Three of the world's great museums stand within a few hundred metres of each other on Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road, built with the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum are all free, and on a weekday in term time, thousands of schoolchildren pour into them from every part of the country. Minibus hire South Kensington customers book is mostly about those school trips, and the main thing to plan is where a minibus can and can't stop.
South Kensington sits in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, between Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea and Earl's Court, with the museums around the station. From our base in SE1, it's about twenty to thirty minutes outside the rush hour, through Victoria and Knightsbridge.
Minibus hire South Kensington for museum school trips
Each museum runs sessions, workshops and self-guided routes for schools. At the Natural History Museum, the dinosaurs, the blue whale in Hintze Hall and the volcano and earthquake galleries are the favourites. The Science Museum's Wonderlab, the Apollo 10 command module and the medicine galleries draw primary and secondary groups alike. The V&A suits art, design and history classes.
Many schools book a morning at one museum, lunch in the museum's lunch room and an afternoon at another, and all three are a short walk apart. School holidays and wet weekends bring long queues, especially at the Natural History Museum, so many groups book a timed entry slot. For a school booking, tell us the museums, the session times and the numbers, and we'll plan the drop-off and the pickup.
Drop-off points around Exhibition Road
This is the part to get right. Exhibition Road is a shared-surface street, with pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles mixing, and stopping on it is very restricted. Cromwell Road, outside the Natural History Museum and the V&A, is a busy main road with red routes and bus lanes. The museums direct school coaches and minibuses to set drop-off points nearby, and these change from time to time.
We'll check the current drop-off arrangements for the museum you're visiting, send the drop-off and pickup points to the teacher in advance, and plan the timing so the group isn't waiting at the kerb. The driver can't wait outside the museum, so the pickup will be at an agreed time. Minibus hire South Kensington schools book works best when the teachers know the pickup point before the group goes in.
Imperial College, the Royal College of Music and students
Imperial College's main campus, the Royal College of Music and the Royal College of Art sit around Exhibition Road and Kensington Gore, behind the Royal Albert Hall. Students, clubs and departments book us for fixtures, field trips, conferences and concerts off site. Musicians travelling with instruments need space in the back, so tell us what's coming.
Imperial's sports teams play at grounds in Harlington, near Heathrow, and Teddington, and teams book us for runs there. The student union on Prince Consort Road and the halls nearby are the usual collection points.
Hotels and visitors
South Kensington has many hotels around the station, Queen's Gate and the Cromwell Road, and visitors staying there book us for day tours, Heathrow drops and evenings out. Heathrow is about forty minutes away outside the rush hour, straight down the Cromwell Road and the A4. Gatwick is about an hour to an hour and a quarter, and London City about forty-five minutes.
For a family or a tour group, a minibus from the hotel door with room for the luggage is easier than the Piccadilly line. Groups staying here often want a day trip to Windsor or Hampton Court, both about forty minutes to an hour away.
The Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Gardens
The Royal Albert Hall, at the top of Exhibition Road, hosts the Proms, concerts and the annual school festivals and music competitions that bring choirs and orchestras from across the country. Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, beyond it, suit a picnic and a walk to the Albert Memorial and the Diana Memorial Playground.
For a school concert or a music festival, the driver drops near the hall at an agreed point and collects after the performance. Our Kensington page covers Albert Hall evenings in more detail.
Cromwell Road and the station
Cromwell Road, the A4, is the main route west to Heathrow and it's busy at most times, with red routes and bus lanes. The streets around South Kensington station are crowded with visitors, especially in school holidays, and Thurloe Place and Old Brompton Road have limited stopping. South Kensington sits outside the Congestion Charge zone, which keeps costs down for school trips arriving from the south and west.
For minibus hire in South Kensington, call 020 7183 0567.