National Museum of Natural Science

The National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung is Taiwan's largest science museum and one of the most visited museums on the island, drawing around three million people a year. It opened in stages from 1986, when the Space Theater and Science Center welcomed their first visitors, followed by the Life Science Hall in 1988, the Human Cultures Hall and Global Environment Hall in 1993 and the Botanical Garden in 1999. The campus covers about twenty two acres in the North District, a short walk from the Calligraphy Greenway, and its pale modern buildings are linked by courtyards and covered walkways.

The museum is really six museums in one. The Life Science Hall tells the story of life from its origins to the human body, with the famous dinosaur gallery at its heart. The Human Cultures Hall covers Chinese science and medicine, the spiritual life of the Han people and the cultures of Taiwan's indigenous groups and the Pacific. The Global Environment Hall deals with geology, ecology and Taiwan's own environment. The Science Center is a hands on building of physics, semiconductors and space, the Space Theater is a tilted dome cinema, and the Botanical Garden across the road has a soaring rainforest greenhouse.

Give yourself most of a day. The exhibition halls share one ticket, while the Space Theater, the Science Center and the greenhouse are ticketed separately. Labels are in Chinese with English summaries on the main displays.