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Museum of Science
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Museum of Science

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See all things to do
Museum of Science
4.5
3,336
#43 of 435 things to do in Boston
Science Museums
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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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About
The Museum of Science, Boston, offers visitors over 700 interactive exhibits, live presentations, and shows at the Charles Hayden Planetarium and the Mugar Omni Theater, the only domed IMAX screen in New England. The museum is also an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is home to over 100 animals, many of which have been rescued and rehabilitated. The Museum of Science has also launched a new digital experience for audiences, MOS at Home. With multiple live presentations throughout the day, creative engineering projects, podcasts, kid-friendly activities, and more, the Museum is inviting the community to visit remotely for new content daily.
Suggested duration
2-3 hours
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Address
Neighborhood: West End
How to get there
  • Science Park • 4 min walk
  • Lechmere • 8 min walk
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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
3,336 reviews
Excellent
2,055
Very good
801
Average
320
Poor
102
Terrible
59
Amelia D
4 contributions
Pretty good, meant for younger children
Mar 2022
The Boston Museum of Science has many interactive exhibits for kids ages 4-11. I would not recommend bringing older children to the museum because the displays were designed for younger children. They had exhibitions from biology to weather. I enjoyed the Future of Boston exhibit the most. Overall, the experience was fun, and each display was entertaining. One thing to preface before going there is to bring a mask! They will not let you into the museum without a mask covering your mouth and nose. Although they have masks at the front desk, they are children's masks, so bringing your own is advised.
Written March 2, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
agreeneyedgirl85
Grand Rapids, MI45 contributions
As good as I remembered
Jul 2021
I went here as a kid and remembered this being one of my favorite places. Unlike the aquarium, which was quite the let down, the Museum of Science did not disappoint. We spent almost 5 hours here with our 4-year old! There are so many activities to do for kids (and adults) of all ages. Out little one especially loved the Pixar exhibit that they have right now and we spent over an hour in that exhibit alone. Would definitely also recommend the Planetarium film Big Birds Big Adventure for little ones - our daughter loved it and it was a great intro into astrology.
Written July 16, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Bmsabry
Albany, NY119 contributions
One of best attractions read plan / tips
Aug 2020 • Family
Start by calling to reserve two things
1. Your admission time
2. The Pixar short movie
3. They will email you confirmation so keep that handy in your phone or print it if you don’t have a phone.

Tips/plan:

1. The museum parking will cost around $20 dollars. We purchased city pass which provides admission to 4 attractions (Museum of science, Franklin Zoo, Aquarium and the USS constitution cruise). Thank God this saves the family good amount of money. Search online and purchase the passes from their website. They will email you the passes and you will need to show them. We stayed at Sonesta in Burlington. It is about 30 minutes drive from all attractions. The two bedroom suites are perfect for families of 4 and up to 8. They are affordable but not renovated. Nothing fancy for the stay but it will be good. Near by grocery and food so you will do well.
2. The museum parking is a garage that is literally in the museum. You park and walk 5 minutes and you enter the museum.
3. It will take 3-4 hours to see everything and this will be a totally awesome experience.
4. Take some snacks and water bottles in your back pack to save money.
5. The Pixar video is 5 minutes. The Pixar exhibit is beautiful so plan to spend good amount of time there.
6. Many of the shows were not playing because of COVID-19. You still have lots of stuff to do
7. Remember your masks.

Praying this is good and happy experience for you and your family.
Written August 15, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
RightTruRvws
Fort Collins, CO129 contributions
Nice museum, but…
Oct 2021 • Couples
The displays are either a little hard to fathom or are geared to children 10 and under. There were so many busses of school kids that some areas were overrun by kids and not accessible for others. On top of that, $25 per ticket was ok, but the parking garage was $19 for a couple hours! If that was not enough, typical Boston hard to get to and out of.
Liked what the museum is trying to do, but the kids, the cost…can not recommend for out of town visitors like us who are not members.
Written October 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Daniela S
Jersey, UK17 contributions
Not worth the time or the money
Aug 2022 • Family
Having visited the Science Museum in the past (2005) and had a great experience, I was keen to bring my children (aged 13 & 9) for a visit. Big mistake. It feels like the museum has dumbed down and is catering solely to families of very young children. In fact, the whole place was full of badly supervised hordes of young children (summer camp groups) that were running around, yelling so loudly that you couldn’t even hear the narration on the exhibits that were vaguely interesting (e.g. that weren’t aimed at pre-schoolers). If you are planning on visiting, do it when the kids are back at school & bring your own food. The pre-made sandwiches we bought in the museum restaurant were over-priced and revolting. The bread was sopping wet. The fruit in the fruit cups was squashed & bruised. It was a really frustrating visit. I regret going. There are better places to visit in Boston.
Written August 18, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Preschool Mom
Milford, NH1 contribution
Fun day, but needs improvement
Dec 2021
My two children are almost 4 and loved watching the trains and playing with the toy trains at the temporary exhibit. The Garden Walk/insect exhibit was also well loved. We did not go this time, but I have greatly enjoyed the planetarium and IMAX theaters during prior visits. The rest of the exhibits feel dull and my kids were not really interested. A lot of the exhibits feel old/outdated and have not changed since my first visit in 1999 and several of the exhibits were old then. One thing I would love to see improvement on is the layout. With multiple exhibit halls, I would prefer for them to be categorized by age. The green hall is for toddlers/preschoolers. The blue hall is for elementary students, etc. All machines should be in good working order (we ran into broken ones) or instructions should be more clear (coding station). Some of the exhibits should be more hands on. Example, my children could touch the dinosaur footprint (felt cheap) but could not stand in it. The space shuttle, the girls could climb in, but the video inside was nothing impressive and the buttons did not do anything. The look of the shuttle also said, I have been here forever and I look grungy from years of staining (It was clean, but things age and a new paint job should not be a budget buster). This is not the way to get kids interested in space. If the Museum ever gets the money, I hope they make a playground version of the international space station. For a hands on experience, my preschoolers were significantIy more engaged and entertained at the See Science Center in Manchester, NH. I am glad we went once, but unless we are going for the IMAX or the planetarium, we will not be returning. Tickets for a family of 4 are $100, now add in the cost of parking and costs start becoming prohibitive, especially if you are also buying lunch. Lunch is standard cafeteria fare. Expensive, but don’t expect more than fries, grocery store style burgers, and school cafeteria pizza. This is standard at most museums across the country, so I don’t feel that this should be a factor in preventing someone from going, but it would be nice if it was run more like a ski resort. Same cheap food, but already available to walk up and grab, I don’t want to wait in line for 10 minutes for them to take my order and start it. Especially when the family in front of me also ordered burgers and there was enough grill space to make theirs and mine at the same time.
Written December 25, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Christopher F
Rochester, MN10 contributions
Good not great
Jan 2023
Just visited Jan 23. Museum has some nice exhibits for sure. My main issue it's like 10 times bigger then it needs to be. Like having a 6 by 10 foot tent in the middle of a 50 x 100 room. There's a lot of room for school kids to run rampant and they did while we visited. Ya you can entertain numerous busloads of kids and I think that was the purpose. Nice if teachers are leading their class and real instruction is taking place but the kids were in supervised and it kind of ruined the experience.
We took about 3 hours to see it all. Food is poor quality and expensive. 2 cokes, sub sandwich, pita sandwich, small fruit dish, 35 dollars. Imo admission is way to high. 29 for adults, seniors 25. I think 15 for adults is more in line. Hey the Smithsonian museums in DC are free. It cost three of us 79 admission 35 for food.
They need to get a hold of the school program. It ain't working.
Written January 24, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Valerie G
British Virgin Islands154 contributions
Just okay
Oct 2021 • Family
We always make it a point to visit the science museum when visiting a major city with our daughter as she loves science. She has seen a few the latest being the one in San Francisco. We also have a few friends in Boston with children who really hyped up this museum to us so we were really looking forward to it. For me it was just okay. It was expensive for what it is. We got there mid afternoon on a Friday and saw the 4D film Ice Worlds to start. It was meh for me. We then did the blue and green rooms. My daughter who is 10 had fun going from one exhibit to the next and I think she enjoyed the learning. Agreed there is quite a bit of learning for children but for the adults accompanying the children, at least speaking for
myself, it fell flat. Comparing that experience say to the Science Museum in San Francisco or in London we all enjoyed and learned a lot at those two museums. It was not a bad way to spend an afternoon for the sake of my daughter and maybe we will pass back when next we are in the city and there is some discount on the rates as to be fair we did not see the entire museum. So would want to evaluate again when we have seen more of it.
Written October 31, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
SerenaG1967
Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom43 contributions
Worst museum experience ever
Oct 2022
It's hard to rate the actual museum as our experience was so badly marred by the out of control school parties who were visiting at the same time. There were, quite literally, hundreds of children visiting and most, though not all, were extremely badly behaved and very very loud. When trying to watch the lightening demonstration, we asked a group of boys three times to quiet down so we could hear and all we got was rude gestures from them and the teacher/guardian with them did absolutely nothing. We also experienced children running up to the interactive exhibits we were using and just taking over.

Our visit was ruined and we left after only a couple of hours.
Written October 29, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
QualityMatters2Me
Larchmont, NY26 contributions
Great for older children. including under 10, but beware the Omni Theater
Nov 2022
My 8-year-old grandson and I visited the Museum of Science, which is actually in Cambridge, two days ago. Although, when we visited it when he was younger, he hated it, he loved it this time, to the point that he returned to the Museum yesterday, at his request, and he loved it again.
One significant exception was the Omni theater. It offered a program about trains, which started out with a nostalgic, and boring, review of model train sets from the 1950s (I had one, back then, but it even bored me). The major problem was the level of sound in the Omni theater, which was rock-concert loud, so loud that my grandson held his ears and, after a short time, asked that we leave, because it was so loud, which we did. I would consider the noise level to be too loud to avoid damage to a person's, especially a child's, hearing, and I was astounded that a great museum of science allowed this.
Written November 27, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Museum of Science (Boston) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

Frequently Asked Questions about Museum of Science
Museum of Science is open:
  • Fri - Fri 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
  • Sat - Thu 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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We recommend booking Museum of Science tours ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. See all 8 Museum of Science tours on Tripadvisor
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