Hello world: a map of places that show how things work

2026-10-26

Industry Tours is a map of places where you can see how science, engineering and industry work: national labs with public tours, observatories, dams and power plants, factories that show you the line, and museums of technology and industrial history.

Why it exists

The page that says how to visit a lab or a factory is often buried, and the rules that decide whether you can go are scattered across it: open one day a week, summer only, book weeks ahead, ages 12 and up, photo ID at the gate, US citizens only. Each listing here puts those rules first, links the official page they came from, and shows the date they were last checked. It's meant to answer one question quickly: I'm going to this city, what's worth seeing there?

What's on the map so far

298 places in 50 states and Washington, DC.

• Museum: 163
• Infrastructure: 30
• Factory: 29
• Aerospace: 25
• Observatory: 20
• Laboratory: 14
• Other: 10
• Craft: 6
• Telecom: 1

Every view of the map and the list can be downloaded as KML for Google My Maps or Google Earth, so you can take a trip's worth of places with you.

Listings can be wrong, and things change between checks: tours get suspended, seasons end, booking rules move. Confirm on the official page before you go.

Corrections and suggestions

If a listing is out of date, or you know a place that belongs here, write to hello@industrytours.net. New places are added as they are checked; places outside the US come later.