Top 12 Best Museums to Visit in Florida
You might wish to spend a day or two in Florida to get away from the blazing sun and afternoon thunderstorms. If sitting inside and enjoying the air ... read more...conditioning is something you want to do, then a visit to some of Florida's greatest museums is a must. Florida's eclectic past is informed by the arts and sciences, history, the military, and agriculture, all of which contribute to the state's lively blend of cultures and natural treasures. Let's see the best museums in Florida with Toplist.
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Don't be deceived by the simple front door or the inexpensive admission costs; the Morse Museum is without a doubt one of Florida's most magnificent art and cultural museums, and it's considerably larger than its entranceway would suggest, with over 19,000 square feet containing numerous pieces by many artists. The actual claim to fame of the establishment is that it is the permanent home of hundreds of items created by famed glassmaker Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Visitors will pass through a corridor lined with lights that spread kaleidoscopic hues over the walls, a chamber dedicated exclusively to art inspired by daffodils, and even the famed Tiffany Chapel created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. This is the place to go if you want a unique artistic experience.
Location: 445 Park Ave N, Winter Park, FL 32789
Website: morsemuseum.org
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Touch live sea life, build something, and race through a downpour! The IMAG entry package includes hours of amusement for the whole family. There are over 60 interactive exhibits for the entire family to enjoy while learning about science, technology, engineering, and math as well as the history of Southwest Florida. The IMAG invites you to get up and personal with the state's history, as well as its ecosystems and landscape. A large globe serves as a projection screen in one room, enabling complete detailed demonstrations of Earth's weather patterns. In another area, an augmented reality sandbox illustrates the topography and the complexities of southwest Florida's watersheds.
The IMAG is a strong contender for the greatest science museum in South Florida, but if that's not enough, a trip to the Sea-to-See Touch Tank will put you finger-to-fin with the same yellow-spotted stingrays that reside just off the state's beaches! This museum is ideal for the whole family because it provides extensive explanations alongside the exhibits.
Location: 2000 Cranford Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33916
Website: theimag.org
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When visitors enter the Orlando Science Center's main building, they are met with a massive sweeping staircase that wraps around a live replica of the Florida Everglades, complete with fish and even a resident snapping turtle. Visitors can learn about sinkholes, the water table, and a variety of natural fauna while touring an air-conditioned recreation of the Florida wilderness. Dinosaur bones, flying simulators, kinetic sand, and loads of hands-on physics and earth science exhibits may be found upstairs. Two theaters flank the structure, one of which is a planetarium and the other of which is set up for Tesla coil shows.
If you visit after dark on a clear night, an astronomer will guide you to the top level, where you can stare through the center's tremendously powerful telescope. Check the museum's event calendar because it conducts a variety of activities in addition to normal admission, including adult-only nights, science and technology conventions, and even video game design competitions. The OSC has something for everyone, whether you're looking for a different kind of dating night or somewhere to take the kids.
Location: 777 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803
Website: osc.org
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In this interactive and immersive pirate museum in Florida, travel back in time to 16th-century Port Royal, where cannon fire rings in your ears and the Golden Age of Piracy is alive and well. As you make your way through the brilliant, colorful corridors, see items from sunken wrecks, stand at the captain's wheel on board your own vessel, learn to tie sailors' knots, and even see props from Hollywood's most famous pirate movies. But what's most striking about this place is that it's jam-packed with artifacts and exhibitions, with every square inch of every room dedicated to displays of color, light, sound, or interactive features.
The St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum is sure to pique the adventurous spirit of even the saltiest landlubber, with the authentic Jolly Roger flag, interactive digital maps and publications, and both real and replica documents from governments and pirates alike.
Location: 12 S Castillo Dr, St Augustine, FL 32084
Website: thepiratemuseum.com
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MOSI is for the Museum of Science and Industry, and it brings together the finest and newest in STEM subjects without sacrificing art or design to create an abundance of interactive exhibits that teach visitors about a variety of scientific fields. This museum is interactive from beginning to end, with exhibits on paleontology, lunar colonization, project construction, physics, human anatomy, and even virtual reality. The museum also offers a planetarium where you can take a tour of the incredible cosmos, complete with breathtaking images and informative narration by one of the museum's astronomers.
If you want to get your heart racing, the Sky Trail Ropes course will make you feel as if you could reach up and touch the clouds as you complete each exciting challenge. It's easy to understand why MOSI is one of Florida's greatest science museums, with its emphasis on hands-on learning.
Location: 4801 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33617-2099
Website: mosi.org
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The Ringling is one of the state's most culturally diverse museums, and the campus grounds house three museums in one: the Art Museum, the Circus Museum, and the Ca' d'Zan. The home was erected in the 1920s by John Ringling, one of five brothers who ran the Ringling Bros. Circus. They collected art of many kinds while living there, and their personal things make up a large part of the permanent Art Museum collection. The original colorful glass windows, ancient furnishings, and stunning views of the water may all be seen inside the Ca' d'Zan, or House of John.
The Circus Museum, where original costumes and train cars celebrate the glamour of the Greatest Show on Earth, and a series of hallways and viewing platforms showcase a complete model of the entire circus in its heyday, right down to every animal, performer, and employee is a must-see for any visitor. The Ringling Museum is extremely accessible, with free admission to the grounds and Art Museum on Mondays, as well as discounts for students, teachers, and military personnel. It is a must-see for anyone visiting the Gulf Coast, as it is one of Florida's top museums.
Location: 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243
Website: ringling.org/visit
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The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (previously the Miami Science Museum and Space Transit Planetarium) is a science museum, planetarium, and aquarium in Miami, Florida, United States. In 2017, the museum moved from Coconut Grove to Museum Park in the downtown area, near the Perez Art Museum Miami.
The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, one of South Florida's greatest science museums, is a great place to learn about the skies and seas. The planetarium inside the museum is cutting-edge, with a surround sound system and a 16-million-color 8K projected display. The lowest of the aquarium's three levels sits above the planetarium, where you may learn about the Gulf Stream and its impact on global habitats. Each floor contains distinct exhibits relating to flight, natural science, and hands-on physics and biology exhibitions. These displays are placed beside the aquarium's subsequent floors, which form a small diorama of the ocean's layers. A museum with the very best in modern design and technology, the Frost Museum of Science is the perfect place for anyone who likes their gadgets!
Location: 1101 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33132
Website: frostscience.org
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Consider stopping by the Tampa Museum of Art if your travels take you along Florida's west coast. The museum is home to a changing display of pottery, sculpture, and carvings ranging from 600 to 300 BCE, and is known for its historically significant permanent collection. Visitors may see how ancient people lived through artifacts from the Roman, Greek, and Egyptian periods. The temporary exhibitions that this Florida art museum hosts and changes every few months are likewise well-known.
Yayoi Kusama, Robert Indiana, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Manuel Carrillo, all prominent and accomplished creators with distinct backgrounds and very different techniques and subject matter, have all been hosted over the years. If you're an artist with a favorite creator, keep an eye on the museum's upcoming exhibitions, which are listed on their website.
Location: 120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, FL 33602
Website: tampamuseum.org
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You may have grown up watching Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger, as well as National Geographic and Animal Planet. A visit to the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art will rekindle your wonder in a fresh way, whether it was the simpler periods of the Old West or the epic migrations of bison and birds that grabbed your imagination. Its photography, sculpture, and jewelry exhibits pay homage to the numerous human and animal life forms found in the American West. Furthermore, the museum honors species from throughout the world, and one of its goals is to provide people who are underrepresented in mainstream art a voice.
The collection properly honors the establishment's objective, with many Native American artists' works on exhibit and a concentration not just on Western life and art in the 1800s but also on present times. If you enjoy the culture and natural science, this museum will provide you with a one-of-a-kind and amazing experience.
Location: thejamesmuseum.org
Website: 150 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33701
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When you step into the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center, you will embark on a journey across time and space. When you first walk in, you'll notice the center's famed Rocket Garden, which houses relics from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions that visitors can tour or explore on their own. This two-campus Florida museum is half indoors and partially outdoors and is located on the same grounds as much of NASA's activity in Florida, just minutes from launchpads and hangars for spacecraft. In actuality, a bus tour explains the many platforms and doors while passing by the massive machines and facilities that house and launch these spaceships into the universe.
The Apollo/Saturn V Center, a second site dedicated to lunar missions, is also included on this tour. Guests can watch a display reenacting the 1968 launch of Apollo 8 and walk among many of the massive craft that propelled humanity into space. With interactive games about conquering Mars, astronaut training simulations, and glimpses into the future of space travel, the Kennedy Space Center is a terrific location for youngsters and adults to let their inner astronaut out.
Location: Space Commerce Way, Merritt Island, FL 32953
Website: kennedyspacecenter.com
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Many of the top military museums either require Department of Defense identification to get entrance or have exorbitant pricing for civilians to help cover upkeep costs, which can be discouraging to travelers interested in learning about military achievements and history. The Air Force Armament Museum on the Florida Panhandle, on the other hand, is available to the general public every day and charges no admission price, making it extremely accessible and enhancing its reputation as one of Florida's most interesting museums. Most exhibits have educational placards next to them that provide thorough explanations of all the different planes and armaments.
The halls house planes, missiles, and relics from several of America's most famous wars, some of which date back to the 1940s or earlier. The gun vault, where a lengthy room displays exhibit cabinets loaded with antique and modern guns and describe the history and most amazing features of each weapon in detail, is a must-see. And the museum is still expanding, with a new addition dedicated to the achievements of the Eglin Air Force Base and recognizing the achievements of African Americans in the Air Force set to open in the spring of 2022. This museum is fantastic for both hard-core military enthusiasts and those just interested in big, bold things, with interactive activities, loads of educational possibilities, and over two million visitors so far.
Location: 100 Museum Dr, Eglin Air Force Base, FL 32542
Website: afarmamentmuseum.com
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The Orlando Museum of Art stands out among Florida's many art museums because of its large number of temporary exhibitions, which allows the museum to highlight a diverse spectrum of artists and art movements. Its permanent collections, on the other hand, are extensive and well-rounded. The museum's American Art collection spans the period from colonial times to the 1960s and is a major component of its educational programs. It's well-complemented by the Art of the Ancient Americas collection, which is one of the country's most extensive on the subject, showcasing over 900 works by individuals from various tribes who lived in North, Central, and South America for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
The museum's Contemporary Art collection is significantly larger, thanks to the involvement and interests of the community, as well as numerous donations and contributions. You'll spend hours touring the corridors of this beautiful restaurant because there's so much to see.
Location: 2416 N Mills Ave, Orlando, FL 32803
Website: omart.org