Best Outdoor Museums in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is packed full of oddities and attractions to keep visitors entertained for days or weeks on end. There are tons of museums in Vegas that spark interest and curiosity in the minds of travelers within the area.
With ongoing social distancing requirements, outdoor attractions have grown in popularity even more so. Luckily, this doesn’t exclude museums as there are a number of outdoor museums in the Vegas area for visitors to come and enjoy.
Here are three of the best outdoor museums you can visit in Las Vegas:
The Neon Museum
The Neon Museum is an entirely outdoor exhibition that is spread out over 2.5 acres. The exhibit features neon signs that come from various periods throughout Vegas history. The organization behind the Neon Museum is a non-profit that aim to collect and preserve iconic Las Vegas signs for educational, historic, arts and cultural purposes.
This museum offers both guided and self-guided tours of the signs. Additionally, the museum keeps its interpreters stationed throughout the outdoor space to answer any questions visitors may have as they explore the exhibit.
The Neon Museum is currently open for limited ticketing due to Covid-19 social distancing guidelines. Neon Museum requires all guests to wear a mask when visiting the exhibit.
The Springs Preserve
The Springs Preserve is over 180 acres dedicated to educational displays, nature walks, museums, and most importantly – preserved land. This location has several outdoor activities to offer, including botanical gardens, walking trails, and outdoor event venues.
Additionally, there are two museums that are included within this preserve, though they are in indoor spaces. They are the Origen Museum and the Nevada State Museum.
- The Origen Museum explores the original people and culture of the land that is now Las Vegas. The museum’s name is even a reference to this, being created from a combination of the words original and generation. This museum includes an exhibit on a wide variety of subjects including wild animals, flash floods, and the Hoover Dam.
- Nevada State Museum is home to much larger and more grand exhibits, such as dinosaur fossil exhibitions. While the rest of the Springs Preserve and parts of the Origen Museum are located outside, the Nevada State Museum is an entirely indoor attraction. The museum lives in a 70,000-square foot building with a 13,000-square foot exhibit gallery – a spacious facility for visitors to spread out in.
The Springs Preserve is temporarily closed in response to stay-at-home orders, but plan to reopen outdoor attractions, museums, and exhibits as soon as possible.
Goldwell Open Air Museum
This is a more peculiar outdoor-based exhibition. In the ghost town of Rhyolite, just outside of Las Vegas, is the Goldwell Open Air Museum. This museum features bizarre and thought-provoking sculptures across a 15-acre property. The Goldwell Open Air Museum also sponsors artists residencies for artists in the local area.
The most widely known sculpture featured here is a life size recreation of Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper where the people are replaced by ghostly figures that appear to be draped in white fabric or sheets.
The Goldwell Open Air Museum’s sculptures are available for visiting and viewing, though the visitor center and gift shop are currently closed.