Tips for a Terrific Visit

For Visitors with Young Children

• Bring a stroller. You can take it everywhere in the Museum.
• Bring your camera. But if you forget it, the Museum Store sells disposable ones.
• Bring your AAA card or coupon books. See our list of current discounts.
• Bring cash for parking charges and change for vending machines and a visit to the popular "Vortex" at the entrance of Reinberger Hall of Earth & Planetary Exploration
• If the weather's bad, stow your jackets and rain gear in our coatroom off of Fawick Gallery. But be sure to retrieve them for a walk in our outdoor areas. There's plenty to see in the Environmental Courtyard and Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden whatever the weather.
• The average Museum visit lasts an hour and a half to two hours.
• The Museum is quietest at 10 am (a great time to walk with an infant). It is busiest between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm on weekends and school holidays.
• Tuesdays through Fridays during the school year from 10 to 11:30 am and 1 to 2:30 pm, we request quiet time in the galleries as we teach our classes.
• Visit the Smead Discovery Center, where children can touch and do all sorts of fun, educational things.
• Your ticket is good for the day, so feel free to take a break, see what University Circle has to offer and then come back. Additional Circle activities you might consider:
The Cleveland Museum of Art (free)
Cleveland Botanical Garden (admission)
Western Reserve Historical Society (admission)
Wade Oval greenspace for a game of ball or Frisbee or just to run off steam
Weather permitting, bring a picnic or buy lunch from The Blue Planet and eat outdoors at our two picnic tables (no grills, please)
• The free Circlelink shuttle visits major locations within the Circle and can accommodate folding strollers. To find out more, see www.universitycircle.org.
• Plan to hold the next birthday party for your budding palentologist/naturalist/ornithologist here.

For Adults and Teens

• To avoid crowds in the galleries, arrive after 2 pm on weekdays during the school year.
• To avoid crowds in the Shafran Planetarium, see shows at 2:30 pm on weekdays or 8 pm on Wednesdays.
• Admission and parking rates are reduced on Wednesday evenings.
• Bring your laptop. There is free Wi-Fi on Wade Oval and also in the Museum's library.
• You can bring cell phones into the Museum, however reception may be limited. Please set your phone to vibrate during public programs.
• Your ticket is good for the day, so feel free to take a break, see what University Circle has to offer and then come back. The free Circlelink shuttle visits major locations within the Circle. To find out more, see www.universitycircle.org.
• The RTA University Circle/Heights Area Community Circulator bus connects University Circle to the nearby Shaker Square, Coventry and Cedar-Fairmount neighborhoods for 75 cents. For schedule and fare information visit www.gcrta.org.
• Wear comfortable shoes and walk to Little Italy for some shopping and gallery hopping.
• Try Sunday brunch at the North Coast Cafe in the Intercontinental Hotel Cleveland before a visit.
• Several restaurants within easy walking distance also have great early evening specials. Try Case's Silver Spartan diner or That Place on Bellflower on Bellflower Road or Sergio's on Ford Drive.
• The University Circle Arabica Coffee House (11300 Juniper Road) and Starbucks (11302 Euclid Avenue at Cornell Road) locations each have ATMs. Starbucks offers free Wi-Fi.
• On clear Wednesday evenings from 8:30 to 10 pm between September and May, visit the Ralph Mueller Observatory and stargaze through our 10 1/2-inch telescope. Dress for the weather!
• As you enter or leave the Museum on clear evenings, stand in the circular outdoor exedra and look up the chamfered dome of the Shafran Planetarium to locate the North Star.