Paleontological Research Institute

An absolutely amazing experience! Definitely worth the drive! I've been here twice, once as a kid, and on a field trip last semester in college! There's so much to see, with some amazing exhibits on Prehistoric life, from the iconic Hyde Park Mastadon, the whale skeleton, relics from the Devonian 's Age of the armoured fish and more! I loved getting to look at all the fossils here! There's so many fact guides along the way, so you can read up on what you're seeing! You can also find your own fossil, among some rocks, and bring it home with you! The gift shop also has some really nice stuff! A perfect stop for anyone! A great family trip, or for an aspiring scientist alike! Anyone can have a great visit here!!

This is hard to review because while I thought this place was pretty cool, my two teenage daughters weren't really into it. I loved all the different exhibits they had but noticed that its definitely an acquired taste. You either love science or you don't. Either way I did get some decent pictures so here they are.

This place is a great place to go with kids if you need to do something indoors because of bad weather. The exhibits were just ok. It felt a bit old and out of date. It’s not very engaging or interactive. Even the scavenger hunt was a bit sad. You wander around and you don’t see anybody that works there to engage the kids or guests with questions or spark any curiosity. Even the admission ticket people seemed a bit sad. It’s not a bad thing to do with kids but not on the top of my list.

You'll spend a few hours here if you are one to read the information and watch the videos they have on the TVs. Or you can spend an hour or so here just by looking at all the cool fossils and other displays they have set up. It's very informative and very fun and not expensive at all. The gift shop has a few nice things but mainly just toys and then some overpriced cheaply made jewelry. It's great for kids and for adults too. You definitely won't be bored no matter your age. I've been 2 times and plan to go again. The parking lot has plenty of space but each time I've went there was only 2 or 3 other cars there and so it's never been crowded for me. I love dinosaurs so much I wish there were more places like this one around. Also the two workers at the desk were nice enough. Seemed like a very low stress job especially because I don't think it ever gets busy here. So it feels like a very relaxed non rushed and peaceful place

It was great experience. Over all it was Greta experience and very informative place. We can get experience and information from small insect to giant dinosaur. Many documentaries are also available to watch their. I am not sure it is free or any charge but when we went their it was under renovation, so at that time it was free entry. Their is good parking space. If anyone near by must visit and help grow this place. Good place form kids too.

A very neat but small museum. It was very educational for kids and adults. The staff were very friendly and the restrooms were very clean. It was not on our list of things to do but since it was raining we decided to go here. We thought we wouldn’t spend more than an hour but we spent about two hours going through every exhibit and reading through everything in detail. The little gift shop was cute and reasonably priced.

It’s a neat museum. Very educational and they offered a nice layout of exhibits. Staff was super friendly and helpful. Admission is on a donation basis at this time and tickets can be purchased ahead of time.Visited onWeekendWait timeNo waitReservation recommendedYesPrice for adult entry$1–5

My son has been really into dinosaurs recently so we went to the museum during one of their free days Jan-March. Wasnt overly crowded, staff and volunteers were attentive and offered information. There was a nice selection of hands on activities and a few play areas throughout.

A high quality, beautiful, and educational museum. The Museum of the Earth strikes and excellent balance between adult and child level education present a history of the earth as well as life on it, in an easily accessible format. The museum also makes an excellent wedding venue with helpful staff and an excellent floor plan.

This museum was not on our list of things to do, but we decided to stop by because we were so close, and were leaving the Ithaca area to go to our next destination.  We were a little worried it would be just for kids, but it really surprised us! We spent about an hour there, and we really liked the bee exhibit.  Nice little museum, neat to walk through.