The Royal Ontario Museum's blockbuster exhibitions supplement its permanent world-class collection — major touring exhibitions covering Egyptian pharaohs, Viking sagas, ancient Chinese dynasties, dinosaurs, and fashion history have made the ROM one of North America's most visited museums. The permanent dinosaur gallery — with enormous mounted skeletons filling a full atrium — is alone worth the admission.
Neighbourhood: Yorkville / University · Address: 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON · Hours: Daily 10am–5:30pm (Fri until 8:30pm)
Why Visit
The ROM's special exhibitions bring rare global treasures to Toronto, from 3,000-year-old sarcophagi to contemporary fashion and blockbuster dinosaur displays. Each exhibit typically features original international artifacts or art that you won't see elsewhere in Canada.
What Makes It Unique
The ROM is the only spot in Toronto where you can see large-scale, immersive special exhibitions shipped in from institutions like the British Museum or Smithsonian. Its collection and shows are presented on a scale no other local museum comes close to, often anchoring city-wide cultural moments — think the sold-out Christian Dior or Egypt exhibitions.
If you’re only doing one big museum in Toronto, make it the ROM. It’s right at 100 Queens Park on the edge of Yorkville and the University area, and it’s the kind of place that can easily eat up half a day without feeling like work. The draw isn’t just the permanent collection, though that’s excellent. What keeps people coming back are the special exhibitions, which are usually the big-ticket touring shows that everyone in the city ends up talking about for a few months. One season it’s Egyptian pharaohs and funerary objects, another it’s Viking sagas, ancient Chinese dynasties, fashion history, or some giant prehistoric creature that makes kids completely lose their minds.
What I like about the ROM is that it doesn’t feel like a museum you do once and check off forever. The special exhibitions give it a real sense of momentum. They’re usually well-produced, dramatic without being cheesy, and easy to get into even if you’re not already obsessed with the subject. You’ll see families with strollers, university students lingering over text panels, tourists taking photos of everything, and locals who came specifically for one exhibition and then wandered into three more galleries by accident.
And yes, the dinosaur gallery really is worth the admission on its own. It fills a huge atrium with mounted skeletons that feel almost ridiculous in scale when you’re standing underneath them. The Futalognkosaurus skeleton is the one that stops people in their tracks. Even if you’ve seen it before, there’s still that moment where you look up and think, right, that thing actually walked the earth. Kids are usually pressed against the railings pointing at teeth and claws, but adults are just as impressed. It’s one of the few permanent museum displays in the city that never loses its effect.
The building itself is a mix of old ROM and that sharp, angular crystal addition on Bloor, so moving through it can feel a bit maze-like. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but don’t expect a perfectly linear visit. Check the map early, especially if there’s a timed ticket for the special exhibition you want to see. If you go on a weekend or during school holidays, it gets busy fast, especially around the dinosaurs and any blockbuster show. If you can manage a Friday late opening, do that instead. It’s usually discounted, the crowd is more relaxed, and you can actually stand in front of things without being jostled every few seconds.
My advice is to pick one special exhibition, give yourself time for the dinosaur gallery, and not try to conquer the entire museum in one shot. You’ll enjoy it more if you leave a little unseen. The ROM is at its best when you let yourself get sidetracked, whether that means an hour with ancient artifacts you didn’t plan to see or a second lap around the dinosaur atrium because it still looks impossible.