How do you get American Museum of Natural History tickets, and what do they cover?

The $37 skip-the-line ticket is a straightforward general admission pass. It gets you past the door line and into all 45 permanent halls, including the dinosaur wing, the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life with its blue whale, the Akeley Hall of African Mammals and the Hall of Gems with the Star of India sapphire. It's dated and timed for entry but not for how long you stay once inside.

It suits a family or a first-time visitor who wants the core museum without extras. If you have kids who want to see the dinosaurs and the whale and you're not chasing a specific special exhibition, this is the ticket to buy and stop thinking about it.

It does not cover the Hayden Planetarium space show, the giant-screen documentaries or any blockbuster special exhibition; those are separate, timed add-ons you book alongside general admission. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents with ID can skip the ticket altogether and pay what they wish at the door instead. For the museum's full lineup of tours and how it stacks up against the city's other big draws, our guide to New York's museums is a useful starting point.

The ground floor holds the big-ticket items: the 94-foot blue whale hanging over the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, and the fourth-floor dinosaur halls with a titanosaur cast so long it spills into the entrance hallway and a mounted T. rex skeleton posed mid-stride. The Akeley Hall of African Mammals, one of the oldest sections of the museum, still uses hand-painted dioramas that predate CGI wildlife documentaries by decades.

The Rose Center for Earth and Space houses the Hayden Planetarium inside its glass cube, visible from Central Park West after dark. The Gilder Center, opened in 2023, added an insectarium, a butterfly vivarium and a connective hall of undulating stone that links wings of the museum that used to require going back outside to reach.

Not suitable for

• A quick one-hour stop; the museum spans four city blocks and rewards a half day
• Visitors expecting the planetarium show included in general admission
• Strollers during peak weekend hours, when some halls get tight

What to bring

• A charged phone for your mobile ticket
• A light jacket; the halls run cool, especially the Rose Center
• Comfortable shoes for four city blocks of galleries
• ID if you're a New York, New Jersey or Connecticut resident paying what you wish

Not allowed

• Large backpacks or suitcases in gallery spaces
• Flash photography near the dioramas
• Food or drink inside the exhibition halls

A few things that make the visit smoother, learned the hard way over repeat trips.

• Enter through the 77th Street door instead of Central Park West on busy days; the line is usually shorter
• Buy the Hayden Planetarium show separately in advance if you want it, since slots run out by early afternoon
• The Gilder Center gets least crowded right after opening or the last hour before close
• Skip the gift shop nearest the whale hall; the main store on the ground floor has better prices
• If you're a NY, NJ or CT resident, bring ID and pay at the walk-up desk rather than booking online