Photo: No Swan So Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0
South Kensington
The museum quarter of London, home to the Natural History Museum, V&A, and Science Museum.
About South Kensington
South Kensington is London's cultural quarter, home to a remarkable concentration of world-class institutions established on land purchased with profits from the Great Exhibition of 1851. Within a ten-minute walk, visitors can find the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, and the Royal College of Music. The neighbourhood has a distinctly continental character, with a large French expatriate community clustered around the Lycee Francais, giving it a Parisian atmosphere in parts. Exhibition Road, redesigned as a shared-surface street in 2012, is a pleasant pedestrian route connecting the museums.
Known for
What homes sell for in South Kensington
Completed sales registered with HM Land Registry, May 2025 to Apr 2026
- SW7, South Kensington
- £1.39m
- Median sale price from 163 sales
Things to do in South Kensington
Home to 80 million specimens spanning billions of years of life on Earth, including the iconic blue whale skeleton.
The world's greatest museum of art and design, with 5,000 years of human creativity across 145 galleries.
Five floors of interactive science exhibits, from Stephenson's Rocket to the Apollo 10 command module.
Britain's most famous concert venue, home to the BBC Proms and world-class performances since 1871.
Where to eat and drink in South Kensington
Filmed in South Kensington
The hugely popular Regency-era romance series used several locations around the borough to depict London high society. The exterior of the Royal Albert Hall stood in for various ballrooms and society venues, while the streets around South Kensington and Kensington provided the Regency-era streetscapes of the ton.
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP
The James Bond franchise has returned to Kensington and Chelsea repeatedly over six decades. Most memorably, the Grade II listed 68 Cadogan Square in Chelsea doubled as M's apartment in Skyfall (2012), the building Daniel Craig's Bond famously breaks into. The Chelsea Embankment, the streets of South Kensington, and various private members' clubs in the area have also featured across multiple films. The Royal Geographical Society on Exhibition Road has appeared in several scenes requiring a grand London exterior.
Chelsea Embankment, London SW3
The BBC's long-running sci-fi series has made good use of the borough's dramatic Victorian architecture. The Natural History Museum's Gothic Waterhouse Building has featured in multiple episodes, most memorably when the museum itself becomes the setting for alien encounters. The grand scale of the building, with its ornate terracotta facade, provides an ideal backdrop for the show's ambitious storytelling.
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
Tom Cruise's final outing as Ethan Hunt made striking use of the Natural History Museum's magnificent Hintze Hall, dressing it as the American Embassy for a pivotal early scene. The grand Romanesque interior, with its soaring arches, terracotta columns, and Hope the blue whale, makes an instantly recognisable backdrop. The film continued the Mission: Impossible franchise's long love affair with London's grand institutional interiors, following earlier films' use of the borough's streets and buildings.
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD