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La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
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La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

See all things to do
See all things to do
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
4.5
3,233 reviews
#31 of 791 things to do in Los Angeles
Natural History Museums • Science Museums
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Monday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
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About
Explore the world's only active, urban Ice Age excavation site. Inside the Page Museum is where we showcase the best fossils, animals, and plants that have been discovered here - mammoths, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, and more. Experience the Ice Age come to life with our Ice Age Encounters show. Outside check out the La Brea Tar Pits where tar is still bubbling and our active fossil excavation sites to see what our excavators have uncovered today. Get the behind-the-scenes story and see scientists working on recently excavated fossils, walk around our famous Lake Pit, and visit our live dig site where scientists discover new Ice Age specimens every day. Free with museum admission.
Suggested duration
1-2 hours
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Admission tickets
from $15.00
All you need to step foot in the door.
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Mid-Wilshire
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
3,233 reviews
Excellent
1,682
Very good
1,175
Average
324
Poor
33
Terrible
20
Vic S
Greenville, SC420 contributions
It will stick with you
May 2022
It's like a visit to Jurassic Park, we were supposed to go to academy award museum but they wouldnt let my son in (really) two years after covid while no masks are required in public places in CA...so we headed out of the parking lot and followed our noses to the Pits. It is so cool, after 4/430 pm its half price and you can do the museum in thirty minutes without the show. The last show was 4 so we missed it, but this place is out of this world.. Oil is still bubbling to the surface in the lagoons, and over 1 M (yes million) fossils have been pulled from the pits. So lumber on over, La Brea tar pits is great fun for young raptors to old geezersaurus
Written May 16, 2022
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.
Shanelle
Santa Monica, CA2,664 contributions
Free access to tar pits and paid entry to the museum
Dec 2022 • Friends
Archaeological digs with public viewing of the dig sites. There’s also a paid entry museum that you can visit while you’re visiting the premises. It’s located right next to LACMA and it’s a good spot for tourists and families to visit. Metered street parking or paid parking. The tar pits still bubble and though there’s statues of a mammoth family watching one of its members die (which made me really sad as a kid), it’s a fun way to spend an hour or two.
Written January 16, 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.
CrankingChick
Tucson, AZ7,872 contributions
Bubbling Tar and Bones of Unfortunate Animals Who Became Mired In It
May 2019
This museum and historic site is very interesting and educational with many displays of fossilized skeletons that were discovered on the surrounding grounds. The building is laid out with exhibits around a central open courtyard that is landscaped like a tropical rainforest, complete with stream and waterfall. Windows let you look into a working lab and watch scientists processing fossils. Several of the attractions are outside, including the famous bubbling tar pits and some excavation sites with interpretive signage. A 3D movie and a puppet show (weekends only) are available for an additional charge. Another reviewer thought the outside exhibits were free, but when we visited there were kiosks set up at the entrances to Hancock Park where the tar pits and excavation sites are located and attendants were collecting admission. The museum building contains a large shop with t-shirts, books and souvenirs. We spent about 90 minutes at the museum and skipped the movie and theater show because they seemed more oriented toward children. Tickets are a few dollars cheaper if you buy in advance online. We visited on Memorial Day when we knew many downtown businesses would be closed and there was less traffic. We arrived early and entered when the museum first opened. It wasn't very crowded for the first 30-60 minutes but it definitely got busy before we left (the garden courtyard was a quiet haven). Wheelchair access to the museum and grounds was very good. The Tar Pits charges $15 for parking. Metered on-street parking is available but you have to be careful about the day/time restrictions so you don't get towed. Public transit buses stop nearby on Wilshire Blvd. There are places to eat within walking distance but not in the museum. We made a day of it and also visited the Petersen Museum which is just a block away. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is right across the park too.
Written February 25, 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.
Racer70
Lithopolis, OH231 contributions
Worth a Quick Visit!
Jul 2022
We visited the La Brea Tar Pits on July 3, 2022. We didn't pay admission to visit the museum, but did pay the $15 flat fee to park in the gated parking lot. The tar pits are in a public park and and are free to the public to walk around and see.

The tar pits in general are very small, with the exception of the large pond/lake which is mostly water. They are all surrounded by large fences, so you cannot get up close to them or get into any danger of falling in. If you look closely, you can see some of the pits bubbling up or blowing small bubbles of tar and exhailing methane gas. You can smell the pits and it smells like tar or asphalt.

The signage and history of the tar pits is interesting, but this is defintiely a venue with only takes an hour or less if you don't visit the museum. This is one of those "bucket list" items in LA to say that you did.
Written July 9, 2022
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.
mrk4th
Burr Ridge, IL316 contributions
Lots of bones!
Aug 2021 • Couples
I’ve been fascinated with the tar pits since I was a little kid and had a plastic model of a woolly rhino sinking while a condor tears out a chunk of its flesh, but this was my first visit in person. The museum was pretty much as I expected, with what seemed to be about a million bones on display. The 3D movie was not worth it, I’ve seen better documentaries on Discovery. Outside, the pleasant park, smelling of tar, is very interesting, especially the Lake Pit where the tar is still bubbling to the surface. Unfortunately, the other smaller pits are just filled with boxes (of more bones) for future study; not much to see. I’m sure every school kid in SoCal has come here on a field trip, but if that’s not you, it’s worth it for a glimpse back in time.
Written August 4, 2021
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.
John M
Roseburg, OR174 contributions
Skip it, plenty of other fun things to do in LA.
Mar 2023 • Family
Our first time visiting…also our last time. After paying $15 to park, we got our, walked around, read the signs at the various “pits” which look like ponds…some with bubbles coming up from the ground. If you’ve been to Yellowstone, this will be very disappointing to you. After walking around for about 20 minutes, we were all bored to tears, got in the car and left. We didn’t do the museum, just the tar pits, so I can’t speak to the museum but reading other reviews it sounds like that’s skip-worthy as well.
Written March 7, 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.
kevsadventures
10 contributions
La Brea Tar Pits...very educational
Mar 2020 • Family
It’s a little confusing after you pay to park, to know where to go. There’s no one directing you so you kind of just start walking. My advice would be to start with the museum. You can’t miss it because it’s in the middle of a grass hill next to the parking lot. After about an hour in there you venture out to the different pits to see the tar bubbling and some of the excavation sites.

Lastly, if you want a better photo back ground. after you go through the museum go to what looks like the front gate. From the parking lot it’s about 200yards. So you basically enter the area and park your car on the backside of the pits and walk around the sidewalk to the front of the museum. (Parking I believe was $15) Then, directly in front of the museum there is a “front entrance” to the pits, for folks walking down the street I guess.

The Pits offer a great learning experience and very interesting. Total visit time, 2-3hours depending on how fast you read or how much you want to remember.
Written March 14, 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.
jennifera399
Reading, Pennsylvania, United States154 contributions
Great location
Jul 2021
The park is an amazing site to see areas of bubbling asphalt, hidden asphalt, and other areas of tar to learn how the animals were caught off guard, and what animals they found in each area. The museum itself is a must see as you will learn plenty of what prehistoric life was about native to the area. There is a nice garden to walk around the museum as well as a reasonably priced gift shopt.
Written December 18, 2021
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.
Michael K
Fort Lee, NJ67 contributions
Cool museum, Boring Tar Pits...
Dec 2019
We found this place a bit boring. The small museum onsite has some pretty cool exhibits including some bears and tigers and dinosaurs, and even a lab that shows how they process fossils. That was the best part. The tar pits themselves are just pools of mud and tar surrounded by fences, some with fake, plastic mammoths and animals in them. There are several tar pits and background info for each one explains what they found and such, but again, not much to look at. We regretted paying to come here, but if you are really interested in history, geology, and science in general, maybe you will find it more interesting than we did...
Written February 3, 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.
Melissa P
Melbourne, Australia98 contributions
Come here to learn a little about LA's history thousands of years ago
Feb 2020
I found this museum to be so fascinating. You can see the tar (asphalt) bubbling up around the grounds - which are free to walk around. You do have to pay to go into the museum, but the outside is also very interesting - did you know to date, they have found 5 million fossils in the tar pits?
Written February 27, 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.
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La Brea Tar Pits and Museum (Los Angeles) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

Frequently Asked Questions about La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is open:
  • Wed - Mon 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Buy tickets in advance on Tripadvisor. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund.
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum admission prices can vary. Entrance tickets currently cost $15.00, while a popular guided tour starts around $49.00 per person. See all 27 La Brea Tar Pits and Museum tickets and tours on Tripadvisor
La Brea Tar Pits and Museum can be crowded, so we recommend booking e-tickets ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund. See all 27 La Brea Tar Pits and Museum tickets and tours on Tripadvisor
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