The blue whale, the dinosaurs and the dioramas, in a rambling complex of twenty-odd interconnected buildings on the west side of Central Park.
The whale
A ninety-four-foot fibreglass blue whale hangs over the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, and lying on the floor underneath it is a legitimate use of the room — the benches around the edge are there for exactly that. It was built in 1969 from photographs of a whale found dead off South America, and it was corrected in 2003 when it became clear the original had the wrong body shape and a navel it should not have had.
The hall around it holds the dioramas, and the dioramas are the museum’s real achievement. They were painted and built between the 1930s and the 1960s by artists sent on expedition to sketch the actual locations, and the backgrounds are as precise as the taxidermy. The Akeley Hall of African Mammals, in particular, is a masterpiece of a form nobody makes any more.
The dinosaurs
Fourth floor, and the collection is among the strongest anywhere — the museum’s expeditions in the 1920s brought back much of what defined the field. The Titanosaur, a cast of a species so large it does not fit in its own room and has its neck poking out through the doorway, greets you at the lift.
The fossil halls are arranged cladistically rather than chronologically, which means you walk the tree of life rather than a timeline. There is a line on the floor to follow.
What else
The Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center for Earth and Space is a sphere inside a glass cube, and the space show inside it is narrated by a rotating cast of famous voices. It is a separate timed ticket on top of general admission and it is worth it.
The Gilder Center, opened in 2023, is an extraordinary cave-like structure of sprayed concrete connecting parts of the museum that never used to join up. It holds an insectarium and a butterfly vivarium.
The Hall of Gems and Minerals has the Star of India sapphire, which was stolen in 1964 by a group including a Miami beach bum called Murph the Surf and recovered from a bus station locker.
The Northwest Coast Hall, the museum’s oldest, reopened after a long consultation with the Nations whose objects it holds and is a considerably better room than it was.
Tickets and the pay-what-you-wish question
New York State residents and students from NY, NJ and CT can pay what they wish for general admission with ID. Everyone else pays the posted general admission price, and the timed ticket for out-of-state visitors is not optional.
General admission covers the halls. The planetarium show, the special exhibition and any giant-screen film are extra, sold as combination tickets.
With children
This is the best museum in New York for children by a wide margin and they will want longer than you plan. The cafeteria in the basement is fine. Weekday mornings during term time are calm; weekends and school holidays are not.
More Museums
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Two million objects across five thousand years, in a building you cannot see in a day. Pick three departments and accept that you are missing the rest.
Museum of Modern Art
Starry Night, the melting clocks, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Warhol's soup cans, in six floors that can genuinely be done in three hours.
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Two voids where the towers stood, with the names of every person killed cut through the bronze parapets. The plaza is free. The museum below is not, and it is very hard.