Took a small 2 hour break at this museum which features a lot of the natural history of the Monterey peninsula. Lots of specimens of butterflies, birds and wildlife. They also have a nice garden outside with local plant life, pathways and a interactive sculpture made out of branches. A.k.a a human nest. Also, Checkout their collection of beach sand from all over the world.

The staff was friendly. The exhibits were interesting and informative. The garden was rich and refreshing. It was a great way to spend an hour / hour and a half.

I had great time here! Definitely worth checking out, especially if you have kids! They have an amazing collection of display animals with everything from mice to bobcats to a grizzly bear. Also an incredibly diverse selection of birds. Seeing these species up close really helps to be able to identify them and understand their difference and similarities.

Good place for kids and not only!I learned a lot about nature in this museum!

The staff here are very nice and informative. Little things from different areas wish it had more about the natural history of the surrounding area of Monterey and Pacific Grove with its rich history of Natives and Chinese that live in the area.

Wonderful display of native wildflowers during the Annual Showing in spring. So beautiful, not to be missed!

Pretty small, but has things to see. Especially their birds collection.

Small, but high-quality experience and exhibits. We learned a lot about the areas wildlife, geology, and history. Lots of fun things for kids to do and to learn - will definitely return!

Small but well curated natural history museum focused on area wildlife. I went during a special native plants special exhibit, so my flower photos arent of displays present normally.

Loved this place! Small but great exhibits, lots of different species of local animals, my daughter, who is 11 loved it! Not to busy or pricy!

This is a small but very well loved museum. The docents were knowledgeable and friendly. My son very much enjoyed the dig pit and the collection of insects.

One of the great places to check out whenever you are in Pacific Groove. Very interesting animal displays with detailed explanation about them and their habitat. My wife and daughter really enjoyed the experience. I will definitely be coming back.

We had so much fun. The employees were very nice and answered all of our questions. We will be back to see more of the museum.

A really nice museum. Small enough so you dont get overwhelmed, but it has a lot of interesting things in it. Worthwhile.

Just the BEST! Great selection and the taste of the food is just fantastic!

What a cute place! Our children love this place. There is a lot of very interesting things. And their weekend programs were outstanding---we have attended so many of those. The staff are so helpful.

Free for Monterey County residents, modest, but well put together museum, friendly and knowledgeable staff.

So sweet! Kind and enthusiastic staff with a charming, informative, and thoughtfully-curated collection. The current Birds of Monterey exhibit was a treat, and the garden of indigenous flora is a wonderful, picturesque little space. Engaging for kids and adults alike, and for either a quick pass at the butterflies or an hour or two of delving into the curiosities and taxidermy techniques.

Excellent museum - drove by and stopped in. Incredible exhibits on the local area!

Great little museum. Grand daughter loves it.

A great place to see a lot of history of Pacific Grove. Great for kids too!

Great museum for the price. Very kid friendly and suitable for all ages.

Amazing day with the girls! Love the staff and great historical collection!

Great place to learn about the history of Pacific Grove. Have an amazing collection of taxidermied birds too for those of us who love birds, including the Carolina Parakeet and Passenger Pigeon. Matt one of the volunteers there was fantastic

Not too big but plenty of exhibit on animals, insects, remnants from the indigenous people and geology. Nice change from the beach and oceanfront scenery.

An unexpected, pleasant surprise. A quaint museum for the whole family to enjoy. A must if traveling thru Pacific Grove. I will definitely be returning.

We attended a 2 hour presentation about Jade and a PG resident who was fascinated by the mineral. It was a very nice presentation by the window of the subject artist, Don Wobber.

Very friendly and informative staff. Great for kids to explore

Its a great little museum for the entire family to enjoyTheres plenty to look at both inside and outside.

This is a very nice facility!--Andrea

Great museum, bigger than I would have thought. Large swath of local geological, natural, and cultural history. Definitely stop by if you are in Pacific Grove for a few days.

My granddaughter loves it and scavenger hunt. Also she loves birds display and outside area where she hunts for fossils.

Always updating. Great visit

Awsome for licals!! They do so much for the community!! Science sat for the kids is amazing!!!! Not somewhere I would recomend if you have limited time in Monterey.

Awesome place to visit.

Always a fun place to visit. New exhibitions added periodically.

Interesting small town museum. Very nice folks operating it. Knowledgeable and friendly

Not a whole lot to do at night in PG, so it was refreshing to have a night out at the PG Museum. Attended owl night. The presentation was educational. Food was okay (finger food, so you probably want to eat dinner beforehand). They also had beer and cocktail at the event.

In addition to being a stellar facility for regular visits, their birthday party option is beyond spectacular.I received so many compliments on my sons party for weeks after the event.Jessica was an absolute delight to work with. Planning was easy, the layout was better than I could imagine, and the parents were as engaged as the kids.I cannot thank the group enough for their contribution to an amazing day for my child and his friends.

One of my favorite museums.

Friendly staff and great exhibit.

Small place, friendly staff. Nice displays, very clean.Lots of taxidermy

Went here with my first grader on a school field trip. Theres a lot of really cool stuff and its free for all Monterey County residents!!

Ive been twice now and I really enjoy it. Lots of information about the wildlife of the area.

Small museum, with very nice staff.We were discussing with Lance who is a very nice guide.It is nice to see how its possible to do lots, with little resources if there is interest and will.

Simple, modest and quaint. Have come here many times over the years and I’ve never (nor have the little ones) been bored or disinterested in the displays.A gem of a museum in Pacific Grove

Great museum loved the room with all the birds sorted by type

A very cool look into the amazing natural history of the central coast of California.

Nick led a great field trip for our preschool class. The kids got to touch animal furs and minerals, smell leaves, and hold fossils.

Cool little museum, lots of fun activities.

Only free to people who live locally. Didnt get to see it

Small and interesting museum of local nature. I like it but I wish it had more updates or less dated material.

Really informative sadly a large existing exhibit was removed of birds so bit disappointed.

SO FUN! Great for kids and adults alike. I recommend spending about two hours.

A great little place to visit with your family!The Pacific Grove museum of Natural history is a small, quiet child friendly space. Admission is free for residents of Pacific Grove and very reasonably priced for everyone else. There are multiple exhibits including taxidermy specimens, rocks/ minerals, baskets and art. There is a small unstaffed gift shops where you can pick up a momento of your visit and pay for it at the front desk. I believe that the Museum only accepts cash for purchases. There is also an upper level with more treasures to explore. Make sure that you tour the garden which features large boulders of Monterey jade and human- sized birds nest where you can take pictures.

If you are a local this is a GREAT place to burn time with kids. Its free for locals and has plenty to keep kids busy for at least an hour. They can dig for fossils in the back!

Small but still enjoyable to browse through. We went. During fossil day and our kid had so much fun playing and fulfilling their well organized activities. Love the free seeds to plant for butterflies as well...but overall very educational and plenty of taxaonmy to stare at.

Nice little museum, a little stuffy, hahaha.

Loved it and Mary was delightful!!

Had a nice outside native plant garden. They also had a scavenger hunt activity for kids that a couple of young visitors were enjoying. The exhibits seemed largely to be static displays focussing on local life, including one large room with about 100 carefully mounted taxidermied birds. There were some Native American crafts. There was a beautifully constructed model of a Chinese fishing village that occupied the present area of Cannery Row, with a account of immigrant Chinese life in Monterey Bay. I found the birds kind of depressing, but the rest was good.

Old school museum cool. Nice static exhibits and a great out door garden. Definitely kid friendly too!

Fun little natural history museum. Great way to learn about Pacific Grove history and the people and critters who have lived here.

The staff here was wonderful about letting our group poke in, use the restroom, and get oriented to the downtown area while enjoying their museum.

Great little Natural History museum to spend a few hours at.Highlights:Interesting gems, (huge jade boulder), insects and bird collections.For kids: scavenger hunt with prizes, fossil bed you get to dig in, find and claim a fossil from.

Some neat exhibits but the carpet needs to be replaced badly it is a major eye sore

A little old fashioned--most of the collection seems to be taxidermy in cases. However they do put on more interactive, hands-on programs through the year. The also have a garden of local plants, which is great in Spring.

Great place to learn about Monterey Countys nature. Science Saturday is the time to bring young kids for hands on activities.

Been going there for 25 years- my children to my grandchild... Love and appreciate having this kind of culture in our community. Part of what makes Pacific Grove what it is.

Quaint and well maintained. Glad we stopped.

Great museum for kids

A small but very informative museum. Many programs for kids. Science Saturdays are awesome. Free admission for monterey county residents.

Excelent historic landmark for the Natural Sciences. Beautiful collection of local specimens mounted in old fashion cabinets. Is the first Natural History museum in the US.

Great little museum that is very hands on. The staff is amazing, very knowledgeable about local wildlife and history. They have a scavenger hunt and fossil dig for the kids.

Great little museum for exploring. Very kid friendly

Small museum because it doesnt collect specimens anymore. Instead, it focuses on data and research now. Friendly staff.

We had our childs 6th birthday party at the PG Museum of Natural History and loved it! Instead of free-for-all crazy-kid time, the museum mixed playtime, learning, experiments, and creativity into a fantastic, memorable experience. Where else would you get to crack open a geode (bashing things with hammers? Yes please!) or excavate a fossil in a block of ice? They take care of everything (except the cake) -- and Mom and Dad can relax with a glass of wine while their kids have fun.Its a no-brainer birthday party, but with lots of smarts too. Highly recommended.

Beautiful collection that is educational and fun for all ages. Many are small kid friendly. Local residents come for free. Science saturdays are free for all. Exhibits rotate but include many animal specimens, extensive collection of birds, butterflies, eggs, reptiles etc

Amazing small town museum. Extremely impressive for such a small community. Huge collection of taxadermy. Largest local bird collection ive seen! Dont miss this little museum with a big collection!

Itcwas a very special place. I really enjoyed it. The exhibits were very well done.

Great public museum in our town.

Actually a great museum, and that is coming from someone who doesnt really enjoy them

They have a lot of info about Mo n arch Butterflies, and local birdlife. They have activities for kids. My grand k I do had a wonderful time!

Wow they are awesome... My son loves science sat.

It had alot more than i expected and didnt plan with alot of time need to go back when have more time

I went for a birthday party. What an awesome venue

Museum is a clean and staff are friendly. Love all of the exhibits and especially on Science Saturday.

Nice small hometown old museum

A surprisingly robust and informative museum when considering how small it looks from the outside.

Great museum

The museum staff is working to preserve the dwindling monarch butterfly population. Please support their efforts!!

Amazing selection of birds!!! Well preserved specimens.

Very small and not professionally attended, but rustic and friendly.

Great museum that covers interesting natural and cultural history of PG and Monterey area.

It was a great museum

This is a good spot to spend about an hr with your kids, They have science Saturdays each months just look at their calendar, we love this place because its so educative, the most interesting part for me is the whales eyes

Great local museum. Well thought exhibits on both natural and cultural history.

This is a very beautiful museum

Wonderful! Go see it!

Fun for kids not much as expected

Free to Monterey residents! The PGMNH is all about getting people interested and involved in the area they live in. I absolutely love visiting here and volunteering here!