176 Best Sights in USA

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures sits on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, with a giant spherical dome that features a 1,000-seat theater and stunning terrace with views of the Hollywood Hills. Inside, the museum has enlightening exhibitions that delve into the history of cinema with interactive exhibits, videos of award-winning storytellers, multiple theaters, and immersive experiences.

Car lovers enjoy strolling around more than 300 rare classic automobiles, vintage cars, and iconic motorized vehicles from film and pop culture, including Batmobile, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, and the car from Ghostbusters. Take the 90-minute self-guided tour of the basement-level Vault. The museum itself is a work of art; the eye-catching stainless steel design of curving lines gives it a futuristic look.

Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer has renewed interest in that Cold War era of Las Vegas, when visitors could occasionally see a roiling mushroom cloud in the distance at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Located on the corner of the UNLV campus and operated in association with the Smithsonian, the museum is filled with film footage and artifacts from the Test Site, including bomb-testing machinery and the bombs themselves: a decommissioned B-53 "bunker buster" is 12-feet long and weighs 8,850 pounds. Some exhibits are pay homage to the sometimes frightening, sometimes comical treatment of "the bomb" in pop culture. There's a mini-theater that gives you the sensory jolt of an atomic explosion. Two galleries for rotating exhibits augment the permanent exhibition. Early 2025 brought the new "Atomic Odyssey" exhibit, a colorful, interactive, and kid-friendly introduction to the structure of the atom and how to tell nuclear fission from fusion.

The museum also offers virtual tours of the 1,375-square-mile Nevada National Security Site (larger than the state of Rhode Island) and is the starting point for occasional in-person group tours of the test site, which is still operational 65 miles northwest of Downtown. These tours book as much as a year ahead, with museum donors getting first chance.

The treasures inside this museum and research center, gathered by financier John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), are exceptional: medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, Old Master drawings and prints, and autographed literary and musical manuscripts. Some of the library's crowning achievements on paper include letters penned by John Keats and Thomas Jefferson; a summary of the theory of relativity in Einstein's own elegant handwriting; three Gutenberg Bibles; drawings by Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Blake, and Rembrandt; the only known manuscript fragment of Milton's Paradise Lost; Thoreau's journals; and original manuscripts and letters by Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Thomas Pynchon, and many others. Rotating exhibits highlight works from the collection and other arts and cultural subjects. Additionally, the museum recognizes the importance of its inaugural director, Belle da Costa Greene.

Consider this Downtown museum the afterlife for old neon signs. The facility, which displays more than 150 signs that date back to the 1930s, opened to the public in 2012. The old La Concha motel's historic lobby was renovated and now serves as the museum's entry point. The sign collection includes the original signs from the Stardust, Horseshoe, and other properties. To get up close, visitors must take an educational and informative one-hour guided tour. Daytime tours, especially in summer, can be scorching. For an alternative, try one of the nighttime tours, where you can see four of the signs illuminated the way they were intended to be. In 2018 the museum added Brilliant! Jackpot, a separate experience in the North Gallery where a laser-light show set to music appears to reanimate some of the signs. The result is, well, illuminating.

This is an absolute must-see for railroad buffs. In a 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall, the remarkable Smithsonian-affiliated museum showcases a world-class collection of 100-plus vintage locomotives and railroad cars made or operated in Pennsylvania. Exhibits contain a treasure trove of photos, artifacts, and memorabilia documenting the history of railroading in the state.

Situated at the Congress Street Bridge near the site of Griffin's Wharf, this lively museum offers an interactive look at the past in a place as close as possible to the actual spot where the Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773. Actors in period costumes greet patrons, assign them real-life Colonial personas, and then ask a few people to heave boxes of tea into the water from aboard historical reproductions of the ships forcibly boarded and unloaded the night Boston Harbor became a teapot. There are 3D holograms, talking portraits, and even the Robinson Half Tea Chest, one of two original tea chests known to exist.  Abigail's Tea Room (you don't need a museum ticket for entry) features a tea tasting of five tea blends that would have been aboard the ships.

The drive up Lookout Mountain to the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave provides a sensational panoramic view of Denver that alone is worth the price of admission. It was this view that encouraged Bill Cody—Pony Express rider, cavalry scout, and tireless promoter of the West—to request Lookout Mountain as his burial site. Adjacent to the grave is a small museum with art and artifacts detailing Cody's life and times, as well as a souvenir shop. The grave is 100 yards past the gift shop on a paved walkway.

After more than 25 years flying under the radar inside the Railway Exchange Building a few blocks south, the Chicago Architecture Foundation opened this sparkling new home in 2018. The 20,000-square-foot facility features interactive exhibits about the city's built environment, and it sits right above the dock where the center's indispensable river cruise tours board. Tours by bus and on foot also depart from the facility, which houses a terrific gift shop as well.

While visiting Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, stop in at this colorful, 6,400-square-foot, interactive attraction, where you can experience a variety of Florida Keys habitats from pinelands, beach dunes, and mangroves to the deep sea. Walk through a model of the Aquarius—a unique, underwater, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) laboratory 9 miles off Key Largo—to virtually discover what lurks in the ocean's depths. Touch-screen computer displays, a dramatic movie, a 2,500-gallon aquarium, and live underwater web cameras show off North America's only contiguous barrier coral reef. You'll leave with a new understanding of the native animals and unique plants of the Florida Keys.

Among the world's finest auto museums, Fountainhead provides a fascinating survey of history, design, culture, and, of course, cars (specifically ones from 1898 to 1938). Obscure makes—Buckmobiles, Packards, and Hudsons among them—compete for attention with more familiar specimens from Ford, Cadillac, and Chrysler. The museum's holdings include the first car ever made in Alaska, built in Skagway out of sheet metal and old boat parts. Alongside the cars, all but three of them in running condition, are equally remarkable historical photographs and exhibits of sometimes rare vintage clothing that illustrate the era's evolution of style, especially for women.

With Navajo silver and Hopi pottery, the Koshare Indian Museum contains extensive holdings of Native American artifacts and crafts. It also displays pieces from Anglo artists, such as Remington, known for their depictions of Native Americans. The Koshare Indian Dancers—actually local youth—perform regularly.

Almost every year from 1899 to 1948 wealthy socialites Larz and Isabel Anderson bought a car, which they kept at their Brookline estate in a castlelike carriage house built in 1888 (originally to stable horses). After Isabel’s death in 1948, the building was turned into a museum. Today, visitors can see 14 of their cars in this special collection. Weekend lawn events, May through October, feature unique cars.

About 350 meticulously restored automobiles, from some of the world's earliest models to brassy muscle cars from the late '60s, are displayed in this sleek, striking museum on the south side of downtown. It's one of the most impressive car museums in the country, with engaging exhibits on Route 66, alternative-fuel cars, NASCAR, and other aspects of automobile culture and history. The cars here were collected by the late Harold LeMay, whose entire inventory of some 3,000 autos is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest privately owned collection in the world. Highlights include a 1906 Cadillac Model M, a 1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a 1930 Lincoln L Brougham, a 1953 Citroen 2CV, a 1963 Studebaker Avanti, and—a favorite with kids—the Flintmobile used in the 1994 Flintstones movie. The café serves diner classics, including banana splits. If you're an ardent car enthusiast, it's worth making the 20-minute drive south to the related LeMay Collections at Marymount ( www.lemaymarymount.org) in the Spanaway neighborhood of south Tacoma—an even bigger collection of cars is on display there.

In 1622, a flotilla of Spanish galleons laden with riches left Havana en route to Spain, but it foundered in a hurricane 40 miles west of the Keys. In 1985, diver Mel Fisher recovered items from two of the lost ships, including the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, said to carry the mother lode of the treasure, and the Santa Margarita. Fisher's adventures tracking these fabled hoards and battling the state of Florida for rights are as amazing as the loot you'll see, touch, and learn about in this museum. Artifacts include a 77.76-carat natural emerald worth almost $250,000. Changing second-floor exhibits cover other aspects of Florida maritime history.

If ever a museum had its own unique spin, it's the Museum of Jurassic Technology, with an oddball assortment of natural (and partly fictional) "art" pieces such as fruit stone carvings, theater models, string figures, finds from mobile home parks, and a tribute room filled with paintings of dogs from the Soviet Space Program. All are housed in a low-lighted, haunted house–style atmosphere that makes you feel as if the Addams Family butler will come to greet you at any moment. Go upstairs after your visit to enjoy complimentary tea and cookies in the Tula Tea Room, and short films in the Borzoi Kabinet Theater.  The museum is home to multiple dogs and birds, so be advised if you have allergies.

Although it's full of Hollywood and television memorabilia, this museum's core exhibition is Behind the Screen, which demonstrates how movies and TV shows are produced and shown and has stations where you can create your own short animation, experiment with sound effects, or view the behind-the-scenes editing process of a live Mets baseball game. The Jim Henson Exhibition tells the stories of Henson's film and TV works and has a build-a-muppet station. A wide range of films (more than 400), from classic Hollywood to avant-garde works to foreign-festival hits, is generally shown on weekend evenings and afternoons. Special programs include film retrospectives, lectures, and workshops, as well as daily short films in Tut's Fever Movie Palace, a fab Red Grooms-- and Lysiane Luong–designed installation.

A fun destination for even casual music fans, the museum offers a rare display of music and instruments going back hundreds of years—including more than 15,000 instruments and artifacts from across the globe. Special galleries highlight video demonstrations as well as audio tracks that showcase the sounds that instruments, both primitive and contemporary, create. There's even an Experience Gallery where kids can make their own music.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is best known for its magazine, and entering this welcoming, 13,000-square-foot exhibition space feels like stepping into its pages. The compact museum offers family-friendly interactive exhibitions delving into the historical, cultural, and scientific research that distinguishes National Geographic magazine. There are items from the permanent collections—cultural, historical, and scientific—and traveling exhibitions. It also has a virtual-reality theater experience. Nat Geo Nights—presentations by explorers with interactive activities, music, and food and drink specials—are held on the third Thursday of every month. The M Street Lobby photography exhibit, as well as the outdoor photo display around the perimeter of the museum, are free.

Showcasing the contributions of Black musicians to just about every genre of American music from the Civil War era to today, this important museum dedicates more than 50,000 square feet of exhibit space to showcasing the evolution of African American music and performers. Galleries display instruments and performance costumes from the world of spirituals, blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, and hip-hop.

The glassy atrium of this 120,000-square-foot homage to the military's finest soars into the sky next to the Marine Corps Base Quantico. The design was inspired by the iconic photograph of marines lifting the American flag on Iwo Jima. Inside the museum, visitors can experience the life of a marine. The museum is an interactive experience and has a staggering collection of tanks, aircraft, rocket launchers, and other weapons. There is even a rifle range simulator, where guests of all ages can learn how to hold a laser rifle and practice hitting targets. Service animals are welcome inside the museum, and pets are permitted on the grounds (look for designated relief areas).

Recognized as the largest horological collection in North America, this museum is home to thousands of timepieces and time-related items. The museum's location isn't random: Columbia has had a long clockmaking and watchmaking tradition. In the museum, you'll see early sundials and water clocks; a German Black Forest organ clock with 94 pipes; moon-phase wristwatches; and other timekeeping devices from around the world.

The more than 100 aircraft at this museum include gliders and helicopters, a World War II–era P-47 Thunderbolt, and a B-29 Superfortress, along with other vintage fighters and bombers—and an extensive collection of engines, instruments, parts, uniforms, and personal memorabilia. There's even a fighter-jet simulator. Next to Bradley International Airport, the museum also frequently holds open-cockpit days, allowing both young and old to play pilot.

Set in a 1950s quonset hut–style former dance hall near Lake Wentworth, this small but fascinating museum and boat-building center celebrates New Hampshire's maritime legacy with displays of vintage wooden boats, models, antique engines, racing photography, trophies, and vintage marina signs. You can also attend workshops on boat building and restoration, take sailing lessons, and go on 45-minute narrated rides on Lake Winnipesaukee in the Millie B., a reproduction 1928 triple-cockpit Hacker-Craft.

Designed by Kevin Roche, this museum is a quintessential example of mid-century modern architecture and home to a capacious collection of nearly 2 million objects in three distinct galleries celebrating California's history, natural sciences, and art. Listen to native species and environmental soundscapes in the Library of Natural Sounds, see five different Golden State ecoregions in the outdoor terraced garden, and engage in stories of the state's past and future, from Ohlone basket making to emerging technologies. Don't miss the photographs by Dorothea Lange and a worthy collection of Bay Area figurative painters, including David Park and Barry McGee. Stay for lunch at the Town Fare café, where chef Michele McQueen serves California-soul food dishes like Low Country shrimp and grits.  On Friday evening, the museum bustles with live music, food trucks, and after-hours gallery access.

On the campus of Oregon's oldest psychiatric hospital, this nonprofit, volunteer-run museum explores the somber history of psychiatry through artifacts such as straitjackets sewn by patients and now-regrettable treatment devices.The hospital served as the primary set for the legendary 1975 blockbuster One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, starring Jack Nicholson (which was based on a book by the same name by Oregon author Ken Kesey). A popular permanent exhibit is dedicated to the Academy Award-winning film.

Here's the place to learn about the Hanford Reach National Monument, an area that encompasses the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River and greater Columbia Basin and surrounds the former site of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The interpretive center highlights the region's history, culture, science and technology, natural resources and agriculture, and arts. The exhibit area has permanent exhibits on the Columbia Basin Project's irrigated agriculture, the history of the atomic age and Hanford's contribution to ending World War II, the vineyards of Red Mountain, and the Columbia River's role in producing electrical power. Special events include tours, classes, and culinary events highlighting the area's wineries and agriculture. The 18-acre setting on the Columbia River includes outdoor exhibits, a nature trail, and a stage where concerts are held in the summer.

Richard and Helen Rice began collecting beach agates in 1938, and over the years they developed one of the largest private mineral collections in the United States. The most popular item here is the Alma Rose rhodochrosite, a 4-inch red crystal, though the Rainbow Gallery, which showcases rocks that emit brilliant multicolor when displayed under backlights, is a close contender. The museum (in a ranch-style home) also displays petrified wood from all over the world and a gallery of Northwest minerals—including specimens of Oregon's state gem, the sunstone.

This state-of-the-art museum, sponsored by the Sazerac Company, is all about the city's most famous cocktail and all the people, history, and booze behind it. Exhibits are largely interactive, combining historical artifacts and technology with tastings and real-life experts. Visitors will learn about the Sazerac’s origins and other boozy tales, visit Peychaud’s Apothecary to see how the famous bitters are made, tour an active Sazerac Rye distillery, and spend time with lifelike virtual bartenders in the Sophisticated Spirits room. It’s best to book the complimentary tickets online; a free visit includes several tastings and the option to attend a themed tour. Upgrade your visit ($10--45) to attend a special tasting and cocktail-making class. Minors are free to tour the museum, but not sample (age is verified ahead of time).