14 Inspiring Museums in the U.S. Worth Traveling For

When you're ready for a getaway, let a museum inspire your travel plans.

Washington, D.C., is home to some of the best, including the Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art. New York has the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, and the Frick Collection, among others. Other don't-miss American museums invite you to explore music, sculpture, military history, and other interests. Some have dedicated play spaces and exhibits to entertain and educate kids.

Browse our gallery of inspiring museums in the U.S. to find some lesser-known gems and some that are nationally or internationally prominent.

Shown here: a kinetic mobile in The National Gallery of Art.

Consider buying tickets in advance so you don't have to stand in line, and avoid crowded, peak hours. Instead of trying to see everything in every museum, plan ahead and hit the highlights, especially if you have small children. You may want to dress in layers, since some places turn down the temperature to protect their collections.

Take time to really look, because rushing makes you miss details. Before you snap pictures, ask if photography is permitted. Events and exhibits can change, so if you're visiting for something special, check that it's there before you go. Shown here: The Dinosphere exhibit in the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

In 2024, "Time" ranked the Buffalo AKG Art Museum as one of the world's greatest places. (AKG refers to the museum's former name, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.) Expanded in 2023, it's a popular destination in Buffalo's vibrant arts scene. It's near Delaware Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, "the father of American landscape architecture," so it's also an architectural attraction.

Buffalo AKG's modern and contemporary art collections span 150 years; look for works by Picasso, Monet, van Gogh, Kahlo, Clyfford Still, Yayoi Kusama, and others. Along with classes, lectures, concerts, and other events and programs, the museum has a LEGO play area for kids. Don't miss the unique Nordic Art and Culture Initiative, which contains work by artists from Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, the Aland Islands, and Greenland. The museum aims to develop North America's premier collection of contemporary Nordic art over coming years. Shown here: A modernist sculpture, Man Walking.

The former Hotel Alcazar, a Gilded Age resort owned by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler, is now the Lightner Museum, named for Otto C. Lightner, a Chicago publisher and self-proclaimed "professional hobbyist." Located in St. Augustine, on Florida's Historic Coast, it's filled with treasures collected by the late publisher along with antiques and collectibles that range from vintage bicycles to fine art paintings and sculptures, opulent furnishings, ceramics, and American art glass. The exhibits are diverse, whimsical and unconventional, and the building itself invites visitors to explore its history, architecture, and design. There's even a life-size, carved wooden bear from the 1880s, imported from Switzerland, among the natural history specimens. Visitors can book weddings and other events at the historic pool, once the world's largest indoor swimming pool.

Nicknamed "The City Different," Santa Fe really is different, thanks to its historic architecture, multi-ethnic heritage, and a four-season climate that's unlike what you'd find in a typical desert. It boasts over 250 art galleries, museums, and other creative exhibits. Museum Hill is home to the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens and four museums that focus on Indian arts and culture, international folk art, heritage arts, and the American Indian. For contemporary work, head to the New Mexico Museum of Art's Vladen Contemporary and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

In Downtown Santa Fe, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is located near the historic plaza. It houses the world's largest collection of O'Keeffe's artwork and archival materials. At the Santa Fe Children's Museum, shown here, visitors are invited to "come in and play!" Check its calendar for events and programs like hands-on STEAM activities (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math), "meet-and-greets," story times, summer camps, and winter workshops.

Considered one of the best academic art museums in the U.S., the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is actually a private art and design school, liberal arts college, and museum, all in one. These occupy some 60 historic and more modern buildings in downtown Providence and surrounding neighborhoods. In 2027, the RISD will celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The RISD Museum contains approximately 100,000 fine and decorative artworks, such as textiles, furniture, Chinese sculptures, French Impressionist paintings, and more, dating from ancient times to the present. It's said to be the only comprehensive art museum in southeastern New England.

More to see in Providence: the Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) History Museum, the first of its kind in the U.S. Explore Black Rhode Island history at the African American Museum of Rhode Island. Its events, photos, maps, documents, and other materials tell Black Providence-based stories, rather than African American history in general.

South Dakota calls its iconic landmarks the "Great 8," and they include the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Badlands National Park, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Also on the list: Historic Deadwood, where legends like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane once roamed and the 1870s Gold Rush exploded. Each year, the Days of ’76 parade and award-winning PRCA rodeo commemorate the prospectors, pioneers, miners, and muleskinners who came to the Dakota Territory. The Days of ’76 Museum exhibits American Indian and pioneer artifacts like horse-drawn wagons and stagecoaches, making it a top destination to explore Western history. State-of-the art exhibits give visitors a sensory, interactive experience.

South Dakota is about more than the Old West. The National Music Museum in Vermillion is home to over 15,000 instruments from different centuries and cultures. The Corn Palace, in Mitchell, is an architectural novelty as well as a museum. Each year, it's redecorated with grains, grasses, and naturally colored corn in a new theme. Motorcycle fans can see the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame in the Black Hills, which focuses on the history, riders, racers, makers, and machines behind the sport. The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held in August.

Go beyond swings and sandboxes at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Its 7.5-acre seasonal outdoor sports area is stocked with kid-sized equipment for football, soccer, tennis, baseball, golf, and more. There's a track for racing pedal cars and a 25-foot-high treehouse for climbing. Indoors, five floors with almost 500,000 square feet of exhibit space let families explore and have fun.

"The Power of Children" exhibit tells the stories of Anne Frank, Malala Yousafzai, and other young people who've changed the world. Real fossils, immersive experiences and working paleontology labs await in "The Dinosphere." Visitors can walk through a replica of the International Space Station, perform interactive tasks like real astronauts, ride a 1917 carousel, see over 50,000 toys and folk-art items collected from 120 countries, and more.

While you're in Indianapolis, break out the green flag and see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, Smithsonian-affiliated Conner Prairie, or the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.

Lancaster County is known for its rich farmlands, scenic beauty, horse-drawn buggies, and Amish community. It's less well-known for the role it played in the country's struggle for freedom and equality, but the new Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy, in downtown Lancaster, aims to change that.

The Center's 16 galleries focus on the fight for freedom and explore the role of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and his assistant and confidant, Lydia Hamilton Smith. Stevens, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848 and again in 1859, advocated for abolition and equality, while Smith succeeded in business and owned property in an era with gender and racial barriers. Also known as the Stevens and Smith Center, the museum uses documents, artifacts, and audiovisual storytelling to explain 19th-century politics and daily life, as well as Stevens's support for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

Atlanta's National Center for Civil and Human Rights Museum holds a collection of Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers, sermons, speeches, and other materials. There's also a lunch counter sit-in experience, a Reconstruction Era exhibit, and a "Rolls Down Like Water" gallery, so this center is about more than objects behind glass. The museum uses sounds, films, recreated settings, and more to let visitors participate in the story of the civil rights movement. On a broader scale, it showcases human rights issues and activists working for justice around the world. One notable experience lets you immerse yourself in the struggle; you can choose a pair of shoes and walk around in them while hearing the owner's personal story.

In 2025, "Conde Nast Traveler" tapped the Anchorage Museum, the largest museum in the state, as one of the best in the U.S. Its Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center houses over 600 artifacts from the Tlingkit, Yup'ik, and other Native Alaskan cultures, along with archival and contemporary photos and audio and visual recordings. Alaska's heritage comes alive in collections that include uluaqs (traditional curved knives used by women), bark baskets, ivory and whalebone figurines, and carved totem poles. The Discovery Center showcases the state's aurora borealis, diverse landscapes, glaciers and native wildlife, which ranges from small, intertidal snails to salmon and bears.

Want more? Consider the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alaska Museum of Science and Nature.

Those aren't stars in your eyes at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (CMHFM) in Nashville; you're seeing the glittering rhinestone outfits worn by artists like Hank Williams, Charley Pride, Patsy Cline, and Dolly Parton. Plaques honoring the Country Music Hall of Fame members hang in the Rotunda, shown here. The museum has a collection of over 600 guitars, banjos, and other musical instruments, some donated by the famous artists who used them. In 2024, the CMHFM received the National Medal of Arts, the U.S. government's highest award for the arts and art patrons.

The "Sing Me Back Home" exhibition traces country music's evolution from its folk roots to the present through films, recordings, photos, and interactive displays. Tour Hatch Show Print, located in the complex, to see an 1879 letterpress operation, and pop into Historic RCA Studio B, where Elvis and other legendary singers and musicians recorded. There's even a Taylor Swift Education Center that will appeal to more than Swifties; it offers songwriting and other activities.

The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum was named the best museum in the U.S. and the second best in the world in the 2018 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards. This New York City landmark has been honored repeatedly for its symbolic architecture, moving tributes, and historic exhibits related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on America.

Twin reflecting pools and waterfalls draw visitors to the outdoor Memorial Plaza, where the names of the victims of the 2001 attacks and the 1993 truck bombing are inscribed. It's also home to the Survivor Tree, a damaged pear tree that was restored to health and now represents renewal and survival. The museum reaches into the foundation where the Twin Towers once stood. Visitors can take expert-led tours to hear the story of that fateful day. Look for artifacts, photos, audio/visual recordings, and other recovered or donated items, such as the FDNY Ladder 3 fire truck and a 58-ton steel beam recovered from Ground Zero that's now covered in messages and posters. Expect the museum and memorial to be an intense and emotional experience.

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is more than a traditional museum. As a working facility and Smithsonian affiliate, it's also one of the top destinations in the U.S. In 2025, it topped Disney World as Florida's best attraction and ranked first in TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards: Best of the Best Things to Do.

Most NASA launches take place at the Center, which is east of Orlando on Merritt Island. Look for a display of actual rockets in the Rocket Garden; some carried America's first astronauts while other launched early satellites. A bus tour takes you to the enormous Saturn V moon rocket, while the Deep Space Launch Complex displays innovations and ideas for future spaceports. Check the Center's calendar for meet-and-greet opportunities with veteran astronauts and a schedule of liftoffs. Shown here: Space Shuttle Atlantis Orbiter.

Saddle up and go west--or whatever direction will take you to the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. Situated northwest of Atlanta, this award-winning Smithsonian affiliate is said to have the world's largest permanent exhibition space for Western art. It explores all facets of the West, including its landscapes, Indigenous peoples, ranching culture, and conflicts through paintings, sculptures, artifacts like an 1865 stagecoach, and a kids' interactive area. Different galleries focus on the Civil War, the modern West, cowboys and girls, and a presidential exhibit with a portrait and original letter from every U.S. president from George Washington to Donald Trump.

There's a reason Fredericksburg, Texas, has the only American museum dedicated to the complete story of World War II; this Hill Country town was the boyhood home of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific Fleet. With its focus on history and military action in the Pacific-Asiatic theater, the National Museum of the Pacific War is considered one of the best museums in the U.S.

Check the calendar for living history demonstrations and battle reenactments like blank weapon firings, live flame thrower demos, and simulated explosions. Look for restored World War II vehicles and artifacts like a Japanese midget submarine, or step into a multi-sensory rescue operation experience. Follow the war from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa in the George H.W. Bush gallery. Shown here: A B-25 Mitchell Bomber flown over Japan by the Doolittle Raiders.