Jakarta, ThedailyID — Beijing’s Palace Museum in China became the world’s most visited museum in 2025. Also known as the Forbidden City, the historic attraction recorded approximately 19 million visits, surpassing iconic institutions such as the Louvre in Paris.
The ranking comes from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). Its annual TEA Global Experience Index tracks visitor numbers at tourist attractions and entertainment destinations worldwide.
The organization ranks museums based on annual attendance. It does not evaluate collection quality, architecture, facilities, or public popularity through surveys. TEA compiled the report with research partners Entertainment + Culture Advisors (ECA) and The Park Database (TPDB).
This year’s index also expanded its coverage. It now includes historic palaces and sites with curated collections, such as the Summer Palace and Palace of Versailles.
Asian institutions dominated the rankings. Chinese museums occupied all three top positions. Overall, Asia contributed 14 institutions to the top 20, including 12 from China and two from South Korea.
The 20 leading museums recorded a combined 161.4 million visits in 2025. This represented a 5.4% increase compared with the same institutions’ total attendance in 2024.
The Louvre ranked fourth with 9,046,000 visitors. Despite trailing Beijing’s Palace Museum by nearly 10 million visits, it remained the world’s most visited museum outside China.
Other prominent institutions also entered the top 10. These included the British Museum in London and the Palace of Versailles in France. Meanwhile, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art ranked 17th with nearly six million visitors.
According to Time Out, the following list reflects the 2025 TEA Global Experience Index:
World’s 20 Most Visited Museums in 2025
- Palace Museum, Beijing, China — 19,000,000
- Summer Palace, Beijing, China — 17,381,000
- Museum of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site, Xi’an, China — 10,970,000
- Musée du Louvre, Paris, France — 9,046,000
- Palace of Versailles, France — 8,400,000
- Shenzhen Nanshan District Museum, China — 7,455,000
- Natural History Museum, London, UK — 7,117,000
- Vatican Museums, Vatican City — 6,934,000
- Opium War Museum, Dongguan, China — 6,929,000
- National Museum of China, Beijing, China — 6,900,000
- Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea — 6,887,000
- National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea — 6,507,000
- British Museum, London, UK — 6,440,000
- Prince Kung’s Mansion Museum, Beijing, China — 6,120,000
- Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan, China — 6,080,000
- Chengdu Wuhou Shrine Museum, Chengdu, China — 6,030,000
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US — 5,984,000
- Nanjing Museum, Nanjing, China — 5,860,000
- Shenyang Palace Museum, Shenyang, China — 5,852,000
- China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing, China — 5,530,000
