10 Risqué, Extravagant, and Spooky Las Vegas Museums

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Where are the best museums in Las Vegas located?

Sexy museums in Las Vegas

The Erotic Heritage Museum

The Erotic Heritage Museum was founded on a partnership between a preacher (Reverend Ted McIlvenna) and the owner of many adult businesses (Harry Mohney). The pair strived to build a sex-positive exhibition space that host erotic artifacts, fine art, film, educational content, and cultural events. Though the timid may giggle at the thought of such a place, the Erotic Heritge Museum is more than 24,000 square feet of permanent and temporary exhibits dedicated to the freedom of sexual expression and education through the preservation of global erotic heritage. Throughout the year, visitors can find a host of events that range from scientific lectures to the hilarious Puppetry of the Penis show.

Address: 3275 S Sammy Davis Jr Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Hours of operation: Monday to Wednesday from 11 AM to 7 PM; Thursday from 11 AM to 10 PM; Friday to Sunday from 11 AM to 12 AM (midnight)

Cost: Booking your ticket online in advance is highly recommended. $45 per person. Discounted tickets are available.

The Burlesque Hall of Fame

The Burlesque Hall of Fame showcases striptease as a visual art with an important legacy, and highlights the stars of its past. The uniquely titillating museum sits in the heart of the Las Vegas Arts District, making it walkable from downtown and parts of Las Vegas Boulevard. The exhibits are comprised of several thousands burlesque costumes, stage props, photographs, and personal effects documenting the rise of burlesque in America’s nightlife culture.

Address: 1027 S Main St Ste 110, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hours of operation: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Closed on Monday, Thursday, and Sunday.

Cost: General admission $15 / Nevada residents with ID $12 / seniors, military, and students with ID $10

Scary and spooky museums in Las Vegas

Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum

Zak Bagans has made a name for himself as the host of the wildly popular Ghost Adventures television series. Over the course of his ghost-hunting career, he has assembled a collection of haunted artifacts and insanely creepy memorabilia. The stuff you’ll see at The Haunted Museum — which supposedly chronicles “scientifically proven” ways to communicate with the dead — is both chilling and entirely weird. Check the VW van where Dr. Jack Kevorkian did his work ending the lives of patients with terminal illnesses, and then walk past the wine cabinet from the movie The Possession to the staircase from the former Demon House in Gary, Indiana, where a family was reportedly possessed by demons in 2011. There’s nothing in the museum that isn’t worth a double-take, and no one under the age of 16 is allowed. Visitors who aren’t easily spooked are invited to up the ante with a late-night flashlight ghost tour experience in the mansion.

Address: 600 E Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104

Hours of operation: Wednesday to Monday from 10 AM to 8 PM. Closed Tuesday.

Cost: Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum has two different tickets available at two different price points: General admission and RIP all access (upgraded experience). General admission is $48 for adults / $42 for seniors, military, and Nevada residents with ID. The RIP all access (upgraded experience) is $79 for adults / $73 for seniors, military, and Nevada residents with ID

The Atomic Museum

Between 1951 and 1992, 928 nuclear tests were conducted on a patch of open desert north of Las Vegas at the Nevada Test Site. Nuclear weapons were tested there both above and below ground, and the Atomic Museum tells the story of the site and the United States’ nuclear weapons program. You’ll find artifacts and remnants of the testing along with more than you ever wanted to know about how radiation affects the natural world, and you can even experience a simulated atmospheric bomb blast — one that won’t melt you and friends, of course.

Address: 755 E Flamingo Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Hours of operation: Daily from 9 AM to 5 PM

Cost: $29 for adults / $27 for seniors, military, and first responders with ID / $25 for Nevada residents with ID / $15 for children from age seven to 17 / children age seven and under enter for free

The Mob Museum

The Mob Museum is the ultimate insider’s peek into the world of the American mob. The museum has three floors of exhibits packed full of photos and artifacts from mob activity in Vegas and beyond, including one-of-a-kind pieces like the carefully reassembled brick wall used in the 1929 Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. You’ll learn about the impact that organized crime had on the country and in the building of Las Vegas. The facility houses a working distillery in the basement that produces spirits reminiscent of the mob-run moonshines that kept Americans satiated during the 13-year Prohibition dry spell.

Address: 300 Stewart Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hours of operation: Daily from 9 AM to 9 PM. The Underground speakeasy and distillery is open from Monday to Wednesday from 12 noon to 10 PM, and from Thursday to Sunday from 12 PM (noon) to 12 AM (midnight).

Cost: The Mob Museum has three different tickets available, all at different price points. The cheapest is the General Admission ticket that costs $29.95 for adults / $27.95 for law enforcement and military / $11.95 for students (from age 11 to 17) / children age 10 and under enter for free. Check The Mob Museum’s website for the Premier Pass and the Deluxe Pass. Booking online in advance can save you $7 on your ticket if you book a visit after 5 PM from Sunday to Friday or before 11 AM on Saturday.

BODIES | The Exhibition

Located inside the Luxor Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Bodies: The Exhibition provides an up-close look inside the human body by putting on display 13 whole-body specimens, more than 260 organs, and some partial body specimens. These real human bodies have been meticulously arranged giving visitors an unparalleled look at our skeletal, muscular, respiratory, and circulatory systems. The beauty, complexity, and fragility of the human body is on full display as select examples show the damage caused by overeating and smoking in an effort to encourage healthy lifestyle choices.

Address: 3900 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Hours of operation: From January 9 to March 12: daily from 11 AM to 6 PM. From March 13 to June 30: daily from 11 AM to 8 PM

Cost: Adults $30 / seniors (age 65 and over) $30 / military and Nevada residents with a valid ID $25 / children (between the ages of four and 12) $24 / children under the age of three enter for free

Museums in Las Vegas for families

The Pinball Hall of Fame

An entire hall honoring the unknown greats of pinball’s past is the best excuse you’ll ever find to journey back to your middle school days. The Pinball Hall of Fame is 25,000 square feet of pinball games dating from the 1930s to the 2020s, making it one of the world’s largest and most extensive collections of classic pinball machines. You can play on 401 different pinball tables, each ordered and chronicled in a series of detailed lists that explain exactly why that specific machine is worthy of its space on the floor. Admission is free but, just like the good old days, you’ll want to be sure you bring a pocket full of change as each game costs a quarter or two.

Address: 4925 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Hours of operation: Sunday to Thursday from 10 AM to 9 PM. Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 10 PM

Cost: Free admission

The Neon Museum

The Neon Museum consists of a series of exhibits that showcase Las Vegas’ love affair with bright and quirky signage. The museum itself comprises the Neon Boneyard and the North Gallery. Visitors are urged to make the Neon Boneyard their first stop, where they’ll see more than 200 rescued signage from old hotels and casinos, nightlife establishments, and events from Las Vegas’ past. The North Gallery sits adjacent to the museum and showcases more unrestored signs from the collection.

Address: 770 N Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hours of operation: From November 1 to February 28 from 2 PM to 10 PM; from March 1 to April 30 from 3 PM to 11 PM; from May 1 to August 31 from 4 PM to 12 AM (midnight); from September 1 to October 31 from 3 PM to 11 PM

Cost: Booking your ticket online in advance is highly recommended. The Neon Museum has many different kinds of tickets available, all at different price points. The cheapest is the General Admission day ticket that costs $20 for adults / $16 for Nevada residents, seniors, military, and students with ID / $10 children (from ages seven to 17)

Springs Preserve

Springs Preserve is a nature-focused complex that encompasses a seasonal butterfly habitat, and a botanical garden, but it also hosts two unique museums. The first is the Origen Museum, which consists of 75 permanent exhibits and an indoor theater that speak to the origins of Las Vegas and the different peoples who have passed through this area and called it home. The Flash Flood exhibit is an immensely popular space that recreates a 5,000-gallon flood through a desert canyon that crashes around and below your feet. The second museum, the Nevada State Museum, is 70,000 square feet of Nevada state history. Here you’ll get to stand face-to-face with an enormous Ichthyosaur, which was a marine reptile that lurked in the waters that covered Nevada millions of years ago. You will also have a chance to witness an atomic explosion and step inside a stalactite cave.

Address: 333 S Valley View Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89107

Hours of operation: Thursday to Monday from 9 AM to 4 PM

Cost: Adults $9.95 / children (between the ages of 3 and 17) $4.95 / free for children age two and under

The Hollywood Car Museum

Step into a world of movie and TV magic at the ever-expanding 30,000 square-foot Hollywood Car Museum featuring cars from over 100 films and TV shows. There are several Batmobiles, five James Bond cars, the DeLorean from Back to The Futurew, the Grand Torino from Starsky and Hutch and many, many other iconic vehicles.

Address: 5115 Dean Martin Dr UNIT 905, Las Vegas, NV 89118

Hours of operation: Daily from 10 AM to 5 PM

Cost: Adults $20 / children under the age of 16 enter for free. Discounts are available on the Hollywood Car Museum’s website. Tickets are only available at the ticket counter. The museum only takes cash.

Where to stay in Las Vegas to be near the city’s best museums

We hope you love the spaces and stays we recommend in las Vegas! Just so you know, Matador may collect a small commission from the links on this page if you decide to book a stay.

Las Vegas Hilton At Resorts World

While immense, over-the-top, luxury resorts abound in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Hilton At Resorts World is among the top five, so you’re very unlikely to be disappointed. With 40 bars and restaurants on site, there’ll be no need to step out the door — except to visit the nearby Erotic Heritage Museum, of course. The Las Vegas Hilton at Resorts World has no less than seven swimming pools, including the first-ever infinity pool overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard, a huge 5,000-seat theatre if you want to catch a show, shops, a spa, a fitness center, and more.

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Luxor Hotel

The iconic Luxor Hotel, the most recognizable of all the hotels in Las Vegas thanks to its pyramid shape, is the ideal place to stay to see three of the museums on this list: BODIES | The Exhibition located inside the Luxor complex, The Hollywood Car Museum, and the Pinball Hall of Fame, the last two being only a short walk away. The Luxor is also the place to catch the sexy show “Fantasy”, one of many adult shows in Vegas. The Luxor hotel is very large with over 4,000 rooms, and it has a full-service spa, four swimming pools, a fitness center, and a casino floor that spreads over 120,000 square feet.

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Circa Resort & Casino

If you want a kid-free vacation in Las Vegas, the recently opened Circa Resort & Casino is the place to book. This adult-only hotel is very close to the Mob Museum and the Neon Museum, two must-see Vegas cultural institutions. It has an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness center, a spa, and, most importantly, the biggest TV screen you’ve ever seen, known as the Stadium Swim aquatheater. Some call Circa the ultimate adult playground for sports lovers, so if you fit that category, you know what to do.

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