Desert Museum ranks high on TripAdvisor awards list

One reviewer on the TripAdvisor travel website said the museum “is an unmatched treasure of the southwest U.S. with dynamic animal and plant displays and educational experiential exhibits throughout the grounds.”

Another reviewer wrote: “This is a first-class place to visit for people of all ages. The scenery is beautiful, plenty of places to sit, nice gift shop. I would recommend this to anyone.”

The only other Arizona museum on the list is the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, which ranked 21st.

Number 1 on the list of 25 museums is the Art Institute of Chicago. Other top-rated museums include The Getty Center in Los Angeles and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The Desert Museum, at 2021 N. Kinney Road, lies on 98 acres of land owned by Pima County and leased to the museum. Its collection includes 1,200 native plant species and 230 native mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds.

Several features make the site stand out and draw positive comments from TripAdvisor reviewers, said Rosemary Prawdzik, director of marketing and sales for the museum.

“It’s not all indoors and filled with shelves of collected items. It’s a living museum,” Prawdzik said. “And we focus entirely on the region, unlike other types of museums that have lots of exotics.

“Also, the docents here add so much to a visit,” she said. “They interact personally with the guests, and I think that’s something people look for.”

Prawdzik said the museum ranked fifth on the TripAdvisor list last year, which was the first year that the travel website bestowed the awards based on reviews shared by travelers on the site.