TripAdvisor reviewers name Getty among top museums in the U.S., world

Los Angeles’ Getty Center ranks among the top museums in the world according to a new TripAdvisor survey, but it’s edged out for No. 1 by a Chicago favorite.

Visitors to TripAdvisor ranked the Getty as their fourth favorite museum on the planet. It’s also their second favorite in the U.S.

Reviewers also consider the Getty the top visitor attraction in L.A. out of nearly 400.

“Plan to spend the entire day there,” a reviewer posted on Sunday. “The art work on hand in the permanent collection will take away your breath and fire your imagination.”

The 2014 list ranks the Art Institute of Chicago No. 1 in the country and the world.

“The collections represent fine art from all over the world, including Africa, Asia, Europe, America, as well as Native American art,” a recent visitor wrote. “Plan to stay all day.”

Another critic urged TripAdvisor fans to “take more than one day to see it all. …[There is a] mind-boggling expansive collection of all forms of art.”

The Top 10 list of American museums:

1. Art Institute of Chicago

2. The Getty Center

3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

4. National WWII Museum, New Orleans

5. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

6. National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

7. USS Midway Museum, San Diego

8. Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle

9. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson

10. Newseum, Washington, D.C.

Spanning the globe, reviewers ranked these as their faves:

1. Art Institute of Chicago

2. National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

3. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

4. The Getty Center

5. Academia Gallery at Polo Museale, Florence, Italy

6. Musee d’Orsay, Paris

7. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

8. Acropolis Museum, Athens

9. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

10. Yad Vashem museum complex, Jerusalem

The rankings are based on tens of thousands of reviews submitted in the last year.

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