Museums

Live lightning shows, dinosaurs, a planetarium and hundreds of hands-on exhibits spanning the Charles River.

Boston, MA

One of the world's great art museums, Monet, Sargent, ancient Egypt and 500,000 works under one roof.

Boston, MA

Step aboard Old Ironsides, the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, in the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Boston, MA

A Venetian palace of art wrapped around a flowering courtyard, and home to the world's most famous art heist.

Boston, MA

Three floors of hands-on play in a Fort Point warehouse, climb the three-story maze, blow giant bubbles, and step inside a real Kyoto silk merchant's house.

Boston, MA

I.M. Pei's soaring glass pavilion on Columbia Point tells JFK's story, from the 1960 campaign trail to the Cuban Missile Crisis, with harbor views to match.

Boston, MA

A glass-and-steel museum cantilevered over Boston Harbor, pairing bold contemporary art with one of the best waterfront perches in the Seaport.

Boston, MA

Home of the famous Glass Flowers, plus whale skeletons, a 42-foot Kronosaurus, and Harvard's great hall of mammals, steps from Harvard Yard.

Cambridge, MA

The largest collection of Russian icons in North America, housed in a former carpet-mill building in Clinton, Massachusetts.

Clinton, MA

Colonial-era house museum in Marblehead centered on the 1768 Jeremiah Lee Mansion.

Marblehead, MA

Salem's museum of art and culture, spanning four centuries of collections and historic houses.

Salem, MA

Life-size staged retelling of the 1692 Salem witch trials.

Salem, MA

67,000-square-foot military history museum with tanks and vintage aircraft.

Hudson, MA

Boston sports history museum inside TD Garden.

Boston, MA

Live witch-trial reenactment and dungeon walkthrough in Salem.

Salem, MA

A hands-on science museum in Manchester's historic Millyard.

Manchester, NH

The Satanic Temple's Salem headquarters and art gallery, set in a former Victorian funeral home.

Salem, MA

Interactive Salem museum showcasing authenticated pirate treasure and artifacts recovered from the wrecked ship Whydah.

Salem, MA

Museum tracing Manchester's mill and immigrant history inside a restored Amoskeag Millyard building.

Manchester, NH

A 1668 seaside mansion and museum campus in Salem that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel.

Salem, MA

An art and design museum in Providence with more than 100,000 objects spanning ancient to contemporary work.

Providence, RI

Photographs and films capture JFK's Cape Cod summers, steps from the Kennedy compound's hometown.

Hyannis, MA

Hands-on nature exhibits plus boardwalk trails across salt marsh to a secluded bay beach.

Brewster, MA

Real treasure from the only authenticated pirate shipwreck ever recovered, cannons, coins, and all.

West Yarmouth, MA

Hourly glassblowing demos and glittering galleries in the Cape's oldest town, where Boston & Sandwich Glass ruled the 1800s.

Sandwich, MA

The flagship museum of America's oldest art colony, Hawthorne to Hofmann to today's Provincetown painters, free on Friday nights in season.

Provincetown, MA

The macabre-whimsy master's real home on the Yarmouth Port common, with annual exhibits and a Gashlycrumb Tinies scavenger hunt.

Yarmouth Port, MA

An 18th-century Cape Cod house turned art museum, once home to folk artists Ralph and Martha Cahoon.

Cotuit, MA

Living history museum recreating 17th-century Plymouth and Wampanoag life.

Plymouth, MA

A Dennis museum spotlighting Cape Cod's own painters, sculptors, and photographers.

Dennis, MA

Coast Guard history housed in an 1855 Customs House in Barnstable Village, with a blacksmith shop and old jail.

Barnstable, MA

A Provincetown artist colony offering free public readings, talks, and gallery shows year-round.

Provincetown, MA

The Nantucket Historical Association's flagship museum on the island's 19th-century whaling era.

Nantucket, MA

Marine research nonprofit with a free discovery center featuring a real humpback whale skeleton.

Provincetown, MA

Dinosaurs, the great blue whale and a planetarium under one roof, one of the world's great museums, beloved by kids.

New York, NY

5,000 years of art, Egyptian temples, European masters and rooftop skyline views, on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile.

New York, NY

Climb aboard a real WWII aircraft carrier, plus a space shuttle, a Concorde and a submarine, on the Hudson River.

New York, NY

Twin reflecting pools and a profoundly moving museum honor the lives lost at the World Trade Center.

New York, NY

Van Gogh's Starry Night, Monet's Water Lilies, and the world's defining modern art collection across six Midtown floors.

New York, NY

Frank Lloyd Wright's spiraling white rotunda on Fifth Avenue, a UNESCO-listed building as famous as the art inside it.

New York, NY

An interactive Times Square museum tracing Broadway from its beginnings to tonight's marquees, packed with costumes, props, and photo-ready sets.

New York, NY

Military and space history museum aboard the retired aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on the Hudson River.

New York, NY

Run the Rocky Steps, then wander one of America's greatest art collections behind that famous neoclassical facade.

Philadelphia, PA

Walk through a giant beating heart at Philly's hands-on science playground, a guaranteed hit with kids of every age.

Philadelphia, PA

Renoirs and Matisses hung floor-to-ceiling exactly as Dr. Barnes arranged them, an art experience unlike any other.

Philadelphia, PA

Washington's actual war tent headlines this immersive museum, telling the Revolution's story blocks from where it began.

Philadelphia, PA

America's town hall on Independence Mall, live theater, interactive galleries, and 42 bronze Founders you can stand among in Signers' Hall.

Philadelphia, PA

A 13-ton granite Sphinx of Ramses II greets you at this world-renowned archaeology museum on Penn's campus.

Philadelphia, PA

The famously strange medical museum of the College of Physicians, antique instruments, anatomical specimens, and Einstein's brain.

Philadelphia, PA

Philly's beloved children's museum in Fairmount Park's grand Memorial Hall, hands-on exhibits and a century-old carousel.

Philadelphia, PA

Dig real 66-million-year-old fossils at Rowan University's quarry-side museum, the only active public fossil dig east of the Mississippi.

Mantua Township, NJ

Natural history museum near Wilmington with dinosaur, shell, and bird exhibits plus a planetarium.

Wilmington, DE

A National Historic Landmark mansion in Princeton that once served as New Jersey's first governor's residence.

Princeton, NJ

A restored 1758 colonial-era barracks in Trenton that housed soldiers, prisoners, and a Revolutionary War hospital.

Trenton, NJ

A former du Pont estate holding the world's top collection of American decorative arts, set in a 1,000-acre naturalistic garden.

Winterthur, DE

State museum in Trenton with natural history, fine art and cultural history exhibits plus a planetarium.

Trenton, NJ

National Historic Landmark prison museum in Mount Holly, designed by architect Robert Mills.

Mount Holly, NJ

Touch a moon rock and stand under the Spirit of St. Louis at the world's most-visited aviation museum, always free.

Washington, DC

A powerful journey through African American history and culture, from the slave trade galleries to Motown and beyond.

Washington, DC

Da Vinci, Vermeer, and the Impressionists for free, plus a sculpture garden that becomes an ice rink in winter.

Washington, DC

The Hope Diamond, the Nation's T. rex, and Henry the elephant, the Mall's busiest free museum packs the whole natural world under one green dome.

Washington, DC

Dorothy's ruby slippers, the actual Star-Spangled Banner, and Julia Child's kitchen, America's attic, free on the National Mall.

Washington, DC

A profound, self-guided journey through Holocaust history just off the Mall, free, with timed passes for the Permanent Exhibition.

Washington, DC

Stand before the originals: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in the marble Rotunda.

Washington, DC

A wooded sculpture garden and arts center in Solomons, Maryland, with a walking trail past rotating outdoor artworks.

Solomons, MD

A Washington DC shrine and museum dedicated to Pope John Paul II, with exhibits on his life and papacy.

Washington, DC

A Gettysburg diorama museum re-creating Civil War battles with hand-sculpted cat soldiers.

Gettysburg, PA

Outdoor living-history museum and archaeological site at Maryland's first colonial capital.

St. Mary's City, MD

County-run network of four Southern Maryland heritage sites, including a lighthouse museum and a historic schoolhouse.

Leonardtown, MD

Home of American Gothic and a world-famous Impressionist collection, guarded by two bronze lions.

Chicago, IL

Meet SUE the T. rex and roam ancient Egypt in one of the world's great natural history museums.

Chicago, IL

Descend into a coal mine, board a captured WWII U-boat, and geek out in the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere.

Chicago, IL

America's first planetarium, perched on Northerly Island with dome sky shows and the best skyline view in Chicago.

Chicago, IL

One of the world's largest contemporary art museums, steps off the Mag Mile, bold exhibitions, free for under-18s.

Chicago, IL

Free exhibit on money and the U.S. economy inside the Chicago Fed's Loop headquarters.

Chicago, IL

A Chicago museum devoted to the history of American radio and television broadcasting.

Chicago, IL

A 13-acre outdoor living-history village in Naperville with restored 19th-century buildings.

Naperville, IL

A sprawling car museum and family attraction in Volo, Illinois, with classic, celebrity, and movie cars.

Volo, IL

Historic 1897 astronomical observatory offering guided tours of its restored telescopes, architecture and archives.

Williams Bay, WI

The only North American museum devoted to the history of surgery, set in a Gold Coast mansion on Lake Shore Drive.

Chicago, IL

A natural history and culture museum in downtown Milwaukee with life-size dioramas and a giant dinosaur skeleton.

Milwaukee, WI

The world's only bobblehead-specific museum, with thousands of bobbleheads spanning sports, pop culture and politics.

Milwaukee, WI

Stand beneath giant dinosaurs, catch a giant-screen film, then hit 75 acres of old-growth forest trails out back.

Atlanta, GA

The Southeast's leading art museum, Richard Meier's gleaming white building is a masterpiece before you even step inside.

Atlanta, GA

A three-story wall of 700+ team helmets, interactive games and a 45-yard indoor field, heaven for football fans of any stripe.

Atlanta, GA

Buckhead's 33-acre history campus: the immersive Battle of Atlanta cyclorama, 1928 Swan House mansion, and woodland gardens.

Atlanta, GA

Step into a replica Oval Office and see a Nobel Peace Prize at the 39th president's hilltop museum with skyline views.

Atlanta, GA

Walk through the first Boeing 747-400 ever built and meet the employee-bought Spirit of Delta in historic hangars by the airport.

Atlanta, GA

Automotive museum in Cartersville with rotating exhibits on the history and design of the automobile.

Cartersville, GA

A Smithsonian-affiliated science museum in Cartersville with mineral, fossil, and space exhibits plus a planetarium.

Cartersville, GA

An interactive children's museum in Centennial Olympic Park with hands on exhibits for ages 0 to 8.

Atlanta, GA

A 1916 Gilded Age bayfront villa with lavish European interiors and 10 acres of formal gardens on Biscayne Bay.

Miami, FL

A gleaming waterfront science museum with a three-level aquarium, planetarium and hands-on exhibits for all ages.

Miami, FL

Modern and contemporary art in a stunning Herzog & de Meuron building with hanging gardens over Biscayne Bay.

Miami, FL

Downtown's Smithsonian Affiliate (formerly HistoryMiami) telling 10,000 years of South Florida stories, Tequesta artifacts, pioneer Miami, and Caribbean migration.

Miami, FL

The Seminole Tribe's own museum deep in the Big Cypress Reservation, with a mile-long boardwalk through the cypress dome.

Clewiston, FL

A small downtown museum tracing Boca Raton's growth from a farm town to a Mizner-era resort city.

Boca Raton, FL

West Palm Beach's hands-on science museum with an aquarium, planetarium, and lakeside nature trail.

West Palm Beach, FL

Henry Flagler's 1902 Gilded Age mansion in Palm Beach, preserved as a museum of Florida's railroad and resort history.

Palm Beach, FL

Fort Lauderdale's community history museum, housed in the century-old New River Inn.

Fort Lauderdale, FL

A sea turtle hospital and ocean conservation center in Juno Beach with rescued turtles on public view.

Juno Beach, FL

A Japanese museum and six themed gardens in Delray Beach, rooted in a historic Japanese farming colony.

Delray Beach, FL

Free art gallery, gift shop and visitor information center spotlighting Palm Beach County artists in downtown Lake Worth Beach.

Lake Worth Beach, FL

Small Juno Beach museum displaying over 1,000 scale model commercial aircraft.

Juno Beach, FL

A world-class art museum with free admission and the famous giant shuttlecocks on its lawn.

Kansas City, MO

America's official WWI museum, crowned by the Liberty Memorial tower with sweeping skyline views.

Kansas City, MO

200 tons of pristine 1856 frontier cargo, dug from a steamboat buried 45 feet under a Kansas cornfield.

Kansas City, MO

The world's only museum devoted to the Negro Leagues, in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District.

Kansas City, MO

The world's largest collection of fine-scale miniatures and antique toys, pure wonder at any age.

Kansas City, MO

In the historic 18th & Vine district, hands-on exhibits trace Charlie Parker, Ella, and Duke, with live sets in the museum's own Blue Room club.

Kansas City, MO

Freshly reimagined after a $29M overhaul: the atomic bomb decision, a recreated Oval Office, and Truman's grave in the courtyard.

Independence, MO

Always-free contemporary art in a striking Gunnar Birkerts building, guarded by a giant Louise Bourgeois spider.

Kansas City, MO

A free downtown Kansas City museum where visitors can see a working cash vault and lift a real gold bar.

Kansas City, MO

A restored 1860s stagecoach stop in Olathe where costumed interpreters run a working farm and stagecoach rides.

Olathe, KS

One of the largest public genealogy research libraries in the country, free to use, in Independence.

Independence, MO

Lecompton, Kansas museum run by the Lecompton Historical Society covering the town's role in the Bleeding Kansas territorial era.

Lecompton, KS

Interactive downtown Kansas City attraction with basketball skill games and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Kansas City, MO

World-class art, from Monet to Max Beckmann, in a stunning Beaux-Arts palace atop Forest Park's Art Hill. Always free.

St. Louis, MO

Free hands-on science fun, dinosaurs, a planetarium dome and a glass bridge over the highway where you can clock traffic.

St. Louis, MO

From Lewis & Clark to Lindbergh and the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis's epic story, told brilliantly and admission-free.

St. Louis, MO

A Victorian mansion turned hands-on wonderland, three-story slide, hair-raising electrostatic ball, and a kid-sized town kids never want to leave.

Kirkwood, MO

Free galleries celebrating chess in art and history, marked by the world's largest chess piece, a 20-foot king on the Central West End sidewalk.

St. Louis, MO

The regional Federal Reserve bank's downtown St. Louis headquarters, with public economics exhibits.

St. Louis, MO

One of the world's largest collections of trains, cars and other vehicles, near St. Louis.

St. Louis, MO

Hands-on science playground on the Mississippi bluff with dinosaurs, a giant Omnitheater and endlessly pushable buttons.

St. Paul, MN

One of America's great free art museums, 90,000 works spanning 5,000 years, from Monet to samurai armor.

Minneapolis, MN

Cutting-edge contemporary art beside the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry in the free Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Minneapolis, MN

A museum built into the ruins of the world's largest flour mill, with an 8-story elevator show and rooftop river views.

Minneapolis, MN

Frank Gehry's crumpled stainless-steel landmark on the Mississippi bluff, 20,000+ artworks and always-free admission at the U of M.

Minneapolis, MN

Minnesota's natural history museum: beloved restored wildlife dioramas, hands-on labs, and a state-of-the-art digital planetarium.

St. Paul, MN

A turreted 1908 castle-mansion turned Nordic culture hub, with craft workshops, exhibitions, and the celebrated New Nordic café FIKA.

Minneapolis, MN

A 39-room Jacobean Revival lakeside estate in Duluth, open for tours since 1979.

Duluth, MN

A regional history museum and archive covering Rochester and Olmsted County, Minnesota.

Rochester, MN

Free music museum at Landmark Center in Saint Paul with hands-on instrument galleries and a historic keyboard collection.

Saint Paul, MN

Community arts nonprofit and gallery space in Stillwater, showcasing rotating exhibits by regional artists.

Stillwater, MN

A world-class art collection, from Monet to medieval armor, and general admission is always free.

Cleveland, OH

Hands-on science fun next to the Rock Hall, with a real NASA Skylab exhibit and a WWII-era Great Lakes freighter.

Cleveland, OH

Dinosaurs, gems, and 'Lucy' the famous early human ancestor, freshly transformed by a major renovation.

Cleveland, OH

Ride the restored 1910 Euclid Beach carousel, browse the Crawford's classic cars and planes, and tour a Gilded Age mansion, all one ticket.

Cleveland, OH

Always-changing contemporary art in a mirrored black gem of a building at the gateway to Uptown and University Circle, free for Ohio residents.

Cleveland, OH

A volunteer-run outdoor museum of 19th-century buildings near Bellevue, Ohio.

Bellevue, OH

Texas nature, science, and history under one roof, dinosaurs, cattle drives, and hands-on galleries.

San Antonio, TX

San Antonio's hands-on children's museum, spy academy, robots, water works, and pure play for under-11s.

San Antonio, TX

An 1881 saloon packed floor-to-ceiling with horns, oddities, and Texas Ranger lore, gloriously weird.

San Antonio, TX

Texas's first modern art museum, set in a Spanish Colonial mansion with Picasso, O'Keeffe, and 25 acres of sculpture-dotted gardens.

San Antonio, TX

5,000 years of world art, Egyptian mummies to Latin American folk art, inside the castle-like former Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach.

San Antonio, TX

From the War of 1812 to daredevils in barrels, the wild true stories behind the falls, told brilliantly.

Niagara Falls, ON

Muskets, redcoats and cannon fire at the reconstructed British fort that anchored the War of 1812.

Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

A small downtown museum and archive devoted to telling San Francisco's story, from the Gold Rush to yesterday.

San Francisco, CA

A hands-on San Francisco museum devoted to the history and craft of bookbinding, with working antique machines.

San Francisco, CA

A small nonprofit museum on the Embarcadero celebrating San Francisco's cable cars and vintage streetcars.

San Francisco, CA

Free museum at Intel's Santa Clara headquarters tracing the history of the microchip and Silicon Valley.

Santa Clara, CA

Museum in Santa Rosa devoted to Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, with original comic art and a recreated studio.

Santa Rosa, CA

Hands-on science center with interactive exhibits and a planetarium in downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento, CA

Free interactive museum in Fisherman's Wharf exploring the science of sight and the history of eye care.

San Francisco, CA

State history museum near the Capitol featuring the California Hall of Fame and exhibits on the state's diverse past.

Sacramento, CA

Nonprofit aviation and military history museum at Nut Tree Airport with rotating historic aircraft and wartime artifacts.

Vacaville, CA

Hands-on children's museum with indoor STEAM galleries and outdoor play areas for kids ten and under.

Santa Rosa, CA

A small natural history museum in Pacific Grove with bird collections, local geology, and native plant gardens.

Pacific Grove, CA

Hands-on science, art and human-perception museum on San Francisco's waterfront with hundreds of interactive exhibits.

San Francisco, CA

A major modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Francisco with free admission on the first Thursday of every month.

San Francisco, CA

A 1917 Georgian Revival mansion and 16-acre English Renaissance garden estate open for house tours, garden walks and hiking trails.

Woodside, CA

Three floors of historic cars, buses, and motorcycles near Hersheypark.

Hershey, PA

A muscle-car and motorcycle museum in Amish Country built from one collector's personal collection.

Intercourse, PA

The preserved 1794 Georgian mansion of George Washington's Adjutant General, Edward Hand.

Lancaster, PA

Lancaster County's history museum and the historic Wheatland estate of President James Buchanan.

Lancaster, PA

A free, guided tour of a working water-powered grist mill and 1855 miller's home in Lancaster County Amish country.

Ronks, PA

State-run railroad museum in Strasburg with over 100 historic locomotives and rail cars.

Strasburg, PA

Large Harrisburg museum with Civil War-era artifacts, manuscripts and exhibits spanning the causes, battles and legacy of the war.

Harrisburg, PA

Natural history museum in Lancaster with a planetarium, dinosaur gallery and live animal exhibits.

Lancaster, PA

A working 18-stall roundhouse housing the world's largest private collection of steam locomotives.

Sugarcreek, OH

Home to Behalt, a 265-foot cyclorama mural depicting the history of the Amish and Mennonite people.

Berlin, OH

A preserved Victorian-era mansion museum in Dover, Ohio, run by the Dover Historical Society.

Dover, OH

A castle-like 1886 former Ohio prison turned museum, famous as the filming location of The Shawshank Redemption.

Mansfield, OH

Downtown Canton's art museum, known for American watercolors and rotating contemporary exhibitions.

Canton, OH

A free community museum in downtown Massillon covering local history, art, and pop culture.

Massillon, OH

A private two-story collection of vintage Coleman lanterns, stoves and camping gear.

Sugarcreek, OH

A retired 1938 lightship turned floating museum, docked along the Lewes canal and preserved by volunteer shipkeepers.

Lewes, DE

A 30-acre open-air living history village where costumed interpreters recreate 1800s rural New Jersey life.

Cape May, NJ

A WWII-era blimp hangar packed with historic aircraft and hands-on exhibits at the former Naval Air Station Wildwood.

Rio Grande, NJ

A glassmaking and craft arts village in South Jersey, with a working glass museum and artist studios.

Millville, NJ

Explore WWII fighter pilot training history at America's first defense airport.

Millville, NJ

A maritime history museum on the Essex, CT waterfront with a working replica of the first combat submarine.

Essex, CT

A Newport mansion turned museum honoring tennis's greatest champions with interactive and immersive exhibits.

Newport, RI

A volunteer-run museum of working steam engines and vintage radio equipment in four historic buildings.

East Greenwich, RI

Home of the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, on the Thames River in Groton, CT.

Groton, CT

Historic art museum on the Connecticut River celebrating American Impressionism and the Lyme Art Colony.

Old Lyme, CT

A Smithsonian-affiliated tribal museum with life-size dioramas covering Pequot history and southeastern Connecticut's natural history.

Mashantucket, CT

First US museum dedicated to picture book art, founded by Eric Carle.

Amherst, MA

Tour the poet Emily Dickinson's Amherst home and see original manuscripts and family artifacts.

Amherst, MA

The world's largest trolley museum, with vintage streetcar rides in Kennebunkport.

Kennebunkport, ME

Ten-acre living history museum on Portsmouth's original waterfront neighborhood.

Portsmouth, NH

A hands-on science museum on 100 riverside acres in Norwich, Vermont.

Norwich, VT

Industrial history museum in a National Historic Landmark armory tracing the birth of precision manufacturing.

Windsor, VT

A working streetcar museum near Pittsburgh where visitors ride vintage trolleys along historic track.

Washington, PA

A rural Pennsylvania history museum preserving Casselman Valley pioneer life through thousands of artifacts.

Springs, PA

Guided tours of a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home overlooking the Youghiogheny River gorge.

Dunbar, PA

The 31-room mansion, museum, and burial site of the 19th U.S. president, set on 25 wooded acres in Fremont, Ohio.

Fremont, OH

Underground Railroad museum and heritage site honoring Rev. Josiah Henson near Dresden, Ontario.

Dresden, ON

One of the world's largest and oldest independent museums dedicated to African American history and culture.

Detroit, MI

Omaha's history museum inside a restored 1931 Art Deco Union Station.

Omaha, NE

Retired casino signage rests in an outdoor boneyard, telling the Strip's story in cracked glass and neon.

Las Vegas, NV

A restored 1933 federal courthouse turned deep-dive into Las Vegas's organized crime history.

Las Vegas, NV

Over 100 vehicles from film and TV, from the DeLorean to the Batmobile, near the Strip.

Las Vegas, NV

Private classic car museum with a decades-spanning collection of vintage hot rods, street rods and memorabilia.

Las Vegas, NV

A striking titanium-clad building holding one of the country's best Indigenous American art collections.

Denver, CO

Dinosaur skeletons, a planetarium, and a gems-and-minerals hall overlooking City Park.

Denver, CO

The Victorian home of Titanic survivor Margaret 'Molly' Brown, restored to its 1910s appearance.

Denver, CO

Walk through relocated Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and browse Native American artifact exhibits near Pikes Peak.

Manitou Springs, CO

Museum of coins, paper currency and monetary history operated by the American Numismatic Association.

Colorado Springs, CO

Fossil museum with 40-plus mounted dinosaur and marine reptile skeletons plus a working fossil lab.

Woodland Park, CO

Interactive museum in downtown Colorado Springs honoring American Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Colorado Springs, CO

One of the world's foremost collections of Native American art and culture, in a Spanish Colonial building.

Phoenix, AZ

Wireless headsets bring instruments from every country on Earth to life, gallery by gallery.

Phoenix, AZ

A large firefighting museum across from the Phoenix Zoo, with over 130 restored fire trucks, pumpers and gear.

Phoenix, AZ

Nonprofit collection of over 170 classic cars, hot rods and automobilia in Glendale.

Glendale, AZ

State history museum at Papago Park covering Arizona from the frontier era through statehood.

Tempe, AZ

Smithsonian affiliate museum in Old Town Scottsdale devoted to Western American art, history and culture.

Scottsdale, AZ

A hilltop planetarium and free public observatory with some of the best views in the city.

Los Angeles, CA

A hilltop art campus with European masterpieces, gardens, and free admission for everyone.

Los Angeles, CA

The largest art museum in the western United States, next to Chris Burden's iconic streetlamp forest.

Los Angeles, CA

A car-lover's museum in a striking stainless-steel-ribboned building on Museum Row.

Los Angeles, CA

A free museum in downtown Santa Barbara with artifacts and exhibits on Ronald Reagan's life and presidency.

Santa Barbara, CA

Board a retired Air Force One and tour exhibits on Ronald Reagan's life and presidency in Simi Valley.

Simi Valley, CA

A free Navy museum in Port Hueneme telling the history of the Seabees and the Civil Engineer Corps.

Port Hueneme, CA

Historic 18th-century Spanish mission and museum known for its ruined Great Stone Church and swallow legend.

San Juan Capistrano, CA

Docent-led tours of a restored 1906 Queen Anne Victorian house museum run by Long Beach Heritage.

Long Beach, CA

Natural history museum on a wooded Santa Barbara campus with fossils, wildlife, Chumash culture and a planetarium.

Santa Barbara, CA

Free Santa Barbara museum tracing the region's Chumash, Spanish, Mexican and American history.

Santa Barbara, CA

Harborside museum on Santa Barbara's maritime history with interactive exhibits and a theater.

Santa Barbara, CA

Presidential library and museum on the site of Nixon's birthplace, covering his life and presidency.

Yorba Linda, CA

An immersive storybook forest of handcrafted art, miniatures and puppetry built around original fairy tales.

Laguna Beach, CA

A retired aircraft carrier turned floating museum, docked right on the downtown waterfront.

San Diego, CA

Southern California's oldest scientific institution, known locally as "The Nat," with dinosaur fossils and giant-screen films.

San Diego, CA

Hands-on museum exploring the history of musical instruments and the people who make, sell and play them.

Carlsbad, CA

Balboa Park museum with large-scale model train layouts recreating Southern California railroad history.

San Diego, CA

Interactive downtown San Diego museum on Naval Special Warfare, with veteran docents and a VR mission experience.

San Diego, CA

Waterfront fleet of historic tall ships and vessels including the Star of India, with harbor cruise add-ons.

San Diego, CA

Dale Chihuly's blown-glass sculptures fill an indoor gallery and a garden beside the Space Needle.

Seattle, WA

Frank Gehry's swooping metal building houses exhibits on music, sci-fi, and pop culture icons.

Seattle, WA

One of the world's largest air and space museums, next to Boeing's original Seattle plant.

Seattle, WA

Seattle's history museum on Lake Union covering the region's maritime, industrial and pop-culture past.

Seattle, WA

Self guided tour of a retired Vietnam War era Navy destroyer moored on the Bremerton waterfront.

Bremerton, WA

Downtown Seattle's encyclopedic art museum with collections spanning global cultures, plus a waterfront sculpture park.

Seattle, WA

Museum of Pacific Northwest art and design from 1860 to 1970, next to the Edmonds ferry terminal.

Edmonds, WA

A 165,000-square-foot Tacoma museum showcasing one of the world's largest privately assembled car collections.

Tacoma, WA

Free Navy museum in downtown Bremerton covering Pacific Northwest naval heritage from 1840 to today.

Bremerton, WA

Free Navy museum in Keyport exploring submarines, diving technology and undersea weapons.

Keyport, WA

Downtown Seattle museum of more than 60 optical illusions, holograms and photo-friendly installations.

Seattle, WA

A hands on marine science discovery center and aquarium run by a Salish Sea education nonprofit.

Anacortes, WA

A 9,000 square foot museum honoring veterans of Lewis County and the South Puget Sound with hundreds of military displays.

Chehalis, WA

Contemporary art museum in Tacoma devoted to glass, with a live glassblowing Hot Shop.

Tacoma, WA

A Whidbey Island aviation museum tracing Naval air history in the Pacific Northwest through artifacts and flight simulators.

Oak Harbor, WA

A hands-on science museum on the Willamette riverbank with a planetarium and a retired submarine.

Portland, OR

The Pacific Northwest's oldest art museum, spanning Native American art to contemporary photography.

Portland, OR

Hangar museum of still-flying antique planes and still-driving classic cars and motorcycles near Hood River.

Hood River, OR

Oregon's official maritime museum on the Astoria waterfront, with a historic lightship and exhibits on the treacherous Columbia River Bar.

Astoria, OR

A downtown Portland museum with three floors of exhibits and more than 85,000 artifacts spanning Oregon history.

Portland, OR

Interactive history museum marking the historic end point of the Oregon Trail with pioneer exhibits and covered wagons.

Oregon City, OR

Quirky museum devoted to Bigfoot research and lore, curated by a Finding Bigfoot investigator.

Boring, OR

An interactive Portland museum in Washington Park teaching visitors about forests and sustainable forestry.

Portland, OR

Nonprofit that preserves and offers tours of Vancouver, Washington's historic Officers Row and Providence Academy.

Vancouver, WA

A 62-acre heritage park of 15 volunteer-run museums covering antique tractors, trucks, logging gear and steam power.

Brooks, OR

Portland's Jewish history museum and Holocaust education center, the only Jewish museum in the Pacific Northwest.

Portland, OR

Interpretive museum on the Columbia River Gorge covering the region's geology, Native American culture and Oregon Trail history.

The Dalles, OR

An oddity museum and curiosity shop showcasing macabre antiques, sideshow history and gothic art in downtown Portland.

Portland, OR

A volunteer-run riverside museum on the history of the Columbia Gorge locks, railroads and steamboats.

Cascade Locks, OR