National Waterfront Museum

National Waterfront Museum showing interior views
National Waterfront Museum featuring street scenes
National Waterfront Museum featuring street scenes
National Waterfront Museum showing interior views
National Waterfront Museum featuring interior views
Located in the trendy Maritime Quarter of Swansea, the National Waterfront Museum tells the story of industry and innovation in Wales over the last 300 years. As part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage this is a thematic element of a collection of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. Inside you’ll find enough to occupy you for hours, with the beautifully designed space offering a range of regional history exhibits marrying interactive media with traditional displays.

Designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre, the Museum is housed in a Grade II listed warehouse building, formerly the Swansea Industrial & Maritime Museum, and ringed by a beautifully landscaped park. Opened in 2005, it represents one of National Museum Wales's biggest, most ambitious projects, costing over £35m to complete.

If you’re taking the kids for a day out in Swansea, National Waterfront Museum offers regular exhibits that will delight them. Both disabled visitors and those hard of hearing will get huge pleasure from the museum, too, thanks to its award winning disabled access, and British Sign Language captioning on all interactive content. For non-English speakers, this is one of the first museums in the United Kingdom to feature multilingual voiceovers for its exhibits.

Free to visit, the National Maritime Museum is one of Swansea’s top days out. Once you’ve had your fill of industrial history, stroll along to the picturesque marina full of yachts or enjoy a coffee in one of the many nearby cafes.

Popular places to visit

Plantasia featuring a garden

Plantasia

You probably wouldn’t expect to encounter tarantulas, macaws and endangered tamarin monkeys in a Swansea retail park, but visit the spectacular Plantasia, a public hothouse in Parc Tawe close to the city centre, and you’ll find these and much more besides. Easy to locate, as it’s housed in a unique glass pyramid, Plantasia has for a quarter of a century performed the vital function of raising awareness among locals and visitors about the level of rainforest destruction around the world, and the dangers of the consequent biodiversity loss.

Plantasia
Grand Theatre which includes street scenes

Grand Theatre

Swansea Grand Theatre is located on Singleton Street in the heart of the city of Swansea, Wales. This performing arts venue stages a host of plays, pantomimes, operas, stand-up performances and offerings from touring companies.

Grand Theatre

Swansea Marina

Explore the waterfront in Swansea with a trip to Swansea Marina. Stroll along the seaside in this quaint area, or check out its top-notch restaurants.

Swansea Marina

Maritime Quarter

You can find out about the history of Swansea when you stop by Maritime Quarter. Stroll along the beautiful beaches in this quaint area, or check out its lively bars.

Maritime Quarter

Mission Gallery

You can enjoy some culture when you stop by Mission Gallery in Swansea. Amble around this quaint area's marina and enjoy its lively bars.

Mission Gallery

Swansea Museum

You can spend time exploring the galleries in Swansea Museum during your travels in Swansea. Amble around this quaint area's marina and enjoy its top-notch restaurants.

Swansea Museum

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