The Bell Museum of Natural History in Saint Paul is Minnesota’s official natural history museum, featuring stunning exhibits on the state’s wildlife, fossils, and natural landscapes. Home to iconic dioramas and a state-of-the-art planetarium, the museum offers immersive experiences that explore the wonders of nature and the cosmos.
Science Museum
Bell Museum of Natural History
510 Google Reviews
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%
This review is geared towards those who might want to rent the Bell Museum to host a special event, such as a wedding. In short, I highly recommend that you do it! I am writing this just a few days after the wedding of our son to our new daughter-in-law, and I am still filled with post wedding happiness, along with gratefulness due to the wonderful staff from the museum, as well as from Crave, the caterer. I wish I could remember all their names because everyone treated us so well, including the bartender and all the wait staff, so for now I will call out the one name I recall, Laura, the Facility Rental Manager. Laura, please convey my thanks to everyone that was there–you all performed together expertly, with grace and great attitudes! Beyond the people, the choice of the Bell Museum as a venue for this special event, well, I couldn’t be more pleased. And ALL the guests agreed–I heard over and over how much they enjoyed their time with us there, including being in the planetarium for the beautiful wedding ceremony, socializing and visiting the exhibits during the social hour, and the dinner and dancing on the main floor. The setting was just awesome. The lights across the atrium were so pretty after it got dark, the beautiful native gardens outside were perfect for pictures, and we even incorporated a few of the outdoor statues into our photos. The bathrooms were clean and well stocked, and the use of the classroom as a prep area worked perfectly for all of us. The people running the AV equipment did great. Every question and concern was answered and you took such good care of us. I can’t think of a single negative. In sum, THANK YOU for such a wonderful time!!!
