national mississippi river museum & aquarium

For a place to take your grandchildren over and over again with never, "We've seen that!", the River Museum and Aquarium is your location. The permanent exhibits run from huge fish native to the Mississippi to an opportunity to touch baby crayfish. There are alligators, turtles, fish or nearly every specie and working exhibits showing flood plains and how locks operate to allow river transportation. The museums are fascinating with artifacts from the trappers, lead miners, loggers, and boatmen. This is a mini-Smithsonian in eastern Iowa. Visit often.

Great place to see. Very interesting and were glad that we stopped to check it out!! A must to see while you are visiting in Dubuque

I love museums. I have been to many of them including the best in Washington, Chicago and the Vatican. That said, the National Mississippi River Museum is real treasure. While the museum has many of the typical museum things, it also has displays that others miss. Have you ever taken a tour of a old steam powered dredge boat? A complete tour? It is really neat.Have you ever seen a craftsman carving out a boat from a Cottonwood log?Have you ever seen how they used to make buttons out of mussel shells?Have you petted a ....?I will leave some things that will surprise you.My wife and I spent around 6 hours there and we did not see it all. We are already planning our return visit in the Spring or Summer.Oh, try the Ultimate Gilled Cheese sandwich at the River's Edge Cafe. It is not your mother's grilled cheese sandwich!Wanna have a boatload of fun? Visit the National Mississippi River Museum. You can thank me later.

The Arboretum is totally maintained by volunteers and it is beautiful. There are Sunday outdoor concerts in summer that are magical.

My fiance and I stopped here during our trip this past weekend. It was a very nice facility. The beavers were so funny and cute! The staff was very nice and Heidi, the girl working the front desk was super informative. I'm 26 and it was fun to pet the sturgeons, and we sat and watched the sea turtle and ray for a half hour. It was entertaining and very near our hotel as we were staying at Hotel Julien.

This place is exceptional. I've never been to a museum that did such a perfect job of engaging the guests in the world of the Mississippi river. And the barge simulator is really fun!

I spent a couple hours here on a trip to Dubuque and it was well worth the price of admission. I'm a riverboat fan os it is nice to learn a bit more about that history. But there is so much more to see here. Well worth the trip.

Loved this place! It was so interesting and well kept. One of my favorite animals is a turtle and they had an entire turtle exhibit! They had so many fish! And there was an alligator, an octopus, ducks. The history part was cool too! The workers told the stories in their area of expertise. I also liked seeing Mark Twain's mirror.

The museum-aquarium was money well spent.The exhibits were great and the hands on machinery was fun! It was a enjoyable and relaxing visit.

The Mississippi River Museum is an unexpected treasure to find in a city the size of Dubuque. You can easily spend an entire day here if you take advantage of all the things to see and do, both inside and out, that are included in the admission price. A must visit for all ages.

Museum tour starts at the "headwaters of the Mississippi" and takes you all the way to the Crescent city. All along the "route" are the actual fish and sea creatures that inhabit the river at that point (on the river). Allow at least 2 hours for your journey. Excellent and well-planned facility that was developed as part of Dubuque's Riverfront Renewal project

We have been here twice. The first time we stopped on a whim during an anniversary road trip and were pleasantly surprised! We had no idea this existed. The exhibits are interesting, the aquariums are surprising and the interactive items were informative. We have started a tradition taking our granddaughter on an overnight trip for her birthday in January. This year we decided it would be fun to visit the museum and stay at the Grand Harbor waterpark next door. We had a great weekend at both places.

Be sure to plan a stay for several hours. There is just that much to see and do. And on nice weather days, be sure to stroll outside. They have some nice displays and exhibits.

The kids enjoyed all of the fish and the interactive play area. Mine are 4 and 11, and there was something tor each of them. I think that the admission is a bit overprice for the younger kids - but we don't do it often.

Make sure you budget plenty of time for your visit as there is quite a bit to see. Great interactive things for kids,