Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History - Santa Barbara, California

Alifiya R.

This place is surely worth a visit for kids and adults. So many things to see. Right enough size of museum not to exhaust you. Must visit and decently priced. The real live owl in the back is the best thing ever. It made a serious eye contact with you and turns his head 360. This museum is a wow! Buying tickets is a piece of cake and less than $20 per person but discounts for kids, seniors etc..

Chris P.

Always a wonderful pleasure to visit this Museum. Beautifully set up, always something new. A wonderful way to spend an hour or three. The butterfly exhibit is magical. Walking the grounds and the indoor exhibits is a joy for children to grandparents. Our membership more than pays for itself. Thank you workers and volunteers for an exceptional Museum experience.

Ana T.

Beautiful place to visit!
The museum is very well organized, with many different kinds of artifacts from various birds, animals and history of the area.
Visiting the museums discovered a park, with a unique dinosaur exhibit for the kids and a gift store with beautiful souvenirs.
Also have a planetarium with an events that show the stars and many other things to do like watch beautiful real bird exhibit.
Thank you,

Evie T.

This review is focused on the Butterflies Alive exhibit. Easy in and out parking at the museum. No wait at Admissons on a late morning on a Saturday. $19 for adults and kids under 2 free. The butterfly exhibit was enclosed in a butterfly habitat, and there are bells dinged by staff every 2 min to let you know you should continue moving through. Lots of colorful and interesting looking butterflies flying around and landing on you. There are "stations" where museum staff provide educational info about the butterflies and show you pictures of different types. Very family-friendly and popular activity that ends on September 2 this year. Stroller parking behind the exhibit as babies need to be carried.

Renee G.

2025 and the museum is still amazing! Fun for kids and adults. $14/$19 and bring your lunch. Clean bathrooms and friendly staff.

Rex

This place is great to visit. The exhibits aren't massive, so you don't get very tired, and it's a good half day activity. The butterfly exhibit was our favorite. There's a dinosaur area and plenty of places for the little ones to explore. There are a lot of little shaded spots that seem good for picnics or a little snack break

Jasmine Y.

This museum is small but absolutely gorgeous! The architecture is stunning, the dioramas are beautifully detailed, and each section has been lovingly worked on and maintained. The "backyard" is also amazing. The natural beauty mixed in with the dinosaurs makes this space fun for all ages! There are lovely picnic spots all around to enjoy the view. Definitely worth a visit.

pro G.

LOVE IT HERE!!

gems and minerals: absolutely stunning. nice part where there’s a small cave you can go into and look around. overall great exhibition

space: pictures hanging on the walls with small plaques saying what it is. kind of plain, but still a nice experience. there were seats in the middle so i’m guessing there’s sometimes a lecture in there. someone asked me to take a picture of their family, so seems like a good place for taking pictures for the gram.

mammals exhibit: showed mammals local to California and santa barbara. very nice sets and lots of interesting information. small photo op where you can hold a sign saying you were a human. some of the bigger animals had fake skulls set out to touch. wonderful vibe in that room and kutos to whomever set it up.

birds: so many birds!! very well done taxidermy and each bird was labeled and sorted with other similar species (for example, different types of goldfinches together in one group).

room of paintings: this one seems to change seasonally. very cool to see it. the paintings were scientific drawings of birds. most were from around 1800s. so cool to learn about!

jurassic garden: this section was definitely more catered to little kids. beautiful scenery. was not expecting that crocs weren’t the right footwear for this museum but that’s my fault for guessing. plaques were very simple and dinosaurs were a bit inaccurate. i get it, it’s for kids and little kids don’t care.

butterflies alive: beautiful butterflies from costa rica. apparently in california they’re invasive species so they check you like you’re at TSA to make sure you don’t take some out with you. they had blue morphids, monarchs, and glass wing butterflies, among others. got some nice pictures.

gift shop: nice selection of things. seemed a bit overpriced for some, but so is everything in a museum gift shop!! got a sticker with some butterflies that says “SANTA BARBARA.” Will stick it on my water bottle.

underwater/evolution exhibit: has to be my favorite section. the attention to detail and the craftsmanship is remarkable.

climate change exhibit: very interesting. learned a lot of things. included local climate change. i liked it

other: the map included a live birds exhibit and an observatory. didn’t get the chance to go but seems interesting.
public bathrooms that remind me of a park bathroom. they were clean
they had no student discount
they had volunteer opportunities available and i saw some kids taking those opportunities
about $80 for a group of two adults, two teens, and one child.

this is one of my longest reviews, in the best way possible. love it here!! i won’t add too many pictures so i don’t spoil it for others 🙂