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10 Great Travel Destinations for Art Lovers

From a japanese art island to a creative colony among ancient olive groves in israel, these are the global art towns, big and small, we’d happily visit..

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Art meets nature at Brazil’s Instituto Inhotim, home to one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the country.

Photo by Brendon Campos

New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, Florence, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, São Paulo—these cities are all home to blockbuster art markets, creative superstars, and museums as famous as the works they house. We love these places, but we also love art destinations outside of the art-world orbit: places with an air of mystery, a whiff of a pilgrimage, a winking nonconformity, a love of experimentation, and a tight-knit sense of community.

Read on for 10 great destinations, big and small, art lovers should bookmark for their next vacation.

‘Your Rainbow Panorama’ tops the AroS Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

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Aarhus, Denmark

In the heart of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city and one of its oldest (dating to the 8th century), a colossal rainbow ring rises above the city. This is artist Olafur Eliasson’s installation, Your Rainbow Panorama, a walkway circling and capping the ARoS Art Museum, itself a jewel among Aarhus’s many cultural institutions. The museum is home to another art colossus, the crouching Boy sculpture by Australian artist Ron Mueck, and it hosts collections of Danish art from the 18 th century to today, as well as the work of international artists. Art lovers can wander among pieces by London-based, British-Palestinian Mona Hatoum, known for her probing and glowing installations; Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi; and New York–based Tony Oursler, who has been innovating video and installation art since the 1970s.

In Aarhus, self-dubbed “Smilets By” (Danish for “City of Smiles”) and the “World’s Smallest Big City,” ARoS is just a jumping-off point for a smørrebrød (smorgasbord) of art destinations and happenings. Spiral out from the museum and see the city’s famous modern architecture, such as The Iceberg , a seaside apartment building that lives up to its name, and the grass-covered Moesgaard Museum . We love Charlotte Fogh Gallery , a Danish and international contemporary art gallery; the Højkant art collective and design shop full of cheeky creations; and the intimate PS Art Gallery and studio in a green, half-timbered, 17th-century home in the city’s Latin Quarter.

Juxtapose all this contemporary art and design with Den Gamle By (The Old Town), an open-air folk museum comprised of 75 historic buildings relocated from across Denmark, cobbled streets, and Danes dressed in period clothing baking bread and chopping wood. You can eat an actual smørrebrød here, as well as fried fish and frikadeller (Danish meatballs).

Chris Burden’s ‘Beam Drop’ (2008) was re-created at Inhotim; the original work was on display in New York in 1984.

Brumadinho, Brazil

Brumadinho is home to the Xanadu of the art world: the Instituto Inhotim , a contemporary art museum and sculpture park in a 346-acre private botanical garden founded by mining magnate and art patron Bernardo de Mello Paz.

Celebrating 15 years in 2021, the institute is one of the largest outdoor art spaces in the world, placing hundreds of giants of the art world alongside thousands of giants of the plant world, from octopus agave to ponytail palm and swamp cypress. The garden hosts more than 700 works by 60 artists, including Brazil’s own beloved boundary-defying Hélio Oiticica. As Oiticica intended, visitors can walk through his Magic Square #5 (1977), a colorful abstracted “public plaza” built of cement, glass, and stone. You could spend weeks wandering the grounds, a crash course in modern and contemporary large-scale art, studying the likes of Elisa Bracher’s eucalyptus and cedar wood Embrionário , going tête-à-tête with Paul McCarthy’s Pinocchio Block Head , gazing through Olafur Eliasson’s mirrored Viewing Machine, and falling in love with your own reflection at Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden Inhotim, 750 stainless steel orbs bobbing in a reflecting pool.

While the garden is the main draw, Instituto Inhotim has many noteworthy pieces in its indoor gallery as well, such as the blue-and-white tile room Celacanto provoca maremoto by Adriana Varejão , the sci-fi-inspired plant and mirror maze structure Vegetation Room Inhotim by Cristina Iglesias , and the enforested glass geodesic dome by Matthew Barney .

There are several places to eat across the sculpture park and the institute has many recommendations for nearby lodging, including Villa Rica , decorated with local art, or Villa Domaso , surrounded by lush nature.

Zeitz MOCAA has become a destination unto itself in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Cape Town, South Africa

Rising from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, with Table Mountain as a backdrop, is the world’s largest museum devoted to contemporary African art: the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa , commonly known as Zeitz MOCAA. First things first, the museum itself is a marvel , a towering structure revamped from the historic Grain Silo Complex with an interior that looks like an abstracted concrete-and-glass honeycomb.

Zeitz MOCAA is home to works by some of the continent’s leading artists such as Athi-Patra Ruga and Mary Sibande of South Africa, Njideka Akunyili Crosby of Nigeria, Ghada Amer of Egypt, and Nandipha Mntambo of Swaziland. The permanent collection also includes works by artists of the African Diaspora, like Kehinde Wiley and Frohawk Two Feathers, both of the U.S.

But Cape Town was an artist’s haven long before the arrival of MOCAA in 2017. The Woodstock neighborhood alone, with its pink town hall, is home to several renowned galleries dedicated to contemporary African artists including SMAC , Goodman Gallery , Stevenson Gallery (all of which have sister galleries in another top South African art destination, Johannesburg).

Cape Town is also delightfully crowded with public art, such as Es Devlin’s installation Zoetrope at the Waterfront and Arch for Arch, a woven wooden structure next to St. George’s Cathedral that honors Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The organization Baz Art hosts the annual International Public Art Festival , which in 2021 focused on painting murals in the Salt River neighborhood . There are also several art road trips worth taking from the Cape. Drive inland through mountainous wine country (many of the vineyards you’ll pass have their own fantastic art collections) to Stellenbosch, an oak-lined university town packed with art studios and the awe-inspiring Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden .

Mismatched pastel buildings that look like scoops of gelato along the water in Collioure, France.

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Collioure, France

Legend has it that Henri Matisse said the quality of light is just different— magical —in Collioure, a laidback and ancient fishing town on the French Mediterranean 15 miles from Spain. Matisse and André Derain would summer here and become the first fauves (French for “wild beasts”), leaders of fauvism, the early 19th-century art movement known for its bold colors and brushstrokes, an unruly descendent of Impressionism. Matisse’s famous Open Window (1905) and Derain’s Fishing Boats (1905) were painted here, among many more fauvist works.

Collioure’s very petit harbor still captures the brilliant sunlight, bouncing off a 13 th -century castle and fortress and layers of mismatched pastel buildings that look like scoops of gelato along the water. Visitors can see the town through the artists’ perspectives along the Chemin du Fauvism, which features both empty bronze frames that outline the views of their most famous canvases, as well as reproductions. The Maison du Fauvism offers guided tours.

Keep cool with an actual scoop of gelato—countless gelaterias line the streets and try a bite of Catalan fare at Le Neptune overlooking the bay or the Templiers restaurant and hotel, a cozy spot with a bar made from a ship hull and walls lined salon-style with paintings.

Bronze sculptures by the residents of Ein Hod, Israel, dot the surrounding landscape.

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Ein Hod, Israel

Within hilly olive groves, tucked between the Mediterranean sea and Mount Carmel, is Ein Hod , a small artist colony established in 1953 by artist Marcel Janco , one of the founders of the avant-garde dada movement, which formed in reaction to World War I. Legend has it that Janco toured Israel, sketchbook in hand, and stumbled across the then-abandoned village and found it could be the perfect refuge for artists.

Today Ein Hod , 12 miles south of Haifa, has about 650 residents—mostly painters, sculptors, jewelers, architects, and artisans—and the landscape is dotted with their handiwork: outdoor bronze sculptures (look for Couple in a Sardine Can by Ben Levy), murals, studios, galleries, and workshops that offer classes for visitors. See the abstract colorations of Miriam-Ruth Sernoff Frohlich at the Sernoff-Frohlich Gallery Of Fine Art , the soulful book art of Nechama Levendel at the Karoyan Gallery , and the work of many locals under one roof at the Artists Gallery Ein Hod .

This tiny bohemian enclave is also home to two museums, the Nisco Museum of Mechanical Music and the Janco-Dada Museum , created in 1983 to honor the work and vision of the colony’s founder. This museum features the restored stone-arch studio of Janco and the DadaLab , where museumgoers can try their own hand at creating the absurdist, convention-defying art that defined this movement. Since 1990, Ein Hod has hosted an international Sculpture Biennale , inviting artists to install large-scale works outside amid ancient olive trees.

You can eat with the locals in one of the village’s classic stone buildings at Café Ein Hold. While larger hotels are available in nearby Haifa, Ein Hod itself offers a handful of quaint and eclectic apartments for rent, many with views of the Mediterranean.

Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art is

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Hobart, Tasmania

Looking out from the Berriedale peninsula onto the River Derwent is the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), or as founder—businessman, art collector, and high-stakes gambler David Walsh—calls it: a subversive adult Disneyland.

MONA is as irreverent as its benefactor, its website describing the museum’s everchanging identity as a “really elaborate marketing stunt” and “somewhere people can come to say ‘not sure about the art but the architecture is amazing.’”

And many are not sure about the art : MONA has the work of some of the biggest shock jocks of the art world: Hermann Nitsch’s bloody 6-Day-Play videos and Wim Delvoye’s stinking waste machine that is Cloaca Professional, to name a few.

Regardless of your take, the museum has helped put Hobart’s art scene on the map, bringing deserved attention to other art spaces like the Art Mob , which specializes in Tasmanian and Australian aboriginal art by the likes of Queenie McKenzie and Dennis Nona. Across the harbor are the contemporary fine art Despard and Handmark galleries, the latter of which is part of the bustling Salamanca Arts Centre , a transformed warehouse space home to several galleries and exhibition spaces, a theater, and the jewelry and metal collective Hammer & Hand , as well as public art such as We Are Made of Stardust by Michaela Gleave and Escape Pod by Colin Langridge. Stay in the neighborhood at the Henry Jones Art Hotel , which features contemporary art by Tasmanian artists in its rooms.

Kilns have been firing in this hilly city of Jingdezhen, China, known as the “Porcelain Capital of the World.”

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Jingdezhen, China

Leading ceramics artists and students worldwide travel to Jingdezhen, China, the “Porcelain Capital of the World,” where the ruins of ancient kilns meet contemporary factories and galleries. For more than 1,700 years and many imperial reigns, kilns have been firing in this hilly city of Jiangxi province along the Chang River, where ceramic masters have innovated technologies to produce the most coveted china, such as the emblematic blue and white pottery developed during the Ming Dynasty.

The stunning Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum —shaped like ancient kilns in red brick, and the Jingdezhen Ceramic Industry Heritage Museum , help put the expansive history of this art industry in context. The industry, however, is alive and well today, cultivating the next generation of ceramicists at the renowned Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and employing 30,000 people at outfits like the Porcelain Sculpture Factory in the Eastern suburbs or in the nearby Sanbao International Porcelain Art Village filled with artist studios and workshops. The Pottery Workshop , run by artist and curator Caroline Cheng , is an education center and hub for young artists in Jingdezhen, known as jingpiao . Every Saturday morning, the jingpiao sell their wares—traditional pottery, jewelry, contemporary art—at the Pottery Workshop Creative Market .

Countless ceramic artists and designers have their practices in the city such as Cheng herself, plus Wan Liya , Juz Kitson , Lin Wang , Robin Best , and Ryan LaBar . Walk down the Taoxichuan, known as the Ceramic Art Avenue, to peak into studios, galleries, and markets, and try some classic Jiangxi fare such as Lushan San Shi and fish banquets. The Fairfield by Marriot Jingdezhen hotel is near many of these attractions, and there are a handful of gorgeous Airbnb options .

An art lover’s trip to Japan has to include Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea.

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Naoshima, Japan

There is a string of tiny flecks of land in the Seto Inland Sea that are teaming with museums, architectural marvels, and art installations. Naoshima, commonly referred to as Japan’s art island, home of the Benesse Art Site , leads the pack. Here, massive sculptures such as Lee Ufan’s Porte vers l’infini (2019) and Beatriz Millhaze’s Yellow Flower Dream (2018) dot the landscape creating a fine art playground. (Until recently, one of Yayoi Kusama’s massive pumpkin sculptures sat on a pier before a typhoon swept it out to sea . Benesse Art Site is in the process of restoring it.)

Then there are the museums and galleries: the mind-bending subterranean Chichu Art Museum designed by architect Tadao Ando housing works by Claude Monet and James Turrell; the Benesse House Museum , which melds a hotel and exhibition space with nature (with a restaurant serving kaiseki meals that rival the art for presentation); the kooky art facility Naoshima Bath where—you guessed it—visitors can take a bath surrounded by the artwork of Shinro Ohtake; and the Miyanoura Gallery 6 in the site of a former pachinko parlor once popular with islanders.

If you’re willing to island hop, head to Teshima to see large-format paintings in the Teshima Yokoo House (named for artist Tadanori Yokoo) and Inujima for an art museum housed in a old copper refinery .

You could spend a full day just exploring Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Santa Fe, New Mexico

One of the oldest cities in the U.S. (older than the country itself, with a founding date of 1607) Santa Fe and its iconic pueblo architecture encompass many art scenes and histories, from the vast indigenous collections of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) to the electro-pop experiences of Meow Wolf to the storied career of Georgia O’Keeffe who was so deeply influenced by the New Mexico landscape.

Housed in a historic Peublo Revival-style post office downtown, the IAIA’s Museum of Contemporary Native Arts stewards the National Collection of Contemporary Native Art, featuring 9,000 artworks created since 1962 including pieces by legends such as George Morrison, Helen Hardin, and Fritz Scholder. From here, walk past the Santa Fe Plaza to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum to see up-close and personal Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur (1930), Pelvis IV (1944), and Spring (1948), among others. O’Keeffe fans can stay at the Abiquiú Inn , next to the The O’Keeffe Welcome Center housed in the artist’s former home and residence.

Around Canyon Road, you’ll find 80-plus galleries including Turner Caroll Gallery —whose international roster of artists includes Judy Chicago, Wanxin Zhang, and Swoon; Nedra Matteucci Galleries with its renowned sculpture garden; and the art collective and gallery Cielo Handcrafted , with goods including stoneware ceramics, leather totes, and silver jewelry.

Down Cerrillos Road, follow the neon glow of Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return , an “explorable art experience,” a sort of dayglo haunted house with more than 70 immersive rooms.

The streets of tiny Todos Santos are full of galleries and shops stacked with handmade ceramics, metal work, and beautiful textiles.

Photo by Arturo Verea/Shutterstock

Todos Santos, Mexico

About 50 miles northwest of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja California peninsula lies the bohemian Todos Santos, oft-compared to a young Taos and one of Mexico’s “ Pueblos Mágicos ” (magical villages), a designation given to places that have preserved their original architecture, traditions, history, and culture. Surrounded by Mexican cardon, the tallest cacti in the world, and azure water where whale sharks pass, Todos Sontos is also home to a thriving artist enclave. February is a prime month to engage the local art scene with the annual weeklong Festival del Art and Todos Santos Open Studio Tour . However, visitors can stroll the old-town cobblestone blocks fluttering with papel picado year-round to see what artists are up to.

A great place to start is La Sonrisa de la Meurta , an international gallery and workshop (with a sister location in Belgium) featuring graphic arts—from limited-edition prints to card decks to handkerchiefs—printed by young and emerging Mexican artists. Nearby (everything is nearby in Todos Santos) are the Galería Arturo with Mexican artist Arturo Mendoza Elfeo ’s whimsical impasto and textured canvases, and Galería Logan , featuring American expat Jill Logan’s dreamy swirling canvases in sunbaked colors. For a historical perspective, stop by the Centro Cultural , housed in a red-brick former school with revolutionary murals dating back nearly a century.

The Hotel San Cristóbal makes for a chic home base in town, while Paradero Todos Santos could be your cultural retreat at the intersection of desert, mountains, and Pacific coast. At the hotel, and beyond, order any fish dish: Todos Santos began as a fishing town and fisherman still take their little panga boats out daily.

>>Next: 10 UNESCO World Heritage Sites That Mix Nature and Culture

A Guide To The Best Art-Inspired Destinations In The US

One of the coolest things to do when traveling to a new place is to check out the art scene, and some U.S. cities have such an inspiring art presence that they are worth experiencing fully through the lens of such creativity. The United States, being the melting pot that it is and massive to boot, is a smorgasbord of traditions and heritage. With culture being heavily linked to different art styles, it only makes sense that cities with the most cultural foundations would have large art presences. The exploration of great art can certainly take you places you wouldn't first expect, though.

Finding great art anywhere isn't hard – wherever there are people, creativity can be found. However, some cities are teeming with beautiful and unique finds, and we've scoured the United States for some of the very best art installations and experiences for travelers who love an art-centric vacation. From world-renowned cities that are impossible to escape notice to small towns you may have never heard of, here are some of the very best places to visit for a colorful and art-filled bucket list vacation.

Best city for tattoo collectors

Richmond, Virginia has one of the highest rates of tattoo shops per capita in the country  (via The Box Houston ), beat out only by two high tourist cities that likely have a high number of shops geared toward visitors rather than residents. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Richmonder without at least one piece marking their skin, and the college city takes their ink very seriously with little to no gimmicky shops and many celebrated and renowned artists residing there. For travelers who are looking to add a little ink to their collection on vacation – especially of the traditional variety – a trip to Richmond should be highly considered.

Shops like Hold It Down Tattoo , a hidden gem found in a cobblestone alley near the Virginia Commonwealth University campus, and Heroes & Ghosts Tattoos  in Richmond's popular Carytown are home to various popular artists with different styles. While most artists in the city have a style all to their own that is noticeably unique and desirable, artists like Josh Stephens and Two Pillars owner Charles Berger are stand-outs for their bold and specialized style choices.

Richmond is also home to the world's longest-running tattoo convention, which celebrated its 29th anniversary in 2022 . Over 100 artists participate in the Richmond Tattoo, Art, and Music Festival and people come from all over to get tattooed at the convention, making it a great time to visit the heavily tattooed city.

Best open-air art scene

Detroit, Michigan has had a bad rap for quite some time with a high violent crime rate , but it is back on its feet and has become something of a haven for young people and artists. Art and innovation have sprung out of pure grit and willpower as the people take back Detroit , making what is still one of the nation's poorest cities into one of the coolest as well, rich in culture and creativity. The poverty still heavily present in the city should not be taken lightly when visiting, though. The city, as well as its many longtime residents, should be shown the utmost respect by tourists coming to awe at their home and creations.

It's easy to spend a few days in Detroit just visiting the various outdoor art installations and murals, and following Visit Detroit 's weekend art tour itinerary will take you along a journey that visits a lot of what the city has to offer in way of inspirational experiences. One of the best ways to experience the art scene and really understand the scope of how far Detroit has come back is by visiting The Heidelberg Project , an outdoor art display that strives to rehabilitate the area by turning vacant lots into environments of art. Detroit isn't a city to overlook, especially when it comes to its art scene.

Best city for affordable and awe-inspiring art

Surprisingly, one of the most affordable U.S. cities to travel to also happens to contain some pretty amazing and jaw-dropping art installations. Many travelers visit Philadelphia because of the city's ties to American history, as it is sometimes referred to as the birthplace of the United States. For art lovers, though, Philly is also a pretty great city to see, as the entire city is peppered with breathtaking visuals.

One of the most striking and visually stimulating attractions in Philly is the  Magic Gardens , which is a huge mosaic art piece and gallery that spans three city lots. The immersive art experience was first created by artist Isaiah Zagar in an effort to revitalize the South Street neighborhood of Philadelphia, which became a solid contributor to the city's art and revitalization period known as the South Street Renaissance . The wildly creative behemoth of a mosaic collection is a must-see for anyone visiting Philly, but certainly a point of focus for art lovers.

Philadelphia's Mural Mile is also a near-free attraction that has many impressive art styles on display. Travelers can take self-guided tours of all the important murals that use the city as a canvas. With over 4,000 murals crafted thanks to Mural Arts Philadelphia and local creatives who continue to fill the city with artwork, there is plenty to see when exploring the vast city.

Best cities for art museum-goers

New York City and Washington D.C. both contain some of the best museums in the United States, especially when it comes to art. With New York City being such a diverse and populous city and D.C. being the capital of the country, it makes sense that some of the most well-known art museums would reside within their limits. Both cities honor various styles and historic periods of art within their many art museums and galleries.

New York City is home to the Museum of Modern Art – popularly known as the MoMA – and The Metropolitan Museum of Art , both of which are revered as two of the most admired art museums in the world . The Met, of course, is popular for its annual Met Ball , which is basically an elaborate and upscale costume party where the most well-known celebrities wear designer outfits that reflect the year's theme. The MoMA holds some of the most influential contemporary and modern art in history. Van Gogh's "The Starry Night," arguably the single-most well-known and beloved modern painting, is among The MoMA's inhabitants , as well as paintings by Frida Kahlo, Picasso, and Andy Warhol.

Washington D.C. boasts a whole lot of museums and is home to another of the world's most beloved art museums: the National Gallery of Art . The museum hosts work from artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, and Van Gogh and, better yet, is free for all to visit.

Best city for interesting and unique architecture

While cities like New Orleans and New York City are known to have amazing architecture throughout, Miami, Florida is an unexpected wonder when it comes to stylized buildings. The Art Deco Historic District is home to a number of striking buildings that showcase the Art Deco style of the 1920s, '30s, and early '40s, as well as Miami Beach's most iconic street, Ocean Drive. Movie buffs will recognize some of the striking art deco buildings from various iconic films, like "Scarface" and "Miami Vice" – it's hard not to notice how the style of architecture affected the films' whole vibe. Iconic buildings in this district like The Carlyle and Park Central Hotel with their extravagant yet subtly comfortable design are huge jewels in the crown of Miami's South Beach.

Art Deco isn't the only beautiful design choice that designers made in Miami, though, as the city boasts a pretty hefty presence of Mediterranean Revival-style buildings as well. This style pops up in many of Miami's neighborhoods, among the most famous of these buildings are The Alamo and The Freedom Tower . No matter the style, though, Miami's architecture is timeless and the diversity of its stylized buildings paired with how well the city pulls them off makes it a perfect city for art lovers to enjoy.

Best city for art festivals

Charleston, South Carolina is a Mecca for artists, and both they and their creations come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. The southern city is home to a number of annual art festivals that bring in artists from all over. Whether travelers are interested in adding to their art collections or just experiencing a wide array of artists and styles, attending one of Charleston's art festivals is a great addition to any art-led vacation.

One of Charleston's most anticipated festivals is the annual North Charleston Art Fest , a five-day festival that features not only the visual arts but a wide variety of art mediums. Similarly, the Moja Arts Festival uses different art forms to celebrate African American and Caribbean cultures and the harmonization of the many cultures that influence Charleston. For travelers more interested in music and the performing arts, Charleston's Piccolo Spoleto Festival delivers beautifully in these directions.

Festivals in Charleston are a community affair, but they also are open and welcoming to tourists who want to partake in what the many artists and creators have to offer. For being a decently sized city, Charleston still feels like a small town with its emphasis on community, the fast-paced art festival scene speeds things up in the city, making it a bustling and exciting area for creative-minded travelers to enjoy.

Best cities for guerrilla art

Graffiti and unexpectedly placed art can be found all over, specifically in highly populated cities. Naturally, New York City has a huge guerrilla art culture that can be seen in pretty much every neighborhood in the big city, like The Bushwick Collective . Local contributors as well as artists from all over the world have taken part in the massive art project that is made up of almost 100 blocks of murals and large-scale art pieces. Travelers can take a short, pay-what-you-want walking tour to see all the project has to offer.

Los Angeles is another city in which guerrilla art is heavily ingrained in the culture. Street art and graffiti have made quite a transformation over the years in L.A., and artists throughout the city are doing some pretty great things in terms of large-scale murals – a lot of which have deeper meanings than just beautifying the city. There are numerous areas that have a dense presence of beautiful and sometimes thought-provoking images, but The Arts District and The Container Yard are two that speak to the diversity of Los Angeles' street art styles, as they both display a vast number of differing works.

Graffiti has been around for a long time as a means of public creative expression. Murals have become popular all over the world, but a vacation planned around the art pieces should certainly include New York City and/or Los Angeles, as their cultural significance when it comes to guerrilla art is undeniable.

The city with the most culture-rich art

Any traveler heading into Chi-Town would be remiss to forgo any of the numerous opportunities to experience the bustling art scene the city has to offer. Chicago, Illinois has pioneered and innovated a number of different art forms and styles throughout the decades, like jazz music and the performing arts, and they remain a huge part of the creative scene in the city.

The city of Chicago is the perfect place for lovers of art in all its forms to visit, as visual art is just as prevalent as music and comedy or theater. Pablo Picasso even honored the city with a 50-foot sculpture named after himself to stand in Daley Plaza. Expo Chicago is an annual, international event that curates pieces from galleries all over the world and exposes new art from emerging talent.

The neighborhoods within Chicago are steeped in culture, and the different artworks that are scattered throughout reflect that. Neighborhoods like Wicker Park and River North are home to a number of galleries and host regular creative events like First Friday and the Art Crawl .

Best city for an emerging art scene

Though Austin, Texas has had a consistent art scene for decades, the city is still very much blooming with its indie art scene and, until very recently , a large influx of young people moving there and contributing to the creative atmosphere. Although it was projected to be one of the next big cities in the world for art , skyrocketing rent being seen in larger cities has people relocating. The affordability that first brought artists to Austin is now affecting smaller, nearby Texas towns in a great way.

While there are a number of smaller towns on the outskirts of Austin that are seeing an influx of artists, Bastrop is really emerging as a go-to spot  for outdoor art. The small town has had an art presence for a number of years, but with artists from Austin recently relocating to the town along with Austin's Art Institute, it is expected to boom with creativity in the coming years. The Lost Pines Art Center is a huge gallery, offering free access daily. With murals popping up throughout the town and the Bastrop Art Fest hosting unique artists and vendors, including the metal casting company Pyrology , the town has no problem showing off its creativity. For travelers who like a more small-town feel and want to feel like they are a part of something up and coming, Bastrop is the perfect destination – especially when the established art city of Austin is just a short drive away.

A city built for more than music

While Nashville, Tennessee is overwhelmingly known as a city where would-be country music stars and musicians in various genres flock to, it also has a brilliant art scene. Exploring Nashville's art district is striking, with murals that are both beautiful, moving, and reflective of the city's rich history.

Jefferson Street is home to both history and art, the nearby Fisk College hosts a number of art galleries. A historically Black community, the art around Jefferson Street reflects the culture and experience of those who have resided there and heavily features the neighborhood's ties to music. An undeniable and impactful addition to Nashville's art scene is the Norf Art Collective , which is responsible for a number of the large murals in the city that act as historical and cultural memorials. The collective has incorporated and honored a number of Black figures important to Nashville's story in their art – exemplified in their "Family Matters" mural.

You could spend a lifetime in Nashville, but the city could also be just the thing for travelers simply looking for a creative outlet. The music scene may be what people flock to the city for, but seeing the Music City through the lens of its impactful artwork is a whole different experience.

A small town that prioritizes art

In the middle of the Ozarks is the small, eclectic town of Eureka Springs. The town is nestled in the mountains and lined with local art, galleries, and shops. The town is an art colony and is home to around 300 artists, which is about 15% of the town's population!

A month-long art festival is a feature of the town, which is a great time to visit. The annual May Festival of the Arts is a huge event, with the ARTrageous Parade starting the event off in a major way. Participants in the parade go all out creating vibrant costumes that impress residents and visitors alike. Other art-centric events and mini-festivals are scattered throughout the festival month, like an air painting festival and a performing arts workshop.

With art as the focus of pretty much the whole town, it only makes sense that Eureka Springs would be home to a pretty great art school. The Eureka Springs School of Art hosts workshops for various art mediums and is active in many of the art-centric community happenings, like the annual ARTRageous Parade. The styles of art vary greatly in Eureka Springs, making it a place where pretty much everyone can find some beauty.

Where to see natural art in the wild

Art comes in all forms and frequently takes inspiration from nature, so it only makes sense that one spot on our guide to art in the U.S. would go to a destination where you can catch some truly amazing natural masterpieces. Near the U.S. and Canadian border is Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge , one of the only places to see the Northern Lights from the United States. Not to mention that the stargazing is prime here as well.

There is so much beauty and diversity in nature, and it doesn't take a whole vacation to see something amazing as just going outside can result in a natural wonder . However, the natural world is so sensitive that changing locations can result in some truly unique experiences – seeing the Northern Lights in Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge is one such endeavor. A great place to catch the aurora borealis in the refuge is Moosehead Lake , where you not only have a large, open view of the sky, but the reflection of the lights off of the water is truly awe-inspiring.

An unexpected but necessary destination

Amarillo, Texas may not be one of the large state's most sought-after destinations, but it is quite artistic and unique in its own right. The city's crown jewel of an art installation is the ever-changing Cadillac Ranch , which features ten half-buried Cadillacs on Route 66 that are continuously graffitied by artists. The vibrant Cadillacs can be seen from Route 66, which makes it almost impossible not to stop.

Cadillac Ranch may be one of the cooler art pieces in Amarillo, but it is not nearly the only thing that brings art lovers in. The Hoodoo Mural Festival is a feel-good creative outlet for the whole community that aims to bring people together through art and beautifying public spaces. Texas Monthly 's art guide to Amarillo outlines a lot of the top art destinations in the city, but it's almost as if Amarillo itself is art – a trip to the Texas town will be packed with stunning visuals and creative interactions. For travelers wanting to venture to a large city that is outside the typical art destination codex, Amarillo may be the perfect vacation.

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How to plan your next art trip the right way

Summer is here, and although this summer is going to be different, it’s still time for some traveling. I am lucky enough to live in Europe, where traveling is permitted (almost) everywhere, despite Coronavirus and a second wave of new cases across the continent. This is why, fingers crossing, I will be leaving for Switzerland soon. 

I’ll be doing what I call the “lake and art” road trip, starting from Como and driving around Switzerland. In fact, when this article will be published, I’ll be exploring a nice kunsthalle or bathing in a lake. Check Artsy Travels Instagram for live updates! 

Anyway, the point is, it’s time to plan a trip, and I figured you might want to know how I do it. That is why I decided to put together this short guide on how to plan your next art trip. 

1 – Choose a destination

This sounds like the easiest part, but in fact, it is not. Some destinations seem more appealing than others, some are just too far away, or too expensive. And then again, some are close and easy to reach, but you don’t really feel like going there. 

When choosing a destination, take into consideration how far you can go, how long you can stay, and if the destination fits you. For example, for the longest time I have dreamt of traveling to China, but I haven’t had the chance yet. China is big, full of things to do and see, and it would take me a lot of time to actually visit it. Which is why I haven’t yet: I’d rather wait, than just travel there for 7 or 10 days trying to squeeze in as many things as possible. 

On the contrary, there are places which I know are extremely beautiful, and that I will maybe visit one day, but they are not my top priority right now. Like beautiful Caribbean beaches, or ski resorts on the Alps. I know I would enjoy a short vacation there, but I also know that I would probably get bored after a few days, so for now I am not considering them. 

If you need to choose and have no clue on where you should go, try this method. First analyze the closest destinations around you, places you’ve never been before and you would like to visit. Then start considering places further and further away, until you find a balance between your budget, the time you can spend traveling and your own curiosity. 

2 – Do some research – General info

Once you have narrowed your list down to 3 or 4 places, start doing some research. At this stage, you want to find out on a general level what each destination has to offer, in terms of places to visit, attractions, culture, food, shopping, outdoor activities, festivals, and so on. Start on a very general level, because it is easier to find information. 

Remember, Google is your best friend in this situation. Chances are, wherever you are traveling, someone has been there before, and they might have written something about their trip. Or you could find photos and videos. The point is, get a written and a visual idea of the places you intend to visit. It will help you picture yourself there, understanding whether it is the right destination for you or not. 

3 – Focus on what you like 

Once you have a general picture of the place you are about to visit, dig a little deeper. It is now time to find out what these places really have to offer. And since we are talking about art trips, I suppose you will be looking for museums, galleries, exhibitions, and art-related attractions. 

As I told you, there are 3 online resources I always check before planning a trip, you can find more information in this article . But you can also use Pinterest or Instagram, to search for hashtags and pin things you find interesting. 

Another resource I really love using is Culture Trip . It is an online platform where you can find any sort of information, mostly written by locals and experts, basically on every place on Planet Earth. They have articles on museums, galleries, but also food, shopping, itineraries, beautiful castles, churches or temples, archeological sites, music festivals, and so on. For anything you want to know about a destination, they probably have an article. You can use it as a starting point to decide where to go, how long you should stay, and what route you should follow.

Remember, every traveler is different and every trip should reflect the peculiarities of the traveler. Use the information you find to plan your own trip, you shouldn’t be forced to stick to what other people say. You are free to choose, that is the beauty of traveling. Embrace your freedom and plan whatever you feel like doing. 

4 – Put it on a map

At this point, you should have a relatively clear idea of what you would like to do and where you would like to go. You have a destination, maybe a set of places you plan to visit – neighborhoods, cities, smaller villages, single attractions, museums, galleries, etc. – but you still don’t know how to organize all these information.

My advice is, put everything on a map. I usually use Google My Maps , but you can find a lot of different options online. There are websites and apps, but if you are more of an artsy type of person, you can draw your own map. The important thing is, put everything down and see where all those things are located. It’ll make it easier to visualize where places are, what is close to what else, which itinerary you can follow, how you can plan each day visiting a different area of a city or a country. 

Pinning everything you want to visit on a map is a great help when it comes to making things clear on your mind. It helps you visualize your trip, it gives you an idea of how long you should stay in each place, and once you are there it helps you getting around. Try to cross your own map with a general list of attractions and things to do in a specific place, so you can mix and match and create your own perfect itinerary. 

5 – Ask a local  

Asking a local is never been easier. First of all, if you are reading this blog post, you probably speak English, and therefore you can communicate with a lot of people around the globe. Reach out to people, ask for directions, sit in a bar, and talk to some local old men. They will have a lot of stories for you, they will point you towards the best places to eat, the best neighborhoods to go shopping or the best things to visit. 

If you want to ask a local before actually leaving, I recommend you check Airbnb experiences. I have used Airbnb to find accommodations, but also to book amazing tours. Airbnb offers you the possibility to connect with local experts that will show you a part of their city, the one they know best. I used it in Tokyo, where I met a curator that brought me on a gallery tour, and I did the same in New York, before moving there. I met two art advisors, and together we visited a few galleries in the Lower East Side area. This experience was so good, that one year later I was moving to NYC to actually work in one of these galleries. 

My point is, no matter how long you stay in a place, you will never be able to get to know it as much as someone who lives there. Find someone who is interested in what you like or works in your same field, and ask. People are happy to share their knowledge, especially if they love their city and you will discover places you wouldn’t have the chance to see otherwise. 

6 – Check the important details

Almost there, by now you should have a destination, a list of things to do and places to see in said destination, a map with all these things pinned, an itinerary with some recommendations by some local friend. And now comes the most important part. 

Check the details! Check when the museums are closed, check what time they open, and if they have longer opening hours during the weekend. Verify if they have exhibitions on view or if they are closed for installation. Make sure that the day you are planning to go is a regular day and not a bank holiday. Check if they have free nights or any special event. 

Check all the boring things and the exciting ones. I am telling you because I have done all these mistakes time and time again, but I am finally learning. Before you book your hotels or your flights, check everything. You don’t want to book a day trip from Madrid to Bilbao on the only day the Guggenheim Museum is closed. 

7 – Get lost  

The preparation is over, you booked everything, you have your itinerary, you know what to do and where to go, you checked all the opening hours and the exhibitions. Now close your book, close your browser tabs, put your phone in your bag, and just get lost. Enjoy the moment, have fun, talk to people, visit as many or as little places you want. It’s your trip, make the most out of it and make sure you will remember it forever. 

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THE 10 BEST Moscow Museums

Museums in moscow.

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• 4.0 of 5 bubbles & up
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• 3rd Transport Ring (TTK)
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• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. State Tretyakov Gallery

2. Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve

3. Moscow Kremlin

4. Kolomenskoye Historical and Architectural Museum and Reserve

5. Armoury Chamber

6. The Museum of Cosmonautics

7. Kuskovo Estate

8. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

9. State Darwin Museum

10. New Tretyakov Gallery

11. Diamond Fund (Almazny Fond)

12. Orlov Paleontological Museum

13. Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

14. Art Gallery of the European and American Countries of the XIX-XX centuries

15. Experimentanium Museum of Entertaining Sciences

16. Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

17. Muzeon Art Park

18. Moscow Planetarium

19. Mikhail Bulgakov State Museum

20. Historical Park Russia - My History

21. Entertainment Center Arbat 16

22. Museum-Diorama Tsar-Layout

23. Bunker-42 Cold War Museum at Taganka

24. The State A.S. Pushkin Museum

25. Museum Moskovskiy Transport

26. Victor Vasnetsov House Museum

27. Gorky's House (Ryabushinsky Mansion)

28. The Victory Museum

29. Borodino Battle Museum Panorama

30. Novospasskiy Monastery

What travelers are saying

15 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions & Things to Do in Moscow

Written by Diana Bocco Updated Dec 23, 2023 We may earn a commission from affiliate links ( )

Moscow is one of Europe's most enigmatic destinations, home to a fascinating history and colorful, awe-inspiring architecture you won't find anywhere else in the world. Moscow might be one of the most populous cities in the world with over 11 million inhabitants, but this hasn't changed its strong cultural and social traditions.

Walk the cobblestone streets of the Red Square or the banks of the Moskva River early in the morning, and it's hard to tell what century you're in.

Tsarist architecture, must-see churches, and glamorous shopping opportunities blend together for a visual experience you won't forget. For ideas on what to see and do while visiting Russia, here's our list of top tourist attractions in Moscow.

1. Marvel at the Size of the Kremlin

2. catch a performance at the bolshoi theatre, 3. shop at the luxurious gum, 4. make your way into lenin's mausoleum, 5. spend an hour (or three) at red square, 6. discover history at the museum of cosmonautics, 7. ride the stunning moscow metro, 8. explore the moscow state integrated museum-reserve, 9. spend a rainy day at the tretyakov gallery, 10. walk up and down arbat street, 11. stop by the vdnkh all-russian exhibition centre, 12. wander around gorky park, where to stay in moscow for sightseeing, map of tourist attractions & things to do in moscow.

Moscow's most recognizable structure is without a doubt the Kremlin, a 15th-century fortified complex that covers an area of 275,000 square meters surrounded by walls built in the 1400s.

The Grand Kremlin Palace -which has over 700 rooms- was once home to the Tsar family and is now the official residence of the president of the Russian Federation, although most heads of state choose to reside elsewhere.

The massive complex also includes many other buildings, some of which are open to the public and can be visited regularly. Aside from three cathedrals (including one where the Tsars were once crowned) and a number of towers, the Kremlin is also home to the Armory building, a museum holding everything from the royal crown and imperial carriages to the ivory throne of Ivan the Terrible and Fabergé eggs.

The Bolshoi Theater is home to the largest and one of the oldest ballet and opera companies in the world . While the theater has undergone several major renovations over the past century-including a recent one in 2011 to restore some of the imperial architectural details-it still retains all of its Neoclassical grandeur.

The Bolshoi Theater you see today opened in 1824, after several older versions burned down. Inside, red velvet, a three-tiered crystal chandelier, and gilt moldings give the place a Byzantine-Renassaince grandiose feel like no other.

Catching a show from the resident ballet and opera troupes is a treat, as the theater often presents a number of classic performances, such as Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini, both of which originally premiered here.

Moscow's oldest and most upscale shopping center is an architectural marvel. GUM (short for Glávnyj Universálnyj Magazín or "Main Universal Store") was built in the late 1800s in neo-Russian style to showcase a beautiful mix of a steel skeleton and 20,000 panels of glass forming an arched roof.

This was a unique construction at the time, since the glass had to be strong enough to support the snow-heavy Russian winters. The building is just as impressive outside, with all three levels covered in marble and granite.

While GUM is no longer the largest shopping center in Moscow, it's still by far the most beautiful. Home to brands like Gucci and Manolo Blahnik, this might not be the ideal destination for most budget-conscious visitors, but the beauty of the building itself is worth a visit.

On the third floor, there are also great dining options, including a Soviet-style canteen that serves traditional Russian food, and a stand selling ice cream made by hand using an original 1954 recipe originally approved by the Soviet government.

Lenin's Mausoleum, the final resting place of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, occupies a central spot in Red Square. His body has been in the mausoleum since his death in 1924-and although the original plan was for him to be buried after a short period of public display for mourning, the plan quickly changed.

After over 100,000 visited the tomb over a period of six weeks, it was decided that a new sarcophagus and a more permanent display space could actually preserve Lenin's body for much longer than expected-and Lenin's Mausoleum was built.

Over the years, the mausoleum and its marble stairs also became the main spot from where Soviet leaders would watch parades and events happening in Red Square.

Lenin's embalmed body can still be seen today, lying down in a bulletproof glass sarcophagus as if he's sleeping. While a visit to the mausoleum is certainly unusual, it has become a must-do for history buffs looking to understand how Lenin's legacy truly changed the nation. Come ready to wait, though -there are usually lines to get in.

All of Moscow's main streets start at Red Square, so it's easy to see why this is considered the heart of the city. A massive space of 330 meters by 70 meters, the square is flanked by the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, two cathedrals, and the State Historical Museum.

In 1945, a massive Victory Parade was held here to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Armed Forces.

St. Basil's Cathedral , one of the most recognizable buildings on the square, was built in 1555. The unique cathedral has architectural details inspired by Byzantine and Asian design, as well as details that resemble those found in famous mosques. There are nine individual chapels inside the church, all decorated with colorful mural art.

Both the square itself and the Kremlin are recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites . On weekends, there are sometimes stalls selling souvenirs and traditional items here, such as matryoshka (Russian nesting dolls), at the entrance of the square.

At one point, Russia and the US were toe-to-toe when it came to space exploration. While that might no longer be the case, the museum's amazing collection-which includes over 85,000 items-is still awe-inspiring.

Main exhibits include the space capsule used by Yuri Gagarin , the first human to travel into outer space; a USSR flag with moon fragments; a Soviet spacesuit; and a rocket propulsion unit from the 1960s. A special two-story hall showcases sections of the Mir space station interior, and there are also models of the first sputniks and a replica miniature spaceship.

English-language tours are available, and there's also a Cinema Hall showing subtitled short films about the history of space exploration programs and the first manned space flight.

The museum is located inside the base of the monument to the Conquerors of Space, which was built almost 20 years before the museum opened.

Riding the Moscow metro is an experience all in itself, but even just heading underground to walk through the stations is something no visitor should miss. With 223 stations and 12 metro lines crosscutting through Moscow, however, this can be tricky, so visiting at least a few of the most impressive ones is a good start.

Arbatskaya station was designed by a skyscraper architect, so it's no surprise that it features multicolored granite slabs and impressive bronze chandeliers.

Park Kultury station , located next to Gorky Park, is covered in marble and features reliefs of people involved in sports, while Teatralnaya station is decorated with porcelain figures dancing and wearing traditional Russian costumes.

The metro is open between 5:30am and 1:00am but it's very crowded in the early morning and after 4pm, so it's better to visit in the late morning or early afternoon to really appreciate the architecture without the crowds.

The Moscow State Integrated Art and Historical Architectural and Natural Landscape Museum-Reserve is a cultural open-air museum complex comprised of four different historical sites.

The most important site, the Kolomenskoye Estate, was once the summer residence of Tsars as far back as the 14 th century. The complex, which covers almost 300 hectares, is home to fairy-tale wooden palaces; a tent-roof stone church built in the 1500s; a water tower; fort towers and structures; and the 24-room Museum of Wooden Architecture , which includes the restored dining room of Tsar Alexei I.

Beautiful manicured gardens , riverside picnic areas, and a massive collection of both artifacts and structures make this a great destination to help you see what medieval Russia looked like. English-language tours are available, but you're also free to wander the grounds on your own.

The largest collection of Russian art in the world sits here, with over 180,000 paintings, sculptures, and religious art dating back to over a millennia ago. The gallery, built using beautiful red and white colors from classical Russian architecture, is located near the Kremlin and it was built in the early 20 th century.

Significant art pieces include the Vladimir Mother of God; a Byzantine icon of the Virgin and child dating back to the 1100s; Andrei Rublev's The Trinity icon from the 15 th century; and several works by Ilya Repin, the most famous realist painter in Russia.

On the grounds of the museum, there is also an 86-meter-tall statue of Peter the Great, as well as a number of Socialist Realism sculptures.

Moscow's one-kilometer-long pedestrian street has been around since the 15 th century. Originally a trade route in the outskirts of the city, Arbat Street is now very centrally located, home to posh buildings and lots of places to eat and shop.

Beautiful street lamps and two significant statues-one of Princess Turandot (from Puccini's last opera) and one of Soviet-era poet Bulat Okudzhava-adorn the street, which fills up with both locals and tourists on evenings and weekends.

A great place to pick up souvenirs or sit down at an outdoor café, Arbat Street also offers a chance to visit the former home of poet Alexander Pushkin and the café both Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy used to visit.

Although it was originally designed as a general-purpose trade show venue, this park complex now houses amusement rides , ice rinks , and a number of galleries and other attractions for all ages.

The park's most famous landmarks are the Moskvarium, a marine biology center home to over 8000 species of marine animals, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, and a shopping center selling traditional products from former Soviet countries.

There's even a film museum showing Soviet cartoons or even a full-length film (for an extra fee) and an education center offering masterclasses on everything from becoming a barista to video montage (call or write in advance to find out which ones are English-friendly).

Soviet-era pavilions, sculptures, and fountains abound here as well, including the famous Friendship of the Peoples Fountain, which features statues of women dressed in costumes from different former Soviet countries.

Named after the famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky (who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times but never won it) and sitting right across the Moskva River, Gorky Park covers 120 hectares of beautiful ponds and green spaces.

Popular with both locals and tourists, the park offers a variety of things to enjoy-from sunbeds, hammocks, and drinking fountains to free yoga classes and children's playgrounds. There's free Wi-Fi and sockets for charging your phone, as well as many food stands and plenty of wild animals, including deer, rabbits, and pheasants.

Visitors can rent paddle boats and bicycles to explore the park-and from May to October, there is also an open-air movie theater, as well as scheduled presentations by street performers, musicians, and artists. Gorky Park attracts the young and old, so don't be surprised to see a mix of people exercising, playing chess, and sunbathing.

Luxury Hotels :

• Lotte Hotel Moscow is one of the top 5-star properties in Moscow offering the largest Royal Suite in Russia. The trendy rooms and suites here all have contemporary style and great city views. On-site amenities are plentiful. There are two restaurants: one serving contemporary Italian fare, and the other Japanese. There is an impressively lit indoor swimming pool, a well-known spa, and a state-of-the-art gym.
• Another excellent luxury hotel is the Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow . The residential-style property is in the heart of Moscow just next to the Bolshoi Theatre and within walking distance of the Kremlin and Red Square. The rooms and suites have been opulently designed by Tony Chi. The on-site restaurant serves a mix of European and Armenian specialities. There is also a Japanese sushi bar and a rooftop lounge with fabulous city views.
• The St. Regis Moscow Nikolskaya also has a central location just a few minutes from the Kremlin and Red Square. The 5-star property has a mix of elegant rooms and suites, including interconnecting room options for families with kids. There are multiple restaurants on-site including an Italian bistro. Other amenities include the fabulous Iridium Spa, which does a full range of treatments and has an indoor swimming pool, sauna, and steam room.

Mid-Range Hotels :

• Palmira Business Club is a top mid-range choice. The contemporary lifestyle hotel offers well-appointed rooms and suites, including options for families. Suites are quite spacious and have kitchenettes. Amenities here include a complimentary breakfast at the on-site restaurant, a hot tub, sauna, and spa. There is also a fitness center.
• The trendy Mercure Moscow Baumanskaya offers a mix of rooms and suites with contemporary decor. The mid-range hotel can arrange airport transportation and offers baggage storage. Other amenities include a restaurant and room service. The front desk is open 24 hours.
• Boutique Hotel Brighton is about 10 minutes from the city center in a leafy park area. It offers excellent value for money and has charming rooms and suites with sound-proof windows and doors, as well as blackout curtains. A complimentary breakfast is served, and there is also an indoor swimming pool.

Budget Hotels :

• Hotel Ibis Budget Moscow Panfilovskaya is about a 15-minute drive from Moscow's downtown, and it's within walking distance from a metro station that will take you there. The soundproof rooms at this budget property are clean, comfortable, and can sleep up to three people. The hotel is pet friendly, has paid parking available on-site, and also has a salon.
• If you just need a budget hotel near the airport then check out Aviator Hotel Sheremetyevo . Located right at the airport, it has soundproof rooms, including options for families. Amenities include an indoor play area for kids, a sauna and swimming pool, and a free breakfast.

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Located in SoHo , the somber New York Earth Room was created by minimalist artist Walter de Maria. On long-term view to the public since 1980, this installation comprises a room filled approximately 2ft (0.6m) high with soil. Upon entering through the stairwell, the atmosphere becomes progressively pungent and heavy. Staring into the room evokes solemn expressions of the pastoral. This intimate interior piece provides a serene juxtaposition to the high-energy urbanity of the surrounding area.

Bar, Pub Grub

Famous for the graffiti art that adorns virtually every surface, Clockwork Bar revels in aggressive guitar and vocal riffs from the likes of Misfits and Black Flag, the music complementing the layers of graffiti art from unknowns on the walls, ceilings, seats and tables. Clockwork is highly interactive; the patrons are the artists. Come early enough in the day with a loaded spray can and the bar owner will be all smiles.

303 Gallery

303 Gallery references Alfred Stieglitz’s famous artist collective, originally located in Room 303 of the Anderson Galleries building. With a rich history in New York City (first established at 303 Park Avenue South in 1984 and moving to the East Village, SoHo, and finally Chelsea ), 303 Gallery has worked with some of the art world’s best names, including Christopher Wool, Robert Gober, and Andreas Gursky.

Yossi Milo Gallery

Yossi Milo Gallery is a contemporary art gallery that focuses on photo-based art, video and works on paper. Vividly visceral paintings, sculptures, and other works are used to represent the same level of raw nostalgia created by photography.

Pace Gallery

Pace is one of New York City’s most established contemporary art galleries, representing a long list of significant artists from around the world. A must-see for anyone gallery-hopping in Chelsea, Pace exhibits some of New York City’s most prominent and groundbreaking exhibitions.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum, Park, Shop, Church, Building, Theater, Art Gallery

Located on 5th Avenue along the famous Museum Mile , the Metropolitan Museum of Art houses some of the world’s finest, most enriching works of art. From civilization’s oldest artifacts to modern-day works of painting, sculpture and photography, you can travel through time and space in a singular afternoon at one of New York City’s most prized institutions.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

New York is experiencing some major social shifts; minorities whose voices were previously silenced are using art as a medium of social and cultural expression. Through art, these New Yorkers create a dialogue with the city and its inhabitants. The Schomburg Center in Harlem is home to more than 1,000 collections on its website and hosts over 300 recorded programs on Livestream, as well as mounting a number of digital exhibitions. Inspired to see more art in the Big Apple? Book a stay at one of the best hotels near The Metropolitan Museum of Art through Culture Trip.

Culture Trips launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes places and communities so special.

Our immersive trips , led by Local Insiders, are once-in-a-lifetime experiences and an invitation to travel the world with like-minded explorers. Our Travel Experts are on hand to help you make perfect memories. All our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.?>

All our travel guides are curated by the Culture Trip team working in tandem with local experts. From unique experiences to essential tips on how to make the most of your future travels, we’ve got you covered.

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17 Top Tourist Attractions in Moscow

By Alex Schultz · Last updated on May 4, 2024

The capital of Russia is an incredible place to explore. Visitors to Moscow come away spellbound at all the amazing sights, impressed at the sheer size and grandeur of the city. Lying at the heart of Moscow, the Red Square and the Kremlin are just two of the must-see tourist attractions; they are the historical, political and spiritual heart of the city – and indeed Russia itself.

A fascinating city to wander around, stunning cathedrals, churches, and palaces lie side-by-side with bleak grey monuments and remains from the Soviet state. In addition to its plethora of historical and cultural tourist attractions, Moscow is home to world-class museums, theaters and art galleries.

Renowned for its performing arts, fantastic ballets and amazing circus acts, catching a show while in Moscow is a must. The wealth of brilliant restaurants, trendy bars, and lively nightlife means there is something for everyone to enjoy.

See also: Where to Stay in Moscow

17. Tsaritsyno Palace

Once the summer residence of Catherine the Great, the stunning Tsaritsyno Palace is now a museum-reserve. The architecture is magnificent and there is a lovely park surrounding it for visitors to explore.

Located in the south of Moscow, the palace was commissioned in 1775 and recent renovations mean its lavish interior looks better than ever before with its elegant halls and beautiful staircases.

The exhibits on display look at the life of the empress as well as the history of Tsaritsyno itself. The huge palace grounds are also home to some other delightful buildings with the elegant opera house and wonderful brickwork of the Small Palace being particularly impressive to gaze upon.

Starting out in 1935 as the ‘All-Union Agricultural Exhibition’, VDNKh has slowly morphed over the years into the fascinating open-air museum of today. Remarkably, over 400 buildings can now be found within its confines.

The huge park complex has numerous pavilions representing former Soviet republics on show, such as those of Armenia and Turkmenistan and the distinctive architecture of each of the buildings is always interesting to gaze upon. In addition to this there is the fascinating Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics which is dedicated to space exploration and the fun Moskvarium aquarium even offers you the chance to swim with dolphins.

With lots of eateries scattered about and numerous entertainment options such as horse-riding and zip-lining, there is something for everyone to enjoy; the Friendship of Nations fountain truly is wonderful.

15. Kremlin Armoury

One of the oldest museums in the city, the Kremlin Armoury has a wealth of treasures; highlights include the ornate Grand Siberian Railway egg, the historic Cap of Monomakh and the stunning Imperial Crown of Russia which often has a crowd of tourists around it, jostling to take a photo.

Once the royal armory, there are loads of fascinating objects on display. Perusing the many sabers, jewelry, armor and more is as interesting as it is educational and entertaining and the swords are so finely crafted that you’ll almost wish you could pick up one and wield if yourself.

Established in 1851, the museum is situated in the Moscow Kremlin.

14. GUM Department Store

Standing for ‘Main Universal Store’ in Russian, GUM is stunning. Its wonderful skylights and beautiful facades mean it doesn’t look out of place alongside its illustrious neighbors on Red Square.

With over 200 shops, boutiques and upmarket eateries inside, it is a shopaholic’s heaven and concerned partners will be glad to find more affordable options alongside luxury brands such as Dior and Prada.

The main department store in the city, GUM was opened in 1893. The stunning architecture makes it well worth a visit even if shopping isn’t your thing.

13. Moscow Metro

It’s not often that public transport looks like a work of art. So many stops on the Moscow Metro will astound visitors with their beauty and elegance.

Decked in marble and with frescoes covering the walls, the stations are amazing to gaze upon and are part of one of the longest metro systems in the world, with the first stations opened in 1935.

Using the metro is the quickest and easiest way to get around Moscow and braving the crowds of commuters is well worth it for the beauty all around you.

12. Arbat Street

An elegant yet lively street, Arbat is full of impressive architecture and was once a popular place to live for aristocrats, artists, and academics.

A historic place, it is down Arbat Street that Napoleon’s troops are said to have headed on their way to capture the Kremlin.

Nowadays, there are many cafes, restaurants, and shops, as well as various monuments and statues to former residents such as Alexander Pushkin who was reputed to be a lover of the Russian Empress due to his massive influence in court.

11. Novodevichy Convent

Drenched in history, the Novodevichy Convent is located in a striking building that was once a fortress. This captivating place is well worth visiting when in Moscow.

Founded in 1524, the convent houses four cathedrals; Smolensk Cathedral is the undoubted highlight due to its delightful 16th-century frescoes.

Wandering around the grounds is like stepping back in time. The Novodevichy Cemetery is where many famous leaders of the Soviet Union are buried, such as Yeltsin and Khrushchev.

10. Pushkin Museum

Despite its name, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts actually has no connection at all to the famous poet other than that it was named in his honor after his death. A delight to visit, its extensive collection focuses on European art with masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, and van Gogh all featuring.

Sculptures, graphic art, paintings and more can be found in its beautiful galleries; various sections look at themes and epochs such as the Renaissance, the Dutch Golden Age, and Byzantine art.

Among the many highlights are the clownish characters which can be found in Cezanne’s Fastnacht (Mardi Gras) and the twirling ballerinas who look so elegant in Degas’ Blue Dancers. Picasso’s Young acrobat on a Ball is also well worth checking out for its interesting use of shapes and colors.

9. Christ The Savior Cathedral

This gorgeous Russian Orthodox cathedral is located on the banks of the Moskva River, just a stone’s throw away from the Kremlin.

The church as it stands today was consecrated in 2000, as the original church that stood here was destroyed on the command of Josef Stalin in 1931 due to the anti-religious campaign.

With its delightful golden dome, spires and dazzling white facades, the Christ the Savior Cathedral is stunning. The interior is just as captivating to wander around, with its beautifully tiled floors and impressive altar.

8. Lenin Mausoleum

Opened to the public in 1924, Lenin’s Mausoleum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Moscow. The red granite structure is located at the heart of the city in Red Square.

Lenin’s embalmed body lies in a glass sarcophagus; it is a somewhat eerie experience walking past the former leader of the Soviet Union but is well worth doing as you understandably can’t do it anywhere else in the world.

After visiting the mausoleum, head to the Kremlin wall right next to it for more graves of important communist figures such as Stalin and Brezhnev.

7. Tretyakov Gallery

Home to the most extensive and impressive collection of Russian fine art in the world, the State Tretyakov Gallery is definitely worth visiting when in Moscow for the wealth of amazing art pieces that it has on display.

Having started out as the private art collection of the Tretyakov brothers, there are now over 130,000 exhibits. Highlights include the iconic Theotokos of Vladimir which you will almost certainly recognise despite probably not knowing the name and Rublev’s Trinity which is considered to be one of highest achievements in Russian art.

An absolute must for art lovers, the State Tretyakov Gallery will delight visitors with all that is has to offer.

6. Kolomenskoye

Once a royal estate, Kolomenskoye is now a museum-reserve and lies a few kilometers outside of the city center. A captivating place to visit, there is a plethora of history on show and the site overlooks the Moskva River.

Consisting of four historical sites, there are extensive gardens for visitors to explore, as well as loads of interesting old buildings, the former village of Kolomenskoye itself and the impressive Palace of the Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich – once considered the Eighth Wonder of the World by contemporaries.

Among the many stunning sights, it is the brilliantly white Ascension Church that is the undoubted highlight – dating back to 1532.

5. Gorky Park

Lying alongside the Moskva River, the huge Gorky Park is a lovely place to visit. Its extensive gardens are home to numerous cultural institutions and visitors should definitely check out the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and while the eclectic exhibits may not always feature such incredible sights as a balloon-covered rider on a zebra; they certainly always succeed in pushing back the boundaries of art.

Pop-up exhibitions and festivals can be found from time to time in the park itself and there is an open-air theatre and numerous eateries alongside a plethora of leisure activities.

Whether it’s cycling, table tennis or yoga that you are after or beach volleyball and rowing, Gorky Park certainly has it. In winter, there is a huge ice rink for visitors to enjoy.

4. Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre is the main theater in the country. The amazing opera and ballet performances it has put on over the centuries go a long way in explaining Russia’s rich history of performing arts.

While the Bolshoi Ballet Company was established in 1776, the theater itself was opened in 1825. The glittering, six-tier auditorium is lavishly and decadently decorated; it is a fitting setting for the world-class performances that take place on its stage.

Spending a night watching a performance of such classics as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre is sure to be a memorable experience and the beauty all around you only adds to the sense of occasion.

3. Moscow Kremlin

This famously fortified complex is remarkably home to five palaces and four cathedrals and is the historic, political and spiritual center of the city. The Kremlin serves as the residence for the country’s president. It has been used as a fort, and this fact is made clear by its sheer size. The Kremlin’s outer walls were built in the late 1400s.

Under Ivan III, better known as Ivan the Great, the Kremlin became the center of a unified Russian state, and was extensively remodeled. Three of the Kremlin’s cathedrals date to his reign that lasted from 1462-1505. The Deposition Church and the Palace of Facets were also constructed during this time. The Ivan the Great Bell Tower was built in 1508. It is the tallest tower at the Kremlin with a height of 266 feet (81 meters).

Joseph Stalin removed many of the relics from the tsarist regimes. However, the Tsar Bell, the world’s largest bell, and the Tsar Cannon, the largest bombard by caliber in the world, are among the remaining items from that era. The Kremlin Armory is one of Moscow’s oldest museums as it was established more than 200 years ago. Its diamond collection is impressive.

The Kremlin’s gardens – Taynitsky, Grand Kremlin Public and Alexander – are beautiful. The Kremlin has also served as the religious center of the country, and there is a tremendous number of preserved churches and cathedrals here. The collections contained within the museums include more than 60,000 historical, cultural and artistic monuments. Those who enjoy the performing arts will want to consider attending a ballet or concert at the State Kremlin Palace. Completed in 1961, it is the only modern building in the Kremlin.

2. Red Square

Lying at the heart of Moscow, Red Square is the most important and impressive square in the city. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions due to its wealth of historical sights and cultural landmarks.

Drenched in history, the huge square is home to incredible sights such as the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin’s Mausoleum, among others. Consequently, it is not to be missed when in Moscow as it really is home to the city’s most stunning monuments.

It is here that many important moments in Russian history took place; the former marketplace has hosted everything from Tsar’s coronations and public ceremonies to rock concerts and Soviet military parades. Wandering around the massive square is a humbling experience and undoubtedly one of the highlights the city has to offer.

1. Saint Basil’s Cathedral

Located in the impressive Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral is gorgeous; its delightful spires appear as if out of a fairytale. The most recognizable building in the country, the cathedral is very much a symbol of Russia. No visit to Moscow is complete without having taken in its unique and distinctive features.

Ivan the Terrible ordered the cathedral’s construction in the mid-16th century, and legend holds that Ivan put out the architect’s eyes so that he would be unable to build another cathedral more glorious than St. Basil’s. Designed to resemble the shape of a bonfire in full flame, the architecture is not only unique to the period in which it was built but to any subsequent period. For various reasons, both Napoleon and Stalin wanted to destroy the cathedral but fortunately did not succeed.

Known for its various colors, shapes and geometric patterns, St. Basil’s Cathedral houses nine different chapels that are all connected by a winding labyrinth of corridors and stairways. On the lower floor, St. Basil’s Chapel contains a silver casket bearing the body of St. Basil the Blessed.

Throughout the cathedral are many beautiful murals, frescoes, wooden icons and other art works and artifacts. Outside the cathedral is a lovely garden with the bronze Monument to Minin and Pozharsky, who rallied an all-volunteer Russian army against Polish invaders during a period of the late 16th century known as the Times of Troubles.

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Ditch all your preconceived notions of cold, stuffy and quiet galleries and let Atlanta shed light and insight on the city’s many cultural attractions.

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New mexico is a land of diverse cultures.

From Native American artists who have sustained traditions dating back thousands of years to the artists known for their unique art forms both traditional and contemporary, New Mexico is widely known for its arts communities and the artists that choose to make their homes here.  

Visit traditional Native American communities and pueblos and interact directly with the artists who reside there, explore the enchanting landscapes that have drawn and inspired numerous artists like Georgia O’Keeffe , take in spectacular performances, and let your creativity and imagination run wild in our numerous art museums and attractions.

There are museums and arts centers in every corner of the state dedicated to the expansion and exploration of contemporary arts and culture. Come and immerse yourself in a truly unique cultural experience.

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Incredible immersive experiences to do in NYC right now

From art exhibits to theatrical events, these experiences promise to transport you to new realities.

As much as New Yorkers love their city, they want to be transported to another space and time — at least that's the trend museums, companies and artists are capitalizing on. Immersive exhibits, events and experiences are popping up all over NYC these days.

From theatrical experiences to trippy digital art taking over massive spaces, there's no shortage of ways to be immersed in a different reality. With so many ways to be immersed, we decided it was high time to round up all the cool, immersive events, exhibits and experiences happening in NYC now and coming up soon so you won't miss the chance to experience something new and potentially mind-blowing.

RECOMMENDED: The best museum exhibitions in NYC right now

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Incredible immersive experiences in NYC

1.  "BLOOM: The Secret Wonders of New York’s Forgotten Eden" at HERO

It’s hard to imagine anything else at the site of the iconic Rockefeller Center. But 200 years ago, long before the famed skyscraper was built, this land was home to a lush greenspace called Elgin Gardens—it was America’s first botanical garden.

A new immersive art experience will now explore that beautiful history in Rockefeller Center. HERO, which opened inside Rockefeller Center late last year near the ice rink, will debut “ BLOOM: The Secret Wonders of New York’s Forgotten Eden ” on May 15; it runs through the summer.

At the all-ages exhibit, expect to walk through eight interactive experiences that promise to engage your senses with a captivating soundscape, changing scentscapes, interactive digital components, and light and video installations.

2.  "Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies" at ARTECHOUSE

Digital art and poetry have combined for a dive into Afrocentricity and Afrofuturism at this new immersive exhibit in Chelsea. " Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies " is now open at ARTECHOUSE and runs all summer.

The digital art exhibition promises a "vibrant reflection upon the past, present, and future of the Black experience." It's told through the perspective of London-based Afro-surrealist digital artist Vince Fraser alongside evocative poetry by ursula rucker.

Both artists worked to honor the legacy, struggles, and complexities of the Black experience in their work. Even the exhibition's title, "Aṣẹ" stems from a powerful mantra, affirmation, and philosophical belief held by the Yoruba people of West Africa, meaning "so will it be." (By the way, that's pronounced as AH-shay.)

3.  Harry Potter: The Exhibition

• Things to do

Muggles, take note: You won’t need to travel through Platform 9¾ to get to Hogwarts. The  Wizarding World of Harry Potter   is right here in New York City for a limited time.

The touring show, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition,” is now open in Herald Square, and it’s going transport you. Through the use of dramatic lighting, set design, interactive technology and even scent, the exhibit will make you feel like you are actually there—in Hagrid’s hut, in potions class, dining in the Great Hall, learning how to fight the dark arts, fighting the Battle of Hogwarts and more.

Tickets  are on sale now through August 11, 2024 and start at $29 for adults. 

4.  The FRIENDS Experience: The One in New York City

Live like Monica, Chandler, Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe at  The FRIENDS Experience: The One in New York City . It's basically an immersive museum celebrating the '90s sitcom. You'll get to walk through rooms that look exactly like the ones on the TV show.

Photo opportunities abound. There’s a chance to pose with the “Pivot” couch, a backdrop that looks like the Vegas chapel, and a photo opp with Phoebe’s grandma’s taxi. You can even pose on top of Pat the Dog, snap a photo with the giant poking device and take a selfie in Monica’s apartment. Using high-quality cameras, staff take photos at each spot, which you can purchase at the end. But staff will also take free photos with your cell phone if you ask. 

It's not just a selfie museum, though. There's a fascinating display featuring the show's costume designer Debra McGuire where you'll learn about her sartorial choices for each character. Another exhibit spotlights artist Burton Morris, whose Pop art pieces decorate Central Perk. Other display cases feature set designs, signed scripts, props and costumes.  

5.  The House of Cannabis, NYC’s weed museum

• Weird & Wonderful

Many museums start with some kind of orientation, like a map or remarks from a docent. But not The House of Cannabis (a.k.a. THC NYC), the new weed museum in Soho. Instead, this museum starts, quite fittingly, with a trippy “Disorientation Room.”

While this museum boasts plenty of mind-bending multi-sensory bells and whistles, it also showcases art, highlights science and confronts the social justice issues baked into cannabis prosecution. The museum, the first of its kind at this scale, packs every inch of its four-story, 25,000-square-foot space at 427 Broadway with fascinating facts and delightful immersive experiences fit to entertain both tokers and non-smokers alike. Tickets ($45/adult)  are on sale now .

6.  INTER_

The energy in   INTER_  feels more like a meditation retreat than a typical gallery—and that’s by design. 

The experiential, multi-sensory museum in Soho invites visitors into a heightened state of contemplative awareness through a sound bath, light installations and aspects of meditation all combined with interactive digital art. 

Here's a sneak peek inside the museum  — and if you want to  check it out yourself ,  Time Out readers get a discount on tickets with code   TIMEOUT15.

7.  Sleep No More

• Theater & Performance

The McKittrick Hotel is home to the world-famous production of  Sleep No More , a “site-specific, immersive experience” that blurs the line between audience and actor, stage and seating. It   began previews in March 2011 and has been continuously extended over the past decade. 

But  the lights are fading out as  Sleep No More  concludes its nearly 13-year run on June  16, 2024 (an extended run).  The pioneering performance has hosted over two million guests and has a sister run still ongoing in Shanghai, China. 

Go see the show before it closes;   here's our guide   to making the most of the experience.

8.  Summit One Vanderbilt

• Sightseeing
• Midtown East

Get ready for heart-pounding experience in the sky unlike any other experience atop a skyscraper.  Summit One Vanderbilt sits atop the new 67-floor One Vanderbilt super-tall—a 1,401-foot-high—skyscraper.

As the city's fourth-tallest building after One World Trade Center, Central Park Tower and 111 West 57th Street, it sits just west of Grand Central Terminal, where you first enter the experience underground. After a trip through a mirrored hallway with its own immersive elements, visitors take an elevator up to the 91st floor, where they're 1,000 feet over the streets and sidewalks of NYC.

Kenzo Digital has created a totally mirrored infinity room called "Air" that reflects the sky and city views over and over, making you feel like you're walking in the sky or on another plane of existence. Looking above you and below you in this two-story space, you see your reflection repeating forever.

One of the coolest parts of the experience is that it changes with the weather and time of day. When the weather is nice, it'll look like you're walking among the clouds. When it's stormy, you'll see the rain fly sideways and around the building. 

9.  Sloomoo, a slime museum

Part visual splendor, part olfactory wonder and part ooey-gooey sensory fun,   Sloomoo Institute’s slime museum  offers a captivating playground for all ages.

While Sloomoo is a highly Instagrammable experience, the founders hope you’ll spend some time away from your phone and immersed in the moment during your 90-minute visit to truly have the slime of your life. You can squish vats of slime, make your own slime to take home and even stand under a slime waterfall—that's truly immersive.

10.  Coming soon: An immersive ‘Mean Girls’ experience

• Restaurants

Turns out, we're still trying to make fetch happen.

Coinciding with the release of the new   Mean Girls   movie, a new immersive experience based on the iconic film is scheduled to debut for a limited time in NYC this spring. The exact opening date is still TBD, so stay tuned.

The experience will involve a fast-casual restaurant serving cafeteria-style fare created by  Master Chef  semi-finalist Chef Becky Brown. Menu items include a “Stab Caesar” salad, the hilariously-named “burn book” burger sliders and a 1 3 5 Acai Bowl. 

Passes aren't available yet, but we suggest you add yourself to the waitlist right   here   ASAP. 

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How to Navigate London’s Wondrous (and Very Big) V&A Museum

Paintings, ceramics, photography, fashion, furniture and more: The Victoria and Albert Museum is a treasure trove of art and design. Here’s one besotted visitor’s plan for taking it all in.

By Andrew Ferren

Andrew Ferren, a frequent contributor to the Travel section, has visited the V&A dozens of times and looks forward to exploring the new satellite buildings when they open in East London in 2025.

Even for someone who loves getting lost in museums — especially “everything museums” like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — London’s Victoria and Albert Museum might have been my Waterloo. The statistics are daunting: 5,000 years of artistic production with more than 60,000 works on view (from a collection of some 2.8 million) in about 150 galleries beneath 21 acres of roof.

The V&A typically draws around 3 million annual visitors, but even on the busiest days, the museum has the space and setup to largely avoid the sense of competing with the crowds. Since visiting the permanent collection is free (some exhibitions cost up to 20 pounds, or about $25), once you’re in the door you can just start wandering. Step right for medieval mosaics and Renaissance tapestries or go deep for 1940s Paris fashion, Baroque sculpture and, beyond that, Buddhist art.

It’s easy to spend an entire day in the V&A. Here’s a plan for making the most of your visit. But first a bit of background.

An eclectic treasure trove

If the British Museum is known as Britain’s attic — an abundance of artistic and cultural relics from the realm and around the globe — then the V&A is the country’s classroom. It, too, is a trove of exemplary works, from exquisite Raphael drawings to groovy 1970s plastic radios; Coptic tunics to Alexander McQueen couture gowns; vividly hued Islamic tiles to a bunch of grand English beds. These objects were displayed not just to delight connoisseurs, but to provide great art and ideas to educate British designers, manufacturers and workers in good taste and technical prowess.

The museum was the pet project of Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, who had seen firsthand that British manufactured goods were not always top of the class. By displaying applied arts (textiles, ceramics, glass and other manufactured objects) alongside fine arts (architecture, painting and sculpture), the new museum would democratize aesthetic appreciation and inspire better designs for better products.

Originally known as the South Kensington Museum, the V&A opened in 1857 in temporary structures while new buildings were constructed. Incorporated into the new museum were libraries and schools for science and art, including one for women. The leading artists of the time, such as Frederic Leighton and William Morris, contributed to its décor. Such was its embrace of modernity, that the world’s first museum exhibition of photography (the medium was “invented’ only in the 1820s) was held here in 1858.

Though Prince Albert died in 1861, the museum continued to expand. In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the cornerstone of a grand new entrance wing along Cromwell Road and renamed the complex the Victoria and Albert Museum.

If that sounds fusty, it’s not. More than 165 years after its opening, the V&A’s pioneering spirit hasn’t faded. Its fashion blockbusters, like “Naomi: In Fashion,” celebrating the model Naomi Campbell (opening June 22), are must-see shows. And its outreach programs, studio classes and parties engage the public as few museums do. Recently, the V&A’s reach has been growing, with offshoots such as the Scottish V&A Dundee , a kid-centric Young V&A and two new museum buildings — one featuring nearly 250,000 works — opening in East London in 2025.

Many contemporary artists and designers claim the V&A as among their favorite museums, and one to which they return again and again. Though neither artist nor designer, I, too, claim the V&A as a favorite museum and have visited dozens of times, often for less than an hour just to wow my young kids with the monumental plaster casts of European monuments or even just to get out of the rain.

But I knew there were still sections I’d never visited. So, after an absence of three years, I spent a day there and came up with a game plan for others to navigate those vast halls.

Get there at 10 a.m., when the doors open, so you can breeze through the ground-floor galleries while they are still virtually empty and then head to more remote parts.

Since fabrics are fragile and fade, the fashion exhibits are changed regularly and there’s always something fresh and engaging to see. From there, wind past the entrance through the arts of Asia, from the elegantly simple furniture of Ming China to the intricately carved lacquerware of Japan, to the eye-poppingly vivid blue tile reliefs and stunning silk carpets such as the 16th-century Ardibil carpet from Persia.

Then into the Cast Courts, three huge galleries packed with full-size reproductions — plaster and metal casts — of sculptures and building fragments from around Europe. Exact copies of medieval tombs line the floor while masterpieces like Michelangelo’s David, Trajan’s Column and Renaissance church facades rise toward the ceiling. One can easily get stuck here, awed by the scale and charmed by the concept of corralling massive replicas from across the centuries into a playground for architecture buffs.

From there it’s an easy slide into the adjacent medieval and Renaissance galleries, which cover Europe from 300 to 1600, and where the colorful fourth- and fifth-century tapestry fragments on view or the radiant gold-backed mosaics from Ravenna, Italy, reveal that the Dark Ages were not entirely devoid of light and color.

The later galleries reveal just how connected and sophisticated many parts of Europe were in the Renaissance. Exquisite regional products — metalwork and armor from Germany, shimmering lusterware ceramics from Spain, tapestries from Brussels — became sought after on an international marketplace.

Carving your own path

In such a sprawling museum, there is no single logical or even chronological path to follow. For many, that’s part of the V&A’s appeal: the quirky juxtapositions one encounters roaming its six floors (the ground floor is numbered zero, so the “fourth floor” is actually the fifth level; the V&A also has a -1 basement level).

So on my visit, once the galleries started filling up at midday, I took the elevator to the remote fourth-floor ceramics galleries and then made my way to the lower floors.

On the fourth floor, it feels as if virtually everything ever made of clay or porcelain — Ming, majolica, Meissen, you name it — is displayed in floor-to-ceiling cases, including stacks of Chinese bowls salvaged from a ship that sank in 1400 off the Malay Peninsula.

Just when you think one can’t stretch the clay any further, you get to a display about Josiah Wedgwood and his innovative Jasperware that became the rage around the world in the 18th century. (The V&A also has an outpost in Stoke-on-Trent dedicated entirely to Wedgwood). The remaining fourth-floor galleries showcase furniture from the last 600 years.

The third floor offers a similar range of media and epochs — from international glass in all its facets to architectural models. One might expect Venetian Murano glass to reign supreme, but the quirky and colorful 18th-century German enameled glass, as well as green-hued glasses and goblets adorned with blobs of glass steal the show.

On the second floor, a network of long galleries offers deep dives into religious stained glass, small-scale bronze sculptures, English paintings and drawings, as well as tapestries. Nearby, gorgeous murals by Frederic Leighton push the V&A propaganda in themes like “The Arts Applied to War” and “The Arts Applied to Peace.”

Also on the second floor, the Photography Center recently expanded its galleries to become Britain’s largest photography exhibition center. Part of a display called “Design: 1900-Now,” features a recent acquisition: a store-bought snorkeling mask that had been adapted by an Italian designer into a functioning oxygen mask during the darkest days of the Covid crisis in 2020.

In a country famous for its crown jewels, the V&A’s spot-lit jewelry gallery packs in everything from fifth-century Byzantine bracelets to jaunty 1970s body jewelry. Standouts include the Townshend jewels — a virtual encyclopedia of gemstones, from colored diamonds to opals, each set in individual rings and displayed in swirls of brilliant color.

And finally, stretching almost across the entire second floor is a display of every imaginable type of ironwork. Seeing these works, such as the monumental 19th-century Gothic Revival choir screen from Salisbury Cathedral, calls to mind the Goethe quote that “architecture is frozen music.”

Take a break then keep going

Even if you’re not hungry, head to the ground level to the Refreshment Rooms, the world’s first museum cafe, which opened in 1868. Designed by the leading talents of the day — James Gamble, William Morris, Philip Webb, Edward Burne-Jones and Edward J. Poynter — the original decoration remains largely intact, a snapshot of Victorian modernity. Back in the day, each room had a different menu and proposed clientele, but today, for about £10, visitors can choose from a buffet of hot English fare, quiches, sandwiches, beer, wine or soft drinks, and take their meal into whichever room they find most pleasing.

Back in the galleries, I had saved what I considered the best for last: some two dozen British galleries (spread between levels 1 and 3) that tell the country’s history from the Tudors to the Victorians through paintings, furniture, clothing, musical instruments, textiles and truly fabulous beds, including the Great Bed of Ware, a massive four-poster built in 1590 for an inn. It measures nearly 11 feet on each side, supposedly able to accommodate four couples. Centuries-old graffiti covers practically every plank, and its fame merited a mention in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: “… as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware.”

And then finally, the most extraordinary works in the museum, shown in a cathedral-like space: the famous Rafael cartoons for the tapestries that were created to adorn the Sistine Chapel in 1515-16. Commissioned by Pope Leo X, Raphael painted the designs on paper, which would have been used as the guide for the weavers to follow. Now owned by King Charles III and considered among the greatest works of Renaissance art, they were created as part of a manufacturing process, so it seems wholly appropriate they are on loan to the V&A, where fine art and manufacturing go hand in hand.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

The Alaska Highway:  On an epic road trip, a family plots a course from Alaska to the Lower 48, passing through some of Canada’s most spectacular scenery .

Minorca:  Spend 36 hours on this slow-paced Spanish island , which offers a quieter and wilder retreat than its more touristy neighbors.

Japan:  A new high-speed train stop unlocks Kaga, a destination for hot springs, nourishing food and traditional crafts , as an easy-to-reach getaway from Tokyo.

London:  The Victoria and Albert Museum is a treasure trove of art and design. Here’s one besotted visitor’s plan for taking it all in .

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Ideas & Inspiration

Photograph peak blooms at the toronto botanical garden, hit refresh with a health & wellness trip to toronto, 6 top toronto spas for last-minute spontaneous pampering, the perfect toronto weekend itinerary for maple leafs fans, the classics, celebrate local ontario flavours at these 10 toronto restaurants, food & nightlife, local picks: best pizza in toronto, toronto's best sports bars for watching the big game, global tastes, toronto's best restaurants for plant-forward dining, culture & entertainment, 10 toronto blue jays fan experiences at rogers centre, museums, galleries & attractions, 10 amazing toronto escape rooms & games for all ages, 5 great toronto attractions if you are blind or visually impaired, shopping guides, where to buy uniquely toronto gifts & souvenirs, style & design, an architecture buff’s guide to queen’s park, 5 iconic toronto buildings for architecture buffs, where to shop for earth day-friendly souvenirs in toronto, indigenous stories, 5 can’t-miss indigenous foods to savour in toronto, 10 places to support indigenous creators in toronto, outdoor adventures, 9 underrated spots to see cherry blossoms in toronto, more canada, top cycling routes in toronto.

A Guide to Toronto’s Arts, Culture & Entertainment

It’s no secret that a unique and creative spirit thrives in cosmopolitan Toronto. Arts, culture and entertainment are baked into the fabric of the city, where world-renowned festivals, galleries, museums, and stages are full of colour, music and movement throughout the year. 

Whether you’re admiring the city’s rich architecture, its diverse melting pot of international cultures and its jewel box historic theatres, or taking in annual events like film and music festivals that showcase both Canadian and global artists, there’s always something fresh on. 

From Indigenous heritage to the legacy of Ukrainian immigrants to cutting edge Canadian creativity, it’s hard to imagine a city that elevates urban living to art quite the way Toronto does.

Save On Entry With The Toronto Museum Pass

The Toronto Museum Pass is the best way to visit up to seven museums for one exclusive price. Explore iconic Toronto landmarks and immerse yourself in centuries of art, history and culture.

More Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Theatre & performing arts, art galleries, museums in toronto, indigenous experiences, live music & concert scene.

More From Forbes

A native ‘takeover’ at baltimore museum of art.

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Julie Buffalohead (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma), 'The Noble Savage,' 2022. Courtesy of Jessica Silverman ... [+] and Sarah Thornton, San Francisco, CA.

“A Native takeover.”

That’s how Dare Turner (Yurok Tribe), Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum and former Baltimore Museum of Art Assistant Curator of Indigenous Art of the Americas, describes the Baltimore museum’s “Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum” initiative launched April 21, 2024.

“Preoccupied” includes nine solo and thematic exhibitions, a film series, a publication guided by Native methodologies, museum-wide education for staff related to Native American history and colonization, and a broad array of public programs through February 2025.

“It also includes audio tour stops where indigenous community members have gone into the galleries and selected any artwork they're interested in, which most of the time is not an artwork made by a Native person, and they speak about it from their perspective,” Turner told Forbes.com. “We also rewrote (wall) labels that had privileged white artists when they were depicting Native subjects. We flipped the script on that so the Native subjects were privileged.”

Nearly 100 individuals contributed to or are represented across the initiative, transforming not only who tells stories in museums like the BMA, but also what stories get told and how.

“We wanted to make a big statement with Indigenous art in the museum, but we wanted to go much further than simply putting an exhibition on view and congratulating ourselves as job well done,” Baltimore Museum of Art Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Leila Grothe, a collaborator on the project, told Forbes.com. “We thought together about how could we thread through perspectives, stories, truths, and histories in the museum in as many ways as possible, how can we surface these voices in as many places as possible to go further and do something that to us felt like a significant statement and a significant presence.”

“Preoccupied” debuted with “Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water,” a presentation of new and recent works from the artist’s ongoing “Carry” series. White Hawk (b. 1976; Sičáŋǧu Lakota) adorns large copper buckets and ladles with glass beads and long fringe suggesting arboreal root structures. These works upend long-held boundaries between fine art and craft traditions in museum practice and center Native perspectives on the significance of both functionality and artistry in material culture.

Netflix s New 1 Movie Is An Overlooked Must Watch Crime Comedy Thriller

Reacher season 3 casts a villain that looks like he ate reacher, the 33 best memorial day tv sales to shop this weekend, looking in the mirror.

James Luna (Luiseno/Puyukitchum, Ipai, and Mexican-American), 'End of the Frail,' 1993. © Estate of ... [+] the artist. Courtesy of Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM.

Museums in America aren’t responsible for the nation’s genocide against its indigenous inhabitants. Museums didn’t draft the Indian Removal Act or initiate the Navajo Long Walk . They’re not to blame for broken treaties, boarding schools , the near extinction of the buffalo , or the Sand Creek Massacre . They have, however, been complicit in forwarding white supremacy and a flattening and erasure of Native American people, culture and artwork through their historic–and, in cases, ongoing–collecting and display practices related to Native items.

“There are many instances historically where institutions have come to (Indigenous) communities and either taken or coerced objects out. Sometimes they have paid for them, sometimes they have not, but even in the instances when they have paid for these belongings, they have sometimes taken things that were not an individual's to give,” Grothe cites as one example of how museums have harmed Native Americans. “They call that cultural patrimony where it actually belonged to the community and not an individual, but there was a sort of colonial misunderstanding–and that might be being generous–whether or not that individual owned it and could sell it to the person. There's an exploitation right in the sort of economic status potentially of whoever it is making these sales, and trades are sometimes outright theft, sometimes grave robbing, all of these things have happened.”

Placing Contemporary Native Art In The Past

American museums have traditionally relegated Indigenous items to their “ethnographic” sections or placed Native artwork in natural history museums instead of art museums, sending a subconscious, but not at all subtle message to their mostly white visitors.

“Museums have spoken about Native communities, Native artists in the past tense, not positioning Native communities as vibrant and living and thriving today,” Turner explained.

Putting Native American material on view alongside wooly mammoth bones tells museum guests Indigenous people are of the past. That Native histories and stories and truths and futures needn’t be considered in modern society.

“A lot of Native artists feel frustrated that one of their contemporary pieces will be put in a historical gallery of Native art, contextualized in a narrow way, not brought into conversation with larger stories of contemporary art,” Turner said.

From a non-Native perspective, this museological practice has been so subtle and pervasive, guests don’t even recognize how they’ve been hoodwinked.

“(A visitor) stopped me recently to say they hadn't realized the very fact that we installed this exhibition in the contemporary wing completely reversed a lens they were accustomed to viewing these works in,” Grothe said. “They were so accustomed to seeing (Native American) work in specific settings with specific lighting and gallery colors–it felt radical to see (Native artwork in the contemporary wing). They said they even saw the historic artworks they were familiar with for the first time (in a new way), simply appreciating (their) beauty. That is exactly what we're trying to do. There are subtle shifts an institution can do to change the way people see these things.”

And by changing the way visitors see the items, museums will change the way visitors see the people who made them.

“By bringing in contemporary artists, contemporary voices, and commingling historical art with contemporary art, we're showing the continuity of narratives of artistic practices in a way that embraces the realities for Native people,” Turner added.

Additionally reminding museum visitors that Native art, people and culture are contemporary, dynamic, and ongoing.

Fine Art > Craft

Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota), Lasso,' 2018. Courtesy the artist and Vancouver Art Gallery

Museums must also acknowledge how their hierarchies have dismissed and marginalized Indigenous artistic talent.

“Dyani White Hawk, one of her big statements as an artist is to talk about the ways Indigenous artworks have often been relegated as less than fine art and labeled as craft in collecting institutions,” Grothe explains.

Craft–material objects (pottery, weavings, beadwork)–has always been considered “lesser than” fine art–paintings, sculpture, photography–in the historical perspective of museums who act as the ultimate arbiters and gatekeepers of taste and culture in America. An opinion founded in patriarchy, white supremacy, and Western exceptionalism.

“Preoccupied’s” breadth and its takeover of the museum all at once helps visitors recognize how these various museum practices injurious to Native people, taking place at thousands of institutions across the country since the 19 th century, have combined in contributing to disempowering, oppressing and excluding Native people from mainstream American culture.

Baltimore Is Native Land

In addition to “Preoccupied’s” scale and scope, its location is significant. If this were taking place at a museum in New Mexico or Oklahoma or Arizona or Montana–where Native artwork and people are more visible–it would still matter, but in Baltimore, in Maryland, it hits a different way.

“We find that on the East Coast in particular–this is true everywhere, but here because colonialism is so much older, it happened hundreds of years before it happened with my (Yurock) people (in California)–there is a different understanding in non-Native communities about the history of the (Native) people in the region,” Turner said. “They think that Native people were genocided and that was the end, they welcomed the Pilgrims and then went away. There's a lot of education that needs to happen and museums are uniquely positioned to reach many different audiences.”

Ten months of a Native “takeover” at the Baltimore Museum of Art, or any museum, can’t make up for 100 years of institutional contempt, but it’s a meaningful start.

Preoccupied solo and thematic exhibitions organized by opening date:

Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache), 'My Soul Remainer,' 2017. The Baltimore Museum of Art: ... [+] Purchase with exchange funds from the Pearlstone Family Fund and partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

“Dyani White Hawk: Bodies of Water” (April 21–December 1, 2024)

“Finding Home” (May 12–December 1, 2024)

“Enduring Buffalo” (May 12–December 1, 2024)

“Illustrating Agency” (May 12–December 1, 2024)

“Don’t wait for me, just tell me where you’re going” (May 12–December 1, 2024)

“Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees” (May 12–December 1, 2024)

“Nicholas Galanin: Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge” (July 14, 2024–February 16, 2025)

“Laura Ortman: Wood that Sings” (July 17, 2024 – January 5, 2025)

“Dana Claxton: Spark” (August 4, 2024–January 5, 2025)

General admission to the Baltimore Museum of Art is free.

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Pullman-Moscow airport opens new terminal with updated features and more space

P ULLMAN, WA - After months of coordination and construction the new terminal at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport is officially open.

" This is fabulous, this is beyond belief, we waited for so many years for this," Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said.

On Tuesday night after the final plane left the old terminal, TSA and other airport employees moved everything to the new terminal just in time for yesterday’s 5am flight.

Officially marking the inauguration of the new terminal.

It has a new runway, extra parking spaces, rental car accessibility, jet bridges, PA system and so much more. However, one of the big differences, everything is now in one space.

" Your jet bridge, you don't have to go outside to get on the plane. Your baggage carousel is inside. so, you basically get off the plane, through this exit from security pick up your bags and staring out the door, it really makes flying even more enjoyable," Pullman Mayor Francis Benjamin said.

This new terminal was designed to handle possible future expansion.

As the airport grows a second TSA line can be added. There is space for another airline check-in counter as well as adding a third jet bridge.

Moscow Mayor Art Bettge says this new terminal will allow Pullman and Moscow to be better connected to the rest of the world.

" It will make it easier for athletic teams to come in and out. It makes it easier for students to go in and out. Faculty can get to conferences both domestically and internationally through connections so much more easily," Mayor Bettge said.

As for the old terminal, both mayors hope to turn it into a space that could be used for cargo, but it will need to comply with the FAA’s aviation guidelines.

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