Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia

Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia
4.5
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Monday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Tuesday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Wednesday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Friday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Saturday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Sunday
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles997 reviews
Excellent
476
Very good
401
Average
103
Poor
12
Terrible
5

Glenn D
7 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023
Kind of reminded me of the Smithsonian Castle exhibit. The old display cases were great to see, filled with seashells. Some collected in the early 1800's. Lots of taxidermy and skeletons. The dinosaur exhibit was great in the way they displayed them.

Two things I did not like were no place to sit down and no a/c. It was hot in there. But still a good exhibit.
Written February 20, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

KodoDrummer
Buenos Aires, Argentina70,626 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2018 • Friends
There are two floors of exhibits. My favourite are the three rooms of dinosaur bone displays. There is one huge room and two smaller ones. I almost missed the two smaller ones. The exhibits include those on paleontology, geology, amphibians, reptiles, and arthropods. There are lots of dinosaur replicas, skeletons, fossils, and much more on display. Be careful to use the map they give you when you pay the 50 pesos per person entry fee. I will attach over 500 photos, including over 85% of the dinosaur display information, and more than 50% of the other displays and information.

This is Argentina, a Spanish speaking country, and as should be expected, the vast majority of the signage and descriptions are in Spanish. Despite knowing little Spanish, I found the displays easy to follow and logically grouped. This is a great place, and I’m happy that I discovered it.

I noticed a complaint in another review about no air conditioning and dirty washrooms. On our visit today, the outside temperature was 28C and a little humid. I found it okay within the museum. Yes, it was a touch on the humid side. And the washrooms, I found to be clean and satisfactory. This is a museum in Argentine, which is a warm climate country. I’ve travelled to over 100 countries, and have toured many places. I found the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia to be good to excellent in all areas. Okay, it has little to no ventilation, but so do some modern-day green-energy buildings. We spent two hours in the museum.

From the Sheraton and Park Tower hotels, it is about a 180 pesos taxi ride. Likely from the Hilton BA, the taxi ride would cost about 250 pesos. We took a taxi there and walked back to the Park Tower. The leisurely walk back took about 90 minutes.
Written March 22, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Daniel-SSA
Salvador, BA141 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2011
If it's not your first time in BA and you've already seen the main attractions, that's a very good option if your willing to explore the city a little deeper and see where locals take their kids for a walk on saturdays.

Also, if you've never seen the biggest fossils museums around the world, it's a must-go visit! I've only been to one fossils museum before, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, that was interesting, but irrelevant when compared to this one. Finally, if you've been to the best ones, but is very interested in paleontology, it's a fine option to get to know the argentine extinct species.

The Bernardo Rivadavia museum shows many great fossils, like a t-rex cranium, and other reconstructed dinossaur skeletons - some 10-meters tall - found in Argentina. Also, there's a very important collection of ancient mammal fossils', and quite a few modern-day whale skeletons.

That's one of the few places in BA where you won't see legions of brazilian tourists: my wife, my mother-in-law and myself were the only ones I could see. It's a little distant from the city center, but is located in a middle-class neighborhood.
Written February 19, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

travelingmike
Hillsboro, Oregon144 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Overview:

This is a museum that is housed in a large impressive building in a large public park (I believe the park was called Parque Centenairio.). The museum has an impressive collection of fossils, but otherwise the other exhibits where lacking. It is located just about 5 blocked off of the red "B" subway line at stop Angel Gallardo. The cost to enter on the weekend in October of 2008 was about $1.00.

Good:

1. Impressive collection of fossils.
2. A good place to take younger kids - the exhibits would entertain 8 year old boys, and the park would be a fun place for them to entertain themselves.

Bad:

1. Other exhibits are somewhat lame. In some cases, the exibits are pictures of animals, plants, etc. and descriptions of them.

My thoughts:

There are better museums out there to visit while in BA. If you are draging around kids that are bored with cultural items of BA, then this might be a good side trip. Otherwise consider skiping it and seeing what else BA has to offer.

Please take the time to rate my review. Thanks.
Written November 15, 2008
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nick B
Buenos Aires, Argentina8 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2012 • Friends
Underrated entirely. I live a couple blocks away and have visited on a couple occasions. The exhibits are cool, and they have dinosaurs. The place is cool looking too, and on a sunny afternoon you can enjoy the park and the feria as well. The place would be better with a guide who knows about science. If anyone is interested in a guided tour send me a message and I´ll accompany you.
Written May 17, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

OracleLosAngeles
Los angeles410 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2011
OK, I like bones. Some strange stuff here. It is small by American standards, but what they do, they do it right! Fun visit!
Written August 20, 2011
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Vincent M
New Orleans, LA2,256 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
If you’re a first-timer to Buenos Aires, you’ll be revelling in Recoleta, partying in Palermo, and feasting like a financier. Museums? BA’s full of them: Beaux Artes, Decorative Arts, you name it. But if you’re interested in natural science, you might want to spend some time at the Rivadavia Museum, even though it’s way down at #16 on TA reviewers’ museum list. The Rivadavia is particularly good for old timers. Very, very, very old timers.

Half a billion years ago, Earth had a supercontinent we now call Gondwana. Pedants say Gondwana wasn’t a 100% super-continent because it did not include what is now Murmansk, Manchester, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I’ve been to both Manchester and Moose Jaw, and frankly, I think not containing either would have made Gondwana even more super; I doubt Murmansk would have leant anything to Gondwana’s charm. Gondwana’s Antarctic heartland is still at the South Pole, but the other bits and pieces broke off and headed toward the tropics where they became India, Africa, Australia and, yes, Argentina. Pertinent to the Rivadavia museum, several decades ago, Argentine palaeontologists began discovering a wide range of wonderful ancient animals, some of the earliest ever found, in places like Patagonia. This museum houses some of their most fabulous finds.

More recent Argentine animal-life is interesting as well: armadillos the size of Volkswagens, elephantine ground-sloths, a llama as big as a rhinoceros, and that caveman favourite: sabre-toothed tigers. Because the Rivadavia Museum encompasses all the natural sciences, they’ve got halls full of sea-shells, rocks and minerals, a meteor that’s 93% iron / 7% nickel, and even an aquarium with live South American catfish. A more impressive fish, thankfully extinct, is the giant megalodon shark “as big as seven elephants,” whose three-meter jaws are a prime photo-op. (See Exhibition Hall, Iron Meteor, Old Suckermouth, and Super-Jaws photos).

But the museum’s strong suit is ancient life going back to, and beyond, the Age of Dinosaurs : the revolutionary finds in Argentina. If you’re pressed for time, go to the Dinosaur Hall first; then hustle through the other halls with whatever time you have left over (see Dinosaur Hall photo).

The curatorship of the Dinosaur Hall is head and shoulders over anything else in the museum. While the approach isn’t identical for every specimen, generally you’ll find a name plate with information in Spanish about the beast, and an artist’s impression of what it looked like in the flesh, beside the skeleton (see Austroraptor cabazai and Austroraptor Info photos). I hope the curators consider translating some info into English and Portuguese, since I suspect almost all visitors speak at least one of those three languages. However, you can easily read the scientific names and period when the species existed. The skeletons are jury-rigged into postures that the animals would have been in while alive, with some remarkable results: thanks to the eye sockets, you sometimes can get the unnerving feeling that you’re staring face-to-face with the beast (see Bonatitan reigi and Bonatitan reigi 2 photos). The Amargasaurus cazaui is grazing peacefully; the Pleisiosaur is flying overhead looking for prey; and the Megaraptor nahumhuaiquii has just captured its meal for the day by the neck (Amargasaurus cazaui, Pleisiosaur, and Megaraptor nahumhuaiquii photos). The largest skeleton in the room, the imposing Patagosaurus holds his head high, on the lookout for something: either food or danger (Patagosaurus photo).

Quite a few of the dinosaurs are named after where in Argentina the species was first discovered. For example, Talenkauen santacrusensus got its name because it was discovered near frigid Viedna Lake in Santa Cruz province. A few of the beasts’ scientific names were howlers: for example Piatnitzkysaurus floresi: a curious name, eh? Surprise! It was first identified by a couple of fellows named Alejandro Piatnitzky and Miguel Flores. I’m relieved to learn that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was not—repeat not—first identified by an Irishman named Rex Tyrone. Oh well, a clever stab at immortality, but sooner or later Al and Mike, like the rest of us, will be as extinct as the dinosaur who bears their name. (Talenkauen santacrusensus and Piatnitzkysaurus floresi photos).

In a few cases, you see the bones as they were discovered in the earth, but then get a best-guess life-sized recreation of what the creature actually looked like (Taniwhasaurus antarcticus for example, a reptilian version of a marlin, and nothing I’d want to encounter at the end of my fishing line, see photo).

Some of the dinosaurs in this museum are very, very ancient indeed: T. rex lived about 65 million years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic Era. But this museum’s Guaibasaurus candelariensis lived back in the upper Triassic Era, more than 200 million years ago! (Guaibasaurus candelariensis photo). And little Eudibamus lived 280 million years ago or more (Eudibamus photo). A eudibamus isn’t a dinosaur, or even a reptile. If you sort of work like lawyer, but you’re not really a lawyer, you’re a paralegal. If you sort of work like a reptile (sauria), but you’re not really a reptile, you’re a parasaur, like Eudibamus. Reptiles hadn’t been invented yet 280 million years ago: but given time—lots and lots of time, the progeny of little fellows like Eudibamus would eventually evolve into T. rexes. To put it another way, if you happen to be in your late 20s, take a look at this little fellow: he might not look impressive, but he’s ten million times older than you are! If your daughter is 14, he’s twenty million times older than she is!

Practical Info: The museum is open from 1400 to 1900 daily (maximizing the time that school children can see the museum). There’s a modest admission fee. Some construction/renovation is going on at the moment, but most of the museum was open as of my visit. The museum is located within the grounds of Parque Centenario, along with the park’s fountains, amusement rides, observatory and hospital. However, you enter the museum via Av. Patricias Argentinas, the road circling the park: for all practical purposes it’s right beside Av. Angel Gallardo. The closest subway stop is Angel Gallardo on the Red (B) Subte line: that station is actually located on Corrientes: walk a half-block west to Gallardo and turn left; it’s about four blocks down the street. There’s a vending machine cafe in the museum, beside the megalodon shark jaws.
Written March 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Isabella427
Portland, OR51 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2012 • Family
This museum is located in the Caballito area at el Parque Centenario. From Recoleta to the museum we took the bus (colectivo) number 92 which left us just in front of the museum. It is now a required 10 pesos admission for anyone 6 and up and is open 10am to 7pm. There are no food venues inside and just snack street vendors nearby. There are tables inside if you want to bring a picnic though. Wish I had as we spent way too long looking for a place to eat afterwards with tired and hungry kids. There are guided tours but we did just fine on our own as it not very big and our children just enjoyed exploring. They have a fabulous dinosaur collection. I was more impressed by the number of dinosaur findings on display than what I had seen at the Natural History Museum in New York. This place just isn't as fancy but then again it was only a few dollars to get in. There is also a small sand area for children under 5 pretend to dig up dino bones. It doesn't take super long to go through the museum but it definitely left an impression on our kiddos.
Written July 18, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

haplo89
Antwerp, Belgium2,462 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2018 • Couples
The museum of natural history in Buenos Aires has a nice collection of animals and dinosaurs. Although it gets very hot during the summer it is very much worth a visit. Entrance fee is 50 pesos pp but after 6 of January 2019 it will be 100 pesos pp.
Written December 30, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Luke V
2 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2016 • Family
First off, the tickets are almost nothing, only 10 pesos. The museum is worth 10 pesos. As a fourteen-year-old, I enjoyed the museum. It has many magnificent skeletons and other exhibits. The layout of the museum makes it so you don't miss any part of it. It would be a very good place for all ages, I noticed that the children were having a good time, they would run up to their parents, eager to show them a skeleton they thought was cool, but my dad, a scientist from the US, also had a good time.

Several of the exhibits were not lit very well, making them hard to read and see. Also, the exhibit descriptions are not translated into English. This is not a major problem for children, but if you cannot read Spanish and you are trying to get a learning experience out of it, it will make it a little bit harder. You will still learn just from the exhibits themselves, and I would still go anyway. There is one section of the museum that is mostly words. It is all about different scientists. This will bore your children but it is easy to skip, and it only takes up a small chunk of the museum.

Overall it is very good, (it has a nice shell section if that is your thing), and you should go.
Written January 18, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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