The Dayton Art Institute is a well established museum with collections in American, European, Asian, African, glass, sculpture, and pre-Columbian art. The museum also supports shows of performing art, especially music.

The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a science museum mainly for kids, but with adult-friendly exhibits too. The museum also has a planetarium and small zoo.

The SunWatch Indian Village and Archaeological Park is a reconstructed native village and observatory from about 1100 AD, right on the shores of the Great Miami River. This site is as accurate as possible, with interpretive tours and artifacts on display.

America's Packard Museum focuses on the Packard car, one of America's finest automobiles for almost 60 years. This museum has cars from the early 1900s through to the 1950s, and a number of war effort engines and other automobilia displays.

Dayton is the cradle of aviation, and there are several aviation museums nearby. The largest is the National Museum of the United States Air Force is the largest and oldest military aviation museum, and one of the largest aviation museums in general. This museum is on Wright-Patterson base, and free. Pilots can check out some of the first fighter planes; mechanics can see the little engines from the pre-jet era.

The Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park focuses on the Wright Brothers (and their friend, Paul Laurence Dunbar) and includes a the Brother's cycle company and home.

The Carillon Historical Park is a local history museum with a strong streak of innovation - Dayton has been a focus of aerospace and engineering innovation for over a hundred years, and it's part of the local history. This museum looks at several local innovators, including the Wrights, and Charles Kettering and other inventors, as well as other major Dayton events.

The Paul Laurence Dunbar House is where the first major African-American poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Dayton man, lived for the last years of his life.