When exploring the attractions of a new city or visiting one you have always loved, often, museums are always on the to do list. The most popular museums are usually packed fully for a reason and you may spend most of time standing on endless lines just to see the most famous painting. Here, I have outlined twenty seriously underrated museums unknown to most individuals that is a must-see museum in different large cities that are worth skipping the large crowds over.

CoBrA Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam

The CoBrA Museum is located inside a beautiful building designed by architect Wim Quist just a bus ride from central Amsterdam in Amstelveen, and houses playful and colorful works by the avant-garde 20th-century CoBrA group by the likes of Constant, Karel Appel and Corneille. The name was formulated from the home cities of its members: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. The movement began in 1948 and its legacy was significant-Paul Klee was among the artists influenced by it.

The Resistance Museum (Amsterdam Verzatsmuseum)

A fascinating look into the Dutch experience of World War II, with a variety of often touching everyday exhibits that help to shed light on what made the collaborators, as well as the resistance fighters, tick. A separate display looks at the last days of Dutch colonialism.

The Tulip Museum, Amsterdam

This compact and quirky little museum inside a tulip shop in Amsterdam tells the story of the tulip in Amsterdam—including its origins as an early Turkish import, and the phenomenon of tulip mania, the world’s first speculation bubble in Rembrandt’s day.

Delta Flight Museum, Atlanta

Until last year, this fascinating attraction was only open to Delta employees. What a more fitting place for it than Atlanta, the birthplace and headquarters of Delta airlines, to stroll this museum exploring beautiful planes, do a flight simulation, and learn about all things aviation? The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m, and from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $7 for children and $12.50 for adults.

Monthly Art Stroll in Castleberry Hill, Atlanta

Held on the second Friday of every month, the art stroll is a well-kept secret in historic art district Castleberry Hill. Art aficionados can expect to start the stroll at 7 p.m. and wander through various art galleries. Restaurants and businesses offer special offers for art stroll participants until it ends at 10 p.m.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore

Maryland has a rich and beautiful African American history. Named after the richest African American man of the 1980s, who happens to hail from the city of Baltimore, this museum honors the state’s African American legacy with exhibits that explore the bonds of family and community, slavery’s hold on the state, and the use of art and education to overcome oppression.

American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore

This idiosyncratic museum just celebrated its 20th anniversary and is one of Baltimore’s most treasured hidden gems. There’s no true definition of the type of artwork displayed, except that the work is made by self-taught artists lacking formal training. Here, art is spontaneous, bizarre, spiritual, and individualized, and you’ll never quite know what to expect opening the museum’s doors. There are over 4,000 pieces in the permanent collection, with often rotating galleries, like Wayne Kusy’s “Lusitania” model, made from 193,000 toothpicks.

Marmottan Monet Museum, Paris

Slipped into the outskirts of Paris in the 16th arrondissement, the Marmottan Monet Museum was once the beautiful home of art collector Paul Marmottan. Now, the quaint, two-floor cache holds the largest collection of works by Monet, which were donated by the painter’s son. Other impressionists — including Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, and Morisot — have works filling the rooms here, and the often quiet gallery leaves plenty of space for exploring at your own pace.

Pollock’s Toy Museum, London

A bit off-beat and quirky, this family-run museum and toy shop sits in two historic buildings in London’s Fitzrovia, right outside the Goodge Street Station. Up two winding staircases and throughout six small rooms, there’s an eclectic display of teddy bears, vintage dolls, folk toys, puppets, toy theaters, and soldiers, with a strong focus on Victorian toys. Some of the knickknacks might be a bit too odd — or spooky — for the young ones, but it’s a great spot for older children and adults.

Bode Museum, Berlin

Hailing like a castle on top of Spree River, this beautiful, historically-preserved museum stands at the tip of Museum Island in Berlin. Following the ideas of Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Wilhelm von Bode first opened the museum in 1904 in order to have a space devoted to the Renaissance. After WWII and several stages of restoration, the museum reopened in 2006, debuting the permanent displays of the Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art, with ancient sculptures dating from the early Middle Ages to the late 18th century, and Münzkabinett, one of the world’s most significant exhibitions of coins and medals chronicling the history of humankind through the forging of metal. These exhibitions call for you to take your time, so plan to make a day of it.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum

The Amsterdam Pipe Museum is a museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, dedicated to smoking pipes, tobacco, and related paraphernalia. It holds the national reference collection in these areas. The permanent exhibition of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum displays over 2,000 items representing the variety of smoking pipes and utensils that have been used in all parts of the world over the past 25 centuries.

Historical Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn

The Walls of Tallinn are the medieval defensive walls constructed around the city of Tallinn in Estonia. The first wall around Tallinn was ordered to be constructed by Margaret Sambiria in 1265 and for that reason, it was known as the Margaret Wall. Since that time it has been enlarged and strengthened. The walls and the many gates are still largely extant today. This is one of the reasons that Tallinn’s old town became a World Heritage Site. The walls were enlarged in the fourteenth century, and citizens of Tallinn were required to turn out for guard duty, which meant to wear their armor and demonstrate their readiness to face off invaders.

Archeological Museum of Pella

The building was designed by architect Kostas Skroumpellos and is on the site of the ancient city of Pella. It was completed in 2009 with the support of the Greece’s Third Community Support Framework. It is situated near the archaeological site of the ancient Macedonian palace. The building has a rectangular atrium, as a reference to the central peristyle courtyard of ancient houses in Pella.

Frye Art Museum, Seattle

This modest-sized art museum is just around the corner from the Seattle Art Museum and Seattle Public Library; it’s perfect for art lovers looking for a smaller space to navigate. Frye holds an an expansive and striking array of predominately European artwork, as well as that of 19th- and 20th-century American painters. There’s a range of rotating exhibits, including the “Frye Salon,” a floor-to-ceiling display of more than 140 paintings from the museum’s founding collection; the salon recreates the gallery’s original setting in founders’ Charles and Emma Frye’s Seattle-based home.

Ukraine State Aviation Museum

The State Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located next to Zhulyany Airport in Kiev, Ukraine. The museum offers both aircraft exhibits and interactive displays. The museum is one of the larger aviation museums displaying Soviet technology. The museum opened its doors to the public on 30 September 2003, with Yuriy Ziatdinov as curator. Both the premises and the planes are provided by the National Aviation University which continues to use some of the exhibits as educational props on site.

The Tenement Museum, New York City

The Tenement Museum might initially be easy to miss, as from afar it can look just like a regular apartment building. But this historically remarkable place at 97 Orchard Street was preserved to share the stories and lives of the nearly 7,000 working-class immigrants who lived there throughout the years. The museum tells the history of immigration as generations of newcomers came to New York to start anew, with an influx of people settling in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. There’s a chance to see what it’s like to work in a sweatshop, and taste a variety of foods influenced by immigrant culture. You can explore the building and its restored apartments, with comprehensive tours given by costumed interpreters as residents, as well as walk the surrounding neighborhood.

Ethnic Museums, Chicago

This is the melting pot of the Midwest, and what better way to celebrate the local culture than by learning about the ones that formed it? Sure, Museum Campus is great, but wraps your mind around the background of local immigrants at places like the National Hellenic Museum, the Chinese American Museum of Chicago, the Swedish American Museum Center, and more.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver

This edgy and well-located museum provides a perfect afternoon escape for art lovers downtown. Don’t miss the rotating exhibitions and the rooftop cafe. Want to take advantage of the area’s successful bike sharing program? The museum is right across the street from the 15th & Delgany B-Cycle station, and just a block off the Cherry Creek Bike Trail.

Romanian Kitch Museum, Bucharest

Tourists on the hunt for something a little bit different in Bucharest will no doubt be intrigued by the Romanian Kitsch Museum, a new opening that is dedicated solely to showcasing some of the country’s most garish, creative, ridiculous and somewhat distasteful objects in all their glory.

Gaudi Exhibition Center, Barcelona

An exclusive space for understanding what made Gaudi such a great and unique architect in a very enjoyable way: through a spectacular 180º video introduction, an interactive augmented reality exhibit, audiovisuals created specifically for the exhibition, multimedia content, holograms, designed sets, models, documents, unique pieces and more!