I love visiting museums! But often time I do not get to spend as much time as I would want in each one. So I use the free virtual museum tours to revisit (or see for the first time) some collections.
Like me, travelers and art lovers from across the globe can now explore famous European museums from home with free virtual tours. From Paris to London or Vienna, these top art museums offer immersive online experiences so you can enjoy world-class collections of paintings and sculptures without leaving home. I have included below many of my favourite art museums, as well as some nice surprises I discovered online!
In this listicle, I highlighted 30 must-see European art museums with free online tours, perfect for culture lovers, students, and globetrotters planning future trips. Be sure to bookmark and share this guide, and check out our other travel and culture articles for inspiration!
Virtual Tours vs. Live Tours
While technology continues to improve, virtual tours serve a different purpose than physical visits. They allow for closer examination of details, and let you visit multiple museums across continents in a single day.
However, the emotional impact of standing before a masterpiece, the social experience of museum-going, and the connection to place cannot be fully replicated digitally. Virtual tours complement rather than replace physical visits—they’re perfect for planning future travels, revisiting favorites, or accessing collections you may never have the opportunity to visit in person.
I visited some of the museums below in person, and it was an excellent experience. However, the online tour allows me to see some details, spend more time admiring one work of art or another or even to see some items that I did not have the necessary time to admire when visiting.
I also visited some of the museums for the first time while writing the article (so that I know what I am talking about, but also because I love visiting museums) and this experience will allow me to enjoy my future trips and future museum visits!
An important note: I cannot include the hyperlinks to all the museums because it would become an article too link-dense. BUT I am including a link to all the tours I mention below – you can simply copy it into your browser and your online museum tour can begin!
Top 30 Art Museums in Europe With Free Virtual Tours
1. The Louvre – Paris, France
The Louvre – Paris, France
The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum and one of the most visited museums in the world, home to masterpieces like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
Its official site now features free virtual tours of select galleries and interactive VR exhibits. For example, you can “visit the museum rooms and galleries” online, and even explore Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, a virtual reality project on da Vinci’s process.
These tours let art lovers wander the palace and see iconic works up close from home – and when you go to Paris, include these museums on your itinerary.
Tour here: https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne – the collections are here https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore
2. Musée d’Orsay – Paris, France
Musée d’Orsay – Paris, France
Housed in a grand former train station, the Musée d’Orsay contains France’s premier 19th-century art collection. It is one my favourite museums in the world.
Its galleries include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces by Monet, Van Gogh and Degas.
Now, I have to confess that I love Impressionist paintings, and visiting this museum was a pure personal joy. However, you cannot take pictures there. So you will only have the option to buy art albums and you will have your memories, but that is all.
This is the reason why I am truly happy that there is a free virtual tour for Orsay – as well as the opportunity to explore the collection online here https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections.
Google offers a detailed virtual street-view tour of the Musée d’Orsay’s halls, so visitors can wander its grand central nave and view art virtually. Tour here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris
3. Musée de l’Orangerie – Paris, France
Adjacent to the Tuileries, the Orangerie is famed for Monet’s monumental Water Lilies murals and a collection of early modern art. As its Google Arts & Culture profile explains, “Claude Monet… showcase[d] his ‘testamentary’ masterpieces” of Nymphéas, alongside works by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, and others.
Google Arts & Culture provides a 360° Virtual Tour of the Orangerie, allowing visitors to step into Monet’s oval rooms and see his Water Lilies and other works up close: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-de-lorangerie – the collection is here https://www.musee-orangerie.fr/fr/collection
4. Centre Pompidou – Paris, France
France’s National Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou boasts the second-largest modern art collection in the world. Its collection spans 20th-century giants like Picasso, Kandinsky, and Warhol.
The Pompidou’s website offers web-based exhibitions and tours – including 360° virtual galleries and guided video tours of highlights. For example, you can virtually explore its Kandinsky and Miró exhibits or take a digital stroll through the building’s tubular architecture.
Tours here: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/program/virtual-exhibitions – and admire the collection here https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/collection
5. Uffizi Gallery – Florence, Italy
Italy’s Uffizi Gallery is a Renaissance treasure trove, with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio in its halls. The official site praises the Uffizi’s “outstanding collections” of ancient and Renaissance art.
You can take a free Google Arts & Culture virtual tour of the Uffizi, with 360° street-view panoramas of each gallery. This lets you wander from the medieval collection to the salon of Botticelli from your couch.
The museum made many works of art available online here https://www.uffizi.it/en/pages/digital-archives and you can go here https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/uffizi-gallery for a virtual tour.
6. Vatican Museums – Vatican City (Rome, Italy)
Vatican Museums – Vatican City
The Vatican Museums hold immense art and antiquities, including the Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s Rooms. The Museums’ website offers seven free online tours covering its major highlights – you can see them here https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.1.html.
Visitors at home can explore the Sistine Chapel frescoes, wander the classical sculpture halls, or stroll through the Raphael Galleries virtually. As you cannot take pictures – in the Sistine Chapel for instance – visiting it – or revisiting it – online is an unmissable opportunity. Discover the collections here https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni.html
7. Galleria dell’Accademia – Florence, Italy
Florence’s Accademia Gallery is world-famous as the home of Michelangelo’s David and other Renaissance sculptures. As Wikipedia notes, it is “best known as the home of Michelangelo’s sculpture David”.
Even without a formal tour link, art fans can use Google’s online museum maps to peek inside and see David in 3d https://artsandculture.google.com/story/michelangelo-39-s-david-in-3d/dAWBjX-EWTtdYA?hl=en. The virtual tours are here: https://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it/en/accademia-online/# and here https://www.galleriaaccademiafirenze.it/en/collections/
8. Museo del Prado – Madrid, Spain
Spain’s Prado Museum is one of Europe’s finest art collections. It grew from the Spanish royal collection and includes Velázquez’s Las Meninas, Goya’s portraits, Bosch, El Greco, Titian and Rubens.
The Prado offers a free “Virtual Tour of the Collection” on its website, with 360° views of its galleries. Even Google’s Arts pages invite visitors to explore the museum’s floors via Street View. In short, you can take a virtual visit to see masterpieces like Goya’s The Third of May 1808 online.
The tours are here: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/virtual-tours and the collection is here https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection
9. Museo Reina Sofía – Madrid, Spain
Madrid’s Reina Sofía is Spain’s premier modern art museum, home to Picasso’s Guernica, and works by Dalí, Miró, and others. Google Arts & Culture features 360° virtual tours of Reina Sofía’s spaces (including the Crystal Palace annex and main building) – here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museo-reina-sofia.
These allow free, immersive viewing of the galleries that house Guernica and other 20th-century highlights. It’s a great way to explore Spanish modernism remotely. The collection is here: https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection
10. Brukenthal National Museum – Sibiu, Romania
One of Eastern Europe’s oldest museums, established in 1790, the Brukenthal offers virtual tours of its exceptional collection housed in a magnificent Baroque palace.
Their digital platform provides access to European paintings from the 15th-18th centuries, including works by the Flemish and Dutch schools, alongside Romanian art treasures and historical artifacts that reflect Transylvania’s multicultural heritage. You can enjoy a virtual tour here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/muzeul-na%C8%9Bional-brukenthal
11. Rijksmuseum – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rijksmuseum – Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum showcases 800 years of Dutch art and history, with Vermeer’s Milkmaid and Rembrandt’s Night Watch among 8,000 works. Its website states you can access its collection “for free and from the comfort of your own home” – here: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection and here: Rijksmuseum https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/from-home.
In practice, Google Arts & Culture offers a full Virtual Tour of the Rijksmuseum (with separate tours for each floor). You can stroll through the Golden Age galleries virtually and inspect Dutch and world art up close – here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/rijksmuseum.
12. Van Gogh Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has “the largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh in the world” and it is one of my best friends’ favourite museums! Its permanent collection holds over 200 of his paintings plus drawings and letters.
On Google Arts & Culture, you can use interactive street-view tours of the museum’s ground and upper floors. These let you virtually visit Van Gogh’s portraits, sunflowers and self-portraits hanging on the walls as if you were really there. I am a huge fan of Van Gogh too
Visit here: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/visit/enjoy-the-museum-from-home#apps-and-more and here https://artsandculture.google.com/story/explore-the-van-gogh-museum/FQURa9LMQKsSiA?hl=en. The collection is here: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection
13. Mauritshuis – The Hague, Netherlands
The Mauritshuis houses the best of Dutch Golden Age painting, including Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson. For these alone and the museum deserves a visit.
But if you cannot go to see them live, Google Arts & Culture provides street-view virtual tours of both the Mauritshuis’s historic 17th-century building and its modern extension. You can virtually walk through the small galleries, seeing Dutch masterpieces and secure modern wings from any device here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/mauritshuis – the collection is here: https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection
14. Tate Modern – London, UK
Tate Modern is Britain’s national gallery of international modern and contemporary art. Housed in a converted power station, it is “one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world”.
Google Arts & Culture includes a “Virtual Tour” of Tate Modern on its profile, allowing remote visitors to explore its Turbine Hall and main gallery spaces. The Tate also offers online displays of notable works by Warhol, Hockney, and others.
Check these sites: https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/projects/tate-modern-project/grimshaw and https://www.eyerevolution.co.uk/virtual-tours/tate-modern/
15. Tate Britain – London, UK
Tate Britain (Millbank, London) holds a vast collection of British art since the 1500s, notably a huge Turners bequest.
GA&C provides a 360° Virtual Tour of Tate Britain, so you can view iconic British paintings (from Hogarth to Hockney) in a realistic digital recreation of the galleries.
The virtual tour puts you among the neo-classical staircases and period rooms of this stately museum.
The tour is: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/tate-britain and the collections are here https://www.tate.org.uk/about-us/collection
16. National Gallery – London, UK
London’s National Gallery on Trafalgar Square is “home to one of the world’s greatest collections of Western European paintings” – Wikipedia (from Da Vinci to Van Gogh). Its website even includes an award-winning Google “virtual tour” focusing on Renaissance masterpieces and thus offers one of the top 30 free European art museums virtual tours.
From your home, you can take an online tour guided by the gallery of Northern Italian and Dutch treasures (Titian, Veronese, Holbein, etc.), bringing dozens of classic paintings into view on screen.
See them all here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-gallery – the collection is here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/collection-overview
17. Belvedere – Vienna, Austria
Vienna’s Upper Belvedere is famous for Austrian art around 1900, especially the world’s largest collection of Gustav Klimt paintings. Highlights include The Kiss and Judith.
Google Arts & Culture lists several virtual tours of the Belvedere’s ornate halls – including a tour focused on Klimt’s The Kiss and general views of the palace wings. These let you explore Viennese art nouveau and Baroque galleries online.
I visited Belvedere – but we were only able to see one part of the Palace (the Klimt one). So… going on these online tours and the collection is a great way to see again some paintings and to discover new works of art.
The official site has some useful videos here: https://www.belvedere.at/en/online-tours, here you can explore the palace https://360stories.com/vienna/place/Belvedere-Palace, and here you have virtual tours: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/belvedere and the collection is here: https://www.belvedere.at/en/museum?
18. Kunsthistorisches Museum – Vienna, Austria
Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum), Vienna
The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) is “one of the foremost museums in the world,” with art from ancient Egypt through the 18th century. And it is also one of my favourite museums in Vienna.
Its Renaissance and Baroque galleries are especially renowned. Google Arts & Culture offers a Virtual Tour of the main Picture Gallery, letting visitors wander the grand halls of this imperial museum. You can virtually admire works by Titian, Vermeer, Bruegel and others in their Victorian-era galleries.
Check them out: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/kunsthistorisches-museum-vienna-museum-of-fine-arts and details here: https://www.khm.at/en/digital – and the collections here https://www.khm.at/en/exhibitions/picture-gallery
19. Albertina – Vienna, Austria
The Albertina Museum, in a former Habsburg palace, combines imperial grandeur with an international art collection. It is known for “one of the world’s most important graphic art collections” as well as modern art.
On GA&C you’ll find a “Virtual Tour Albertina” to explore https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/albertina-vienna. Through this tour you can virtually step into the Albertina’s elegant exhibit rooms and see its Klimt drawings, modernist paintings and famed graphic works up close.
The collection is here: https://www.albertina.at/en/collections/ and they offer paid online tours on their website
20. Alte Pinakothek – Munich, Germany
Munich’s Alte Pinakothek is among Europe’s oldest and most important art galleries. It displays 700+ European paintings (14th–18th c.), including rich holdings of Dürer and Rubens.
Google Arts & Culture provides several “Virtual Tour” segments of the Alte Pinakothek by art school (Italian, Dutch, Flemish, etc.). These tours let you view, for example, Italian Renaissance works or Northern Baroque paintings in high-res and 3D panorama, just as if walking through the museum’s skylit halls.
The museum has a free app with details about many of the items exhibited – details here https://www.pinakothek.de/en/digital – and here you can have a virtual tour: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/alte-pinakothek
21. Gemäldegalerie – Berlin, Germany
The Gemäldegalerie is Berlin’s premier Old Masters museum. It offers free 360° virtual tours of the entire gallery.
The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin explains that its online tour “explores all the exhibition spaces and works on display in the museum,” complete with curator text, audio, videos, and links.
Through this site – https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/gemaeldegalerie/about-us/virtual-tour/gemaeldegalerie-360/ – you can virtually walk through all 58 rooms, seeing Rembrandts, Holbeins, and Cranachs as if in person.
Tour also here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/gemaldegalerie-staatliche-museen-zu-berlin and details about the collection here: https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/gemaeldegalerie/collection-research/collection/
22. National Gallery – Dublin, Ireland
Dublin’s National Gallery holds Ireland’s national collection of European and Irish art (Yeats, Caravaggio, etc.). Its site provides several interactive 3D tours of the building’s spaces.
For example, you can take a virtual tour of the Grand Gallery and themed rooms (like 17th-century Irish art) from the comfort of your home. These free tours even include VR (Google Cardboard) options for a more immersive experience. You can find the tour here: https://www.nationalgallery.ie/virtual-tour. For me, this tour was the first one – and what a joy it was!
The collection is online here: https://www.nationalgallery.ie/art-and-artists/highlights-collection
23. Hungarian National Gallery – Budapest, Hungary
Next on this list of best museums with virtual tours in Europe is a gallery from Hungary.
Housed in Buda Castle, the Hungarian National Gallery is “the largest public collection for documenting… fine arts in Hungary”. Its permanent exhibitions survey Hungarian art history from medieval to contemporary.
While an official virtual tour link is not specified, the museum partners with Google Arts & Culture, and many major works are viewable online. It’s the go-to site for Hungarian masters and folk art. Check it out here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/hungarian-national-gallery
The collection is here: https://en.mng.hu/collections/
24. Nationalmuseum – Stockholm, Sweden
Sweden’s Nationalmuseum is the country’s museum of art and design. It holds about 700,000 objects (Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir, Swedish classics, etc.).
Google Arts & Culture features a Virtual Tour of the Nationalmuseum, allowing online visitors to explore its European painting galleries and decorative arts rooms. You can virtually check out Swedish Impressionists and 18th-century sculpture in high detail from your computer. Tour here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/nationalmuseum-stockholm Details about the collection are here: https://www.nationalmuseum.se/en/explore-art-and-design/the-collections
25. Munch Museum – Oslo, Norway
The Munch Museum (Oslo) houses the world’s largest collection of Edvard Munch’s art, including about 1,100 paintings, 4,500 drawings, and 18,000 prints.
While no official 360° tour is noted, Google Arts & Culture features many of Munch’s works and exhibitions in online exhibits. Even without a full virtual tour, one can view most of Munch’s famous works (like The Scream) via Google’s digital galleries. I made an exception for this article – so you can check the collection here https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-munch-museum-oslo Check out the collection here: https://www.munchmuseet.no/en/the-collection/
26. Ateneum Art Museum – Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki’s Ateneum is Finland’s main art museum, with over 20,000 works from the 1750s through mid-20th century. It displays key Finnish Golden Age paintings and international art.
The Ateneum’s partnership with Google Arts & Culture means you can browse its collection online, and the museum hosts occasional live 3D tours – here: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/ateneum-art-museum. In the meantime, you can explore its art via GA&C pages and you can see the collection here: https://ateneum.fi/en/our-collection/
27. National Gallery – Prague, Czech Republic
The National Gallery Prague is the Czech Republic’s largest art museum, with collections spanning from medieval to modern art. It offers free 360° virtual tours of its exhibitions.
For example, its “1796–1918: Art of the Long Century” show includes a detailed virtual tour with curators’ commentary.
These digital tours allow you to explore the Trade Fair Palace galleries and see Czech Cubist furniture, Baroque paintings, and more from anywhere. I visited it online and loved the Paul Gaugain and and the Pablo Picasso paintings – but I also loved discovering local painters and their works. Here you can find them all: https://www.ngprague.cz/en/about/news/ngp-online-virtual-tours
28. National Museum – Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw’s National Museum is Poland’s principal art museum, with over 830,000 works ranging from Egyptian mummies to Polish masters like Matejko and Mehoffer. Its “Digital NMW” portal offers online collections exhibits.
For instance, Matejko’s Battle of Grunwald and Chełmoński’s Storks can be studied via high-resolution images. The National Museum provides free virtual access to its galleries through this digital platform.
An official virtual tour is here (accessible in English too!) https://polskasilaobrazu.mnw.art.pl/ – and I also saw this https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/muzeum-narodowe-w-warszawie
29. Museum of Cycladic Art (Athens, Greece)
This specialized museum offers immersive access to ancient Cycladic art from the Aegean islands, dating back to 3200-2000 BCE.
The virtual platform contextualizes these mysterious marble figurines that influenced 20th-century modernists like Picasso and Modigliani.
You can take the virtual tours here: https://cycladic.gr/en/experience-category/museum360-en/
30. Lenbachhaus – Munich, Germany
Lenbachhaus, located in the heart of Munich, is renowned for its exceptional collection dedicated to German Expressionism, especially the Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group.
The museum’s virtual tour offers an excursion into the radical visual universe of artists such as Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Gabriele Münter. Visitors can digitally explore vibrant, expressive, and sometimes provocative works in an accessible and captivating format. Lenbachhaus is the ideal place for those who wish to better understand the transition of European art towards modernism and the profound impact of expressionism in the 20th century.
The online platform allows discovery of the collections at one’s own pace, making this experience both educational and deeply visual: https://www.lenbachhaus.de/en/digital/collection-online and a 3d tour is here https://mus3ums.com/en/tour3D/franz-marc/
My Final Thoughts: The Future of Virtual Museum Experiences
As museums continue investing in digital access, we can expect increasingly sophisticated virtual experiences. Emerging technologies like VR, AR, and haptic feedback promise even more immersive encounters with cultural heritage in the coming years.
For now, these thirty outstanding virtual collections offer unprecedented access to Europe’s artistic and cultural treasures. Whether you’re a student, an art lover, or simply curious about human creativity across centuries, these digital doorways to Europe’s museums await your exploration – no passport required.
For me, a virtual tour is complementary to an in-person visit. It can help see more or better prepare for a visit.
But a virtual tour or a collection of all the artworks in a museum is also the only way many people can enjoy that museum, because of health, financial, or other reasons. So I am truly happy that there are such virtual tours of art museums!
Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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