National Maritime Museum

The museum opened in 1937 in buildings that had been the Royal Hospital School, and it holds around two and a half million items covering British seafaring, exploration, trade and empire, which makes it the largest maritime collection anywhere. Nelson's uniform coat from Trafalgar is displayed with the musket ball hole in the shoulder. Turner's Battle of Trafalgar, his largest painting and his only royal commission, hangs in the museum. The galleries have been reworked since the 2010s to address the slave trade and the empire directly rather than around them. The Queen's House next door, by Inigo Jones and completed in 1635, was the first classical building in England and holds the art collection.

What you actually see

• Nelson's coat - the uniform he was shot in at Trafalgar, hole and all.
• Turner's Trafalgar - his largest canvas, painted for William IV.
• The Queen's House - Inigo Jones's 1635 building with the Tulip Stairs.
• The empire galleries - reworked displays on trade, slavery and colonial history.

When to go

Year-round; Greenwich is busiest at weekends when the market runs. The wider Maritime Greenwich site including the Observatory and the Old Royal Naval College takes a full day.

Honest expectations

The Royal Observatory up the hill charges separately and is the part most visitors actually want. Greenwich sites are spread over a large park with a steep climb to the Observatory. Weekends are crowded.

Nearby

The Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory are all within Greenwich Park.