Wow what a hidden treasure. This is a small museum. It is amazing though. There is great rocks. There is a wide variety. Go outside and use the map to figure out where rocks are located in an outdoor little, peaceful area. Best: free! Bring cash if you want to buy a small rock souvenir.

What a cool small museum on campus! (They have two full sized skeletons of prehistoric creatures...so its not that small) My son (hes 4) LOVES rocks and so this place is pretty much his dream. Theres SO many cool rocks displayed and you can even peek in on researchers in the lab! Im seriously impressed!

Small but fun, they had nice exhibits set up. The dinosaur bones were really cool! The information by each area explaining what everything was was really great. The different stones and minerals all over were really cool to look at. The florescent light room was a great touch as well. Id definitely make a trip back there again sometime.

This museum is a part of the UW Madison campus so parking is obviously challenging. It was easy to find and well marked. It as free admission as it runs on donations. They had a wide variety of specimens. Everything was well marked and beautifully displayed. Well worth the time spent there.

Well displayed minerals and geological stuff with well detailed information regarding each specimen kept over in simple terms. Situation within walking distance from downtown. Best part is its totally free to visit and open for photography. Staff is also very nice and cooperative if you need any information on specific thing.

The fossils are an amazing sight. Ive never seen dinosaur fossils in real life so this was a wonderful experience. I really like the the museum is free of charge. My son loved it there.

Yes this place was small...but so entertaining! The grandkids were totally entertained by the exhibits....the dinosaurs were a huge hit and both of them loved the earths geological history...the smells, the cave, the rocks, and the black light room was major excitement! We will be back. We all took home souvenir rocks from the gift shop! Thank you so much for this delightful but hugely entertaining museum!

It is definitely worth visiting!

This place is so great. It’s free, educational, and highly entertaining for kids. I’m glad they are still open, and I can enjoy it as an adult the same way I did as a kid. Definitely worth a visit if you need an activity in the winter.

A great little museum, and it’s free admission. It’s small, but the exhibits were really well done. You can easily spend over an hour here.

Very cool little museum on campus! Donation based. Really cool stuff, lots of fossils. Took our time going thru and took about an hour. Had a 7 year old with us and they had a great time too.

This small museum on the second floor of the geology building (a couple blocks from Camp Randall Stadium) provides a fascinating look at the rocks underneath your feet. It starts with a small exhibit on meteors and meteorites - including video of the 2010 meteor that exploded over southern Wisconsin and several examples of meteorites from that strike as well as a general discussion of the various types of meteors with again examples of the resulting meteorites from around the world. Next is an extensive display of minerals including many beautiful crystals, colors, etc. - indeed the example of pyrite suns naturally grown in a slab of black slate looks more like modern art than a natural specimen. Visitors are next led into a room equipped with a black light to show a wall full of examples minerals that glow in UV light - very 1960s. This room leads to another small room modeled after a cave to illustrate the difference between stalactites and stalagmites.

Its free and has a lot packed into a small space. Pretty rock specimens, window into a lab, a demo on florescent rocks, tiny walk- through cave and a bun ch of fossils!!! A great way to pass an hour - or half an hour if your kids cant read and run ahead to gawk at a t-rex skull.

Fun place with much more to explore than you expect from its unassuming outside. Great place to spend a rainy afternoon, or any free hour or two, learning a lot about our planet and her history. The price was right, too! Enjoy!

Great little museum, free to walk through too! While it doesnt change drastically between visits, its very nice for a drop in walk through. We have been several times.

What a place, so much to see, just beautiful displays and its FREE. Cant wait to take the kids.

A hidden gem (ha ha) Well worth the visit.

I love taking my little cousins here, and also buying rocks from the display case out front!

Very cool if u like rocks and minerals and fossils this is the place!! Its free but donate they cant do this without our/ your help!!!

What a treat to find this museum! Excellent interpretive signage accompanies a small but FANTASTIC collection. I only wish we had given ourselves more than hour to see the exhibit. As a bivalve biologist I was particularly taken by the clam and oyster fossils. And its FREE!

Fun for the kids. We also got some fossels from more than a million years ago to bring home! The Earth is so old.

Nice self guided museum. A few nice dino skeltons, and other prehistoric animals. Great rocks and meteorites too. A good diversion for both young and old.Who knew this gem (*wink wink*) of a museum was lurking on campus? Well, I did, actually, but I somehow never managed to get myself here until eleven years after I graduated.

This museum is amazing. It has a lot cool crystals. It even has a large meteorite. It is also free administration.

Small, but very informative. Loved the full size replica of the trex skull and the complete mosasaur! Extensive rock samples, very cool to see.

We just happened to be walking by and saw their Open House sign--spent a fun, enlightening hour looking at cool exhibits, and even bought some quartz and fossils!

Some interesting exhibits. Maybe takes forty-five minutes to an hour to get through.

Though it be small, it be mighty. A carefully curated collection of gems and minerals. Wonderful interactive displays. Impressive display at the end my kids couldnt stop talking about on the way home.

Solid exhibitions that progress relaxedly from inanimate rocks and minerals to the origin of life to prehistoric mammals. There are few fancy dioramas here but that is to be expected in a university museum. Some text-heavy exhibits (e.g. cave) may benefit from more visuals to illustrate the scientific terms.

A true gem in Madisons crown. The museum is free and the hours of operation very reasonable. Most tours are self-guided, though groups can arrange for an attendant. The collection is curated to be accessible for young visitors, while still engaging for adults. Meteorites, fossils, and phosphorescent minerals are the star attractions. The Geology Museum definitely ranks among Madisons must see attractions.

Great place to teach kids about minerals and fossils.

A nice selection of fossils and gemstones. Definitely worth a look.

Came here with my sons 4k class. Although the space is small, it was so cool.

Nice but small museum, some nice exhibits. Our kids loved seeing the dinosaur and mastadon skeletons. Theres no admission but donations welcomed. Parking was difficult so expect to be walking, unless the parking garage down the street has room.

This museum was bigger than I expected and its free. I loved exploring it, they have a large variety of gems/minerals in surrounding to summer fossils. It took me over an hour to go through the whole place. Their glow in the dark exhibit is awesome and is better than ones at paid museums Ive been to. Its a great way to spend an hour or two in Madison.

I got to take home several rocks from the gift shop that I enjoy looking at. Wonderful exhibits and great people.

This was a great place to spend with my family for an afternoon. My daughter loved seeing all of the fossils and other displays.

I love the geology museum. It is free to enter and you can see and learn about about the earths past. There are minerals, fossils, mounted skeletons, and even a dark room for florescent specimens. Take a look at earths bounty and learn, it will be worth your time.

Great free family outing. Educational and fun for everyone

Great museum to visit while in Madison lobbying.

Loved the Geology Museum! Its pretty small, but theres lots of cool stuff from a wide range of areas. Admission is free. Donations welcomed.

This free museum, although small, is nice and all of the staff are very friendly and knowledgable.

The best free museum Ive seen. Decent size with a lot of great displays, some of which are interactive

This is an excellent place to explore the physical history of the Earth. The displays are well made, the specimens are top-notch, and there are several FULL SIZED DINOSAUR SKELETONS!!! A favorite place to visit in the downtown Madison area.

Very interesting tour. Good place to visit. Lots of cool things to see and learn about.

It Rocks well its not just rocks, they have fossils and my son found alligator poop on display. Lots of history in a small museum.

Small, but cool. Great with kids who may not have the wherewithal for a full day type of museum.

Not a great or large museum but much better than what one would expect from Madison. Want great way to spend 30 minutes to an hour.

Small museum but very cool. Came just after opening on a Saturday, found street parking right across the street.

A small museum but it had some great specimens and was well curated. Definitely worth a visit.

Great place to take your kids.

I love this place. I have such a thirst for learning, and coming here really satisfies it.My favorite area is the flourescent rocks and being able to smell different places. (Horrible funk by the way lol)

It is a wonderful place to visit if you are 5 or you are 95. It gives you a good sense of Wisconsin Geology and other materials feom around the world! Plus they even have something 4.4 billion years old from outer space! If you are coming to visit UW Madison do not miss this area!

For a free museum on a college campus it is great! There are some beautiful gem and mineral displays and a good collection of fossils. This is fun for kids and adults.

Hi,This museum is fun and the best part is that it’s free! You can see rocks that glow under black light and the skeletons of dinosaurs.When you see the big spinning globe you’ll know you found it.

This was a pleasant surprise to find that there were dinosaur artifacts here. Just just happened to be passing through the area, and saw the sign. My son is into these creatures and was astonished to find that there was dino history here. What a treat, and the best part is that it was free admission.

My grandson loved our visit

Super fun to take your little ones to explore the time before time. Lots of fun neat things to see. I would recommend going. Best part, its free! But you can also contribute or donate to this awesome historic adventure.

Was helped out when my family and I found a strange looking bone on a sand bar a couple years back. I believe the women that helped us went by Elizabeth... she was very nice and showed us a lot of cool things... Turned out the bone was from cattle but the trip was well worth the drive!! (This was about 5 years ago)

A good little museum on the university campus. Has a decent amount of rocks and gems as well as bones from extinct species.

Very nice exhibit..and free...as to admission price

It was my first time there, and I was impressed with the many rock displays. Also the room with the replicas of the dinosaurs was cool too.

Delightful and educational museum on the campus. No entrance fee. So much to see and learn

Great museum. Small & intreresting enough to keep kids happy and plenty to see if you are older and want to read and learn about rocks & dinosaurs . Free for all, donation requested, but not required!

Excellent, small museum with a wonderful dinosaur exhibit! Can’t beat it for a free museum, and the curators/researchers are very welcoming and knowledgeable.

A huge eye-popping collection of rocks minerals and fossils, very well displayed and curated in an educational fashion. Free admission. There are no parking facilities, though, so consider public transportation if street parking a half mile away is a problem for you.

Great size and number of exhibits for a free museum. Lots of interesting artifacts and information. Great for kids. Spent about an hour there, but you could easily spend longer if you read everything. Will go again.

I love looking at the rocks and fossils, I have gone to the Museum since I was 4.

Fabulous museum with a wonderful collection of gems and really important rocks and fossils. Good for kids, too.

Was a wonderful experience learned some new things

Great museum to explore rocks and fossils. Bonus that it is free. Parking can be tough but its a great way to spend an hour or two with or without kids.

Nice displays of rocks and fossils and its free. Seriously... Free. You can donate if you want and there are some rocks and fossils for purchase.

Amazing place to get a self guided tour and plenty to see

The University of Wisconsin Geology Museum is a small museum inside the UW campus, yet it is full of interesting display. Depending on how interested you are in geology, you can go through everything in an hour or so.

This is a wonderful resource and interesting too!

Lots of cool stuff packed in to their spot.

What a great place right here in Madison! I was teaching the kids about dinosaurs and right in the center of Madison is a FREE museum!! The kids loved it!

A hidden gem. Free museum through the university that has interesting exhibits. Good for an hour or two visit if you like rocks.

Not big but decently sized and a good variety of Crystals, rocks, and fossils. My son enjoyed it.

A surprising find with lots of educational and amazing rock collection. Well maintained too. A must visit for the budding geologist

A great place to visit with the family. A learning experience with fossils, minerals, and all for the price of a donation. A must see while in Madison.

Very inspirational and interesting.

Great museum!! Its free which makes it even better!

Small, but a great place. You can touch a +4 billion year old meteorite.

Cool rocks and dinosaur bones.

The museum is interesting but there is no parking around the museum. It is all street parking that is full and the public lot near it is full by 11am.

An excellent museum for young scientists! With a large number of rock and mineral samples, some exotic fossils, and even a meteorite from mars, its well worth a Saturday morning trek downtown to learn.And its free!

Amazing! Definitely small but their collection is GREAT!

Beautiful displays and wide variety of fossils. LOTS of rocks and minerals.

Great museum and kids loved it. Im glad we found out about it while researching things to go in u wisc.

Free to see. Great place for kids. Wonderful florescent displays.

It had some nice pieces

Great free activity for families. Love this museum!

Lots to learn.

Good place I just wish it was bigger

Great place to kill some time with the kids or alone. Small museum but plenty to look at. The Dinos are pretty awesome too.

Only museum of its kind in Madison area that I know of.... Free... Small but interesting.

A true treasure near downtown madison. Free, open weekdays and saturdays, and an amazing collection given the small location. Includes dinosaur fossils, mineral samples, views to a fossil preparation lab, and excellent guided tours (if booked in advance)

It was really interesting.

Place is small, free, and fun. Great place for a family visiting students.

Staff is passionate and friendly. The enthusiasm is contagious!