Houston Museum of Natural Science

About

Houston Museum of Natural Science sits at 5555 Hermann Park Drive in the Houston Museum District, one of several institutions clustered around Hermann Park. The museum holds permanent exhibit halls covering paleontology, energy, Texas wildlife, and Native American cultures, plus the Cockrell Butterfly Center, the Burke Baker Planetarium, and the Wortham Giant Screen Theatre. Special exhibitions and a gems and minerals collection round out the halls, though not every hall stays open year round.

A visit to the permanent exhibit halls alone can run two to three hours. Adding the Butterfly Center, a planetarium show, and the giant-screen film extends a visit to most of a day. The Butterfly Center is a climate-controlled rainforest conservatory kept between 75 and 80 degrees with high humidity, and it houses an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 live butterflies at a time. Planetarium and theater shows run on their own schedules, so build in time between exhibit halls and ticketed shows rather than treating the museum as one continuous loop.

The museum is about ten minutes by car from downtown Houston and sits inside Hermann Park, within walking distance of the Houston Zoo and the Miller Outdoor Theatre. Other Museum District institutions, including the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and the Menil Collection, are a short drive away, so a Museum District day can combine more than one stop.

Museum District traffic and parking fill up on weekends and during school field-trip season, so plan extra time to find a spot in the on-site parking garage or along Caroline Street.

Accessibility

Houston Museum of Natural Science is wheelchair accessible throughout its main building, with a fuller set of published accommodations than most Houston museums. Free child, adult, and bariatric wheelchairs are available at the Museum Services desk just inside the Permanent Exhibit Halls entrance in exchange for a photo ID, first come, first served. There are no motorized wheelchairs or scooters to borrow, so bring your own if you need one.

Accessible parking is at the front of the museum on Caroline Street and near the elevators on every floor of the on-site parking garage. Allow extra time, since the Museum District gets crowded. A wheelchair ramp runs outside the main entrance, and if you park in the garage, a security guard opens a ramp route into the exhibit halls near the box office in the Grand Hall. Ramps are also at every public entrance and every emergency exit.

Inside, elevators serve the Gift Shop and Glassell Hall, reaching the Lower, First, and Second Levels. A second bank near the exhibit halls' second entrance reaches the Lower through Third Level, and a bay of three elevators by the Morian Hall of Paleontology reaches all four levels. Bathrooms throughout are described as fully handicap accessible, and adult changing tables are in the family restrooms on the Lower Level and at the Morian Overlook. The Cockrell Butterfly Center is fully accessible too, with elevators to every level and an accessible rainforest entrance.

For sensory needs, ask at Museum Services for a free sensory backpack with fidgets, ear defenders, and sunglasses, or use the Sensory Room in the Duncan Wing's Lower Level elevator lobby, open first come, first served. Staff carry training through the IBCCES Certified Autism Center program. Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors can request free Listen Technologies assistive listening devices and Dolby CaptiView captioning at the Giant Screen Theatre, plus open captioning or a transcript for planetarium shows with advance notice. Book an ASL interpreter at least 14 days ahead. Service animals as defined by the ADA are welcome; emotional support animals are not permitted in the building.

Call the Accessibility Programs Manager at 713-639-4629 or email [email protected] ahead of a visit to confirm any of this or request an accommodation.

Checked by Accessible America, August 2026. Report a change

More accessible places in Texas

• Space Center Houston (Houston)
• Houston Zoo (Houston)
• The Galleria (Houston)
• The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (Dallas)
• Morgan's Wonderland (San Antonio)
• Big Bend National Park (Big Bend National Park)

Photo credits

• The Houston Museum of Natural Science's curved white exterior and sign rise against a blue sky.: Wolfgang Manousek from Dormagen, Germany, CC BY 2.0 (source)
• Curved exterior of the Houston Museum of Natural Science with its sign and glass entrance atrium.: Wolfgang Manousek from Dormagen, Germany, CC BY 2.0 (source)
• Visitors approach the museum's glass entrance past steps, handrails, and a courtesy golf cart.: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)
• Entrance to the Burke Baker Planetarium inside the museum, with a marked handicap entrance and AED station.: Agsftw, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)
• A plaza with a fountain and sundial sits beside the museum's glass and stone entrance building.: Wolfgang Manousek from Dormagen, Germany, CC BY 2.0 (source)
• Spacious, flat-floored Grand Entry Hall of the museum lined with tall exhibit banners.: Agsftw, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)