United States
New York (NY)
New York City
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American Museum of Natural History
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American Museum of Natural History

See all things to do
See all things to do
American Museum of Natural History
4.5
26,026 reviews
#23 of 1,423 things to do in New York City
Natural History Museums
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10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
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About
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to discover, interpret, and disseminate information about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-ranging program of scientific research, education, and exhibition. The Museum is renowned for its exhibitions and scientific collections, which serve as a field guide to the entire planet and present a panorama of the world's cultures.
Suggested duration
More than 3 hours
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Admission tickets
from $28.00
All you need to step foot in the door.
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Nestled between Central Park and the Hudson River, the Upper West Side offers iconic architecture and a quiet, residential respite from the buzzing energy of downtown. Along Central Park West are many of the city’s most iconic apartment buildings, as well as the American Museum of Natural History, which has been welcoming visitors to its historic exhibit halls for over 140 years. Culture fans will love Lincoln Center, home to some of the world’s best opera, dance, film, and theater performances, all centrally located around a beautiful fountain. Spanning the entire length of the Upper West Side, Riverside Park is ideal for a long, leisurely stroll in a quiet green space.
How to get there
  • 81st St – Museum of Natural History • 3 min walk
  • 72nd St • 8 min walk
Best nearby
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1,571 within 6 miles
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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
26,026 reviews
Excellent
15,213
Very good
6,395
Average
2,998
Poor
951
Terrible
473
Suman L
2 contributions
Great museum but avoid the cafeteria
Jan 2023
AMNH is one of the best museums I have ever visited. And I have visited this museum many times, yet me and my family always feel excited discovering the old things newly. Kid is really fascinated with the dinosaur gallery and gem gallery inside earth science area. For me, the museum is well designed, offers something for every curious mind and the staff are generally courteous.
Only downside is the exorbitant price of the food and their vile taste. It's $4/quarter pound of food. So, it will cost $16 if you eat a pound of food. Pretty much everything taste awful.
Written January 19, 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.
Walter T
Philadelphia, PA152 contributions
One of the greatest museums
Sep 2021
One of the greatest science museums in the world. Huge building with its own subway stop, the museum would take several days to fully appreciate. Clever app called Explorer guides you through the museum. Must show proof of vaccination and ID to get in. Museum dinosaur collection on the 4th floor is breathtaking and the Hayden Planetarium is an excellent show. Saw the special exhibits on color (good for kids), creatures of light (bioluminesence), missed the sea lion film. You could spend days understanding the development of man, animal dioramas, African and Asian people, meteorites, evolution, etc. The new highlight is the mineral and gem hall including the Star of India, understanding rocks, minerals and gems. The special jewelry exhibit and works of Asian carved minerals is spectacular. The one disappointment was the cafeteria prices - like $16 a lb salad, $15 cheeseburger and fries, $4 soda. No outside food allowed ensuring that you WILL buy a meal. Still worth it.
Written September 5, 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.
Connie H
Kennett Square, PA72 contributions
April Spring Break Visit
Apr 2022
We were here on Sunday, April 10th. I had concerns about long lines from previous reviews, but we arrived around 11:45 AM, went to the main entrance (central park) and there was a very short, fast-moving line. I think if you go early, you don't get long lines - the also seem to close the main entrance later in the day so when we were leaving around 3 PM, the line on 81st street was very long. Once inside, you go through security. If you have an actual ticket (with a scannable code), you go right in, otherwise you have to stand in a long, slow line to get an actual ticket or redeem a voucher. It's a huge museum and at times, somewhat confusing to navigate. We just used the paper map to get around. But there could be more signs. We went to the top floor and worked our way down. It was warm in certain sections of the museum & we had to carry our jackets since it was fairly cold out. We didn't see everything, but what we saw was great. I would definitely go back again.
Written April 18, 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.
Emily Parsons
9 contributions
RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!
Apr 2023 • Couples
I don't have anything to say about inside of the museum. DO NOT GO ON A RAINY DAY! Everyone else in New York has the same idea. It specifically says when booking the tickets, to book a time slot so we did. Our time slot for entrance was 12.30pm, we arrived 12.25pm to find 2 large queues, unsure which one to queue in because there weren't any staff to direct us, my husband queued in one and I did the other. He got in quicker via the main entrance which was still a 30 minute wait after the originally entry time. Once inside, turns out as we had booked via a third party on get your guide, so we had to queue for another 45 minutes to get our actual tickets. We were through and hour and 15 minutes after our original entry time and booked to see one of the special exhibitions 15 minutes afterwards. We got in line for the show only to be told it had been cancelled as the projector was broken. We were shoulder to shoulder for the 20 minutes we were inside so we were very quick to leave. They were happy enough to cancel the tickets but the refund had to be raised via the third party, we did this only to be challenged back that the museum weren't going to support it! Very poor and really ruined our expectations of such a well known attraction. They should limit numbers to ensure visitors can really make the most of it.
Written May 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.
zombie_nurse
Hastings, UK72 contributions
Even culture comes at a price
Whilst in NYC we thought we would take in a museum. When we arrived at the Natural History Museum in NYC immediately I was shocked that you have to pay $28pp to get in. To be honest coming from England I am used to the museums and Art galleries being free. Nothing amazing and London has more to offer. Nothing is free in America and that obviously includes culture…. No surprise there!
Written May 1, 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.
Exploration698712
5 contributions
Mediocre experience
Dec 2019 • Family
We visited on a rainy day before New Year’s Eve so our experience may have been atypical. However, we arrived by subway a few minutes before the open time and found there is an entrance accessible directly from the subway; unfortunately, there was a huge line that stretched all the way out to the street and around to the next block. There was no one from the museum directing people and very little information posted; there may have been another entrance but with literally no one providing information I don’t know. From the subway entrance it took us 45 minutes to get into the security area. We were using city pass, which it turns out was a mistake at this location. If you had tickets you purchased from the museum directly (on your phone or printed) you could bypass the line once you made it inside; if you had city pass or New York pass you had to wait in the line. Ultimately, it took us until 11:00 to get into the actual museum. In addition, there are 4 exhibits that require a separate ticket-planetarium, movie, butterflies and trex. We were assigned the planetarium show at 1:30 (not sure how-we didn’t select the experience or time-it was just printed on our tickets), which meant we couldn’t access the butterfly exhibit, the movie or the trex experience without additional tickets. I would recommend buying tickets from the museum directly so you can choose your experience. The museum itself has a lot to see but honestly there is very little that is interactive for children. I was expecting more hands on experiences but there were lots of displays. We ate in the main level cafeteria and had a good but pricey lunch. There were refillable fountain drinks, which was nice. The blue whale was really neat and my kids, ages 7 and 12, enjoyed the planetarium show. There were origami demonstrations as well and my kids loved making cranes. There are lots of wonderful things here so if you can visit on a day that is less crowded and have a faster entrance to the museum I’m sure your experience would be better than ours!
Written January 1, 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.
Nicole
Rincon, Puerto Rico10 contributions
poorly organized
Jul 2022 • Couples
some rooms smell heavily of dust. it is not properly organized, I recommend having the physical map on hand or downloading the app, because it is a little bit confusing. even if we had reservations, we had to do a long queue to get in (approx. 40 mins) . once inside, it was very noisy and EXTREMELY packed making it hard to actually enjoy anything. what’s the point of timed reservations if it’s going to be so packed?
Written July 4, 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.
Jim V
1 contribution
A disrespectful wait
Jun 2021
The museum needs to staff their admission desks with respect for their visitors. They should be embarrassed about the waiting times they're forcing on people who've made reservations in advance. We had a noon reservation and, after waiting on a line outside, then had to wait an hour inside. There were a few hundred of us with just two staff people (and sometimes just one) to turn our reservations into actual admittance into the museum. That was a totally wasted hour that we could have spent going through the exhibits. If you truly want to visit this museum, I suggest you consider finding a way to show up with your tickets in hand. For NJ,NY, and CT residents that means foregoing the "pay what you want" option because it involves making a reservation -- which puts you on that dreadful and disrespectful line.
Written June 24, 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.
judithantoinette
97 contributions
Could be so much better
Oct 2022 • Family
While the museum seems to offer much of value, the total experience is exhausting and frustrating. It seems almost no one works or volunteers in the vast space and getting from one venue to another is daunting with minimal signage and no one to ask for directions. This takes on urgency as there are set times for the movie and the planetarium. The shark exhibit was well done but the animals in the dioramas seemed dusty and old. Even on a Monday there were crowds everywhere. The food in the food court looked appalling. Luckily I knew from past experience that there was a subway entrance directly in the building but never would have guessed otherwise. I remember this museum as a friendlier more user-friendly place pre-COVID and doubt I will return any time soon.
Written October 24, 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.
Dahlia Sunshine
Cairo, Egypt151 contributions
Fantastic museum
Jul 2022 • Couples
Absolutely fantastic and amazing museum. I visited many museums across the world but AMNH NYC is my favourite. You must book tickets online (received free tickets; corporate membership), need to go early as huge lineup will be there and map is a must. I enjoyed all exhibits but mostly the gems and stones section, giant whale, elephants, dinosaur and countries section. There is restaurant in the lower floor serves freshly cooked meals and food is really delicious. All staff are very helpful. Highly recommended
Written October 29, 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.
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American Museum of Natural History (New York City) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

Frequently Asked Questions about American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History is open:
  • Sun - Sat 10:00 AM - 5:30 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.
American Museum of Natural History admission prices can vary. Entrance tickets currently cost $28.00, while a popular guided tour starts around $8.82 per person. See all 31 American Museum of Natural History tickets and tours on Tripadvisor
American Museum of Natural History 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 31 American Museum of Natural History tickets and tours on Tripadvisor

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