The 21 best museums to visit in Los Angeles

Free reservations required.

From the second you board its hill-climbing tram, you know you’re in for something special—and I think the Getty Center is truly unlike any other institution in Southern California, if not the world. When the J. Paul Getty Trust’s extensive art collection outgrew its coastal mansion (now the antiquity-filled Getty Villa, which is absolutely worth a visit, too), the museum migrated to this magnificent site in 1997. You’ll find a remarkable complex of travertine and white metal-clad pavilions that houses ornate French furniture, recognizable Impressionist pieces and rotating exhibitions.

Sure, it’s right along a highly-trafficked freeway and you’ll have to pay for parking (though prices drop later in the day), but you’ll forget all about that thanks to free admission and some postcard-worthy panoramic views. Stick around to watch the sunset over the ocean, if you can; I always enjoy viewing from above the central garden or the southern cactus garden.

Timed reservations required on weekends, recommended on weekdays.

Don’t let the “library” part of the name lull you into thinking this is solely a bookish destination: The Huntington is by far the most beautiful botanical garden in the region, with museum collections that you absolutely shouldn’t pass up either. Once the estate of railroad tycoon Henry E. Huntington, it’s now an exquisite attraction that can easily occupy an entire day—best enjoyed at a leisurely pace with a break for afternoon tea in the rose garden.

The eponymous library includes a Gutenberg Bible, an early copy of Hamlet and correspondences from the Founding Fathers, while the luxurious central residence houses European artwork, including Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy. A nearby cluster of large galleries houses the American art collection, including Arts and Crafts furniture and a growing assortment of contemporary pieces. The gardens themselves are practically pieces of art, too, most notably the hilly Japanese garden (now home to a three-century-old rural house) and the exquisite Chinese garden, where bridges and pavilions encircle a water lily-filled lake—though the otherworldly desert garden is also a personal favorite.

Timed tickets recommended. Free for L.A. County residents weekdays after 3pm. No tickets are required to see outdoor sculptures Urban Light and Levitated Mass. 

Chris Burden’s Urban Light, a piece made up of 202 cast-iron street lamps gathered from around L.A. and restored to working order, quickly became one of the city’s indelible landmarks. But you’d be selling yourself short if you don’t venture beyond the photo-friendly installation; LACMA’s collections boast modernist masterpieces, large-scale contemporary works (including Richard Serra’s massive swirling sculpture and Burden’s buzzing, hypnotic Metropolis II), traditional Japanese screens and some of L.A.’s most consistently terrific special exhibitions. 

Just a heads up, though: The eastern half of LACMA’s campus is mostly closed as it wraps up a massive redesign dubbed the David Geffen Galleries, due to be completed by 2025. But you’ll still find about a half-dozen special exhibitions and a bright presentation of the modern collection located in the existing Resnick Pavilion and BCAM. 

Timed tickets required.

The history of moviemaking finally has a permanent home in L.A., and it’s filled with the sorts of cinematic treasures you’d expect from the people who put on the Oscars (and yes, you can hold one for an extra fee). The objects on display rotate pretty regularly, whether that’s C-3PO or the desk from The Godfather—the sole surviving shark from Jaws, though, is always there to bare its toothy smile. The institution’s slick, soap-bubble–like theater and three floors of exhibition space (look out for the new “Color in Motion” and “Cyberpunk” exhibitions) also tell an unflinching, nonlinear history of cinema that makes room for a mixture of stories. Find out more in our complete guide to the Academy Museum.

Free timed tickets required, including for Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.

Three words: Infinity Mirror Rooms. Downtown’s persistently popular contemporary art museum has two of Yayoi Kusama’s immersive, mirror-laden rooms (one that you can step into, one that you only pop your head into). It’s certainly not the only reason to visit, but I’ll admit that I gasp each time I walk inside the Souls piece.

Elsewhere in the free museum (though sometimes the first-floor special exhibition has an additional fee), the late Eli and Edythe Broad’s collection of 2,000-plus post-war works includes artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger and Jeff Koons. Outside, the museum’s plaza features a lovely olive tree grove. Find out more in our complete guide to the Broad.

Industrialist Armand Hammer founded this museum in 1990 primarily to house his own collection. But since then, it’s really come into its own as what I think is L.A.’s most exciting, forward-thinking art museum. With its decades-in-the-making master plan now fully realized, the free, UCLA partner institution stages fascinating shows of contemporary art, photography and design, often with an epmhasis on local artists (most notably with its “Made in L.A.” biennial). The shows are supplemented by a small permanent collection of the Impressionists and Old Masters, and the Hammer’s public events calendar (arguably one of the best in the city) is chock full of free lectures and screenings.

Advance tickets recommended; free for county residents from 3–5pm.

The NHM’s original Beaux Arts structure was the first museum building in L.A., which opened in 1913 with Exposition Park itself—and it’s the only building on this list that looks something like a grand European institution. The more recent Otis Booth Pavilion welcomes visitors into the museum with a six-story glass entrance featuring a 63-foot-long fin whale skeleton, while the soon-to-open NHM Commons side boasts a green long-necked dinosaur. Highlights include the gem and mineral hall, spectacularly presented dinosaur and mammal fossils, the 3.5-acre urban nature gardens and “Becoming L.A.,” which examines the Los Angeles region’s history from its indigenous inhabitants to the present day.

Free timed tickets required.

There are a few permanent fixtures at the main, Grand Avenue branch of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art—mainly a gallery lined with Mark Rothko canvases. Otherwise, this primer on post-war art largely changes from exhibition to exhibition. I find that those already inclined toward contemporary art get the most out of the shows here, otherwise they may seem a little “out there.” But the large-scale exhibitions at the nearby Geffen Contemporary, the museum’s Little Tokyo warehouse, are often sublime crowd-pleasers—particularly the Olafur Eliasson exhibition that’s there now until July 2025. MOCA notably switched to free admission in 2020, but the Geffen shows often require a paid ticket.

Free timed tickets required.

In 1974, oil magnate J. Paul Getty opened a museum of his holdings in a faux villa. Eventually the decorative arts and paintings were moved to the Getty Center, but the villa remains as the home of Getty’s collection of Mediterranean antiquities. Today, there are roughly 1,200 artifacts on display at any one time, dated between 6,500 BC and 500 AD. Even if you’re not interested in the art, I think the palatial courtyards and manicured gardens are worth the visit (and your parking fee at one Getty location is valid at the other if you visit in the same day).

I think this is easily the most underrated museum in the L.A. area. Sure, its exterior is plastered in the center of your TV screen every year during the Rose Parade, but this calm and intimately laid out Pasadena museum rarely feels as packed as most of the picks above it in this list. Make no mistake, though: The quality of the artwork here is tremendous. You’ll see Old Masters (Rembrandt and Brueghel), French Impressionists (Monet, Manet and Renoir) and an unparalleled (for the area, at least) collection of South and Southeast Asian sculpture. Make sure to stroll around the lovely sculpture garden—and consider planning a visit for the first Friday of the month, when admission is free after 4pm.

The vista from this hilltop landmark is stunning, particularly at night when Los Angeles twinkles below. Inside you’ll find a bevy of exhibits, including a Foucault pendulum (directly under Hugo Ballin’s famed mural on the central rotunda), Tesla coil and planetarium show. Give yourself plenty of time before the 10pm closing to gaze through the 12-inch refracting telescope on the roof, otherwise you can look through the far less crowded modern, reflecting telescopes often set up on the front lawn. Just a heads up: The museum is closed on Mondays, though you’re still welcome to explore the grounds around it.

Take a guided hike around the Hollywood Hills.

Advance tickets recommended.

This 1921, Mayan-inflected Frank Lloyd Wright house was originally built as a “progressive theatrical community” space by activist and oil heiress Aline Barnsdall—today it’s the centerpiece of Barnsdall Park and is open for self-guided interior and exterior tours on select days (Thu–Sat, 11am–4pm). Though the home’s privileged hilltop perch is admirable from the outside, it’s best experienced from within: The exquisite wood detailing, long concrete hallways and geometric furniture are well worth the $7 tour.

The outdoor pits are free to visit. Advance tickets for the indoor museum recommended.

Back in 1875, a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hancock Park. A century and a half later, the pros are still at work here, having dragged millions of fossils from the mire in the intervening years. Many of these specimens are now on display in this delightfully old-fashioned museum. Outside, the pits still bubble with black goo—you can watch paleontologists at work in the excavation of Pit 91 and toil away at the fossils waiting to be found as part of Project 23.

Free Tuesday, Wednesday 1–4pm.

Based on the name, you might expect this Griffith Park museum to be a kitschy exploration of the life and works of famous singing cowboy Gene Autry. Instead, it’s actually a very engaging exploration of all of the peoples of the West (with a sizable collection of Native American art), outlining its history and detailing the myths that came to surround it (though, yes, there’s often some sort of Autry memorabilia on display in the foyer).

One of three institutions clustered near each other in Exposition Park, this handsome museum documents the historical achievements of African Americans. Though its collection includes some pieces from the African diaspora, its primary focus—particularly its temporary exhibitions—is on Black artists from California and the American West.

Permanent exhibit galleries at this kid-friendly Exposition Park museum explore life sciences, human innovation and powered flight (all with a decidedly ‘90s design flair). However, its main attraction, Space Shuttle Endeavour, is temporarily off display for the next few years as it’s been moved into an upright position inside of the museum’s under-construction expansion. With that in mind, you may want to instead plan a visit around the ticketed exhibitions calendar, which typically feature a mix of finds from the ancient world and colorful, kid-focused displays.

Miracle Mile was the first commercial development in L.A. designed expressly for the benefit of drivers, and so a former department store makes an apt home for this museum of car culture. A 2015 redesign has since turned the automotive history museum into a high-tech gallery with about 150 cars on display. There’s a glimpse into the rise of car culture in Southern California, but that mostly takes a backseat to a focus on the progress, dominance and dazzling good looks of the automobile. You’ll find a mix of famous Hollywood cars, sumptuously swooping vintage vehicles and high-performance supercars.

Book a private tour of the museum.

Free Sundays.

Located on land that once housed a productive silent film studio, everything about this museum is a forward-thinking enterprise, from its modern and contemporary-driven collection to its building. The core of the permanent collection is in the Long Gallery, with work by one artist from every Latin American country. Swing by on Sundays for free admission.

Advance tickets recommended.

This hillside campus off the 405 looks at connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and communities within L.A. The permanent displays of Judaica are both beautiful and enriching, while the temporary exhibitions often veer more into pop culture territory (think: Star Trek, the Muppets). Little ones will love Noah’s Ark, a wonderful kid-oriented, playground-like exhibit that explores cultural differences through a retelling of the old animals-two-by-two tale.

Advance tickets recommended.

This museum tells the story of Japanese immigration to the U.S., from early restrictions on property ownership to the brutal internment camps during World War II. Aside from the permanent exhibition, the museum stages an engaging roster of documentary and art exhibitions, including a wrenching yet beautiful display of images and artifacts from the aforementioned internment camps. Exhibitions have ranged from an awe-inspiring showcase of Japanese tattoo traditions to a Hello Kitty retrospective. Note that beginning in early 2025, the museum will begin a major update project on its core exhibition—but you can catch programming all over the city in its place.

Though technically a gallery, Hauser & Wirth basically feels like a museum. Much of that is owed to the international gallerist’s massive footprint, a 116,000-square-foot former flour mill. The restored complex houses up to three exhibitions at a time, with a mix of post-war contemporary icons and of-the-moment working artists. If you’re hungry, dine on the edge of the courtyard at Manuela (and if you’re on the opposite side of town, check out the newer but smaller West Hollywood gallery).