Cutty Sark: Historic Tea Clipper & Museum
Greenwich
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Step aboard the fastest ship of her age: the Victorian tea clipper Cutty Sark, raised above a glass dry berth on Greenwich's riverside, with a café and afternoon tea beneath her copper hull.
You can't miss her: three masts and a web of rigging rising over the riverside by Greenwich Pier. Launched in 1869, Cutty Sark was built to race tea home from China and later carried wool from Australia, and she was the fastest ship of her day. Today she's a museum ship cared for by Royal Museums Greenwich, and one of the best-loved sights in London.
Visits follow a route through the ship, from the Lower Hold, where her cargo of tea chests was packed, up through the Tween Deck to the Main Deck, with its ship's wheel, crew quarters and views up into the rigging. Then you head down into the Dry Berth to walk right under her gleaming hull, which seems to float above the glass canopy. Look out for Nannie the witch, the ship's famous figurehead, and the collection of ship figureheads displayed beneath the hull.
Eat beneath the hull
The Cutty Sark Café, on the lower ground deck under the copper hull, serves sandwiches, freshly made cakes, cream teas and children's dishes. There's also a Cutty Sark Afternoon Tea served beneath the hull, which is a lovely treat for a birthday or a visiting friend (book ahead).
Events and experiences
Through the year you'll find sea shanty days, intimate gigs under the hull, family festivals and hands-on experiences such as steering the ship on the high seas. Tickets can be combined with other Royal Museums Greenwich sites, and members go free.
Free audio guides and the Rig Climb
Audio guides are free for every visitor and play on your own phone through the Smartify app: follow the audio tour for tales of the ship's captains and crews, or try the immersive soundscape. In season, the Cutty Sark Rig Climb lets you climb the ship's masts with expert guides for a view of the Thames like no other (closed for 2026; check the website for next year's dates).
Please don't confuse her with The Cutty Sark pub on Ballast Quay, a ten-minute riverside stroll away, though the two make a fine pairing.