Bell Museum

About Bell Museum

Riverside museum with a planetarium. Large museum with diverse animal dioramas & a planetarium also offers educational programs. The Touch & See Lab features 10,000-year-old fossils alongside living plants and animals, allowing visitors to interact directly with Pleistocene-era specimens. Rated 4.6 out of 5 stars by 628 visitors.

💬 What Visitors Say

• 🕐Buy tickets online ahead of time to save time at entry, and arrive early on weekdays (Wednesday-Sunday before noon) as the parking lot is small and fills up quickly—visitors have reported needing to park down the street
• 💡Start with the Touch & See Lab to engage with interactive fossils and living animals, then head upstairs to see the wildlife dioramas and the wooly mammoth, which visitors consistently identify as the museum's star exhibit
• 💬Plan 2-3 hours for your visit as the museum is compact but feature-rich; don't miss the planetarium shows (like 'Secrets of the Forest' and 'Supervolcanoes') which play throughout the day on the domed screen
• 💡Families with kids should prioritize the Touch & See Lab with its digital microscopes and live animals, plus the interactive learning landscape with native plants and solar station—these hands-on exhibits are specifically designed to engage young visitors
• 💡Focus on exhibits highlighting Minnesota's natural history and the building's unique architecture to deepen your educational experience—the museum's collections emphasize regional ecology and geology