With the worldwide pandemic that is currently taking place, physically visiting beloved national landmarks or attractions is not currently possible.
The next best thing is taking a virtual tour possible thanks to technological advances. You can immerse yourself into these experiences using the tools available from aquariums, museums and curated collections around the world.
As part of an ongoing series during the pandemic, we will provide you with different resources from many categories that can pique your interest and encourage you to actually go to these locations when restrictions have been lifted. It will be worth the wait!
Virtual Zoo & Aquarium Tours: Enjoy the Animals
Several zoos and aquariums around the country have cameras in their keeps where you can visit with elephants, penguins, koalas, tigers, whales, and polar bears.
- Join the Cincinnati Zoo for a Home Safari.
- Watch the Panda Cam at the Atlanta Zoo.
- The Houston Zoo has a live cam for all of their animals.
- With live cams positioned everywhere, the San Diego Zoo is a treat.
- Go behind the scenes with some residents of The Shedd Aquarium.
- Sharks galore is available through the Monterey Bay Habitat exhibit.
- Penguins and whales await at the Georgia Aquarium’s live cam.
- The National Aquarium has a tour available for the entire facility.
Virtual Tours: Adventures & Attractions
Are you missing the thrill of roller coasters and super hero rides? You might be missing the simple fun Mickey life instead. Either way, there are tours you can take and videos available that make you feel like you’re actually there in the middle of the action.
- Take a deep dive into everything Disney with their virtual tours.
- Seaworld has a virtual tour that puts you right in a seat of the Mako.
- Love Legos? Submerge yourself in a virtual tour of Legoland.
Virtual Tours: Revel in Art & History
Pablo Picasso. The Sistine Chapel. The Met Gala. Three things that either cannot be accessed by the public at this time, or as is the case with the gala, have been cancelled. The good thing about museums is that many of their exhibits are available for online viewing.
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a special section of its virtual exhibit that features 21st Century Designer Fashion.
- Art by Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, and the esteemed Vincent Van Gogh are all part of The Museum of Modern Art’s (also known as MoMA) online collection.
- If your interest is in the military and its aircraft, look no further than the National Museum of the United States Air Force’s online museum.
- Remember Rembrandt? If not, head over to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where those works and many others are featured.
- The Detroit Institute of Arts showcases the car industry of Michigan, among other collections available online.
- Look into the history of race in America at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta – it has a special Civil Rights Photography section as well.
- The themed gala was cancelled this year but you can still revisit themes of years past with the online exhibit, as well as many others at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (also known as The Met).
- Although Women’s History Month is now over, you can still find ways to support with online exhibits and oral histories of the National Women’s History Museum.
- Launch into space research with NASA’s online tours at their research centers, Langley and Glenn. Also, take a ride with the Space Center.
- Prepare early for Halloween by getting the details right for your mummy costume with a virtual tour of the British Museum, London.
- The National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City provides details of a pre-historic Mexico with its online exhibit of Mayan artifacts.
- Enjoy flower art and New York skyscrapers by Georgia O’Keeffe with the virtual exhibit from the museum of her namesake.
- Collections from the likes of Dali are available at the online works of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
- St. Peter’s Basilica, among many other great works, are part of the Vatican’s virtual tour.
- The watermark ‘Getty Images’ that you may have seen while searching for photos online actually have an archive available with virtual tours at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
- Google Arts & Culture has made it possible to get into the tiniest details of the works of Vincent from the Van Gogh museum.
- The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has a room-by-room 360-degree online tour of every single exhibit in the museum.
- Experience several of Montreal’s artistic and historical artifacts with tours of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), the Pointe-à-Callière Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, the Montreal Holocaust Museum, and Montreal’s Public Art exhibit.
- The online works of the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum features collections from 625 artists, including Jeff Koons.
- See the most minute details painted of the most famous painting in the world by Leonardo Da Vinci, among a plethora of other art and sculptures at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
When it is safe to travel again, physically visiting the places that you’ve toured will be well worth the wait, especially if you bookmark the items that you would really love to see in person. You can visit these museums in conjunction with a tour or vacation that Atlas Travel can help you put together.
