Museum Tour: History and Development of Computing

Experience the history and development of computing at The National Museum of Computing. Skip the line and enjoy a hands-on, interactive museum with expert guides and volunteers.

Duration: 6 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • The National Museum of Computing - The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) is home to the world’s largest collection of working historic computers.
    Follow the development of computing: from the Turing-Welchman Bombe, Enigma, Lorenz and Colossus of the 1940s through the large systems and mainframes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, to the rise of…
What's Included
  • Expert guides available
Additional Information

Our Museum animates the evolution and continuous progression of computing, aiming to inspire, facilitate research, promote learning, and provide entertainment to a diverse audience of all ages. We operate as a practical, working museum. Our knowledgeable volunteers and escorts are at your service to elucidate and showcase our operational collection….

Location
The National Museum of Computing
Block H, Bletchley Park
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(105 Ratings)
5 stars
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1 star
Vicky
Apr 20, 2025
Fantastic! - Fantastically interesting museum with so much to see. The volunteers really know their stuff and show a bit of interest and they’ll talk to you for ages! Well worth a visit. My son loved the vintage games.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Benhp3686zp
Feb 12, 2025
Brought to life by the enthusiastic talks - Excellent visit, especially using the 2 for 1 National Rail scheme. The talks given by the enthusiastic guides on the Bombe and Colossus were really interesting and well explained. The complex way the codebreakers recreated the coding machines in order to decode the messages was almost understood by me! I really liked the panels that walked through the history of computing developments by year from the 1960’s albeit these were relatively brief and need updating beyond 2009. Some of the display cases needed a bit more TLC and maybe a bit more information. I loved the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum display case….and was able to play Jetpac!! We spent more than 3 hours at the museum and heartily recommend it if you are nostalgic for computer history and code breaking in WW 2.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kershaw2017
Jan 7, 2025
Great museum - Great museum, go here first before visiting Bletchley Park. Traces the history of computing from the earliest beginnings, explains how Enigma and Lorenz were deciphered. Demonstrators are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the Enigma, Bombe, Colossus and more, with demonstrations of the rebuilt machines. Small cafe and shop with interesting merchandise.
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Elizabethtu9665hy
Dec 29, 2024
Im going back! - Brilliant!! We loved it...lots of interactive stuff for small people and fascinating talks for big ones about enigma and the 2nd world war. This is the computing mudeum NOT the other one but this is BETTER
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R7957lrstephenr
Apr 24, 2025
Computing nostalgia at its best - I have over 50 years of history with computers in the UK so many of the exhibits were like visiting old friends. My only disappointment was the relative lack if old DEC kit.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Davidwortley
Feb 5, 2025
Tripadvisor sent me to the wrong place - The National Museum of Computing is well worth a visit whether you are interested in computers or not. The 4 stars reflected the fact that the AI Exhibition I booked the ticket for is not here. It is at Bletchley Park on the same site but costs twice as much for a season pass
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jamesr652
Feb 1, 2025
Great for WWII / codebreaking stuff - uneven for the rest - Visited this museum today, which I've been wanting to do for ages. I enjoyed my day there, but I think it's important to note that the focus of the museum and where it is at it's best is definitely the WWII codebreaking effort, including the Bombe, Tunny, Colossus etc. I was able to hear some fascinating talks and see the machines demonstrated in person, and I loved all that stuff. The rest of the museum was interesting but rather weaker by comparison - there was lots of stuff around, although it was often displayed in a somewhat haphazard fashion and the amount of information was lacking. There are some real treasures in there - such as an Apple Lisa, a Next Cube, various interesting Sharp machines, an Osborne 1 and many more. However most were not working and there was little information about them. It was great to look around the mainframes / large computers room and there were some examples of working machines although it was hard always to really understand what you were looking at. There were some volunteers around though who were helpful and enthusiastic. The 'Home Computer' section was fun to look round and there were some working examples but overall you didn't learn a whole lot about the way computing developed after the war. Unfortunately some of the other galleries felt a little unloved and in some cases rather out of date (although this pretty much inevitable, but I was amused to see a teardown of a 'modern PC' including a floppy disk and CD-ROM drive). So I would definitely recommend a visit, but to get the best out of it you'd have to be primarily interested in all the WW II stuff (which is of course consistent with being on the Bletchley Park site). I was, and I was very interested in all the talks and demonstrations of those, but if you are looking for a museum focused on more recent history including home computers you might want to try elsewhere.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Montytreacle
Apr 10, 2025
1941-1955 good. Post 1955 haphazard and hardly live us to its name. - If you are interested in the Bomb, Colossus and the WITCH …. very important historic machines, then this is the place for you. It’s a great pity Bletchley Park and the Museum aren’t one entity, as the vast majority of effort is to do with the breaking of Enigma and the Lorenz cypher. For this part the museum was good and the tour guides informative. However as the National Museum of Computing, it lacks clarity. If you like looking at old dead kit without much explanation then this is the place for you. However, if you want to learn in a logical way about the development of storage, the move from valves to transistors and ICs and the British Computer Industry beyond 1955, then it lacks clear structure and explanation. Lots of vey nice people focused on WW2, but not so good on more modern equipment, or the reasons for UK failure in many areas. Is the Bomb really a computer????
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Y481yrjohnr
Apr 22, 2025
Do not be fooled - Do not be fooled by the "Traveler Photos" on Viator's webpage for the National Museum of Computing, clearly showing the Bletchley Park mansion - only accessible to Bletchley Park visitors. You will have to buy a separate ticket to visit it and the rest of Bletchley Park. The National Museum of Computing is a tiny building on the fringes of the site, with (virtually) nothing to tell you about the history and legacy of Bletchley Park. I was there today with family members visiting from overseas and felt completely conned by this deception. Even if unintended, allowing the inclusion of the iconic image of the Bletchley Mansion must inevitably lure people into making the incorrect purchase and no refund was offered on arrival.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stuart
Apr 13, 2025
Not very happy of my experience - We booked to go to Bletchley park The home of the code breakers Unfortunately when we tried to enter the through the main entrance we were told that the tickets was for the museum of computer.( so we did not use our voucher We were told this mistake happens a lot throughout trip advisor and is very miss leading by trip advisor,because they are using photos of Bletchley park and the surrounding buildings and no photo of the museum of computers. I have asked trip advisor for a full refund which I have to wait 7 days for. We feel that trip advisor have miss sold us the experience we thought we was getting. I am hoping that trip advisor will give a full refund as a gesture of good will, because we had to pay again to get into Bletchley park for the right experience we thought we had paid for in the first place.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $25
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).