Your Essential Guide To New York City's American Museum Of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is one of New York City’s foremost institutions. Each year, roughly five million people from all over the world flock to catch the museum’s unparalleled collections and landmark exhibitions. The AMNH consists of 20 interconnected buildings, meaning that it’s impossible to see everything in one visit. We give you our guide to the essentials.

The Prehistoric Halls

Most visitors, especially those with young children, come to the AMNH to see the dinosaurs. The AMNH has the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world. The museum’s grand entrance hall is dominated by a massive display of three dinosaur skeletons depicting a scene that may have taken place in western North America during the late Jurassic Period, 150 million years ago. The entrance hall is breathtaking, but the fourth floor is where the museum exhibits its vast paleontology collections. Technically, this isn’t one collection but six; however, these chambers are connected. The museum’s fourth floor is constructed like a ring, and visitors can travel through time by moving from one hall to the next, starting off at the Paleozoic Era and eventually working their way to the Ice Age.

The Allosaurus skeleton from the AMNH entrance hall｜

The Hall of Ocean Life

The Hall of African Mammals

The majestic Hall of African Mammals is so large that it takes up two floors. The dominant piece in the center of the first floor is a parade of African elephants. In order to make these displays, researchers and artists took detailed sketches and photographs of the locations and brought back samples of the local plants so that they could create displays that are both detailed and authentic.

The Hall of Northwest Coast Indians

The AMNH has an impressive and expansive anthropological collection, with multiple halls dedicated to human origins and peoples from all over the world. The Hall of Northwest Coast Indians is both artistically engaging and culturally fascinating, with art, clothing and workmanship of every shape, size and color.

The Rose Center for Earth and Space

Astronomy is a key component of the research done at the AMNH. The outer space aspects of the museum are contained in a massive wing known as the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The dominant feature of this grand, multi-exhibition center is the Hayden Planetarium, depicted as a large white sphere, which also serves as a scale model for the sun in comparison with models of other heavenly bodies.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.