The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History – Visitors Guide

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History in Tel Aviv has many interactive exhibitions, making it perfect for families.

Please note that while this museum is fantastic and we enjoyed our visit, there are a few live animals on display. Most of the exhibits feature stuffed animals. If you are not a fan of stuffed animals, this museum may not be the best fit for you.

Map

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History is located near the ANU Museum of the Jewish People at Klausner 12, Tel Aviv. The entrance is on the opposite side of gate #2.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

The exhibitions in the museum are spread over several floors, and here are the details:

Directions

You can reach the museum in different ways. If you choose public transport, you can commute by bus or train (Tel Aviv University train station is about a 10-minute walk away).

If you decide to drive, you can find parking by the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. There is a paid parking lot by the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, and if you get lucky, you will find parking along Klausner Street.

We visited on a Saturday morning, and since we arrived early, there were parking spots along the street.

Opening Hours

Sunday – Thursday, and Saturday: 10:00 – 19:00
Friday 10:00 – 15:00

Entrance Fee

Regular Entrance: 52 NIS
Child under 5: free
Seniors, Students, and Tel Aviv residents: 42 NIS
Family ticket (4 people): 168 NIS

Notes:

• This popular museum recommends reserving places in advance for entrance. Without a reservation, admission is not guaranteed.
• The entrance fee and opening hours were updated in August 2025. In any case, recheck the official site before your visit. You can also purchase tickets through it.

Coupons

Currently, I have not found any coupons or discounts available for this museum.

Tours

This museum offers workshops and tours. During our recent visit, we wanted to attend a workshop, but there were no tickets available. Therefore, if you are interested in a specific activity, purchase tickets in advance. You can find additional details here.

Israel’s Landscapes

When we entered the museum, we saw a long corridor going up. And along that corridor, we saw an exhibition called “Israel’s Landscapes”.

Here is a quote from the official site:

Israel’s location at the unique intersection of three continents – Europe, Asia, and Africa – combined with the diverse climatic and soil conditions, forms the infrastructure for the existence of different habitats in a relatively small area.

A journey from west to east passes from the temperate coast and lowland regions to the hot desert regions, and from south to north passes from the dry desert region to the snowy Mt. Hermon. The multitude of habitats and the unique geographic location have led to a rich and impressive diversity of plants and animals in Israel.

This exhibition includes six large terrariums that display the range of habitats in Israel and the animals living in them. Among the 122 animals on display in this exhibition, you may find different species of animals common in the wild in Israel, including: Palestine viper, Palestine saw-scaled viper, greater Egyptian gerbil, European snow vole, desert hedgehog, Blanford’s fox, northern long-eared owl, heron, otter, and Levant water frog.

The exhibition included big terrariums with animals living in them. Beside each terrarium, there was a tablet with information about the animals. And here are several photos from that exhibition:

Form and Function

On the first floor, we saw the exhibition “Form and Function”.

Here is a quote from the official site:

Animals are adapted to their living environment. The spectacular diversity of body forms in the animal kingdom evolved over millions of years through a process dictated by heredity, and was also significantly influenced by the adaptation of animals to their living environment and survival needs, such as movement, defense, foraging for food, eating, and finding a mate.

The relationship between form, structure, and function led to resemblance between animals from genetically distant groups that cope with a similar living environment. For example, bats, birds, and butterflies belong to different groups, but they all fly using wings that developed over the generations.

The movement section of the exhibition demonstrates the visual resemblance between animals that move in the same way. In contrast, in similar organs, there has been a change of form to allow every animal to function in the most efficient way for itself. In the exhibition, you can see the marked differences in the skull structure of mammals and birds, according to the type of food they eat.

The exhibition presents ways of examining the morphology of an animal to learn about its way of life.

Like many exhibitions at this museum, it features interactive elements that children can enjoy. There are interactive tablets where kids can observe how different animals move, touch the bones of various animals to feel the difference in weight, and explore more.

Here are several photos from that exhibition: