt for this approach, make sure you cancel your membership at least five working days before your renewal date.

If you’re buying a National Art Pass with another person, you can save money with a Double Membership (as long as you both live together). A Double Pass starts from £97.50 for the first year, which works out cheaper than paying for two adult passes (£65.25 each, so £130.50). 

An Adult pass (£65.25) with a Plus One add-on (£49) comes to £114.25, which is more expensive than a Double Pass. However, if you don’t live with the other person, the Plus One pass will be your only option (and it’s still cheaper than buying two adult passes).

Bear in mind that if one or both of you are under 30, you can unlock cheaper prices. Two single Under-30 passes will cost £79.50 total, saving you £18 compared to buying a Double Pass. If only one of you is under 30, the Double Pass works out £7.50 cheaper than buying a standard membership and an Under-30 membership separately.

Student Art Pass

Art Fund have a separate Art Pass for students, which includes all the benefits of the National Art Pass at an even more heavily-discounted price.

The Student Art Pass costs £10 annually and is available to all full-time college and university students in the UK. Student Art Pass holders also get exclusive access to paid arts opportunities to help you jumpstart your career.

Teacher Art Pass

Teachers can also benefit from discounted Art Pass membership prices. A 12-month Teacher Art Pass costs £25 via annual direct debit or £35 as a one-off payment.

To qualify, you must currently work as a teacher in paid employment at a government-registered UK early years, primary school, secondary school, or further education college teaching 16 to 18-year-olds. This pass is also compatible with the Plus One and Plus Kids membership add-ons, so you can bring others along at a discounted price.

Where can I use my National Art Pass?

National Art Pass holders get free entry to more than 250 places across the UK. This includes some exhibitions, although more often than not, tickets are discounted rather than free.

Below you’ll see just a few of the many places you can enjoy for free with your National Art Pass. We’ve included the standard entry price (correct as of January 2026) for each to demonstrate how much you could save.

Remember that many of the places listed on Art Fund’s website offer 50% off entry to exhibitions, not free entry. Make sure you check each listing before committing to your visit, as you may end up spending more than you planned.

Many museums and galleries in the UK have restricted collections that you can just walk in off the street and view. In fact, all national museums and galleries in the UK are required to offer the public free entry to their permanent collections.

So, for example, anyone can visit the main permanent collection at the Tate Modern for free. However, if you want to visit their 2026 Tracey Emin exhibition, you’ll need a ticket (which will be half price with your Art Pass). Here are a few of the places offering 50% off exhibitions for cardholders:

How to get the most from your National Art Pass

If you’re weighing up whether a National Art Pass is right for you or not, it might help to hear more about how you can get more from your membership.

How quickly you’re able to break even on the cost of your membership will depend on how often you use your National Art Pass. The more places you visit for free, the sooner you’ll make the cost of your membership back in savings.

Let’s suppose you’re spending a few days in London and are hoping to visit a range of museums and galleries during your stay. If you visited the following five places over the course of your trip, you’d break even on your £65.25 membership fee:

The savings are harder to estimate when it comes to exhibitions. It really depends on where you’re visiting, but we reckon you’ll need to visit around 10 half-price exhibitions within the year to break even.

Remember that even though you’re getting a discount, you’ll still need to pay for the other half of your ticket. This could range from £5 to around £15, depending on where you go. So, ‘breaking even’ in this context still means you’ll have paid £65.25 for the membership, and then another £65.25 in exhibition fees.

Here are some 50%-off exhibitions at various museums and art galleries across London in 2026. These are peak prices, so it’s possible you will pay even less if you visit off-peak.

We've used the price of a standard membership in the examples here, but those with an Under 30s, Teacher or Student Art Pass will break even on the upfront cost quicker.

While it will take around five visits to break even on a standard membership, under 30s could break even in as few as three visits, teachers in two, and students in just one visit.

Reasons we love the National Art Pass

Whether you visit galleries and museums often or are looking for ways to expand your horizons, the National Art Pass has so much to offer.

The National Art Pass gives you a cheaper and more accessible way to enjoy galleries and museums in your local area and beyond. But the impact goes further than you might think.

Art Fund have been supporting arts, culture and heritage in the UK for over 120 years. Among their most prolific achievements, they led the campaign that saved the Staffordshire Hoard in 2010. Their Art Fund Museum of the Year award has also been helping to promote and fund excellent museums since 2013.

When you buy a National Art Pass, you’re helping make more of these achievements possible in the future. So, you can help preserve and champion galleries and museums while also getting to enjoy them at a discounted price. Everyone’s a winner.

Is the National Art Pass worth it?

While it’s pretty obvious we’re big fans of the Art Fund and the work they do, this doesn’t mean the National Art Pass is the right choice for everyone.

If you regularly visit museums and galleries, or you’re serious about increasing how often you do, a National Art Pass can help you enjoy more while paying less.

But before you commit to buying your membership, you’ll want to make sure there are things you’re interested in seeing. Make a list of the museums, art galleries, and historic places you’re interested in visiting. For each place, first check whether they’re featured on the Art Fund website. If they are, have a look to see whether they’re offering free entry or only discounted entry/exhibition tickets.

Bear in mind that a fair few of the places advertising as free entry with the National Art Pass are actually free to enter anyway. This makes it important to check the venue’s own website to confirm you’re actually making a saving.

It’s also a good idea to thoroughly check Art Fund’s website listings for places offering discounted entry or 50% off their major exhibitions. Is the discounted price a good enough saving for you? If you think you’ll break even on your membership cost by visiting free galleries and museums alone, then this won’t be an issue.

Don’t forget that discounted Art Passes are available for some groups, which can help you maximise your savings. For example, the Student Art Pass is significantly cheaper than a standard adult membership or Under-30 pass despite having all the same benefits.

A brush with brilliance

The National Art Pass allows you to enjoy galleries and museums at discounted prices, while also supporting arts, culture and history in the UK.

But if you’re not going to use your Art Pass very often, you won’t make savings. We recommend you research where you want to go and what you want to see before you commit to the annual membership. Generally speaking, you could make back the cost of your membership by visiting five or more places where Art Pass holders get free entry.

If you live near London or are planning a trip, you could make back the membership cost in one weekend. Those in smaller towns or cities may find their options are limited.

Savings aside, Art Fund are making art, history and culture more accessible for people in the UK, and we think that’s pretty remarkable.