How’s your brain? Is it ready for some mental stimulation? Or maybe you’d like to see some beautiful places and disappear into the unknown, well, at least to you. 

Lucky for you, many museums, art galleries, zoos, aquariums, and more are offering virtual tours!

Let’s start with museums:

Museums, like people, are not all the same. Some are general, artistic, historical, hands-on, scientific, and a few other things that are down-right strange.

Which way do you roll? 

Art Museums:

When someone hears the word “museum,” they usually think of an art museum, and it makes sense since the majority of famous museums are dedicated to art.

Whether you’re a newbie or an art aficionado, you’ll most likely recognize the names of many of the examples of museums, artists, and pieces found in this list of virtual tours.

• The Louvre – Paris, France
  • Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – New York, NY
  • Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night
  • Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) – New York, NY
  • Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (1899)
• Art Institute of Chicago – Chicago, IL
  • Over 30 Claude Monet’s masterpieces
• The Van Gogh Museum – Amsterdam, Netherlands
• J Paul Getty Museum – Los Angeles, CA
  • Vincent van Gogh’s Irises
  • Renoir’s La Promenade
• The Guggenheim – New York, NY
  • Louise Bourgeois’s Maman
• The National Gallery – London, England
  • Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
  • Da Vinci’s The Virgin on the Rocks
• Vatican Museum – Rome, Italy
  • The Sistine Chapel
• The Galleria dell’Accademia – Florence, Italy
  • Michaelangelo’s statue of David

Natural History and Natural Science Museums:

Are you interested in the natural world? Whether physical or social, these virtual museum tours will provide you the opportunity to learn about nature.

• Natural History Museum
  • Emperor penguin eggs
  • Oldest human skeletons
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
• Butterfly Pavilion
• Hall of Human Origins
• Online Exhibits
• Oral Histories
  • Rosie the Riveter
• Oxford University Museum of Natural History (virtual tour with audio commentary)

Science and Technology:

Learn about the development, processes, and uses of scientific instruments.

• NASA
  • Langley Research Center
  • Glenn Research Center
• National Museum United States Air Force
• Museo Galileo
  • Original telescopes
  • Three of his Galileo’s fingers   
• German Oceanographic Museum

History Museums:

From an ethnographic viewpoint to antiquities, historic houses, and commemorative events, enjoy history museums to learn about the past.

• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• The National Women’s History Museum
• Anne Frank House
• Museum of Flight
• Jackie Robinson Museum

Zoos:

Like museums, zoos acquire and care for collections (animals) to educate the public.

• San Diego
  • For the Kids
• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary – Australia
  •  Webcam streaming live footage of animals

Aquariums: 

Check out some really cool aquatic life!

• Monterey Bay
• Georgia Aquarium
  •  Beluga Whale live cam

National Parks:

Yellowstone is one of the US’s pride and joys.

• Yellowstone
  • Old Faithful, wildlife, and more

There are so many Iconic Places to Visit in the world, but not enough time to see them all.

• Statue of Liberty
• Great Barrier Reef
• Google Earth

Let’s Get Weird:

If you are looking for something off the beaten path, then here are a couple of places to “visit.”

• Paris Catacombs
  • Visit the “eerie tunnels of the dead hidden beneath the City of Love”
• Chernobyl
  • See the empty streets of the radioactive Pripyat city after the nuclear reactor Chernobyl disaster
• The Crescent Hotel 
  • The most haunted hotel in America

Live Cams:

It seems like there are live cams everywhere and here are a few you can look at:

• Watch the grass grow
• Costa Rica Volcano
• EarthCam
• Africam – watch animals gather at waterholes
• Sea Otter Cam at the Vancouver Aquarium
• Las Vegas Wedding Chapel
• Eiffel Tower

Via technology, the world is at your fingertips! Sit back and enjoy traveling the world, going back in time, meeting people, and more from the comfort of your home.