With Jurassic World: Rebirth roaring into cinemas this July, Travel Insurance specialist InsureandGo has revealed the world’s top-rated dinosaur museums for fossil-loving travelers to explore.
Penned as the most anticipated movie of the summer, Jurassic World: Rebirth marks the seventh installment in the Jurassic Park franchise. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey, and filmed across Thailand, Malta and the UK, the film is already generating a lot of buzz among fans.
Small Canadian Town Hosts World’s Favorite Dinosaur Museum
According to the data, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of palaeontology tops the list, with an overwhelming 97.3% of its reviews receiving four or five stars. In second place is New Zealand’s Tūhura Otago Museum (96.5%), followed by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (96.1%).
While the US accounts for more than half of the top 25, New Zealand punches above its weight with two entries in the global top 10, impressive given the size of the country. Interestingly, London’s Natural History Museum, arguably one of the most iconic in the world, only just makes it into the global top 25, surpassed in the UK by Oxford’s entry, as well as a museum located in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Top 25 Dinosaur Museums in the World
Ranked by the percentage of 4 and 5-star reviews
| Rank | Museum | Location | Country | % of 4 and 5* Reviews |
| 1 | Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology | Drumheller | Canada | 97.3% |
| 2 | Tūhura Otago Museum | Dunedin | New Zealand | 96.5% |
| 3 | Oxford University Museum of Natural History | Oxford | United Kingdom | 96.1% |
| 4 | Natural History Museum of Utah | Salt Lake City | United States of America | 95.3% |
| 5 | Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | Wellington | New Zealand | 95.3% |
| 6 | Carnegie Museum of Natural History | Pittsburgh | United States of America | 95.2% |
| 7 | National Museum of Scotland | Edinburgh | United Kingdom | 94.8% |
| 8 | Museum of the Rockies | Bozeman | United States of America | 94.3% |
| 9 | Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum | Katsuyama | Japan | 94.1% |
| 10 | Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History | New Haven | United States of America | 93.6% |
| 11 | Museo de La Plata | La Plata | Argentina | 93.5% |
| 12 | Children’s Museum of Indianapolis | Indianapolis | United States of America | 93.3% |
| 13 | Dinosaur National Monument | Jensen | United States of America | 93.0% |
| 14 | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County | Los Angeles | United States of America | 92.7% |
| 15 | Natural History Museum Vienna | Vienna | Austria | 92.5% |
| 16 | Denver Museum of Nature & Science | Denver | United States of America | 92.4% |
| 17 | Wyoming Dinosaur Center | Thermopolis | United States of America | 90.8% |
| 18 | South Australian Museum | Adelaide | Australia | 90.7% |
| 19 | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History | Washington | United States of America | 90.7% |
| 20 | New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science | Albuquerque | United States of America | 90.2% |
| 21 | Canadian Museum of Nature | Ottawa | Canada | 90.2% |
| 22 | Melbourne Museum | Melbourne | Australia | 90.0% |
| 23 | Perot Museum of Nature and Science | Dallas | United States of America | 89.9% |
| 24 | Houston Museum of Natural Science | Houston | United States of America | 89.9% |
| 25 | Natural History Museum | London | United Kingdom | 89.3% |
- Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology – Drumheller, Canada
Home to over 130,000 fossils, this museum showcases the renowned “Black Beauty”, an astonishing T. rex skeleton, as well as the most complete tyrannosaurid skeleton ever found, a predator that predated the T. Rex by about 10 million years. The museum also served as the filming location for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Visitors recommend giving yourself a couple of days here, and to go hiking in the Badlands around the museum too.
- Tūhura Otago Museum – Dunedin, New Zealand
This Kiwi museum is home to New Zealand’s largest fossil plesiosaur, as well as one of the world’s finest collections of moa remains, a giant flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand and went extinct about 600 years ago. The museum also offers an immersive tropical rainforest butterfly house. In 2022, the Otago Museum was renamed to the Tūhura Otago Museum, a Māori word which means “to discover, investigate and explore”.
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History – Oxford, United Kingdom
Surpassing London’s iconic Natural History Museum is the UK’s most highly rated natural history museum, located in Oxford University. This museum houses the only soft tissue remains of the extinct Dodo, and the structure itself was designed to double up as a lesson in geological diversity, with elements like columns made of different British rocks.
Letitia Smith, Communications Manager at InsureandGo commented: “We all travel for different reasons – whether it’s sampling new dishes, swimming in turquoise waters, or exploring fascinating cultures. For many people, that includes visiting a fascinating destination, like a dinosaur museum.”
“With the new Jurassic Park movie on the way, we wanted to highlight the museums that truly capture the awe of natural history, based on real visitor reviews. If your summer plans take you near these top-rated museums, it’s the perfect chance to experience some of the world’s most top-rated prehistory.”
“Thankfully, dinosaurs are no longer a threat, but travel can still be unpredictable. So, protect yourself with comprehensive travel insurance, and keep your adrenaline fix within the museum!”
