The Museum of Texas Tech University is the region’s great general museum — part art gallery, part natural-history museum, part anthropology institute — and general admission is free. It sits on 4th Street at the northern edge of campus, next to the National Ranching Heritage Center.
Collections range from Triassic reptiles found in West Texas and Ice Age mammals to Southwestern pottery and textiles, historical exhibits and fine art. The Moody Planetarium runs regular shows.
Top things to do: Museum of Texas Tech University
Paleontology and natural history
See fossils from the rich Triassic beds of West Texas — including early reptiles such as Postosuchus — as well as mammoths and other Ice Age animals from the Southern Plains.
Art galleries
Changing exhibitions and the permanent collection cover everything from European prints to the art of the American West and contemporary Texas artists.
Anthropology of the Southwest
Pottery, textiles and objects from Native American cultures of the Southwest and Plains, plus exhibits linked to Lubbock Lake Landmark.
Moody Planetarium
Shows on the stars and space run on a published schedule; a small fee usually applies.
How to get there
- Address: 3301 4th Street, Lubbock, on the Texas Tech campus.
- Parking: visitor parking beside the museum.
Insider tips
- General admission is free; planetarium shows are ticketed. Opening hours have typically been Tuesday–Saturday plus Sunday afternoon — check before going.
- Combine with the Ranching Heritage Center next door for a full half day.
- A good plan B on a windy, dusty or very hot afternoon.
Pair it with a tour
GetYourGuide has no bookable tours in Lubbock itself yet, so these are the best-rated experiences that fit naturally into a trip that includes Museum of Texas Tech University:
Walking tour from $40 Santa Fe: Guided Historic Downtown Walking Tour
US-84 runs almost straight from Lubbock to Santa Fe, which makes the New Mexico capital (around five and a half hours away) the classic extension of a South Plains trip. This two-hour walk with a museum-trained docent unpacks four centuries of Pueblo, Spanish, Mexican and American history in the adobe streets around the Plaza.
- 400 years of history around the Santa Fe Plaza
- Pueblo-style adobe architecture explained
- Led by a museum-trained docent
History tour from $72 Dallas: JFK Assassination and Sixth Floor Museum Tour
One of the most popular history tours in Dallas, with more than 500 reviews. A guide walks you through the events of November 1963 at Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum, then takes you to other sites connected with the assassination — an absorbing half day if you overnight in Dallas on the way to or from Lubbock.
- Dealey Plaza and the grassy knoll
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Other key sites of 22 November 1963
