Lushun Snake Museum

Lushun Snake Museum

The Lushun Snake Museum is located within the Museum Garden in the scenic Sun Valley area of Lushun. It covers an area of 14,000 square meters, with a building area of 5,000 square meters, and a total investment of 23 million yuan. The overall structure features a streamlined steel-concrete frame, with the building enclosed by solid walls and large glass curtain walls. The roof has a maximum height of 17.2 meters and a maximum span of 46.5 meters. This museum is one of Dalian’s key tourism projects.

The exhibits in the museum are themed around “returning to nature,” organically integrating the display formats of museums, zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens to create a brand-new ecological landscape to the greatest extent possible. The main area of the museum is extensively planted with shade-tolerant, high ornamental value flowers, plants, and trees, and artificial mountain and tree modeling techniques are used to create wondrous natural landscapes such as high mountains and hills, steep cliffs, cascading waterfalls, mountain streams, a corner of the ocean, an artificial lake, and caves. There are sections for giant tortoises, crocodiles, non-venomous snakes, rare animals, and specimen displays. Visitors can see 30 large Malayan giant tortoises; over 30 Yangtze alligators; thousands of various non-venomous and rat snakes; many rare species including China’s Class I protected animals such as the four-clawed land turtle and the Burmese star tortoise, the eagle turtle, the golden ring snake, the silver ring snake, and the Gloydius shedaoensis shedaoensis subspecies; in the cascading pool, you can see groups of the world’s largest amphibian, the Chinese giant salamander (also known as the baby fish); through the “corner of the ocean,” you can admire giant sea turtles, thousands of sea snakes, and various schools of fish, giving you a taste of the boundless scenery of the South China Sea; along the stairway up the python exhibition area, you can enjoy waterfalls, streams, babbling brooks, tall artificial trees, and low shrubs where more than ten large pythons reside. The specimen exhibition area displays hundreds of preserved amphibian and reptile specimens, lifelike taxidermy specimens, exquisite skeletal specimens, as well as very rare white cobras, white pit vipers, double-headed Amur pit vipers, double-tailed water snakes, and more. In the three-dimensional display panels, you can learn some popular science knowledge about snakes; the semi-circular multi-functional hall allows you to watch snake-related films and exciting animal performances, and you can even take photos holding a large python. In the glass corridor at the foot of the mountain, you can not only see many water turtles slowly moving in the mountain streams. Overlooking the entire exhibition hall, listening to the sound of waterfalls, flowing water, and background music intertwined with birdsong not only eliminates your fear of venomous snakes but also makes you feel as if you are in nature, fully reflecting the harmony between humans and the environment in the exhibition hall. The “Lushun Snake Museum” was inscribed by the then Governor of Liaoning Province.

It is said that one of the original purposes of building this museum was to bridge the gap between humans and snakes through science education, eliminate misunderstandings between people and snakes, and also to restore the reputation of snakes.

Scenic Area Address: No. 42 Lenin Street, Lushunkou District, Dalian, Liaoning Province

Transportation: Take a bus from Dalian to Lushun, then transfer to bus routes 2, 3, or 6 to get there.

Ticket Price: 38 yuan per person

Opening Hours: 8:00–17:00