Free & Cheap Things to Do in Laramie

Arts & Culture

A fully accredited free art museum on the University of Wyoming campus with a permanent collection of over 7,000 works spanning five centuries — including significant holdings of American Western art, European prints, and contemporary photography. Rotating exhibitions bring in major national and international shows throughout the year. One of the finest free art museums between Denver and Salt Lake City.

Address: 2111 E Willett Dr, Laramie, WY 82071

Tip: Open Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm (Thursdays until 8pm). Free parking in the adjacent lot — sign in at the Visitor Services desk to avoid a ticket. The museum café is a nice spot for a break between galleries.

Arts & Culture

A free self-guided walking tour through Laramie's historic downtown featuring large-scale murals painted by local and regional artists in collaboration with the UW Art Museum and the Laramie Main Street Alliance. The murals weave through the brick-lined streets of the historic district, turning an ordinary downtown stroll into an open-air gallery experience. Pick up a free map at the Laramie Visitor Center or download one online.

Address: Downtown Laramie, WY 82070 (start at Visitor Center, 210 E Custer St)

Tip: The Visitor Center has free printed mural maps and is a great first stop. The tour pairs well with a walk through the historic downtown shops and restaurants along 2nd Street. Best enjoyed on a clear day when the building colors pop.

Parks & Nature

Laramie's beloved free city park centered around a beautiful historic bandshell that hosts free Wednesday evening concerts by the Laramie Municipal Band throughout the summer. The park features a duck pond, playgrounds, picnic shelters, and wide open lawns perfect for an afternoon outside. A classic small-city park experience that locals have been enjoying for generations — and still completely free.

Address: Sheridan St & 24th St, Laramie, WY 82070

Tip: Free Wednesday evening concerts run throughout the summer — check the City of Laramie website for the schedule. The park is also a popular spot for frisbee, picnics, and watching the ducks on the pond. Just a short walk from downtown.

Parks & Nature

A free natural-history museum on the UW campus built around the state's prolific dinosaur record — 'Big Al,' the most complete Allosaurus skeleton ever excavated, plus a 75-foot Apatosaurus mounted in striding pose and a 45-foot copper T. rex statue out front. The collection holds over 60,000 fossil specimens and 50 holotypes spanning the Cambrian to the Pleistocene.

Address: S.H. Knight Geology Building, 11th & Lewis Streets, Laramie, WY 82071

Tip: Open Mon–Sat 10am–4pm; closed Sundays and UW holidays. Free street parking on 11th and metered lots on campus. The copper T. rex outside is one of Laramie's most photographed landmarks.

Historic Sites

The 1872 federal penitentiary that briefly housed Butch Cassidy in 1894, preserved as a state historic site on 197 acres along the Big Laramie River. Self-guided tours walk through restored cells, the warden's house, and the Prison Industries Building (a broom factory), with exhibits on the territorial frontier, women's suffrage, and the prison's later life as a UW agricultural station.

Address: 975 Snowy Range Road, Laramie, WY 82070

Tip: May–Sep: daily 9am–4pm with guided tours included. Oct–Apr: Thu–Sat 10am–3pm, self-guided only. Last admission one hour before close. Free admission on July 10 (Wyoming Statehood Day).

Historic Sites

An 1892 Queen Anne mansion built by Laramie banker Edward Ivinson, preserved as a house museum and regional history archive. Guided tours walk through fifteen restored rooms with the family's original Eastlake-style furniture, a Tiffany glass window, and exhibits on the women who organized Wyoming's first-in-the-nation suffrage vote of 1869.

Address: 603 E. Ivinson Avenue, Laramie, WY 82070

Tip: Tours Tue–Sat 1pm–4pm; last tour at 3pm. Free parking on Ivinson Avenue. Pair with the Wyoming Territorial Prison and UW Geological Museum for a full Laramie history day.

Parks & Nature

A spectacular cluster of weathered granite hoodoos and balanced boulders in Medicine Bow National Forest, 20 miles east of Laramie. The 1.6-mile Turtle Rock Trail loops around the central rock garden with year-round access, and the area is one of the top traditional climbing destinations in the Rocky Mountain West. Aspen groves blaze gold in late September.

Address: Vedauwoo Road off I-80 Exit 329, Laramie, WY 82070

Tip: Self-pay station at the entrance — bring cash or check. Restrooms at the picnic area. Watch for snakes in summer and patches of late snow on shaded north faces through May.

Arts & Culture

The University of Wyoming's free public archive — one of the largest non-governmental manuscript repositories in the US — housed in a striking copper-clad teepee-shaped building on UW's east campus. Rotating exhibits draw from 95,000 cubic feet of holdings: Hollywood papers (Hopalong Cassidy, Tim McCoy), the Wyoming political archives, and rare books in a third-floor reading room visitors can browse.

Address: 2111 Willett Drive (Centennial Complex), Laramie, WY 82071

Tip: Open Monday–Friday 9am–4pm year-round; closed weekends. Free parking in the Centennial Complex lot. The same building houses the UW Art Museum — combine the two for a half-day campus visit.

Parks & Nature

A free University of Wyoming center whose three floors hold natural-history exhibits, ambassador animals, and exploration tools, surrounded by pollinator and butterfly gardens that bloom all summer. The Biodiversity Institute's public talks and workshops are generally free too.

Address: 10th & Lewis Streets, Laramie, WY 82071

Tip: Open weekdays 8-5; the butterfly and pollinator gardens outside peak in mid-to-late summer.

History & Culture

The restored 1924 Union Pacific depot anchors downtown Laramie as a free interactive railroad museum and community space, telling the city's railroading story through exhibits and hands-on displays. Just south, Railroad Heritage Park displays a vintage snow train.

Address: 600 S 1st St, Laramie, WY 82070

Tip: Volunteer-led tours are free with 24-hour notice; the depot museum keeps limited hours, so check ahead.