Most Visited Museums

The world’s most visited museums reveal where global culture draws the largest crowds. This ranking lists museums by annual visitor numbers, with each entry tied to a year, location, source, and verification status.

Visitor figures can vary depending on how museums count guests, exhibitions, sites, branches, and ticketed attendance. Global Museum Reviews uses sourced attendance data and editorial checks to make the ranking clear, useful, and transparent.

Annual museum attendance

Most Visited Museums in the World 2024

Explore the world’s busiest museums by annual attendance, with each entry tied to a city, country, reporting year, source, and verification status.

#12024

Palace Museum

Beijing, China

17M

annual visitors · data year 2024 · Industry report

#22024

Chengdu Wuhou Shrine Museum

Chengdu, China

14.6M

annual visitors · data year 2024 · Industry report

#32024

Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum

Xi'an, China

11.6M

annual visitors · data year 2024 · Industry report

#4

Musée du Louvre

Paris, France

Industry report
8,737,0008.7M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#5

Opium War Museum

Dongguan, China

Industry report
7,221,0007.2M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#6

National Museum of China

Beijing, China

Industry report
6,957,0007M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#7

Vatican Museums

Vatican City, Vatican City

Industry report
6,825,0006.8M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#8

Shenzhen Nanshan District Museum

Shenzhen, China

Industry report
6,805,0006.8M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#9

British Museum

London, United Kingdom

Industry report
6,480,0006.5M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#10

Natural History Museum, London

London, United Kingdom

Industry report
6,302,0006.3M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#11

Sanxingdui Museum

Guanghan, China

Industry report
5,994,0006M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#12

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York City, United States

Industry report
5,727,0005.7M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#13

Nanjing Museum

Nanjing, China

Industry report
5,680,0005.7M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#14

China Science and Technology Museum

Beijing, China

Industry report
5,421,0005.4M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#15

American Museum of Natural History

New York City, United States

Industry report
5,400,0005.4M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#16

The Museum of Dr Sun Yat-Sen

Zhongshan, China

Industry report
5,100,0005.1M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#17

Tate Modern

London, United Kingdom

Industry report
4,603,0004.6M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#18

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

Industry report
3,937,0003.9M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#19

National Museum of Natural History

Washington, D.C., United States

Industry report
3,900,0003.9M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source
#20

Musée d'Orsay

Paris, France

Industry report
3,751,0003.8M annual visitors
Data year 2024Source

How to read the attendance ranking

This page is a 2026 edition built from the latest available visitor data, not invented 2026 attendance. Some museums already have 2025 reported figures; others remain on the latest reliable 2024 global attendance records until newer numbers are published.

Attendance figures are useful because they show global demand, travel patterns, and the public reach of major cultural institutions. They are not a quality score. Each entry is tied to a reporting year, city, country, source link, and verification status so the ranking can be updated cleanly as new annual reports appear.