Atlanta anchors Georgia's free-museum scene: the High Museum opens free to everyone on the second Sunday of every month and runs a separate Access for All free day every third Wednesday, while Emory's Michael C. Carlos Museum drops admission for family Sunday FUNdays once a month during the school year. Outside the city, the deals spread north and east — Cartersville's Booth Western Art Museum waives admission on the second Thursday evening of each month, and Augusta's Morris Museum of Art is simply free every Sunday. But Georgia's real strength is how many of its best museums never charge at all: the official state art museum in Athens, the donor-mandated free Columbus Museum, and Spelman's gallery in Atlanta all skip the ticket booth entirely. Every entry below was checked against the museum's own admission page.
Beyond the recurring days: Bank of America cardholders get free admission to the High, the Booth, and the Atlanta History Center on the first full weekend of each month through Museums on Us, and Georgia public-library cardholders can borrow Experience Passes (the Macon Museum Pass alone covers the Tubman, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame). Mark February 8, 2026 on the calendar — Super Museum Sunday opens more than 100 museums and historic sites statewide for free as part of the Georgia History Festival. The Tubman African American Museum in Macon is free every Saturday during February for Black History Month, and Telfair Museums in Savannah host a free Juneteenth Family Day (with Savannah-area residents free all day) each June. The Atlanta History Center is free to all on MLK Day and during its spring free-admission window.
Atlanta
High Museum of Art
Regularly $23.50 adultsThe Southeast's leading art museum runs two separate free days. UPS Second Sundays open the whole museum free to everyone, with family programming from 1 to 4 p.m. — just walk up. The Art Bridges–funded Access for All day on every third Wednesday is free too, with drop-in art-making for adults, but it requires advance registration (max five tickets per person, and it fills fast). Active and veteran military plus a guest are free any day.
🌐 Check current dates →Michael C. Carlos Museum
Regularly $10 adultsEmory University's museum of ancient art — Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Asian collections plus a real mummy gallery — holds Sunday FUNdays on the first Sunday of each month during the academic year, with free admission and drop-in studio activities for families from noon to 4 p.m. No registration needed. College students with ID and kids 5 and under are free every day, and the museum gives a 10% discount to anyone who walks, bikes, or takes transit.
🌐 Check current dates →Cartersville & North Georgia
Booth Western Art Museum
Regularly $16 adultsThe largest museum of Western art in the country — 120,000 square feet of cowboy and frontier paintings, presidential portraits, and an interactive kids' ranch, about 45 minutes north of Atlanta in downtown Cartersville. On the second Thursday of every month the museum stays open until 8 and waives admission entirely from 4 to 8 p.m. Children 12 and under and active military are free any day, and parking is always free.
🌐 Check current dates →Augusta
Morris Museum of Art
Regularly $5 adultsThe oldest museum in the country devoted to the art of the American South sits right on Augusta's Riverwalk, with ten galleries of Southern painting from the late 1700s to today. Admission is only $5 to begin with, but it's free for everyone on Sundays (open noon to 5). Children 12 and under are always free, and weekend parking in the Riverfront Center lot is free too — making a Sunday visit completely no-cost.
🌐 Check current dates →Always Free in Georgia
No free day needed — these flagship museums never charge general admission.
Free days that recently ended
Still listed on many older round-ups — verified gone as of June 2026:
- Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta) — Temporarily closed — the free-admission contemporary art center on the Westside, still recommended by many round-ups, closed to the public starting May 18, 2026 with no reopening date posted on its visit page. Check the museum's site before planning a trip.