Guides Places

Psst… 17 Best Undiscovered Colorado Museums to Visit

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery | The Denver Ear

Experience, engage, and learn history, science, space, arts, transportation, security, cultures and more. We’ve rounded up the 17 best undiscovered Colorado museums to visit!

17 BEST UNDISCOVERED COLORADO MUSEUMS TO VISIT

#1 CLEAR CREEK HISTORY PARK
Clear Creek History Park | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Golden History Museums

Where: 1020 11th St, Golden, CO 80401

Hours: Daily from Sunrise to Sunset

Clear Creek History Park, part of Golden History Museums, features original buildings from the old Pearce Ranch in Golden Gate Canyon. Stroll through this park and imagine yourself growing potatoes or raising chickens as part of a homesteading family. Peek through the windows of real 1800s cabins and see other buildings from the ranch like the barn, chicken coop, two-seat outhouse, and the 1876 Guy Hill schoolhouse.

#2 COLORADO MODEL RAILROAD MUSEUM
Colorado Model Railroad Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Colorado Model Railroad Museum

Where: 680 10th St, Greeley, CO 80631

Hours: September – June 5th Friday & Saturday 10am – 4pm, Sunday 1pm – 4pm; June 6th – August Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm, Sunday 1pm – 4pm

The Colorado Model Railroad Museum, located by the mainline of the Union Pacific Railroad in Greeley, is one-of-a-kind facility that features over 600 railroad-related artifacts ranging from a Virginia and Truckee Railroad switch key to a full-sized Colorado and Southern wooden Caboose available for examining both inside and out.

#3 COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES GEOLOGY MUSEUM
Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum | The Denver Ear

Photo Credit  ©Cool Adventures

Where: 1301 Maple St, Golden, CO 80401

Hours: Monday – Saturday 9am to 4pm; Sunday 1pm – 4pm

The Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum is home to one of the state’s two Goodwill Moon Rocks, collected during the Apollo 17 mission to space. The Museum also displays other minerals, fossils, gemstones and meteorite and historic mining artifact exhibits on two floors.

#4 COLORADO SKI & SNOWBOARD MUSEUM
Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum

Where: 231 S Frontage Rd E, Vail, CO 81657

Hours: Daily 10am – 6pm

The Colorado Ski & Snowboard Museum is a treasure trove of ski history and heritage. Its six themed galleries display artifacts, narratives and film documentaries that entertain and educate visitors of all ages. Featured topics include the famed 10th Mountain Division training for World War II at Camp Hale, Spirit of Americans in the Winter Olympics, Skiing and Snowboard history, Vail’s first 50 years, and the Hall of Fame.

#5 COUNTERTERRORISM EDUCATION LEARNING LAB (CELL)

Where: 99 W 12th Ave, Denver, CO 80204

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm; Sunday 12pm – 5pm

The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL), is dedicated to the prevention of terrorism through education, empowerment and engagement. The Lab features a dynamic, interactive experience that is continually updated to reflect today’s reality of the threat of terrorism. All of the content included in the state-of-the-art exhibit was developed by world-renowned counterterrorism experts and was designed by Academy and Emmy Award-winning artists.

#6 FORT COLLINS MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Visit Fort Collins

Where: 408 Mason Ct, Fort Collins, CO 80524

Hours: Tuesday – Sunday 9:30am to 6pm; Thursday 9:30am to 8pm

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery offers opportunities to learn, reflect, and have fun through hands-on and collection-based explorations in science and culture. The Museum features a 16,000 square foot main gallery with different exhibits ranging from science to history, a rooftop observation deck, a 360-degree theater, and more.

#7 GHOST TOWN MUSEUM
Ghost Town Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Emaze

Where: 400 S 21st St, Colorado Springs, CO 80904

Hours: September – May 10am to 5pm; June – August Monday to Saturday 9am – 6pm, Sunday 10am – 6pm

The Wild West Ghost Town Museum offers an authentic western experience and features buildings from real ghost towns that have been preserved. The Museum also features thousands of authentic old west artifacts, antique arcade games, and an opportunity for guests to try their hand at real gold panning.

Psst… For more unique places check out our guide of places you can experience the pioneer life in Colorado!

#8 GLOBAL VILLAGE MUSEUM OF ARTS & CULTURES

Where: 200 W Mountain Ave # C, Fort Collins, CO 80521

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11am to 5pm

The Global Village Museum of Arts & Cultures allows you to experience the world under one roof. The Museum’s exhibits are created to engage and inspire visitors to learn more about world cultures, people, art, and history in order to promote understanding and peace.

#9 MOLLY BROWN HOUSE MUSEUM
Molly Brown House Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Molly Brown House Museum

Where: 1340 Pennsylvania St, Denver, CO 80203

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4:30pm; Sunday 12pm – 4:30pm

The Molly Brown House Museum, the home of Titanic survivor Margaret Tobin Brown in Denver, stands as an enduring symbol of the Victorian era and the city of Denver. In the 1880s the lucky few who made millions in the mountains, the railroads, or trade moved to the prestigious Capitol Hill neighborhood. Margaret and J.J.’s house at 1340 Pennsylvania Avenue was built in 1889.

#10 MORRISON NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Where: 501 CO-8, Morrison, CO 80465

Hours: Daily Tours Offered at 10:15am, 12:15pm & 2:15pm

Morrison Natural History Museum offers expert guided tours and hands-on exhibits at Jefferson County’s original paleontology museum. Encounter historic and modern fossil finds and see research in progress in the fossil preparation laboratory. Investigate Morrison’s geologic setting, observe “onsite fieldwork” as preparators probe sandstone boulders for fossils, dig for small, local fossils in the Dig Garden, and immerse yourself in a patch of Jurassic flora in the Jurassic Garden.

#11 MUSEUM OF OUTDOOR ARTS (MOA)
Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Visit Denver

Where: #-230, 1000 Englewood Pkwy, Englewood, CO 80110

Hours:  Tuesday – Thursday 10am to 5pm; Friday 10am to 4pm; Saturday 11am to 4pm

The Museum of Outdoor Arts (MOA) offers fully integrated indoor and outdoor quality arts experiences. Paintings, kinetic sculptures, bronze statues, and earth based conceptual works are just a few of examples of what their various art destinations have to offer.

#12 NATIONAL BALLPARK MUSEUM

Where: 1940 Blake St, Denver, CO 80202

Hours: Tuesday – Friday 12pm to 5:30pm; Saturday: 11am to 5:30pm

The National Ballpark Museum‘s collection was recognized by Smithsonian Books as one of the top 21 finest private baseball collections in the World. The Museum prides itself on one-of-a-kind treasures, including those from all of the major league teams, as well as Colorado baseball from the Denver Bears & Bears Stadium, as well as from the Colorado Rockies & Coors Field.

#13 OLD HOMESTEAD HOUSE MUSEUM
Old Homestead House Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Old Homestead House Museum

Where: 353 Myers Ave, Cripple Creek, CO 80813

Hours: Daily from 11am to 5pm June through October

The Old Homestead was built in 1896 and was the most elegant brothel in Colorado’s Cripple Creek District. Today, the Old Homestead House Museum offers guided tours to help keep the story of the Old West alive through stories and artifacts about the lives of the girls who worked in the brothel and of the gold miners who made Cripple Creek famous.

#14 OUTLAWS AND LAWMEN JAIL MUSEUM
Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum

Where: 136 W Bennett Ave, Cripple Creek, CO 80813

Hours: Thursday – Sunday 9am – 4pm

Relive the outlaw days of the Wild West in the unique and popular Cripple Creek Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum. Housed in a red-brick building that served as the Teller County Jail for nearly 90 years, this historic Cripple Creek museum gives visitors a taste of the shadier side of life in the World’s Greatest Gold Camp, along with a glimpse into the lives of the lawmen charged with keeping the peace.

#15 SPACE FOUNDATION DISCOVERY MUSEUM
Space Foundation Discovery Center | The Denver Ear

Photograph courtesy of ©Space Foundation Discovery Center

Where: 4425 Arrowswest Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm

The Space Foundation Discovery Center is the region’s first and only dedicated space, science and technology center and museum. The Center features the El Pomar Space Gallery, displaying the Space Foundation’s collection of space artifacts.

The Center also features exhibits such as Scale Model Rockets, Soviet and U.S. Space Suits, the AGI Space Missions Simulation Laboratory, the Mars Robotics Laboratory, and the Science On a Sphere®, a dynamic spherical projection system featuring over 360 datasets.

#16 UTE INDIAN MUSEUM

Where: 17253 Chipeta Rd, Montrose, CO 81403

Hours: Monday – Saturday 9am – 4:30pm; Sunday 11am – 4pm

The Ute Indian Museum celebrates the history and the living culture of the Ute tribes, Montrose’s longest continuous residents. Originally built in 1956, the museum features one of the most extensive collections of Ute ethnographic objects in existence and works by contemporary Ute artists. Last year the museum unveiled a new building and exhibition connecting the past with contemporary Ute life and culture.

#17 VINTAGE AERO FLYING MUSEUM

Where: Platte Valley Airpark, 7125 Parks Ln, Fort Lupton, CO 80621

Hours: Normally open Tuesdays & Thursdays for Tours & Every 2nd Saturday of the Month for a Themed Event

For Tour Reservations Contact (303) 502-5347

The Vintage Aero Flying Museum houses one of the most historically significant and internationally recognized collections of World War I memorabilia in the world. They also host a significant collection of Golden Age of Aviation (1918 – 1939) and World War II aviation memorabilia and aircraft. This material includes memorabilia from Japan, Germany and other axis countries.

Psst… The Museum is named the Lafayette Foundation in honor of the men who served in the LaFayette Escadrille and the LaFayette Flying Corps during World War II.