Page Updated: December 06, 2023
Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto ON
The Royal Ontario Museum, dedicated to art, culture, and nature, is the largest museum in Canada. In addition to its many galleries, the museum also hosts several exhibitions throughout the year. Hours of operation are 10am-5:30, and with over 200k+ square feet to explore, the earlier you arrive the better.
The main level sells coffee and pastries, and the café in the basement has multiple dining options.
I found this museum exceptional. We arrived when the doors opened at 10am thinking we’d have plenty of time to see the museum in its entirety. We were wrong. By the end of the day, we were rushing through remaining galleries trying to take it all in. And, we still didn’t get to see everything.
On entrance we were greeted by this fella and set loose to enjoy Canada’s largest museum. Over 6 million items, in 40 areas, on 4 levels are ogled by over a million visitors a year.
Tip #1
It has been our practice (even pre-COVID) to enjoy public places in reverse to avoid as many people as possible. After leaving the Fantastic Beasts exhibit, we climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor and worked our way down. This gave us many of the galleries with few others for the first half of the day.
Tip #2
If you take lots of pictures, bring a battery and a charging cord for your phone. My phone died long before we left. Between the 2 of us, we took 980 photos at ROM.
I’m sure 97o are probably mine.
Touring Royal Ontario Museum
Several special exhibits are located on the first floor. July 2022 gave us Fantastic BeastsTM: The Wonder of Nature. We tacked the exhibition onto our tickets and chose to begin exploring here. I didn’t see copywrite signs but still refraining from posting pictures of this exhibit for obvious reasons. The exhibit enlightens patrons - especially fans of the wizarding world - to actual animals of the world that inspired some of their favorite fictional creatures. Great exhibit for kids and Harry Potter fans.
Level 1:
Includes: First Peoples - Canada - Japan - China - Korea
Level 2:
Includes: Dinosaurs - Mammals - Birds - Bat Cave - Gems & Gold - Minerals
Level 3:
Includes: Europe - Rome - Egypt - Ancient Cyprus - Greece - Rome - Egypt - South Asia
The Royal Canadian Museum is well thought out and the galleries are well designed. One of the attributes I appreciated most was the layout of individual rooms in the European wing of level 3.
Other highlights are the Rotunda, which was once the main entrance to the museum; and massive Totem poles located in the Totem Pole stairwell.
Point of note: For such an amazing museum, the gift shop is extremely disappointing. It’s plenty big enough and has plenty of apparel… but 90% are items that have nothing to do with the museum. If you’re looking for stickers, or magnets, or keepsake trinkets specific to ROM, you’re out of luck.
-b&b
Kensington Market
Niagara Falls State Park
