Last updated: 9 September 2026. I checked every date, price and rule in this Bayeux Tapestry British Museum ticket guide against the museum's own pages on 6 September 2026.
By Tristan · Arts, exhibitions and creative culture
The two dates that matter
Members can book 1 January to 31 March 2027 from 6 October 2026. Everyone else gets the same three months on 21 October 2026.
Check availability at the British Museum
Sold out until January, and the queue was 80,000 people long
The Bayeux Tapestry British Museum display opens on 10 September 2026 and runs to 11 July 2027, and every slot up to 31 December has already gone. So the useful question is no longer where to buy a ticket. It is how to get one at all. The next public release lands on 21 October 2026, membership no longer buys a new joiner what it buys an existing member, and the National Art Pass does something different again.
Why the first Bayeux Tapestry British Museum tickets vanished
Booking opened on 1 July 2026 and the museum took £2.5 million that day, which it called the single biggest day of ticket sales in its history. The Art Newspaper reported an online queue of more than 80,000 people and website traffic at 4.7 times its daily average. By the evening, every slot from 10 September to 31 December 2026 had gone.
Two things made that likely. First, the embroidery has not been in England since English hands made it, nearly 1,000 years ago. The museum's director Nicholas Cullinan calls it "one of the most important and unique cultural artefacts in the world". Second, entry is timed and the route runs one way, so the room takes a fixed number of people an hour. That caps supply in a way an ordinary blockbuster show never does.
The first day took £2.5 million and put 80,000 people in a queue.
Isti mirant stella. The crowd points at Halley's Comet while Harold hears the news. Photograph by Myrabella, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Section 01 / The calendar
When the next Bayeux Tapestry British Museum tickets go on sale
Three releases, not one, and the second is the one to plan around.
The museum is letting the ten-month run out in blocks rather than all at once, so Bayeux Tapestry British Museum tickets arrive in three waves. Tickets for 1 January to 31 March 2027 go on public sale on 21 October 2026. The last block, April to 11 July 2027, opens in early 2027, and the museum has not yet given that a date. Members reach each block first, and I have set both routes side by side below.
Every booking window, taken from the British Museum's exhibition and Membership pages on 6 September 2026.
How to be ready on the day
Queueing systems reward preparation rather than speed of clicking, so a little admin the night before is worth more than fast fingers. The museum sends release news through its own newsletter first, so sign up there rather than waiting for a headline.
- The booking cap. Ten tickets per booking, and the museum cancels multiple bookings made from the same email address.
- The name on the ticket. Only the person who booked can use it, and staff may ask for ID.
- The cheap slots. Super off-peak means term-time weekdays between 15.30 and 16.20, so a Tuesday in February will cost less and is likely to clear last.
- Groups of 11 to 30. Those go through the box office on +44 (0)20 7323 8181 rather than the website.
- The trip in. If you are travelling in for the day, a railcard usually pays for itself on one return, and I keep the current codes on my railcard discount page.
Section 02 / The money
What a Bayeux Tapestry British Museum ticket actually costs
Three adult tiers, a flat concession rate, and a pass that halves all of them.
An adult standard Bayeux Tapestry British Museum ticket is £33. Off-peak drops that to £27, and super off-peak to £25. Students, 16 to 18 year olds, jobseekers and disabled visitors pay £25 whichever tier they book, and a disabled visitor's assistant goes free, though you still need to book that ticket. Under 16s are free with a paying adult, up to four per adult.
Adult prices at each tier, next to the National Art Pass rate. Checked on the British Museum's ticket page, 6 September 2026.
Every tier also offers a version with £3.50 added as a donation, which UK taxpayers can Gift Aid so the museum claims another 25% on the whole price. That donation is optional, and staff treat a plain ticket exactly the same at the door.
Section 03 / Membership
British Museum membership, and the change that catches new joiners
It still buys you the early booking window. It no longer buys you two visits.
Individual membership costs £82 a year by direct debit, or £92 on a card, and £62 for anyone under 26. Adding a guest facility takes it to £112, a second card to £106, and both to £166. Membership covers every special exhibition, so the Korea show opening on 1 October 2026 counts too.
The real prize is the calendar rather than the price. Members booked the January to March 2027 block on 6 October 2026, fifteen days before the public, and they will get the final block in January 2027 while everyone else waits for early 2027. The museum has also said it will keep some member-only time slots running through the display, though fewer than during priority booking. Once a date has sold out, that is the only remaining way into the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum.
One free visit for new joiners, not two
The museum has cut the free visits for new joiners. Anyone who was already a member on 26 August 2026 can book two uncharged visits across the whole run. Anyone joining from 27 August 2026 gets one, with 10% off any further visit. The museum states this plainly on its Visiting as a Member page and describes it as protecting availability for existing members.
So the sum for a new joiner is not £82 against two £33 tickets. It is £82 against one, plus priority on the release date, plus a year of the other exhibitions. On that arithmetic, membership pays off if you were going to visit the museum's paid shows anyway, or if the early booking window is what you actually want. It is poor value if the tapestry is the only thing on your list. Members still have to book a timed ticket like everyone else.
Section 04 / The other card
The National Art Pass is not British Museum membership
Different organisation, different benefit, and it will not get you into a sold-out slot.
The National Art Pass is Art Fund's card, not the British Museum's, and the two are easy to confuse when both promise exhibition access. At this display the pass takes an adult ticket from £33 to £16.50, from £27 to £13.50, and from £25 to £12.50. Half price, at every tier.
What it does not do is move you up the queue. The pass carries no priority booking window, so a holder joins the public scramble on 21 October like everyone else. It does not open a sold-out date, and it does not make entry free the way it does at some smaller venues. My National Art Pass page has the annual cost and the wider list of what it covers, so you can work out whether the rest of the year justifies it.
Reciprocal entry is worth a line too. The museum will not accept ICOM, ICOMOS, Museums Association or NMDC passes for the tapestry between September and December 2026. It says it will publish the 2027 position later in the year.
Section 05 / The hard part
There are no returns, so do not wait for one
The museum's own terms rule out the resale market that usually appears around a sold-out show.
Nobody is handing back Bayeux Tapestry British Museum tickets, and the terms explain why. People assume a sold-out exhibition leaks tickets back as plans change, and at some venues it does. This one blocks that deliberately. The museum's ticket terms say the museum will not refund or exchange a ticket, and that nobody can change the date, time slot or event once a booking completes. So nobody hands a ticket back, because handing it back earns them nothing.
Resale fails from the other direction too. A ticket resold or transferred for profit becomes void, staff can refuse entry, and no compensation follows. Since a ticket carries the booker's name, buying one from a stranger risks losing the money and the visit together. Members are the exception to the drought, because the museum has committed to member-only slots throughout the run.
Section 06 / The visit
What 40 minutes in Room 30 is actually like
Timed, one way, dimly lit, and shorter than most people expect.
The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum sits in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, Room 30, laid flat at a height of 80cm with an animation running behind it. Light levels are low throughout to protect the embroidery, and the route runs one way, so you cannot double back to a scene you rushed. The museum asks you to allow about 40 minutes and starts clearing the space ten minutes before closing.
Tickets arrive by email four days before your slot, and the museum asks visitors to turn up 5 to 10 minutes before the time on the ticket. You can photograph the tapestry without flash, though the museum bars sketching. Buggies and large bags cannot come in, and the paid cloakroom fills up. One accessible toilet sits in the foyer and none inside the space. Leave for the Great Court toilets and you cannot get back in.
Opening hours are 10.00 to 18.00 on Sunday to Wednesday and 10.00 to 21.00 on Thursday to Saturday. Those late evenings carry three extra hours of slots a day, which is where the January release will have the most room.
Section 07 / Plan B
Who should simply wait, and what to do instead
Waiting costs nothing, and the display runs until July.
If you are not a member, not near London, and not free on a weekday, then the January release is a better target than the October scramble. The Bayeux Tapestry British Museum run lasts ten months, the April to July block has not opened at all yet, and school holidays will always be the hardest dates to land. Equally, if you are taking children, the free under-16 tickets make an off-peak weekday the obvious choice anyway.
Bishop Odo blesses the food and drink before Hastings. Photograph by Myrabella, Wikimedia Commons, public domain, cropped.
Three things fill the gap in the meantime. The Bayeux Museum publishes the whole embroidery online, scene by scene, at a resolution no gallery visit will match, and its own building stays shut for renovation until autumn 2027, which is why the loan happened at all. The museum's Bayeux Around Britain programme runs events at more than 60 museums and heritage sites across the UK. And London's other free collections are still free, which is the point of my V&A East review.
Bayeux Tapestry British Museum tickets: frequently asked questions
Is the Bayeux Tapestry sold out?
Every Bayeux Tapestry British Museum slot from 10 September to 31 December 2026 is sold out, for members and for the public alike. Tickets for 1 January to 31 March 2027 go on public sale on 21 October 2026, with member priority booking from 6 October. The April to 11 July 2027 dates open in early 2027.
How much are Bayeux Tapestry tickets?
An adult ticket is £33 standard, £27 off-peak and £25 super off-peak, which is term-time weekdays between 15.30 and 16.20. Students, 16 to 18 year olds, jobseekers and disabled visitors pay £25 at any tier, and under 16s go free with a paying adult.
How long does the visit take?
The museum asks you to allow about 40 minutes. Entry runs on timed slots, the route goes one way, and staff start clearing the space ten minutes before closing.
Does British Museum membership get you in?
It gets you a priority booking window and a free timed ticket, but you still have to book. Members who joined on or before 26 August 2026 get two uncharged visits across the run. Anyone joining from 27 August 2026 gets one, plus 10% off further visits.
Does a National Art Pass work for the Bayeux Tapestry?
Yes, as a half-price ticket rather than free entry: £16.50 standard, £13.50 off-peak and £12.50 super off-peak. It carries no priority booking, so it does not help while a date is sold out.
Can I get a refund or change my time slot?
No. The British Museum's ticket terms rule out refunds and exchanges, and nobody can change the date, time or event after booking. A ticket resold for profit becomes void.
How long is the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum?
It is on display from 10 September 2026 to 11 July 2027 in Room 30, the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery. After that it returns to France for the reopened Bayeux Museum.
More things like this:
- Structured - the planner I would use to put 21 October in your calendar before you forget it.
- Gifts for artists - what to buy the person who will want to talk about the embroidery afterwards.
- Howard Hodgkin, Indian Leaves - a print edition worth owning if a museum shop poster will not do.
- theprintspace discount code - how to get your own photographs printed properly.
- Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - a London show you can still walk into without a nine-month wait.
Disclaimer. Prices, dates and booking rules change. I checked every figure here against the British Museum's own exhibition, Membership and ticket terms pages on 6 September 2026, and the museum can alter any of them. Images: details of the Bayeux Tapestry photographed by Myrabella, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain, cropped for this article. Charts by CoolCuration.
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