Bell Museum of Natural History

Great natural history museum! The exhibits were awesome to see. I especially enjoyed the fossils and collections in the Touch & See Lab and their wildlife dioramas upstairs. I really loved that many exhibits focused on Minnesota’s natural history—it’s always great to learn more about our state. On top of their other exhibits, the Bell Museum features a planetarium where they play educational shows throughout the day. We saw the “Supervolcanoes” show during our visit and it was really neat to watch on the domed screen. The building itself is also very interesting architecturally and fun to be in.

I enjoyed the museum as an adult but I’m sure this would also be a fun trip for families—in particular, I’m sure kids would get a kick out of the animals and digital microscopes in the Touch & See Lab. Overall, I definitely recommend paying a visit to the Bell Museum!

We got married at the Bell Museum in August 2023 and it was even better than I could have imagined!! The museum itself is absolutely beautiful and the layout naturally works very well for a wedding. The price is very reasonable for what you get, essentially access to the entire museum for the duration of the evening. There also lots of really great add ons to connect your guests more to the museum experience including planetarium shows, stargazing, and an animal lab. We got such amazing feedback from our guests and they still talk about how fun it was to have so many things to do there during the reception – also great for entertaining kids! The museum itself is all you need for all parts of the wedding which is great to not worry about weather, but if it is nice outside they do have a really pretty outdoor area as well to walk and take pictures in. In addition the Bell museum staff were wonderful – they were extremely communicative, organized, and kind, both the planning process and day-of events went incredibly smoothly. I cannot recommend this venue highly enough, 10/10!

This place is great and super fun for kids! They offer free tickets for students, and there’s a lab where students can have an amazing hands-on experience. The store is fantastic, and I think it’s actually a lot of fun for adults too. We attended the sky show while it was just okay in my opinion, it could be really enjoyable for those interested in that kind of thing. Love this place and highly recommended.

Interactive and excellent Museum and Planetarium to spend 2-3 hours exploring. Many exhibits featuring the natural history of Minnesota, animal artifiacts and education of our wildlife here. There is also exhibits on space and astronomy. The planetarium is spacious and various shows playing throughout the day, and I definitely recommend. It is not a large museum, but it is beautiful. The museum has a fair price and ample parking. Definitely recommend!

We took our Grandkids to the Bell and had a wonderful time.. we also took in 2 movies about super volcanos and a stars one .. we saw about everything that was on display and loved the Bull snakes . Pine snakes in North carolina are very rare to fine so it was nice to see their stepbrother and sister here . It’s a great hands-on museum . Other than the shows it’s totally free and a great time for all ages ..

They’ve clearly put a lot of money into this place, but at the end of the day it feels too shallow for me. It’s almost as if this is a natural history museum that’s been tailored towards kids. It’s a shame honestly, since it is a university building, and would benefit greatly from catering towards academics.

The Bell Museum and Planetarium is an excellent place to spend a few hours of informative and fun entertainment. The planetarium is quite a unique and visually appealing educational experience. They have multiple different themed shows playing throughout the day. The museum isn’t huge, but the second floor has an amazing and vast Natural History exhibition featuring very well done nature dioramas and features tons of great animal artifacts and taxidermy of Minnesota’s wildlife. They have a good exhibit on space and astronomy as well. The museum is reasonably priced.

Amazing museum in the Twin cities, the planetarium shows are amazing, the touch and see lab is very helpful for kids and adults to learn about science and animals! upstairs there are so many interesting things to see and learn! I highly recommend this place for the family and friends! 100%