Field Museum
Field Museum
4.5
Natural History MuseumsScience Museums
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
The Field Museum fuels a journey of discovery across time to enable solutions for a brighter future rich in nature and culture. With almost 40 million specimens and artifacts in our collections—including SUE, the world's most complete Tyrannosaurus rex—there's something for everyone. Start planning your visit at fieldmuseum.org.
Duration: More than 3 hours
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Admission tickets
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AU$42.81
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The area
Address
Neighbourhood: South Loop
This downtown neighborhood offers a variety of activities ranging from cultural to sporting. If you happen to visit during football season, you may bump into a boisterous few fans on their way to a Bears game on the southernmost tip of South Loop. On the flip side, Museum Campus offers cultural and educational experiences in its planetarium, museum and aquarium, all situated along the lakefront. Grant Park is one of Chicago’s premier locations for green space and recreation with views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. Take a stroll down memory lane in the historic Prairie District where you can enjoy views of old historic homes. Restaurants, theaters, and clubs are spread throughout the neighborhood along with a collection of burger joints along Michigan Avenue just across from the park.
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See what travellers are saying
  • chey
    Aurora, Utah6 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great experience even for a 5 year old.
    I didn’t know what to expect with the museum, but there was so much to see there. My 5 year old loved all of it. Sue the T. rex was obviously his highlight. But all of it was so interactive and great. I didn’t know how a 5 year old would do, but we were there for 3 hours and didn’t even see it all. Great morning adventure while in the city!
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 26 October 2023
  • Jillian M
    Tampa, Florida24 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Day Date to the Field Museum
    My husband and I enjoyed our day date to the Field Museum while visiting Chicago. We spent several hours exploring all of the exhibits and could have stayed even longer! Our favorite was Sue the T-Rex / dinosaur exhibits. We also really enjoyed the biomechanics section - fascinating for all ages! The staff were all happy to answer questions and help with way finding around the sprawling museum. We were also pleasantly surprised with several performances by local children’s orchestras.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 3 December 2023
  • Nikki W
    122 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Awesome place
    This is an awesome place to spend the day! It's like part natural history museum, part science museum. I spent close to 5 hours here and didn't even see all of the regular exhibits or any of the special exhibits. Definitely worth the visit.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled solo
    Written 11 December 2023
  • moodymolly
    Jacksonville, Illinois1,307 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Day at the Field’s Museum with two sets of Twins!
    We are from central Illinois and rode the train up for a couple of days with two sets of twins 6 & 9. We did Sloomoo and the Firld’s Museum - both were great! Everybody and everything at the museum were very interesting and kept the kids engaged. The Bloodsuckers were interesting, the 3-D movie kept them on the edge of their seats but the best parts were the many volunteers who interacted on a personal level. It’s the people that make this place great! Everyone from the ticket seller who really tries to save you money when there are 6 of you to the chef that makes GREAT chili to the coat check Bakari and his whole staff when you loose your tickets! Thanks to all for giving us a great day at the museum!
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 23 December 2023
  • sweenee32018
    Knoxville, Tennessee131 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Don’t miss this
    An excellent museum with remarkable exhibits. We enjoyed all the gems exhibit, the Sue exhibit and Sue movie. The Early Kings exhibit was very inspiring. The bird exhort was informative. The Egyptian exhibit outstanding
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 21 January 2024
  • Brenda M
    Lowell, Massachusetts10 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Have you seen Sue?
    I visited with my adult son and some family friends with little ones ages 5-10. We enjoyed the exhibits we saw and we only saw some of the museum, so would definitely return for more exploring. "Sue" is definitely a highlight.
    Visited March 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 20 March 2024
  • Caitlin H
    Kansas40 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Science Comes Alive in a Wheelchair Accessible Setting
    Beautiful and historic Chicago building that has been skillfully retrofitted for wheelchair accessibility. Multiple bathroom configurations available depending on your personal needs. Educational and fun exhibits, including their ticked experiences.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 9 June 2024
  • vacayladyc
    26 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    So much to see
    Had a good time exploring here. There are many great exhibits with some additional special paid exhibits/shows. We did not do any paid extras and there was still plenty to keep us busy and interested, always something just around the corner to see. There is a food court and 2 gift shops. HEADS-UP this is not a budget outing as a visitor to the city: if you need ADA or family parking, there is a lot on museum property that’s $30 and is first come and credit card payment only. Admission can get pricey too depending on numbers & ages of your party. Don’t forget food and souvenir shopping. HOWEVER, even with all of that, I still enjoyed the time we spent there and would totally recommend it to others. I will be going back to to see any new exhibits on my next visit to the city.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 24 June 2024
  • Cryptic_Tourist
    Saint Louis, Missouri1,051 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    10/10 - Excellent
    I cannot recommend the Field Museum enough. My friends and I came here and spent hours and hours going through the exhibit and still didn’t get to see it all. I would love to come back and see even more! Seeing Sue in person was so cool but the Lions of Tsavo were the highlight for me. If you want to see it all, make sure you devote an entire day or more and take lots of breaks. Bring snacks and drinks and maybe grab a bite to eat on site. We walked a LOT so make sure you have comfy shoes. This would be a great rainy day activity or cold winter day activity. We bought our tickets online and in advance and I would highly recommend doing that as well. Overall this was our favorite activity for our trip to Chicago!
    Visited July 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 28 July 2024
  • Nicholas L
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Highly recommend visiting this museum!
    Visiting is worth the price! This is a cool museum that has something for everyone. Although I’m not very interested in science, I still enjoyed my experience here. The exhibits are incredibly informative but also interesting. Exhibits range from taxidermy and dinosaur skeletons to mummies. There’s lots of fascinating information on anthropology. Like many, the Egyptian and dinosaur exhibits were a real pleasure. This is definitely a model for how any natural history museum should be.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 14 August 2024
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles8,993 reviews
Excellent
5,689
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2,327
Average
744
Poor
172
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61

Coconut1178
Chicago, IL48 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
Buy the pass to explore everything (if you have time). I highly recommend seeing the movie about Sue before going to the exhibit. It really made my experience more memorable. I was very excited to go see her after learning about her.

I enjoyed Sue, Pacific, China, Bird Habitats, World of Mammals, Evolving Planet, Inside Ancient Egypt and the Plants of the World. So much to explore.

You can bring your own food and drinks. So, do that so you can take breaks. But they also have food available.

We went to the early show for Sue at 1 p.m., so prior to that we explored the ground level and main level. After the movie we went to explore Sue...starting with Evolving Planet - leads you to her. It's so amazing. A wonderful experience....
Written 19 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Katherinee309
Houston, TX106 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2021 • Couples
I wish I had more picture to post but I mostly took videos and you can’t upload them here. They had some really cool exhibits. Ancient Egypt, native exhibits and many many more. If you’re into learning about different futures then this is the museum for. We learned the hard way that during covid you need to always purchase tickets for the museums ahead of time. They only allow a certain amount of tickets to be sold a day and they see out extremely fast so keep that in mind.
Written 5 April 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jpete02
Lansing, MI931 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2022 • Family
The scope and size of this museum is truly incredible. If you want to see everything, you would need two days. We started at 9 and went until just after 4 and covered about 50% of the exhibits. We were exhausted by the time we decided to stop but kind of sad we didn’t see more.

The Field museum is one of the largest in the world and has over 40 million items in its collection. What is on display is just a fraction of these items.

My advice is to go online the night before you go and make a plan on what you want to see. T-Rex Sue, dinosaurs, the hall of gems, and the jade exhibits are on the upper floor. Go to these exhibits first as the top floor is less crowded early in the morning.

We had the city pass, which gets you into all special ticketed exhibits, plus a 3d movie. The special ticketed exhibits we visited (Tang Hall of China, Jurassic Oceans, and Wild Color) were all good but none of them were can’t miss. If you get the basic admission, I don’t think you will feel like you missed out.

There are two entrances into the museum. If the main entrance (up the stairs) is too crowded, there is a lesser known East Entrance (on path towards Shedd Aquarium) that will usually have shorter lines. Either way, you still have to go through the ticket line if you have the city pass to get your tickets and choose the 3d movie.

The 3d movie we chose was about Sue the T Rex and was very good. Line was long for our ticketed show but the theater is huge, so don’t worry about getting a seat. Theater is in the basement along with a cafe.

Museum cafe wasn’t very good and was quite expensive. Only kids meals options were hot dogs and pizza and they cost around $10. When we were there, the soda machine was broken too.

They do allow you to bring in your own food and drink, and there are plenty of cafeteria style tables in the basement, so bringing your own food might be a better option. There are also many vending machines by the tables that have snacks and drinks and are reasonably priced.
Written 3 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

OnAnotherJourney
Canada312 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023 • Solo
Depending on your interest level you could easily spend more than a day here. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for small children though as there are limited interactive exhibits and plenty of reading. The current special exhibit related to death was worth the extra fee, although I recognize not everyone is as interested as I am! Throughout this exhibit there are kiosks where you can answer a few questions about your thoughts on death and then shares the results of previous visitors. I appreciated some of the questions challenged me to reflect on my own personal views.
I also looked forward to the Egyptian exhibit, although there is very low light in some areas which made it challenging to read some of the information.
It was disappointing to see the perpetuation of the myth that the first Europeans arrived in 1492 (see photo) - when will that end?!

In terms of food, I had a pretzel, small tub of berries and water for $19. As someone with post-concussion syndrome, I was grateful for the seating area just past cashier, as it was a bit quieter.

I think some of the negative reviews are written by white folks who don’t want to accept the reality of colonialism. Instead of taking the opportunity to hear voices that have been silenced for a long time, some take it as a personal attack. Museums such as this have a long history of taking/buying cultural items they had no right to, so it’s refreshing to see the Field Museum be more transparent and responsible for past behaviour. Parts of this experience might make you feel uncomfortable but if you embrace it you may learn something about yourself and your fellow humans.
Written 24 February 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cin
Cancun, Mexico34 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019 • Friends
As with any natural history museum you can spend the whole day exploring it. The wildlife photography exhibit was amazing, I can’t believe kids took those pictures. Sue is really impressive! It blows your mind when you considere it’s the most complete T. rex ever found. Gigantic. The fantastic bugs encounters exhibit is really fun.
Written 6 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Timothy K
Chicago, IL297 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
We have gone to the Field for years, and used to be members, but recently were back for a special occasion with invited presentations scattered over the museum. Just seeing several exhibits that have been updated in recent years, and comparing just a brief, 2 hour, experience there to a recent trip to a natural history museum in another city brought home the contrast of how great this institution is. Not just exhibits but science and outreach. Truly world class.
Written 27 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Charles B
Montreal, Canada33 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
This museum has everything from dinosaurs to rocks to the art and culture of Oceania and Native America, all beautifully and informatively displayed and in such abundance that the visitor with an interest in anthropology, botany, geology and/or zoology could spend several days there with great enjoyment. In fact, there is way too much to see in a day, but if you don't mind picking out the highlights you'll have a great time. An absolutely first-rate museum, one of the world's best of its kind.
Written 8 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BethB02
Fort Collins, CO264 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2021
Despite having been to Chicago many times (and living nearby for 2 years), I had never been to the Field Museum until this month.

My kids really enjoyed the trip through evolutionary time and the cultural exhibits. We liked the parts where natural history and science (particularly ecology) crossed paths. We loved the Egyptian area as well as the part where you are "shrunk" down to see the micro-world below. A neat touch was that we got to see a performance by some Polynesian dancers. It added a lot to the Pacific section experience.

There is a lot to do here, and we did ALMOST all of it in our 4 1/2 hours (we stayed until about a half hour before closing--we got to see them set up for a wedding reception).

The only area we really missed was the Jane Goodall temporary exhibit and the 3D movie. And a bit of one other hall. Not bad.

My only negative is that, as a geography buff, I was surprised by how out of date some of their geographical information is. They had a map of Africa on the wall that was over 20 years out of date, and other cultural and population information in a few areas was out of date as well. It feels overdue for an update. Hopefully, that can happen soon. Some of their other areas feel so modern, that this feels slightly neglected.

All in all, a very positive experience.
Written 31 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

AmyC201529
New Albany, IN480 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Family
This was an outstanding museum! My whole family enjoyed it! There are different levels of admission. We wanted to see an IMAX movie so we added that on. The “Sue” 3-D Movie was nothing special, but my daughter liked it. There was another level that included all special exhibits and movies. Right now there are two special exhibits-one about China and one about insects. My daughter was excited to see Sue since her teacher had talked about it, and she was not disappointed! There are two restaurants with a variety of food choices for lunch. The museum also has lots of areas with vending to eat picnic style lunches. The highlights are the dinosaurs/paleontology exhibits on the third floor, the ancient Egypt exhibits with mummies and tombs, and the Native American history exhibits with totem poles and native artifacts. We really enjoyed watching the scientists work on future exhibits. We have been to other Natural History museums before including the Smithsonian, but this was our favorite by far! We will definitely visit again in the future!
Written 2 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Evilninja253
San Luis Obispo, CA23 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
July 2022
This place is huge. Great exhibits for kids, and maybe even adults, to learn about all sorts of science-adjacent subjects and areas.

There are like four exhibits that you can pay extra to see on top of general admission, as well as a 3-D film about dinosaurs. These are skippable. The museum is large enough that you will have no shortage of things to see/learn.
Written 6 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Field Museum - All You MUST Know Before You Go (2024)

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