Natural History Museum of Utah

301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA

Address:	301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA
Phone:	+1 801-581-6927
Site:	nhmu.utah.edu
Rating:	4.7
Working:	10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–9PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Ryan Fisk

Im a huge museum junkie, especially when it comes to science-related ones. My favorites so far are the obligatory Museum of Natural History (New York, NY), the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO), the Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, PA) and the Museum of Science (Boston, MA). After a visit to the brand new Natural History Museum of Utah, however, Im gonna have to add this one to that list as well! This museum is a short drive from downtown Salt Lake City, up a hilly road, offering beautiful views of the valley skyline surrounded by mountains. The floorplan is spacious, with pretty much everything located on floors 2-5 (only entrance and restrooms are on the first floor). Your best bet is to take the elevator all the way up to five and work your way back down. As you descend from the top floor, youll see (in this order): 5TH FLOOR - Native Voices (Utahs five native tribes) - Sky (climate/weather/astronomy/etc.) - Outdoor deck (again, nice views) 4TH FLOOR - Life (my favorite - biology, with a lot of Utah-specific facts & stats. Loads of hands-on stuff here too) 3RD FLOOR - Land (the three different regions of Utah) - First Peoples (prehistoric human life in Utah) - Gems & Minerals (brilliant collection of tumbled / rough-cuts) - Special Rotating Exhibit (through Oct. 2013, its focused on natural disasters) - Great Salt Lake (an obvious nod to the nearby freak of occurrence and its formation) 2ND FLOOR - Past Worlds (literally descend through a 500-million year timeline, with period animals and plants all around you) - Utah Futures Of course, the obligatory snack bar and gift shop can also be found on the second floor, along with another wonderful deck overlooking the Salt Lake City valley and surrounding mountains. . This museum is nothing short of spectacular! The themed architecture inside really sets the mood around each of the exhibit areas, and the exhibits themselves are well-thought out. Theres even localized background sounds/effects (most evident in the "life" area) that envelop you into the various climate murals on display. Positioned throughout all the exhibits are loads of adult and kid-friendly hands-on stations that further immerse you into the science/research behind everything shown. Id recommend the Natural History Museum of Utah in a heartbeat to anyone visiting Salt Lake City. With so much to learn and so many exhibits to explore, this new museum is a treat to tourists and local residents alike!

Zeik Games

This review is not so much the museum itself but for the chocolate and cheese festival. I typically enjoy the museum greatly and would recommend it to anyone during normal business hours. Now, the festival. Firstly, parking was absolutely horrible; there was no signage to indicate the various lots were full so you were forced to take a gamble on whether or not you could find a spot. We found a spot in the fifth lot we entered. We bought our tickets weeks prior to the event. We got to the museum line and were not allowed to enter because the event was at capacity. This was about 1:50pm. Once 2:30 got here they began letting people in again. The important thing to note here is that even though the museum was at capacity and they had to limit people coming in, they were still selling tickets at the door. I found this absolutely ridiculous as I previously mentioned, we had gotten our tickets weeks before. You would think that if there were so many people with prepaid tickets, further sales would be closed. We finally reached our lines cashier, which was significantly slower than the day of sales line. We received our tickets and we were finally allowed to enter the event. This was just before 3:00. I attached a timestamped picture of the ticket showing how delayed they were. The event was presented online as if the vendors would be set up among the exhibits, creating a dispersed experience which would cut down on crowd congestion. Once we got inside we realized that there is "no food or drink allowed" and all the vendors were condensed into the lobby creating a very claustrophobic experience. We spent about an hour total trying to sample foods. The lines were extremely long and hard to actually stand in as there wasnt exactly enough room to create the length of lines needed so everyone was pushing forward. We were able to sample about 7 booths of the 15 or so. We did break off after the hour and went to see the exhibits with the hour before the museum closed. Overall, we were extremely disappointed with the events planning and coordination. We were made to feel punished for purchasing our tickets early, as people who did not made it in faster than us. The sampling experience was crowded and claustrophobic. I will not be back to another event at the museum. 0/10 would not recommend.

Richard Wysong

This may be the worst natural history museum Ive ever been to. Its like an art student tried to make a natural history museum; it seems someone was more concerned with pretty architectural design than functionality. It doesnt have much of anything pre-Mesozoic. If it did, I probably missed it because of the mazelike layout, which has you going back through exhibits youve already seen. Speaking of missing things, I went online afterwards and it turns out I "missed" the special exhibit because it looked like there was nothing after the mineral collection on that floor. A museum shouldnt have lots of forks in the road... it should be like a race track--with curves, but a clear direction. And why not present natural history in chronological order? Oh and the special exhibit? Weaving. Yeah, weaving. As if its not bad enough that they have two floors of Native American stuff without that. They should rename it the Utah Dinosaurs, Utah Geology and Utah Native American Museum. It certainly doesnt cover all of natural history. Its more for kids and hippies than anyone really interested in science. The "Life" section is nice, but for a 163,000 sq ft natural history museum, I expected a lot more. I would recommend the BYU Museum of Paleontology if youre interested in seeing some actual Hadean rocks, stromatolites and Cambrian fossils. If you dont mind seeing lots of Moroccan fakes, Thanksgiving Point also acknowledges that there were eras before the Mesozoic.

Frederick Grathwohl

The Museum itself was pretty nice, the staff running the place made the experience unenjoyable. 45 minutes after buying my ticket I left because I was told I had "harassed" an employee by saying "hey" and was told Id have security called if I did it again. I said I didnt understand what I did wrong but was disregarded when I had asked. I didnt let this bother me and carried on and said I was sorry anyways. Moments later I was stopped and told to quit smiling when walking through an exhibit. I found it ironic I was told to stop "harassing" the employees earlier when I was the one being harassed in the first place. This is when I decided to leave because "when you dont have anything nice to say dont say anything at all", and Im not going to feed the suckers that bite me. So in conclusion maybe I just encountered a couple bad apples, and Im sure there are good staff there as well. I wouldnt go back and I wouldnt support this museum after the disrespect displayed. If you were to go there Id say "dont talk to staff" as one person told me before.

P Miller

This was an interesting museum with an artistic layout. It is not for little children. The displays are too high for them to see easily or interact with. It is more interesting for 7-12 year olds or adults. It was difficult to keep my group together because of the floor layout. I highly recommend against coming to this museum with a large group of 2 or 3 year olds. It needed almost a one to one ratio of adults and children. There were some interactive exhibits that were great like the dinosaurs, rocks, earthquakes and fish but some exhibits were not at all interactive such as the Native American. Labels were an issue. It seemed to be feast or famine- either every single little thing was labeled or nothing at all. It reminded my family of some group projects where some people do the work and others dont. As an adult, I would visit this museum again. I felt like I didnt get a chance to see everything. I would probably not bring children next time. And it was pretty pricey at $15 per adult.