Museum Bucket List: 7 of the World's Greatest Collections

A proper museum bucket list is one of the most underrated ways to plan travel: pick the collections you've always wanted to stand in front of, and the cities, the food and the rest of the trip arrange themselves around them. These are the places where you come face to face with the actual object - Tutankhamun's gold mask, Vermeer's light, a Michelangelo ceiling - and discover that reproductions have been lying to you for years. The trick is going in with a plan, because the great museums are enormous and a scattergun wander through 40 galleries will leave you numb by lunchtime. Here are seven must-see museums worth building a trip around, with what to look for and the best time to visit each.

The Louvre, Paris

The Louvre is the most visited museum on earth, with roughly 35,000 works spread across a former royal palace the size of a small town. Everyone funnels straight to the Mona Lisa and queues 40 minutes for a phone photo of a small, heavily glazed portrait - do it if you must, then go and find the things people skip: the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the top of the Daru staircase, the Code of Hammurabi, and the Richelieu wing's Northern European rooms, which are often half empty. Book a timed ticket online and use the less obvious Porte des Lions or Carrousel du Louvre entrances rather than the pyramid. Wednesday and Friday evenings the museum stays open late, and the whole place softens once the coach groups leave. Come in January or early February for the thinnest crowds of the year.

The Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza

The biggest new opening in the museum world sits on the Giza plateau, in sight of the pyramids themselves. The Grand Egyptian Museum holds more than 100,000 artefacts, including - for the first time ever in one place - the complete contents of Tutankhamun's tomb, all 5,000-plus objects that Howard Carter pulled out of the Valley of the Kings. The Grand Staircase alone is worth the entry, a climb past royal statuary that ends with a window framing the Pyramid of Khufu. Give it a full day, start at opening to beat the heat and the tour buses, and pair it with a dawn visit to the pyramids and the Sphinx next door. The best time to visit is October to April, when Cairo's temperatures are manageable.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met is the great generalist: two million works covering 5,000 years, from Egyptian temples to Impressionists to a rooftop bar with a Central Park view. Do not try to see it all. Pick three departments - the Temple of Dendur in its glass-walled hall, the European Paintings galleries after their recent reinstallation, and the American Wing courtyard are a strong first visit - and let the rest go. The Costume Institute's spring exhibition is the hottest ticket in New York if your trip lines up with it. New York State residents pay what they wish; everyone else should book online. Go on a weekday morning, or Friday and Saturday evenings when it's open until 9pm and the galleries genuinely quieten down.

The Vatican Museums, Rome

Nowhere else concentrates this much art into this small a footprint. The route through the Vatican Museums runs about seven kilometres past the Gallery of Maps, the Raphael Rooms and endless classical sculpture before delivering you into the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo's ceiling does exactly what you hope it will. The crowds are the real challenge: nine million people a year move through corridors designed for a Renaissance court. Book the earliest entry slot, or splurge on an early-access breakfast tour that gets you into the Sistine Chapel before general admission. November to March is far more comfortable than the summer crush. Bring covered shoulders and knees, or you won't get past the door.

The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum is the best-organised major museum in Europe, and its 2013 renovation turned a confusing warren into a clean chronological walk through 800 years of Dutch history. The Gallery of Honour is the main event, ending at Rembrandt's The Night Watch - still undergoing the world's most public restoration, with researchers working behind glass in front of visitors. Look for Vermeer's The Milkmaid, a painting so small and so luminous that people audibly react when they reach it. The library, all spiral staircases and dark wood, is the most photographed room in the building. Book a 9am slot, and afterwards walk five minutes to the Van Gogh Museum for a strong one-two on the Museumplein.

The National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

Mexico City's Museo Nacional de Antropología is the finest pre-Hispanic collection anywhere, and a hidden gem in the sense that most international visitors have never heard of it. Twenty-three halls surround a vast courtyard with a monumental concrete umbrella fountain, each one dedicated to a different Mesoamerican culture - Maya, Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Mexica. The Aztec Sun Stone is the icon, a 24-tonne basalt disc that anchors the Mexica hall, but the colossal Olmec heads and the full-scale replica of Pacal's tomb from Palenque are just as memorable. It sits in Chapultepec Park, so build in a walk to the castle afterwards. Sunday is free for Mexican residents and correspondingly packed - aim for a Tuesday or Wednesday morning instead.

The Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo

Japan's oldest and largest museum sits at the top of Ueno Park with around 120,000 objects, roughly a tenth of all the country's designated National Treasures among them. The Honkan building is where to start: samurai armour, razor-edged katana, lacquerware, ukiyo-e woodblock prints and Buddhist sculpture, displayed with the restraint Japanese curation does so well. Many pieces rotate every few weeks for conservation, so no two visits are alike. The Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures next door is a serene, dimly lit hall of seventh-century bronzes that almost nobody walks into. Visit in late March or early April, when the cherry blossoms in Ueno Park turn the approach into an event of its own.

Start Your Museum Bucket List with Söka

Ready to turn these collections into an actual travel plan? Söka is a free iOS app that helps you discover, plan and track your travel goals - powered by AI - so every museum, city and trip on your list lives in one place. Download it today and start ticking off the world's greatest museums.