A real field trip starts with a permission slip, a bus quote, a head count and a month of planning — and that is before anyone asks who is chaperoning. A virtual field trip skips all of that. The class can walk through a dinosaur hall in Washington, stand at the edge of a Yellowstone hot spring, or step inside a colonial capitol building, all in a single period, with no bus and no lunch count.
The eight resources below are not videos about places. They are the places, opened up on a screen: room-by-room 3D tours of museums, map-based tours of a national park, 360-degree walks through historic buildings, and one service that brings a live museum educator into your classroom by video call. Seven of the eight cost nothing.
How we picked: we checked each resource on its own official website on November 4, 2026, and only describe features and plans we could see there. We weighted fit for PreK–6 classrooms, whether a teacher can start for free, and whether the tour lets students look around for themselves instead of only watching. No resource here paid to appear.
Key takeaways
- Best free starting point: Google Arts & Culture, with 360° tours of museums and landmarks in one place.
- The Smithsonian, Yellowstone, the Met and the Louvre all offer free virtual tours on their own official sites.
- Colonial Williamsburg and Ellis Island bring early American history into the classroom in 360°.
- CILC FieldED is the only live option here: real experts, real time, booked ahead and priced per program.
Quick comparison
| # | Tool | Best for | Grades / audience | Pricing | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hundreds of museums in one place | All ages | Free | Yes | |
| 2 | a real museum visit, room by room | Elementary and up | Free | Yes | |
| 3 | a national park without the bus | Elementary and up | Free | Yes | |
| 4 | the American Revolution, up close | Grades 3–6 | Free | Yes | |
| 5 | the immigrant experience | Grades 3–6 | Free | Yes | |
| 6 | art at full scale | All ages | Free | Yes | |
| 7 | the world's most famous museum | All ages | Free | Yes | |
| 8 | a live expert in your classroom | PreK–12 | Free + paid | No |
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Request a listingThe 8 best picks
Google Arts & Culture
Best for: hundreds of museums in one place
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- All ages
Google Arts & Culture gathers the collections of cultural institutions from around the world into one free site and app. A class can walk through a museum with Street View, watch a 360° video, zoom into a painting with Art Camera, or follow an expert-guided exhibit — and the Talking Tour adds an AI audio guide to cultural landmarks.
What we like
- Street View tours of famous sites and landmarks
- 360° videos that let students experience culture in 360 degrees
- Art Camera close-ups that show brushwork in ultra-high detail
- Expert-guided online exhibits and a Talking Tour audio guide for landmarks
Watch out for
- The depth varies by partner: some museums have full walk-throughs, others only a few artworks
- Works best with a steady connection and a big screen at the front of the room
Pricing: Free — the whole site and app are free to use, with no account needed to browse.
Smithsonian Natural History Virtual Tour
Best for: a real museum visit, room by room
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- Elementary and up
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's virtual tours are self-guided, room-by-room 3D walks through the museum's halls, from the Rotunda's African elephant to the Hall of Fossils. The Deep Time tour also includes fossil photos, mural images, videos and the full exhibit label text, and past exhibits that are no longer on display are open too.
What we like
- Room-by-room 3D tours of the museum's halls, including the Hall of Fossils – Deep Time
- Fossil photos, mural images, videos and all exhibit label text in the Deep Time tour
- Narrated virtual tours of select halls
- Tours of past exhibits no longer on display, plus research areas
Watch out for
- Needs JavaScript enabled — the museum notes ad blockers can interfere with the tour
- The tours are visual walks, not lessons, so plan the teaching around them
Pricing: Free — the virtual tours run in a browser at no cost.
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- Elementary and up
Yellowstone's virtual tours let a class explore the park's main attractions from the classroom, with map-based tours of geyser basins, hot springs and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Each tour pairs the 360° views with information about visiting in person, and the park's story maps add photos, sounds and video.
What we like
- Map-based tours of Fort Yellowstone, Fountain Paint Pot, Mammoth Hot Springs, Mud Volcano and Norris Geyser Basin
- A tour of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Story maps, including one on protecting Yellowstone's water
- Photos, sounds, videos and interactive maps alongside each tour
Watch out for
- Needs a steady connection for the map-based tours
- Best projected for the whole class rather than explored solo on small screens
Pricing: Free — the virtual tours are free on the National Park Service site.
Colonial Williamsburg Virtual Tours
Best for: the American Revolution, up close
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- Grades 3–6
Colonial Williamsburg offers free 360° virtual tours of the buildings where the American Revolution was argued into being: the Capitol, the Governor's Palace, the Courthouse, the Wythe House, the Raleigh Tavern and the Bray School. A separate project, Virtual Williamsburg, is rebuilding the whole town as it looked in 1776 as an interactive 3D model.
What we like
- 360° tours of the Capitol, Governor's Palace, Courthouse, Wythe House and Raleigh Tavern
- A virtual tour of the Bray School, one of the oldest buildings in the Historic Area
- Virtual Williamsburg, a 3D re-creation of the town as it appeared in 1776
- Virtual tours of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg
Watch out for
- Virtual Williamsburg is still being built, with about a fifth of the town's buildings modeled in high detail
- Some tours open through Google Arts & Culture rather than the Williamsburg site itself
Pricing: Free — the virtual tours are free to explore on the Colonial Williamsburg site.
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- Grades 3–6
The National Park Service's virtual tour of Ellis Island uses high-resolution spherical images to open the South Side hospital complex — buildings most visitors never see — with historic photos of the same rooms from decades ago and animated point-cloud fly-throughs. The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation adds a five-part Ellis Island Expedition video series in which Park Rangers walk students through the immigrant experience.
What we like
- Spherical 360° images of Ellis Island's historic South Side hospital complex
- Historic images from the National Archives showing the same rooms decades ago
- Animated point-cloud fly-throughs of the island and the hospital buildings
- A five-part Ellis Island Expedition video series with National Park Service rangers
Watch out for
- The inspection and hospital content suits grades 3 and up better than younger children
- The spherical tour needs a modern browser to move smoothly
Pricing: Free — the virtual tour is free on the National Park Service site.
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- All ages
The Met 360° Project is a series of free cinematic 360° videos that sweep through the Metropolitan Museum of Art's most dramatic spaces — the Great Hall, the Temple of Dendur, the Cloisters and the Arms and Armor galleries. The museum has also built two newer VR experiences, Dendur Decoded and an Oceania voyage, that run in a browser or a headset.
What we like
- Cinematic 360° videos of the Great Hall, the Temple of Dendur and the Met Cloisters
- Views of the Arms and Armor galleries and the Charles Engelhard Court
- Dendur Decoded, a VR experience that lets visitors walk inside the Temple of Dendur
- An Oceania VR experience that lets students handle objects at eye level
Watch out for
- The newest VR experiences work in a browser, but a headset gives the full effect
- No teacher guide is built in, so pick the spaces that match your unit
Pricing: Free — the 360° videos are free to watch on the Met's site.
- Pricing
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
- Grades / audience
- All ages
The Louvre's free online tours open select galleries of the world's largest museum on a screen: the Egyptian Antiquities, the Galerie d'Apollon, the remains of the medieval Louvre and the Grand Gallery. The museum's first virtual reality experience, Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, tells the story of the portrait itself, and the Louvre's online collection database covers works on display, on loan and in storage.
What we like
- Free online tours of select galleries, including Egyptian Antiquities and the Galerie d'Apollon
- Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass, a virtual reality experience about the portrait
- 360° video tours of the Grand Gallery and the medieval Louvre remains
- An online collection database covering works on display, on loan and in storage
Watch out for
- Only select galleries have full tours — the collection database fills the gaps
- The tours are walks through rooms, so plan stopping points and questions in advance
Pricing: Free — the online tours are free on the Louvre's site.
- Pricing
- Free + paid
- Free plan
- No
- Grades / audience
- PreK–12
CILC, the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, runs FieldED, a series of live virtual field trips for pre-K through grade 12 that connect classrooms by video call with real experts at museums, historic sites and science centers. Programs run on Zoom or other videoconference tools, typically last 30 to 60 minutes, and take questions from students as they go.
What we like
- Live virtual field trips for pre-K through grade 12, led by museum educators and field specialists
- Programs on science, art, history and careers, searchable by topic and grade
- A live events calendar with programs broadcast to classrooms around the world
- A free account to browse and book, with ticket packages for frequent users
Watch out for
- Programs cost money, so check the price on the program page before booking
- Late cancellations can carry a fee, so confirm the date with your school calendar first
Pricing: A free account lets you browse and book; individual live programs are priced per program, with examples on the site from $75 to $230, and ticket packages from $840.
How we chose
We started from tools PreK–6 teachers actually use and checked every one against its official website, pricing page and feature pages on November 4, 2026. We kept tools that fit elementary classrooms, noted whether a free plan exists, and wrote down honest limitations next to the strengths. Nobody paid to be included, and we don't use affiliate links on this page.
- Fit for PreK–6 classrooms, special education or homeschool
- Clear information on the official site about what the tool does and who it is for
- Free plan or free-for-teachers option noted where one exists
- Still active and maintained, with rebrands noted
How to choose the right tool
Start with the question, not the place. If the unit asks how fossils form, the Smithsonian's Deep Time hall answers it. If it asks what a national park protects, Yellowstone does. A tour picked for the view alone fills a period; a tour picked for a question fills a unit.
Decide live or self-guided before you book anything. Seven of these tours run whenever you open them, at your pace, with pause and rewind built in. CILC FieldED is the exception: a real expert, a set time, and a fee — worth it when students need to ask questions, not when you need a filler.
Test the tour on the classroom machine first. The 3D tours need a steady connection and a modern browser, and the Smithsonian notes that ad blockers can interfere. Open the exact tour you plan to use, walk through it once, and bookmark it — do not search for it live in front of thirty students.
Keep the tour short and give students a job. Ten to fifteen minutes of looking, then a task: sketch one object, find one fact, or place the site on a map. A tour with a job to do beats an hour of drifting, and the map work in the printables below is built for exactly that moment.
Mind the reading level. The Smithsonian's exhibit labels and the Ellis Island historic notes are written for older readers, so plan to read them aloud or pre-pick the stops for younger classes. The visual tours — the Met's 360° films, the Louvre's gallery walks — work for every age.
Best pick by situation
- You need a virtual trip for tomorrow with no budget: Google Arts & Culture — hundreds of museums in one place, free
- Your class is learning about fossils: Smithsonian Natural History Virtual Tour — Deep Time hall with full label text
- You want a national park without the bus: Yellowstone National Park Virtual Tours — map-based tours of geyser basins
- You are teaching the American Revolution: Colonial Williamsburg Virtual Tours — 360° tours of the Capitol and Palace
- Your class is studying immigration: Ellis Island Virtual Tour — spherical tour plus a ranger video series
- You want a real expert to answer questions live: CILC FieldED Live Virtual Field Trips — live programs with museum educators
- You want art from around the world in one period: The Louvre Online Tours — free gallery tours and the Mona Lisa VR experience
Pair it with printables
After a virtual visit, these printables help students place what they saw on a map, connect it to the places in their own community, or build on a historic settlement — no screen needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free virtual field trip for elementary school?
Google Arts & Culture is the strongest free starting point, because it gathers hundreds of museums and landmarks in one place with 360° tours, Street View and expert-guided exhibits. The Smithsonian's natural history tour is the next one to try for a single-museum visit with real exhibit labels.
Can I run a virtual field trip with no budget?
Yes. Seven of the eight resources here are free: Google Arts & Culture, the Smithsonian, Yellowstone, Colonial Williamsburg, Ellis Island, the Met and the Louvre. Only CILC FieldED charges, and only for its live expert-led programs.
Which virtual field trip fits a history unit?
Colonial Williamsburg fits the American Revolution, with 360° tours of the Capitol and the Governor's Palace. Ellis Island fits immigration, with a spherical tour of the historic hospital complex and a five-part ranger video series about the immigrant experience.
Do these work on Chromebooks and tablets?
The self-guided tours run in a browser, and the Smithsonian's work on desktop and mobile. CILC programs run over Zoom or another videoconference tool, so check your school's video rules before booking. The Met's newest VR experiences work in a browser too, with a headset optional.
What if I want a live person instead of a recorded tour?
Book a CILC FieldED program. A museum educator or field specialist joins your class live by video, takes questions, and runs the session. Programs are priced per program, so book ahead and check the cost on the program page.
Make a tool for teachers?
Built something teachers love? We keep these guides fresh, so send us a new tool, updated pricing or a featured spot request.
Request a listingDisclosure: no tool on this page paid to be included and we don't earn commissions from these links. Featured placements, if we ever offer them, will be clearly labeled "Sponsored". Details were checked on each provider's official website on November 4, 2026 and can change.