Go here. Entrance is free but donate to this great cause and education museum. I learned a lot about the Hawaiian Islands, and the maps showing all the islands were great. Guides at the museum are very knowledgeable. There is an aquarium that any child will love and its air conditioned! A must go and its a quick visit.

My parents had mentioned the smaller islands, but didnt know much about them. This museum is a great resource for that info! They have a good deal of information about the islands, historical and biological artifacts, and videos on the current natural state of our oceans. There were also a few exhibits on oceanic health and research that I thought were interesting.Good for kids, too! They have a scale model of a waa and a kids area downstairs that my boys really had a blast in.

Nice little museum with a large art exhibit and small aquarium. They had several educational videos going which was really rad!

Great place, Always has something New. I love the Aquarium.

Nice place worth supporting as it seems like they do great stuff here and contribute to the community. Dont go here expecting lots of salt water fish though, as there is only 1 tank. Though it does have a nice variety, all things considered and is worth stopping in. The bathrooms are nice too, if youre passing by.

The AC was not working when we were there. Our grandson enjoyed the feeding of the fish in the large aquarium and the interactive items in the museum. Cant beat free admission with a great welcoming at the front desk. They have restroom facilities. Parking can be an issue and you may have to park a good distance.

Very cool place, interesting exhibits, fish tank with local fishes, interactive stands and corner with toys for little ones.

Beautiful and well-maintained maritime museum and island history as well as programs about the current eco system in Hawaii. Great for kids as well as adults - At the time I visited there was an art installation that was geared toward healing the earth. Beautiful koa wood throughout, modern, open and right on the harbor in Hilo. Easy street parking, free admission. Some nice eateries nearby.

The nice staff/volunteers greet you the moment you walk through the door and offer a scavenger hunt to find sea creatures located on the bottom floor of the center. The reward: a hand stamp of a sea creature. Nice way to get the kids involved. Great exhibits about sea creatures found near Hawaii, the the nearly extinct Hawaiian seal. Entry is free with a donation box just inside the entrance. Oh and those staff/volunteers are a wealth of information about more than sea life. Everyone was so nice!

This is absolutely a must see for the whole family. It is free and informative. And as someone who lost their home to the lava flow known as fissure #8... I SAW for the FIRST TIME....... HOW THAT HAPPENED....

This is an absolutely wonderful place to explore alone, on a date, with family friends and even a school field trip. The large aquarium is peaceful welcoming and above all Beautiful. The Discovery Center is full of information to open your mind to what is happening in our oceans. This is a perfect location to explore on your walk on the Bayfront.

Awesome!! Great for kids of all ages. My daughter loved the interactive computer. Adults can learn a lot, too. The Hokule’a exhibit is fantastic and teaches about the importance of keeping our oceans healthy. What an important message right now.

Loved this place! Really nice place and very educational. Highly recommend to stop in here. We spent about an hour.

This was a gem among the busy tourist area. I consider myself a history buff but the little known uninhabited islands of Hawaii were a subject I knew little about. The moment we walked in we were greeted by a volunteer that answered even the most obscure questions. I dropped a few dollars into the donation bin and my wife and I were off looking at exhibits that cover the untold story of the additional 1200 miles of Hawaiian Islamds. They have activities for young children as well. The museum is free which is a big plus.

Educational and interesting place to learn about the ocean. One display shows what you can do to help reduce plastic pollution. Hands on displays for children. Boats or ships on display telling about discoveries that have been made.

Really neat place. Learned a lot about the minor Hawaiian islands. Well set up and in a beautiful space. Great way to spend an hour out of the sun. All 3 kids, ages 8, 11, and 14 enjoyed it.

Great exhibit showing collaboration of a conservationist/artist and an artistic elephant that paints. Worthy of the visit.

Awesome!!! It was great to be able to interact with the park rangers from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and ask them questions. It was a great opportunity and really the only forum to learn what was happening with the Kilauea eruption and understand how it would effect all of the areas on the island. Thankyou so much for doing that!

Cute place. Great for kids. Nice staff/volunteers..Free!!!! Fun scavenger hunt. Lots to learn. Love it!

A decent little diversion in downtown Hilo. Activities for kids, movies to watch to learn about the North West Hawaiian Islands, which stretch all the way to Midway. Free admission, which is really nice. Well maintained. Well worth the time to stop and take it in.

Great resource free museum with interactive exhibits and talks from local scientists. Opens their doors to community events as a meeting space. Great place to pop in and teach visitors about islands and reefs.

No admission, small but clean, cute play area. The upstairs exhibits are open on Saturdays. The staff is really friendly and helpful.

A great informational discovery center with some great Hawaiian Islands information and artifacts. There is a small childrens play area. No retail items, nor is there a gift shop. Art exhibit upstairs. Street parking only.

This is such a neat place to spend an hour and learn more about the outlying Hawaiian islands and the water surrounding Hawaii. Make sure to ask the front desk about their displays and if they can tell you anything about the center. We got a lot of neat information that way.

Great place to learn about conservation, reefs, and sea creatures! Friendly staff and well-maintained aquarium. Generous A/C

Wonderful place to stop and have your curiosity reignited.

Interesting place, kids friendly. art museum made of all the garbage found in the ocean

Just a great spot to get to know a little of Hawaiis culture

This place is great!The staff is super nice and very knowledgeable. Take your kids here and learn about the islands of Hawaii.

Great intent, beautiful building. Could have done more.

The kids love this place. I likes it too.

Its small, but lovely. Beautiful paintings of sea life and displays to help kids understand more about the island the ocean, and how to care for both. Upstairs is warm, but worth it. There resides the RAMA exhibit paintws by Rama the elephant who lived in the Oregon zoo. They are magical.

Awesome free museum. Does not take too long to get through everything and it is very informative.

Mix of old and modern museum displays explaining and showcasing the geography, flora and fauna of this remote chain of islands to North West of Hawaii. The tragic role of trash that finds its way here is prominently featured. Protected by NOAA, this National Marine Monument is one of several new NMMs created by President Obama. Thank you!

Port-emphasis logic enthralls the children at the discovery-designed archetechtural establishment here. Historic artifacts, and an oceanographers delight provide a glimpse into this oceanic environmental portrayal of Hawaii. Excellent location.

Very cool exhibits! It was such a treat to find a free/donation driven spot like this in Hilo. Learning about the area and ocean life was fun, I also enjoyed the history lessons.

Fun for kids. We kept moving all over and enjoying the displays. The even had a kid goat there which made my kids excited and happy.

Great for kids and adults. So much to see and learn!

One of my favorite places to visit when Im in Hilo. Educational, has a/c and its free. Donate!!

Great spot to check out. Informative and well done displays, add that to knowledgeable and friendly staff. Admission is free, but worth donating to for your visit.

Always a cute place for the kids to enjoy it has a aquarium with native fish it has some toys a puppet show stand for the kids and lots of educational things to look at and some to interact.

Nice for a short visit. Free admission. Knowledgeable staff. Odd open layout seems a little unfocused thematically. Fun aquarium tank. I learned about the geological evolution of the Hawiian islands. Rotating exhibits.

I was a chaperone for my daughters 5th grade trip for a school from Oahu and their first stop arriving to Hilo was this discovery center. Getting to the location was very easy and our group with seven vans were able to find free street parking. Once inside we were greeted by friendly staffers (I dont recall their names) who quickly gained the interest of the group of about 50 students and adults explaining the major and minor islands as well as the exhibits on the first floor. The group was taken upstairs and shown a brief video about the albatross and then were given a hands-on activity to separate the non-natural food from the natural foods the albatross chicks would ingest. What a great way for them to understand how to be careful about their trash and the impact they have upon our environment and the creatures they share the islands with. The clean center and cold AC was really nice to enjoy but the most important part of the whole experience was the educational learning. Definitely age appropriate and worth the stop.

Nice little museum regarding the conservation of the sea life in HawaiiInteractive iPads provide great information on the numerous locations where biodiversity can be found

Beautiful visitor and information center for a number of national parks in the Pacific - Hawaii areas. What I like most is the aquarium of tropical fishes from the local seas.

Really nice and very informative.

Good place for children to come and learn.

Great value for the price (free)! Right on Hilos bay front. Documents the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and their ocean surroundings. Informative, although perhaps somewhat boring if youre not a fan of the ocean, Hawaiian culture or preservation. Small, but neat little aquarium with fish from the Mokupapa preserve. Scavenger hunt for kids on premise. I do wish they had stuff to buy, which might help subsidize the museum.

Great art and exhibits and context for all

Its a great place for family time. My son and I love it!

Very educational. Lots of cool information.

I love this place. Great exhibits for every age. Just walk in and check it out. You will be so glad you learned about our islands and the most amazing ocean archipelagos in the world. Were blessed to have this in Hilo. The people here are incredible. Mahalo Mokupapapa!

You will learn about the Hawaiian Archipelago! There are other informational exhibits too. Lived it and can spend a little over one hour here. They have free admission.

Great people and various events.

Kind of empty. I saw a cockroach though and that was exciting.

Volcanoes National Park rangers were there giving a talk about the current eruptions. I found it very informative and interesting. The displays were very well done, educational and the kids enjoyed.

Kamehameha program hoike held here, awesome!!! We have also done family painting activities here with Kilauea Pottery. Creativity rules! Also...the aquarium holds one of only 3 fish in captivity worldwide, which I cannot think of the correct name for at the moment. You should check it out!

The exhibits are beautiful and educational.

Came here for the Volcano statue park rangers. They were awesome! Great presentations! Although Ive read a lot about the current eruptions and the volcanoes on Hawaii, it was only after this presentation i got the whole thing. Brilliant!

Great people working here. Great exhibits.

Great place! Tons of awesome information and interactive displays for children and adults alike. Saturdays you can go upstairs and check out some other really cool exhibits.

Excellent and really enjoyed it, taking in the two floors

Great exhibit, easy to get to.

A nice little discovery center in downtown Hilo. There is a little gift shop upstairs for the Volcano National Park too. Learning about the Islands and their formation from the main host/greeter was the best part.

This place is an amazing learning experience for the kids. And the best thing about is its free to the public. They have scheduled lessons to share with the community. I loved the experience.

This is a great place to take your keiki to learn about the ocean, and how they can help it. It’s free and have lots of exhibits, for parents and children.

Awesome museum. The learning center is very eye opening. It also changes topics but im not sure how often.

Very informative about the reef system that is part of the islands

Great educational place to take kids

Did you know Hawaii actually consists of 8 main islands and a total of 137 islands most of which are not accessible to humans. You get to learn all about them here.

A wonderful place all around. Great location to learn about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. There are various displays about the islands, monument and water. Additionally there is an aquarium of native fish from the waters of the area. On the second floor, during the 2018 eruption of Kīlaueas LERZ and the closure of Volcano National Park, the parks rangers interacted with the public and the parks gift was also located.

Lots of good information can be found here. It is small, but it is a nice place to visit. And it is free.

Tons of information for free! Very nice people and beautiful fish!

Very informative! kids loved the giant tank and the little screens saying the types of fish.

Really beautiful historic building with lots of educational interactive learning for everyone to enjoy. Something new featured all the time.My son 8th grade class was on a homeschooling field trip enjoyed it as much as the younger classes.

The aquarium is awesome, staff is knowledgeable and friendly. Interesting exhibits and the eruption updates are great too. Free and in the heart of Hiloa great stop.

Fish, fish, fish,fish and even more fun for the whole family. Kids love it.

Nice facility and great staff. A good place to start exploring the east side of Big Island.

Free educational resource worth checking out.

I had to give this place five stars when I learned it was a government facility. This is a really great place and Ive come here several times. Very child friendly. It has a nice learning center about the islands, especially the older ones.

Fascinating interactive photo display of the entire Hawaiian archipelago. Crystal clear wall-sized aquarium with tropical fish. Volcanoes Natl Park has rangers here. We got the very latest lava update in person, as well as a NOAA update. FREE entrance!

Great place for the whole family

A work in progress. A nice aquarium, interesting atoll display, videos, plus activities for young kids. Funded mostly by NOAA.

I give it two stars because it has great great resources but after our most recent experience we wont be returning. Several moms needed a place to get out the rain and meet up as we live close to where the volcano is erupting and our children have just been so stressed. Unfortunately it echoes a lot in there and so one the people there kept telling the children, I hope we know what inside voices are, and other such things . She also yelled at another mother when her 3 year old tried to climb into a Canoe; She was on her way to get him out. She also told me personally to have my 1 year put a toy down that THEY had there because ,She cant hear herself think. Anyway if you are an adult and have no children or older children, it is great .If you have little ones, STAY CLEAR.

Amazing displays and friendly staff offer a fresh perspective on Ocean biology, South Pacific culture and conservation efforts. Aquarium for the kids and art made with the help of an elephant make this a must stop if you have 30 minutes in Hilo.

A great place to bring your children explore parts of the island and their displays are excellent worth every moment of your time

A great place to take kids to learn about fish and the marine life in the Hawaiian waters

Were glad we made the journey to Hilo. We had an amazing (and quite educational) time @ the discovery center.Its also the temporary home for Volcanos National Park.

Free. Worth stopping by if youre already in the area. Not much to see-dont go out of your way.

Great place to learn about the archipelago that Hawaii is a part of. Friendly staff. Park rangers are there to answer info about the volcano.

Dont miss the mineral and gem collection around in back. World class.

Definitely worth the time. The volcanoes national park rangers are hanging out there during the eruption and park closing.

Boring nothing to discover only cool thing was the fish tank

Nice free spot to learn about the local environment

Great place to take kids! Boys ages 6 and 8 enjoyed the aquarium and replica boat.

Wonderful place. Great exhibits. Friendly, helpful volunteers

Great free admission place for kids to learn and enjoy Hawaiian culture, ocean, and volcano national park. Lots of hands on activities and interactive games.

This is a must-see while on the bayfront in Hilo. Such a beautiful building with lots of fun learning opportunities. Also a great venue for group meetups.For visitors, Mokupapapa is a good combo with The Locavore, Farmers market, and Lucys Taqueria (which is closed on Tuesdays)The bayfront of Hilo is a very special walk and Mokupapapa is a big addition to it.

Great info about the reef. Nice to find out about the volcano eruption from NPS workers too.

Great little place to drop in with kids to learn about the Hawaiian islands and history / marine life /volcanoes.