A Variety of Visual Virtual Fun!

Thanks to our partners at Healthfirst for putting together this list of natural wonders, zoos, museums and more around the world offering free virtual engagements or live streams. Check out the list below!

United States

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California wide range of live cameras 

Smithsonian’s National
Zoo has webcams available for giant pandas, lions, elephants
and more. 

Cincinnati Zoo every weekday at 3 p.m. ET they’ll do a Facebook live stream 

American Museum of Natural History. The institution
is also making digital
tours

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

Take a history
lesson at the Museum of the City of New York.

New
York Harbor webcam and a Rockaway Beach surf webcam.

The New York Public Library, Brooklyn
Public Library and Queens Public Library have all kinds of
materials available online.

Take advantage
of immersive 360-degree videos of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most beloved
locations, including The Met Cloisters, The Met Breuer and the Fifth Avenue
museum’s Temple of Dendur and arms and armor galleries.

The Museum of
Modern Art (MoMA) operates a lively and informative YouTube channel with all sorts of videos about art and artists,
including a piece on its Dorothea Lange photography show and interviews with
famous directors in the channel’s film section.  

The Coney
Island History Project includes a compilation of nearly 100 oral histories and a digital archive of
photos, which reveal the seaside park’s rich history.

At
the New York Botanical Garden online,
visitors can explore recent installations, browse horticulture lecture videos
and stay up to date with its latest news

Check out video highlights on the Whitney Museum of American Art Watch and Listen page, which includes content from their critically acclaimed Vida Americana exhibit. Courtesy, Met Opera

The Jazz at
Lincoln Center blog and Youtube channel are two great resources for adding some music to your
time at home.

The
Metropolitan Opera has been an innovator for years with its live
high-definition broadcasts. Now they’re streaming one
opera a day, starting at 7:30pm

Though
the New York Philharmonic canceled the rest of its season, you can still enjoy
its music through the NY Phil Plays
On platform.

Take
a virtual
stroll through Central Park—or many other parks in
the five boroughs.

The Empire
State Building has its audio tour available
(in nine languages), with corresponding visuals.

Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim is offering VR access to its entire contemporary arts collection through a partnership with Google Arts & Culture. Using the Street View feature, visitors can tour the museum’s iconic architecture, sprawling design and any of its galleries.

Yosemite National Park Parts of the park are still open for the season, those who can’t make it to California’s Sierra Nevada region can still tour the park — complete with sound — and visit some of Yosemite’s iconic landmarks, including the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, the top of the Half Dome and the eponymous Yosemite Falls.

Van Gogh Museum The largest Van Gogh collection in the world — 600 artworks and 700 letters — is housed in this Amsterdam museum and can be viewed via a virtual guided tour. View the inside of the museum along with insights into the Dutch postimpressionist artist’s life through paintings including “Sunflowers” and “The Yellow House.”

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The Smithsonian is offering virtual tours that let visitors take a self-guided, room-by-room trip through the museum’s slate of exhibits. The current exhibits include the Butterfly Pavilion and the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils, and visitors can even journey through past exhibits, on topics including the last American dinosaurs, the universe, and DNA and genomics.

Yellowstone National Park National parks are known for their dazzling views and historical landmarks, and Yellowstone holds some of the nation’s most iconic ones. The virtual tour takes visitors through the first national park, showing Wyoming’s most treasured sites including its canyons, hot springs and geysers, the most famous being Old Faithful.

Yosemite Falls, California The Yosemite webcam is one of our favorites. It streams the 2,424-foot-tall waterfall's top section, Upper Yosemite Falls, in its scenic, roaring glory. The peak flow occurs in early summer as the snow starts to melt, but it's looking pretty awesome right now.

Museum of Modern Art The MoMa is one of over 500 museums and galleries Google Arts & Culture has partnered with to offer an interactive experience of the gallery space. The nearly 100-year-old museum is home to some of the contemporary art world’s most famous pieces, including Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies,” Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.”

Around the World

The Louvre, France Last year, the world’s most visited museum was the subject of lamentations over overcrowding and peculiar guest behavior. Now because of its closure, visitors to the Louvre can check out virtual tours of the Egyptian antiquities collection, remains of the Louvre’s moat and the Galerie d’Apollon without having to brush by anyone’s shoulders.

Sistine Chapel, Italy Now, visitors can tour the interior artworks of the chapel, including its renowned ceiling and “The Last Judgment,” by the Renaissance-era painter Michelangelo.

Croatia Islands, Croatia Croatian island offers a 24/7 panoramic webcam showing off its port and the Pakleni islands in the distance.

Read about other virtual natural wonders

Croatia's islands,  Croatia

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia

Northern Lights 

Trevi Fountain, Italy