How to Get Into the Country's Most Expensive Museums for Less
This Saturday, the long-awaited National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., becoming the 19th museum in the Smithsonian Institution family of museums.
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Like all Smithsonian galleries, the NMAAHC will be free. But that’s a rarity among top museums, where admission for a family of four can top $100—and that’s before you hit the gift shop.
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MONEY took a look at some of the most expensive museum admissions in the country, then hunted for the best ways to score a discount. (Note: we’re not including student and senior discounts, though many of the museums on this list offer them).
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Turns out there’s an art to saving on art. Here’s how to do it.
The Field Museum, Chicago
What it costs:$38 per adult for all-access pass
Why visit: At this 1893 natural history museum, you’ll see SUE, the largest (42 feet long!) and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex on the planet, and view mummies inside a replica 5,000-year-old Egyptian tomb.
How to save: Illinois residents are in luck: there are a handful of free admission days for them throughout the year; those on food assistance can visit any day for $3.
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Madame Tussauds Hollywood, Los Angeles
What it costs:$63.95 walk-up price for the adult Ultimate Experience, which includes your very own wax hand and souvenir photo.
Why visit: Star shock moments abound here, thanks to (mostly) life-size wax figurines of everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Brangelina (who’ve now been separated).
How to save: The Ultimate Experience is a mere $30.99 if you buy it ahead of time online, a more than 50% discount. Save even more by opting for the general admission (no wax hand) which is $20.99 online, or just $14.95 online if you’re arriving between 5 p.m. and close.
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Museum of Science, Boston
What it costs:$25 per adult, plus $6 if you want to see the planetarium.
Why visit:Permanent exhibits at this mainstay on the Charles River include bird language lessons in a virtual tour of Acadia National Park (tweet it!) and a tropical conservatory filled with flitting, free-range butterflies.
How to save: Local residents can borrow a free pass for four people from the Boston Public Library.
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The Mob Museum, Las Vegas
What it costs:$23.95, but oddly, you can get an annual pass for $30.
Why visit: Not even Whitey Bulger would get in for free legally at this museum devoted to mobsters, where exhibits include bone-chilling murder weapons and another devoted to wiretapping, the ploy that helped take down John Gotti.
How to save: If you buy online, non-locals can get their tickets for $19.95; Nevada residents can buy it for $13.95 at the box office.
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California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
What it costs:$23.95, but oddly, you can get an annual pass for $30.
Why visit: Not even Whitey Bulger would get in for free legally at this museum devoted to mobsters, where exhibits include bone-chilling murder weapons and another devoted to wiretapping, the ploy that helped take down John Gotti.
How to save: If you buy online, non-locals can get their tickets for $19.95; Nevada residents can buy it for $13.95 at the box office.
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Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
What it costs:$23.95, but oddly, you can get an annual pass for $30.
Why visit: Not even Whitey Bulger would get in for free legally at this museum devoted to mobsters, where exhibits include bone-chilling murder weapons and another devoted to wiretapping, the ploy that helped take down John Gotti.
How to save: If you buy online, non-locals can get their tickets for $19.95; Nevada residents can buy it for $13.95 at the box office.
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Newseum, Washington, D.C.
What it costs:$22.95.
Why visit: You can peek behind the curtain of journalism legends here, along with subjects themselves (the museum maintains the largest section of the 12-foot concrete Berlin wall outside of Germany).
How to save: Buy tickets in advance online for a 15% discount.
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The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, Calif.
What it costs:$29 including Imax.
Why visit: Silicon Valley unicorns happily pay big bucks to build and program a real robot, track their body metrics using futuristic sensors, and ride in a jet pack chair that replicates the NASA manned maneuvering unit experience, complete with compressed air jets.
How to save: If you show up in the last hour of the day, you get a discounted admission rate.Bank of America cardholders get free admission for one person on the first full weekend of every month.
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Titanic Museum, Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
What it costs:$25.
Why visit: You could hop a ferry ride for much less than tickets to this museum—but here, you’ll be able to shovel “coal” in the Titanic’s boiler room and stroll a faithful recreation of its 1907 carved oak staircase.
How to save: Teachers can get comp tickets in September.
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National WWII Museum, New Orleans
What it costs: $26.
Why visit: This honorific ode to WWII maintains a vault with 100,000 artifacts, including uniforms, weapons, diaries, and photographs.
How to save: WWII vets get in free; members of the military for $16.50; the New Orleans Visitor’s Guide offers $2 off adult museum general admission.
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National September 11 Museum, New York
What it costs: $24 a ticket.
Why visit: A solemn remembrance of one of the worst days in American history, with artifacts, time-lapse videos, and live stories told every Tuesday from people who were on the scene.
How to save: The museum is free on Tuesdays from 5 pm to close. 9/11 family members, rescue and recovery groups, plus military get in free. FDNY, NYPD and PAPD tickets are $12 with a valid ID.
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Experience Music Project Museum, Seattle
What it costs: $24 a ticket.
Why visit: A solemn remembrance of one of the worst days in American history, with artifacts, time-lapse videos, and live stories told every Tuesday from people who were on the scene.
How to save: The museum is free on Tuesdays from 5 pm to close. 9/11 family members, rescue and recovery groups, plus military get in free. FDNY, NYPD and PAPD tickets are $12 with a valid ID.
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Art Institute of Chicago
What it costs: $25.
Why visit: Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks and Grant Wood’s American Gothic are among the 300,000 works in the permanent collection at this 1879 art mecca.
How to save: Free to Illinois residents Thursday nights, all year.