Hesitantly, I give three stars. The facility and the displays and exhibits (presentation) are all high end and class. New to town I picked up a seattle library card, which gave me access to museums. I figured it was a way to keep me educated. Parking was a challenge. There are a few spots directly in front of the museum and after looping back through only to find more people with blinks on indicating they are taking the spot even if there wasn't anyone in the vehicle. There's a lot directly off campus for $5 that I would recommend. Again the facility is beautiful and impressive. There are a ton of students in labs or classrooms dedicated for archeology or art preservation and others. I don't know what I was expecting. I found the information on indigenous people and their culture fascinating. They did a great job displaying and including all of the nations. I'm always fascinated by the many languages and cultures that are in this world. There is audio playing overhead so you can hear and experience the language. The other main areas was dedicated to dinosaurs. I could be mistaken however I came away from the museum thinking that was good however the information on display (dinosaurs) was from another area on the globe and not from the Seattle area. It would have been more interesting if the entire museum was dedicated to the history and preservation of the greater Seattle area so I could have learned more about the area, it's people (like the indigenous peoples exhibit), and how we've learned from mistakes of the past in order that we may preserve the land for future generations. read more

Burke Museum - Mastodon was a local creature that roamed the lands. Elephant relative now are found today in Africa and Asia. - Museums Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I highly recommend a visit to this museum while in Seattle. What an amazing job they did preserving and displaying 100's of animal species and fossils! It's part of UW, so you can stroll through campus as part of your outing. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 only because the gift shop was lacking. It would be a good opportunity for them to make some $ selling UW or Seattle swag to visiting tourists. read more

This was a huge disappointment for me. I spent time as an undergrad at the UW studying Pacific NW native art and took my kids to the museum often when it was in its old iteration. I love the new exterior architecture so I was excited to see how the art and craft inhabited the space. If you are interested in the art, don't go. There isn't much. This is now a museum of natural history and pan pacific culture, primarily geared toward kids. If you know much of anything about the geology or biology of the area, you'll be ahead of what they have to offer. This was a one off. I might take kids at a later date but sad to say I won't go for myself again. And I went so often in the past... read more

This is a first class facility providing a wonderfully educational and fun experience. I highly recommend visiting the Burke.

Looking forward to the renovation because what the Burke offers deserves so much more than its current space. I've always wanted to go to the Burke Museum after I found out it had fossils from Washington's first dinosaur. Nerdy, I know; but I enjoy looking at artifacts from different specimen, which is very telling of our history. And Burke Museum is the ideal place to do just that, especially since it's Washington's oldest museum. During my visit, I saw that the public can watch an employee excavate an old T-Rex skull, which was pretty cool! The room had a huge window display for observation and there were some informational material in the interactive room that it was in. The room seemed more fitting for kids, so they could learn about fossils and how information is collected at the museum, but still was cool to see the skull itself being worked on. The main floor of the museum though, was much smaller than I expected. In fact, I usually spend half a day at a museum but not here at the Burke, simply because there weren't that many exhibits. When I finally saw where the fossil for Washington's first dinosaur was, I almost passed by it without realizing that was it because it was placed in a small case with brief information before you enter one of the main rooms. Much of the main room had artifacts from Washington State, which was interesting to see, but it's clear that the design of the main rooms were geared towards children with the interactive displays and artwork. The basement level was spacious and much of it were displays of the different cultural groups in Washington. The cafe and bathrooms are also located on the basement level. Overall, the Burke Museum is overdue for the makeover they're in the process of now! The public can only see the limited collection that the Burke has with its small and old space its currently in. With that said, can't wait to visit the Burke again in 2019 when the renovation is scheduled to be completed. read more

Very little and simple if you like visiting museums. I think it's nice walking in the surroundings of the University which are beautiful. The cafeteria is cozy but has not to much to offer. read more

01/07/16: The Burke Museum is a great place to visit if you're in Seattle. The museum is family friendly. There are dinosaur exhibits that the kids always love and plenty of exhibits on world culture, as well as the cultures of the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest. A nice small compact cultural museum with not only animal exhibits from dinosaur and Mastodon bones to modern bird plumage and animal skulls but also cultural exhibits of peoples clothing, lifestyles, history. Museum laid out nicely with Natural History upstairs and cultures downstairs. The staff is very friendly and knowledgable. Patronize the gift shop as doing so helps to fund the museum. If you are looking for a trip that won't take all day, but really interesting to see visit the Burke museum. *Open Daily10 Am - 5 Pm 10 AM - 8 PM on the firstThursday of the month *Admission General: $10 Senior (65+): $8 Student (with student ID): $7.50 Youth (5-18, 0-4yrs FREE): $7.50 FREE first Thursday of each month *Coats + Bags Coat racks and a staffed bag check are available on the main floor.  *The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club formed in 1879. read more

Really fun place to go, I love how some parts are interactive. The little food area has good food too.

3.5 star. This museum is small and I would say it is worthy a quick visit to learn more about the Pacific Northwest. I think the admission price is around $10 or so, which I am not so sure if I would really pay that much money for a visit. You can either come in on first Thursday of the month to visit for free, or you can show your UW Husky ID and visit for free anytime. read more

Entrance fee is free for 0-4yrs, $7.50 for 5-18 years or students with a valid student ID and $10 for everyone else. There is a Burke membership that you can buy into so make sure to inquire before you purchase your entrance tickets. Also, parking costs $3 per hour or $15 for the entire day. It takes about 2 hours to go through the entire museum. I highly recommend this museum for all adults and children that love natural history. There are dinosaur fossils and ice age treasures galore. Lots of information on the original people of WA state as well as from other Pacific nation natives. My children are ages 5 and 10 and they loved every bit of it. There is something for everyone. In the summer time it gets pretty muggy inside the museum. It is not air conditioned so i recommend wearing light and loose fitted attire. There are a couple fans in the building but it doesn't do much. Also, there is a cafe on floor 1 if you're in need of a refreshing beverage. Overall, i really enjoyed this museum. read more

See all

Having taken my 6yo nephew to the Museum of Flight and Pacific Science Center in days preceding, the Burke was good for around 45 minutes before he lost interest. Smallish museum with a few nice dinosaur artifacts and anthropology information. The adults here seemed a whole lot more interested than the kids. This being said, seemed good for groups with guided activities. Just not the best stop for hands-on exhibits to keep the kiddos going for much longer than an hour. Would probably come back, but only for the free Thursdays. read more

On 04/07/2018 , we were at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, it was our first time, the reception people were very friendly. I really enjoyed this tour, knowing the history of the fossils of the dinosaurs that were on the face of the earth millions years ago, as it was also very interesting to know a little more about Native Americans and other cultures of the World. read more

See all

I've spent a good portion of my life working in museums across the country and despite some issues that I won't bore you with here, the Burke Museum is pretty awesome. Here's some little known facts about the behind the scenes research collections at the Burke Museum (note: these areas are not generally open to the public except on a few annual events...call the museum to find out when these events are taking place. Remember: less than 0.1% of a museum collection is hanging on the walls.). http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/index.php 1) Ornithology Collection is world famous: largest spread bird wing collection in the world, 2nd largest Tissue/DNA collection in the world. 2) Mammal Collection: the official state respository of Washington mammals. Where do the beached whale carcasses go...yes, here. Many cool conservation projects are on-going. I could go on... 3) Current temporary exhibits: REALLY COOL...the Yellowstone to the Yukon Conservation Initiative. Amazing photography. Check this out before it leaves! http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/y2y/ http://www.y2y.net/overview/default.asp 4) Temporary exhibit: Contemporary PNW Indigenous Artists...great exhibit. Beautiful glass works, paintings, and other native crafts. http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/inthespirit/ 5) Permanent exhibit: Life and Times of WA: a geologic history of Washington, rocks, fossils (including Mammoths, Pleistocene Megafauna). I'm not a fan of this exhibit. Fine for the little kids, but it needs to be completely redone. A waste of precious museum space. 6) Permanent exhibit: Voices of the Pacific. A jam packed exhibit of ~20 different cultures...each culture gets one a small display. I think this ok because it's like using a postage stamp to describe a culture. No depth. There are some beautiful items in these displays. One personal rants: -there's an audio tape of native speakers saying 'welcome' in their various cultures. I've heard these calls soooooo many times that I fear that 50 years from now (when I have three marbles left rolling around in my head), this audio track will still be playing. read more

Burke Museum - Museums Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Incredible. My 9 year old loved this museum which made me love it too. We met a sweet older couple in the cafe so we roamed together as a foursome. Curator has done an incredible job appealing to three generations all at once. Bravo read more

One of the worst natural history museums I've ever been to. Brand new and yet the planners knew nothing about basic museum design. The first exhibit room you see is full of cultural items from around the world. No maps displayed so you don't know where the items were created. I have 20/20 vision and the printing on the signs is so small it can hardly be read. No dates on the signs and no description of what you are looking at except such as "needle", " spindle", "arrow". There were some glass cases in other rooms that had for instant four native baskets but only three signs. In the animal area, they had a sign for a grizzly bear on a small beige animal the size of a dog. The place is a joke. The entire exhibition area has no planning or reasoning to its flow. Save your $23 and have a nice lunch somewhere. read more

If you are coming here to learn about the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, then you will have a great time and easily spend an hour or more looking through their exhibit. I saw so many cool artifacts, models, and excerpts about life as a Native. They have pieces from all over the world. If you are coming here to show kids fossils and dinosaur skeletons, you will be bored after 20 minutes. I'm excited for the expansion to be constructed so they can set up more exhibit space. Parking is a mess, since you have to pay at a different location from where you park, and both are located quite a ways from the museum. At least that's how it is when there is a campus event, which is most days. read more

I remember going for UW freshman orientation when they had free chocolate fountain for us after we went around the exhibits. That time, I was so focused on getting the stamps fast to get to the chocolate fountain so I didn't get to enjoy the exhibits at all. Also there were like 500 other freshman trying to do the same. I went here a few weeks ago when my department booked the place for our foundation dinner and we got to have dinner in the main hall and could roam around the place before dinner. I never realized we had a dinosaur in this region!!!!! Also they have the native mask that inspired the Seahawks mask and it was really interesting. I loved the beautiful display of the native culture and the nice cafe downstairs. They also host many activities for children so it's family friendly. If you're a UW student, you can come here for free anytime with the Husky card so you should take advantage of that! read more

See all

A new building is under construction to relocate the museum, so I was a little confused about where to go for the current exhibits; signage wasn't very clear to me. I attended the museum on the first Thursday with free admission and was glad I didn't pay. It's clear that this is a museum on a university campus, because there was nothing that blew me away. Perhaps it is a more engaging place if you come with children. read more

See all

The old museum was much better, cosier - and was paid for. This is an ugly box that looks like it was sided with used pallet boards. The interior lay-out is cold and ridiculous - the whole visible portion of the museum seems to be pushed to a hallway to one side of the building with lots of steps. Displays seem to be confusing and and inside feeling is cold and inhospitable. 20+ $ entry fee seems excessive. read more

They had some neat exhibits and I really enjoyed the "free with a Husky card" aspect. Over-all, though, I found it to be a bit small and was disappointed about that. I might return when they get a new exhibit up. What stood out: The beautiful pictures of Polar Bears and a space that was set up as a small dark room with a television at the end that was playing footage of Polar Bears being adorable. I am contemplating going back sometime when I'm bored and having that be my world for 30-60 minutes. read more

This used to be a nice family friendly museum before the renovation. Not anymore - new Burke is not worth taking kids to. The cultural heritage museum, with native and Asian exhibits, is nowhere to be found. Similarly the kid puzzle and toy play area is missing. There are very few interactive displays, with most things behind glass. And while the biological section is informative, seeing a giant room full of dead animal carcuses thawing and being worked on is just gross. The new museum is a mess, and frankly it's boring. read more

I visited the museum basically just because I have a husky card and thereby have free access to it. The museum is quite small and frankly there's not much to see. One of the upside about this museum is that there are a number of volunteers who provide information about the exhibits if you're interested in learning more. But I still think the museum lack a major theme. However, it does serve as a quick getaway super close to campus. I also noticed that there are a lot of families bring their kids to the Burke Museum. I think this may be a good idea as the stuff are all pretty easy to understand and you can interact with the volunteers in the museum so kids may find it a lot more interesting than regular museums. read more

Burke Museum - Museums Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I am feeling underwhelmed having just gone through the entire new Burke museum. It feels detached, remote. Animals and skeletons mounted or behind glass. Displays telling old stories. It's okay. It's interesting, and I don't know what I wanted from the $100 milkion dollar new Burke, but there was something maybe too academic about it. I know, right, what do you expect it on the UW campus! I know. Maybe it lacks an urgency. An urgency to save this life, this diversity and wonderment, from what seems a coming extinction event. It's like an old closet here while outside the greenhouse of Earth is, the same science, headed for 'meggeddon. Provoke Burke, provoke. We don't need another quaint little space to go consume and admire what we're about to lose. We need some likewise subtle calls to action. Wouldn't take much to make some environmantalist points. read more

I was super disappointed in this Museum. For starters there is no parking. I'm not joking when I say we spent nearly an hour circling trying to find parking. the only reason we stayed is because we drove an hour just to check out this Museum. Not worth it This museum is so small. The cafe is a joke. It's like a hallway and one big room so it's not even worth paying we left maybe 30 minutes, it was super boring. read more

Let me start off by saying on the first Thursday of each month it's FREE!!! And who doesn't like free? If you're not a Paleontologist like Ross from Friends, and like me; if you've seen one set of dinosaur fossils somewhere you've seen them all. I did however see a giant sloth fossil which I'd never seen before so that was cool If I was a rule breaker I would have taken a picture for my nephew who loves sloths but I a good and didn't. The Burke has an excellent exhibit going on right now called "The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World" which, shows how the polar bears are struggling against the change in climate. The poor polar bears are dying because of us and to help get the point across of global warming the AC was not working in the museum the day I went. So while learning about the drama that is unfolding in the Arctic I got to experience a nice case of swamp ass, it hit me just a little harder. If you have time between now and December 31 I highly recommend checking this exhibit out and you have three days left this year when it's free to see. If you like Native American art and artifacts they have some, I don't care for it so I just walked in and walked out, I think the heat was really getting to me at this point. I'm sure it's a nice collection so you should probably check it out too. read more

The Burke is one of the museums that participates on free museum days on the first Thursday of the month. Compared to other museums around town this one seems relatively small. Despite that the museum packs plenty of fascinating and useful information! The museum seems like something like a couple of Anthropology courses with a hint of Geology. Downstairs contains various cultural displays. The various displays do not focus on one culture but a variety of them. There are artifacts belonging to Northwest Native American tribes, Latino cultures, European and Asian. Really a little bit of everything. It is fascinating! Upstairs there is more the physical Anthropology, Archeology and Geology part of the museum. There are various fossils from plants, crustaceans and dinosaur remains here. They even have a display with artifacts during the Ice Age. One room covers volcano information and how they work. There is also a chart of all of the volcanoes along the West Coast in which they chart and estimate the frequency of eruptions each one has had. Of course there are mammal display cases too! In the front lobby there was a little display with a porcupine and other unusual mammals where you could touch them too see how they feel. It was their skin or they were mounted. They were not alive. The Burke was a fun visit and those free museum visits should be taken advantage of! read more

I love a great natural history museum. Unfortunately, this wasn't it. It was great for knowing Washington a few thousand or perhaps, million years ago. But honestly, too much native stuff doesn't interest me much. For the price I thought it was pretty lame. read more

The Pacific Voices Exhibit is fabulous. 17 different Pacific Rim cultures are represented through displays of costumes, art work, masks, videos, cultural scenes, music, photos, etc. The Washington state natural history exhibit features models of dinosaurs that used to roam the Northwest. The entrance fee seemed a little high considering the main special exhibit was still under construction. http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/ read more

The Burke is a two-storied, small-ish museum that focuses on the diverse cultures of the PNW, the geological history, and the flora and fauna in the region. There is also a rotating exhibit on the 2nd floor, official entrance floor. I wanted to see the Plastics exhibit after hearing a small segment on NPR on how a local resident lived plastics-free for 30 days. The exhibit was hands-on, visually interesting, and taught me a thing or two about the impact of plastics on the environment. The animals with their bodies stuffed full of little plastic objects really hit home.. Pick up after yourselves! Recycle! Be diligent! The rest of the museum was interesting, too. I had visited 3 or so years ago and remembered the bits on SE Asian cultures but not so much on native cultures. I really delved into the Hawaiian musical instruments, native masks, whaling tools, Potlatch gifts etc this time around. It was fun. I ended up spending about 2 hours there. Some things I spent more time reading and analyzing than others. Still could not find the turtle footprints on the big slab of rock! Doh! I think the Burke is nice to visit every once in a while. Might be boring if you visit often as the ongoing exhibits don't change. But there's a new rotating exhibit coming up on June 12th re artisan cooperatives from around the world started by women. Might go again to see that..! read more

Newly re-opened Burke has a wide variety of museum experiences for all ages. Each floor is devoted to a topic. The dinosaur and bones are great. Kids will find this wonderful. read more

The new Burke is awesome. I took two kids (5 and 8) and they were engaged the whole time. The museum has a novel way of turning its curation outward so you feel like you are walking through labs and you learn quite a lot about the process in so doing. And they have a lot of nice touches for little ones, such as stuffed animals the kids can find and other exhibits kids can engage with. It's smaller than a Smithsonian museum of course but it's got enough for a couple of hours. Lastly, the new museum is nothing like the old museum so I think the old reviews shouldn't be commingled here. The new museum is very modern, does a lot to teach you about the process, and the people are great too. Highly recommend. Finally a world class museum at UW. read more

Some of the permanent exhibits may be awkwardly arranged within their physical space. Others are subject to some glaring examples of "value engineering", which every museum must face to some extent. However, the Burke excels in education and community outreach, two areas that are as crucial to successful museum operation as interesting and informative exhibits. From a museological perspective, the Burke makes an outstanding effort to operate as a museum should. The curatorial and administrative staff go out of their way to reach out to diverse communities, especially among local tribal groups and seek to tell their stories and educate the public with the utmost respect. read more

Worth to visit if you're a UW student/have free admission/have kids. Otherwise,,,, I think I wasted $7.50. I really wanted to go to a museum, other than SAM (since I've already been there) to check out & avoid the rain. But I felt out of place from the very moment I walked in. I think the exhibits are more meant for little children or people who rarely ever see art, because I felt like exhibits were incomplete & just scattered all over the place. The information that they gave was too vague, & the children running all around me kind of scared me. Although it was warm & clean, I'd rather walk outside in the cold & look at the pretty buildings/trees at UW...... read more

An excellent museum for children and adults. It seems to have something to offer for both. The life and times of Washington exhibit has all those cool things kids love like dinosaurs, volcanoes and bugs. The also currently have a small exhibit about the Giant Squid that is very interesting. The price of admission is on the low side but the museum is also on the smaller side so don't expect to spend a whole day there. Parking can be a pain as it's next to the university. If possible try to park on the street, its going to be much cheaper. read more

The new building is amazing. Lots of cool exhibits, interactive spots for kids, windows into the work rooms where exhibits are prepped and the collection maintained, a relaxation / quiet area on the second floor. I upgrading to a membership based on today's visit. read more

I really enjoy going to museums and the Burke is no different. You can go for a few hours and see everything in depth. It doesn't take several trips to take it all in. I do think that the price to size ratio is a little high, but I'm a UW grad student, so my admission is free. When I went last time with my six year old, he cost more than me! The Burke has great exhibits on the Natural History of the PNW covering artifacts, dinosaurs and the geologic formation of the area. The Polar Bear photography exhibit is now on. I went for 20 minutes before class two weeks ago and did a speed tour. I'm planning on going back. read more

They rent exhibits in a box. I get them every year for my classes. They even offer cost assistance. I really appreciate this resource when we could never afford a field trip to the actual museum. I appreciate the museum's efforts to make such a valuable learning opportunity available for all schools. Thank you! read more

Though it's small, it's worth the admission price to go see. You get a view of the PNW from a "flora/fauna/prehistory" point of view, but you also get a large glimpse at the native peoples and immigrants to the area that's balanced. One thing that I dislike about many museums that do ethnology is that they tend to present cultures as if they are dead or an oddity; the Burke doesn't do that-- they present the cultures in context as living peoples who change, but have some common roots. Lots of objects to see and well-designed didactics, but they need to send someone around on a day when they're closed to straighten some of them up, as they're occasionally hung crookedly. Next time I go to Seattle, I'll have to look at it again. I really did thoroughly enjoy their presentation of the PNW for locals and non-locals alike. read more

Organized, clean and nice looking museum with one big problem: small. I was surprised on how small it was. Only two floors with things to see. We did the whole thing in 20 minutes. I guess it is a nice place to take the kids or relatives from out of town. It helped that I went on the free Thursday day but knowing the museum like I do now, I wouldn't pay full price for it. read more

My nine year old nephew loves dinosaurs. Once when he was about five be brought a rock into the house, convinced he'd found a velociraptor nest and terrified that he'd now disturbed the nest and that the momma raptor was now going to come and eat our whole family. My nephew would love the Burke Museum because it's got all sorts of fun prehistoric stuff! Neslted cozily just inside the UW grounds it features the perfect amount of Washington state history to entertain a kid and an adult just long enough before the child starts to get restless and whiny. I would know, I was the whiny kid on my trip there with my parents this past weekend. It has some great activity areas for the kids to play and learn in, and downstairs in a hoard of information and stuff from all sorts of native American and pacific islander tribes. $8 admission is a little steep considering the whole deal takes you about an hour, but you'll probably learn something you didn't know before about our great state and it's great people, so that might be worth it to you. Downstairs hosts a small cafe with beverages and baked treats, nothing too serious but enough to hold you over until you can get somewhere with real food. I likely won't be back until I have kids in the 6-10 range, any older or younger than that and they're apt to get restless, I sure did ;) read more