Natural History Museum NYC Tickets and Pay-What-You-Wish

Which ticket to buy

The museum sells three levels, and the price depends on whether you live in New York State. The admission page lists:

General Admission already covers more than 40 permanent halls and 12 exhibitions. The ticketed extras are the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, Invisible Worlds, Impact: The End of the Age of Dinosaurs, The Nature of Color and the planetarium show Encounters in the Milky Way. Impact runs until 18 January 2027; The Nature of Color opens on 16 November 2026.

For an adult, one exhibition adds $6 and all of them add $11, so the all-exhibitions ticket is the better buy as soon as you want two extras. If the permanent halls are the point of your visit, General Admission is enough.

Students are any age with a valid student ID, seniors are 60 and over with ID, and children are 3–12. Visitors with disabilities can buy the student/senior rate on site or by phone (212-769-5200), and a caregiver enters free.

Pay what you wish: who qualifies

Only New York State residents. The admission page says residents of New York State with ID may pay what they wish for General Admission only, and that visitors from outside the state pay the fixed fee. The current page does not extend this to New Jersey or Connecticut residents, so plan on standard pricing if you live there.

Accepted ID is a driver's licence, state ID, IDNYC, student ID, a current utility bill with your address, or a voter registration card. Online, you tick the New York State resident box and enter an eligible zip code. The suggested amounts are $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors and $14 for children.

You cannot add ticketed exhibitions to a pay-what-you-wish ticket online. If you decide on arrival that you want the vivarium or the planetarium show, buy it at a ticket desk.

Other free admission listed: children under 3, members, IDNYC members and corporate members (tick the box when booking), and US military members with one guest. From Armed Forces Day to Labor Day military families also enter free. All of these still need a ticket.

Timed entry and booking

General Admission has no stated entry time, but the museum recommends buying ahead for faster entry, and tickets are on sale up to 30 June 2027. Ticketed exhibitions are different: each needs an entry time, chosen at checkout after you pick the date. If a particular exhibition matters to you, book its time with your ticket rather than on the day.

The CityPASS bundle includes General Admission plus one ticketed exhibition and four other city attractions over nine days; compare it with the single museums you would actually visit, such as the Met or MoMA, before paying for it.

Hours, closures and halls that shut

The hours page gives daily opening from 10 am to 5:30 pm and closures on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. In 2026 those are 26 November and 25 December. Our New York holiday closures guide covers which other museums shut on those days.

The same page lists temporary closures of individual halls, updated weekly. For 21 October to 1 November 2026 it showed the Hall of Eastern Woodlands and Hall of the Great Plains closed throughout, the Climate Wall unavailable until 4 December, and short-notice changes such as the Hayden Planetarium closed on 24 October. Check it in the week of your visit if one hall is the reason you are going.

Getting there and getting in

The museum is at 200 Central Park West. The plan your visit page gives these routes:

1. B (weekdays only) or C to 81 St–Museum of Natural History. This station is not wheelchair accessible.
2. 1 to 79 St at Broadway, two blocks west.
3. 1, 2 or 3 to 72 St, the nearest accessible station, then the northbound M7 bus on Amsterdam Avenue.

Entrances are on Central Park West at 79th Street (up the steps), and the accessible entrances are the Rose Center at 81st Street and the Gilder Center on Columbus Avenue at 79th Street. The 77th Street entrance is currently closed.