Love this museum! We have a membership and I’m so grateful to be able to come and go to check out the exhibits. Put this museum on your must see for amazing Hawaii history and features of local artistry.Update: the powwow exhibit has closed but now they have DINOSAURS on display until January 2022. Go check it out!

Its been years since my last visit but always a great place to revisit Hawaiian history and culture. We also came to see the Pow Wow Hawaii exhibit which was great seeing art from so many artists.

Love this historic place. Bishop museum is an amazing place to visit and learn about the Hawaiian culture. Very beautiful.

Great museum and would highly recommend to everyone visiting Honolulu. This was recommended to us by a friend as somehow most guides Ive read online didnt even mention this museum. Turns out to be one of the highlight of our visit to Oahu island. Museum has tons of Hawaiian and other Pacific islands historical pieces, artifacts, stories, etc. The main hall of the museum is breathtaking. Its very clean and very well maintained.

What an amazing museum. Tons of informative exhibits about the history oh the Hawaiian people and their lifestyle. I learned about their tools, clothing, societal structure, and oral traditions. My favorite part of the museum is that the museum itself is historical! Give yourself like 2-3 hours to give this museum the proper amount of time. The kids museum was also a lot of fun even for adults!

It was my first time visiting the island of Oahu and I am so glad I visited the Bishop Museum. This place is top notch!The history, and the way its presented makes for a interactive, interesting experience. I learned to much and felt a connection to it. I will surely be visiting again the next time I go to Oahu.

Fantastic experience, beautiful architecture and grounds. The main hall tells the story of the hawaiian people in great detail - if you viewed every exhibit you could spend half your time in just this one hall. Other halls very enjoyable, science geared especially to children. Due to covid was not able to experience the planetarium or the show - very much looking forward to that.

Awesome place for the kiddos to run around. If you are a resident you get special pricing.

This museum has a lot to offer. We learned a lot of things we didnt know! If you want to absorb all there is to offer, you will need the full day. The contemporary graffiti exhibit was amazing! When we were there in August 2021 they had staff cleaning even during operating hours and sold a limited number of tickets each day. You will need to schedule and buy in advance.

This place was amazing! Its such a unique experience rich with history, culture, art, and science. It was so edifying and so much fun!

We love this place so much! All of the exhibits and areas are beautiful and very moving. Of course the kids absolute favorite is the science area. Its so fun... its like going through the top, middle and abyss levels of Hawaii. Totally fun... awesome for adults and kids and the souvenir shop is phenomenal!

A bit off the beaten path and happy the cab driver recommended this museum. It is larger than expected but walkable in a couple hours. I was in awe at the amount of artifacts and representations they had on display. The architecture and woodwork alone in this place is museum worthy let alone what is inside. The science building was interesting as well for my kids.

The history of the monarchy is especially informative. Learned a lot about Hawaiian history and Polynesian customs in general. There’s also a temporary exhibit called Pow Wow on street art that is awesome.

Best place to learn about Polynesian culture. We art pow wow exhibit is amazing place to find new hidden talent.

This place has been on hawaii for over a hundred years and is up to date with the heritage and culture of the Polynesians. To see the history and hear the stories is enriching. The science part of the museum is fun for kids.

Well you cant see all of this in one visit. This is such an amazing place! They have gathered so much of the islands history in one place, and wow, what a beautiful place! The grounds are beautiful, there are several buildings to explore. The accessable entrance wasnt signed very well, and we had a bit of issue with finding our way to the front of the building once we got in the accessable entrance, but the elevators worked and all was well. The exhibits are beautifully done. The amount of koa wood and the intricate designs in the stairs and walls. The craftsmanship of the building itself makes it a work of art in its own right. Dont miss the surfboard that belonged to Duke, and his Olympic statue. Or Liliokalanis pipe! Inside and out, this is a really cool place.

AC works now! Bring headphones for audio tour. Lots of reading too. Enjoy the history and culture of Hawaii. A must stop for everyone.

This gem of a museum offers a wealth of knowledge about Hawaiian culture, religion, crafts and traditions. Its a beautiful campus with useful and interesting information next to every display. I spent a few hours and could easily have spent a few more before I saw and read everything.

Perfect place to learn about the Hawaiian culture and its rich history

We visited this establishment on Friday, our fifth day in Oahu. I booked a reservation online for the 9-10 am arrival time slot. We arrived at 8:45 am a little before opening time. There was ample parking and we were able to get a great parking space. Once the museum opened, we went into the museum and check in at the entrance. We were given a map and informed that the planetarium was closed. Upon exiting the gift shop/main entrance at Shop Pacifica, to the right is the planetarium and they also have Highway Inn Cafe which was open for dining. Further towards the back of the right there was the Atherton Halau and Hale Wa’a which are gathering places for different events the museum holds. We started with Pacific Hall which had several floors and a staff member to assist guests as they venture through. To the left downstairs was a room filled with native Hawaiian Royal relics. Across the hall into the great room were three levels of native Hawaiian artifacts! Hanging from the ceiling was a whale and shark with a native Hawaiian hut replica and information on the main floor. On the second floor was a wealth of information about the different native Hawaiian royals each with their own display boxes and artifacts. The bishop Museum did a wonderful job of expounding upon life as a native Hawaiian in ancient times with various artifacts on display. On the third floor there was information about Hawaiian statehood and even artifacts from the original Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku. We ventured onward into a couple of other rooms that were across from the main rooms on each floor. One of these rooms contained more royal native Hawaiian artifacts which were beautiful and historic. Another room contained a wealth of information and artifacts about the other Polynesian islands including Fiji. In addition there were statue replicas of Gods as well. Everything in this building was so very well maintained and informative. It even included various interactive videos for guests to learn more about the Polynesian islands and Hawaiian history. It was quite rainy on the day that we went at times so we were happy we brought our umbrellas with us! We next went into the Castle Memorial Building which had mixed media exhibits from various Hawaiian artists. There were some very interesting pieces including one of Winnie the Pooh have a Poo! This area is definitely the more modern abstract take on Hawaiian art and influence. This was probably one of my favorite areas because the art was so unique and expressive! Afterward we ventured back outside and viewed the Native Hawaiian garden which was very well maintained and had various Native Hawaiian plants. There was also a cute little house in the middle of the garden which I don’t think guests are allowed to go into. We then ventured across the campus to visit the Richard Mamiya Science Adventure center. This center had two floors and some very unique interactive exhibits. This area is great for kids to engage themselves in science. In the front there was an aquarium with several fish swimming. There was a huge volcano that went off and spewed lava! You could also go into the volcano to witness the inner workings. They also had a photo area where I believe you could step on Duke’s surfboard and take a photo with him in the background. There was even a life size photo of Duke and a replica of his actual board with his name on it. At the bottom there was an interactive origins of Hawaii exhibit which had beautiful glow in the dark pieces on the walls with a story being told as you walked through the cave. Also there was an exhibit which displayed native Hawaiian plants, a huge spider crab on the wall! Once we exited the building there appeared to be an area where food trucks would park and sell food to guests also. We walked back around the campus to the main entrance where they had the shop Pacifica. This gift shop had a wide selection of souvenirs ranging from book, t-shirts, to other Bishop Museum keepsakes. I would highly recommend all tourists and locals visit this establishment!

We had a wonderful time, this museum is wonderful and they lady at the door to the main exhibit is absolutely charming and informational!!

Great museum! Love the “pow wow” exhibit.The museum was a really cool place to learn about Hawaiian heritage and history. I would recommend at least a few hours to check out the whole place.

We spent almost six hours here. There is so much information on Hawaiian history and culture, as well as the history of Polynesia. When we went there was also a very cool modern art exhibit. The planetarium was closed due to Covid-19, but the cafe was open.

Im a museum nerd. I loved the atmosphere of being in a building that is 132 years old. I absolutely loved how informative every description box was. I wish the Science Center was more interactive and the Planetarium was open, but... COVID. So what can you do? Overall, the displays were beautiful. The scaled-down solar system that is currently available is really cool too. Will definitely visit again.

Best musum! Really cool place to check out.

It was great and very versatile. Many things weren’t available/were closed due to COVID which left us a bit sad as we couldn’t experience the museum fully. Also parking costs $5 which on top of the entrance fee isn’t fair.

Just a bright, blue sky Sunday morning at the Bishop Museum. The Museum focus exhibit is the POW WOW art exhibit on display and if you havent gone, I would highly suggest it. It features artist from around the globe who have come here to share courage, passion, ideas, and stories to bring us all closer together.There is also a small exhibit out in the open towards the Diamond Head end from the gang at Parley, a non-profit group centered on cleaning up our oceans. Theyre taking plastic that washes up on our beaches and working with companies like Adidas to turn repurpose it into shoes and other clothing.At the exhibit, they are sorting and putting this plastic into a machine designed to heat these small pieces up, press it down, and push it through a mold to form interlocking blocks that can be used to build non-load bearing walls in your home.Youll need to make an appointment on the Bishop Museum website prior to going or you can take your chances walking in, and if you love all the wall art popping up around the City, this will help to understand what POW WOW is all about. The exhibit is clean, the staff is friendly, and the Museums done a great job spacing everyone out.

It was a great time. Lots of cool things to read about. Lots of cool things for even the kids to look at. Was able to get a deeper upstanding and knowledge of the hawaiian culture. The only thing I wasnt fond of is that you have to pay for parking??? Its only $5 dollars. But we are already paying over $20 to get a ticket to see whats inside. Probably could park on the street. All and all it was definitely fun and entertaining.

Amazing, was and always will be must see in Hawaii for culture and knowledge of the Hawaiian history

Great experience on the native history of Hawaii. Beautiful exhibits. I loved the audio, self paced tour.

This museum has some great Hawaiian historical items and information; however, most items were placed in glass enclosure with descriptions placed along with random text. The science exhibit is for children and the garden is a small outdoor walkway without flowers.

This museum is great! We went in not expecting much, but there is so much to see! I loved learning about the history and Hawaiian culture. Its definitely a lot of walking, but worth it. My favorite part was the Pow Wow exhibit!! Very cool. Every inch is covered in graffiti/art and it was super cool to see.

You can definitely spend some hours here. If you like history and culture, this is a great place! I love old buildings so the door knobs and hinges caught my attention. The stone building was built by Portuguese stone masons who used “purple stone” the was gathered locally. Definitely worth the visit!

The most #familyfriendly museum in Honolulu. It totally worths to get their annual pass.I was really impressed by their special exhibit POW Wow.

Very informative and interesting. Visited in Sept. 2021 and unfortunately many of the additional exhibits were closed due to covid. Disappointed we didnt get to experience the planetarium or see the castle exhibit. But maybe next time. Overall I enjoyed what was available and learned a lot about Hawaii and the surrounding islands.

Beautiful museum with a varied set of experiences. We received a big dose of Hawaiian history, filled to the brim with relevant relics. We were also lucky to see an awesome art exhibit soon to be closed. The science center was also interesting albeit small. Wish the planetarium was open, would have been great to see the stars!

Beautiful museum, a must-go when on O‘ahu! Very informative, loved the exhibitions.

Very interesting Hawaii history lesson as well as education on the culture and spirit of Aloha. More info than I can retain, but plan to do more reading.

Its almost back to normal. Nice old and new galleries. Understandably some of the interactive exhibits have been removed or made off limits but overall a good several hours of entertainment and education.

Our family enjoyed visiting the museum and science center. The museum is absolutely beautiful and there is tons to see and experience. I think everyone who visits Oahu should take some time away from the beach to check out this gem.

I learned so much! If you want to know the origins of Hawaii, the kings, queens, princesses was amazing! I was able to see how Hawaii had afro-descendants as well. The main building is huge with a self guided tour or you can have an audio tour. The second building was an art exhibit which let you dive in to the Hawaiian culture today, and the third building was for people who like science with several hands on activities! Loved it if you like to learn and walk. If you dont like history or like to walk, this isnt the place for you.

Great place for everyone I went free as a Toyota owner, Toyota day...

One of the highlights of our Hawaii trip. Phenomenal musuem with tons of learning and historic artifacts. Had a blast with very well maintained exhibits and technology. Great for kids as well.

Awesome local museum. Captured the Hawaiian essence through spiritual, cultural, historical, scientific, and herbalistic views. It took us 3 hours to go through the historical aspect. Very informative. Fairly impartial. Staff was friendly. Knowledge was great. Time was fun.

A must see in Oahu. Friendly staff. Lots to see. Plenty of Hawaiian culture. And not expensive.

Summary: A beautiful wooden museum with lots of hawaiian artifacts and more. Not exactly my cup of tea, but definitely can appreciate it.Price: Pay to enter. Pay to park.Time: 90+ minutesParking: paid parking lot direct in front

Fantastic museum ! Amazing artifacts, and information. Well done history of the peoples of the islands. And a great section on the history of surfing with amazing video ! (And a cool photo op set) ! The doscents were very helpful in answering all of our questions.

Wonderful place full of Hawaiian history. If you want to learn about Hawaii and the first inhabitants this is the best place to start!

Wife and I decided that our knowledge of Hawaii was not up to par, and spent the morning at Bishop. Great experience and easy to navigate and get around. Learned a bunch in a short amount of time. Thank you Bishop!

Boy! American Museum of Natural History - just when I think youre far away, I discover a facsimile of a carbon copy of a small but large likeness in the middle of the Pacific! I hope to go back but the Hawaiian history and the street art exhibits were both worth the time and the effort (and it was really not much effort at all). Insiders tips: Go when they are open and go to where it is located. You will not find it if you go to where it is not.Take advantage of the opportunity to exclaim, The Bishop!

Love the place granddaughter and I had a beautiful time amazing place

Great historical museum. Really enjoyed the graffiti display.

Learn about the voyagers, the original people of the islands, the white settlers, and Polynesia in one building. Another building showcases rotating shows, well the third is interactive. I recommend getting there when they open breaking for lunch and finishing up in the early afternoon.

The Bishop Museums Art After Dark event was the best! The street artists taught graffiti classes and gave tours of the Castle building art. Thank you Melon and Jeff. Terrific night!! #lovethatart

Absolutely incredible place to visit. The amount of history and information is staggering. Make sure to dedicate plenty of time to explore this museum.

Entrance costs around $25, and well worth it. We booked beforehand from website but you don’t have to. Even though some of their facilities weren’t open, we spent 3hrs. Audio guide is free on your phone. Bring earphones with you, and if you can, extra battery for those concerns your phone battery.Without the audio guide, you might feel “why are they showing these rocks”

My boy likes honey. My daughter and her friend brought a cup for other stuff, I think. Cute bear family.This place has everything. Even futuriatic scenes where there are bots put out fires, all by themselves.I feel complete now. Cultured, even.

Bishop Museum is a very beautiful and peaceful museum... It is great for quiet reflection. I was often the only person on the entire floor and took my time with the exhibits. I like the room with all the paintings and the big open center gallery was very Night at the Museum cool.There was so much to take in that I know that I have to visit again.Expect a temperature check and masks are required. Social distancing wasnt really an issue because there were only a handful of people there when I went. It is a ghost town right now. I highly recommend it if youre a local like me and have never gone.

Excellent museum, unique displays and friendly staff.

So I just visited that museum with my friend and I’ll admit, it was absolutely amazing to have our minds refresh and learn about Hawaiian History especially the queens and kings. They have such epic elevators there too! I do love the building architectures as well! One thing I was sort of shocked about was the graffiti exhibit which I believe was formally some kind of animal exhibit which I enjoyed visiting way back then with my family. I do recommend tourists to visit this location because I’m very sure they would love to learn more about Hawaii itself.

My 5 year old loves the Whale skeleton! The Hawaiian history is fantastic! They have added so much since I was a little kid. The science Center is so interactive that it is wonderful for children, but extremely informative for even adults. You learn about volcanos, the ocean, and native animals. I cant wait until the planetarium opens back up. That was one of my favorite things when I was a child. The cafe has a small, but decent menu. 4 of us each got something different and liked what we got. Nothing fancy, but satisfying. We are very happy we got the year membership. My son keeps asking to go back. And they let us use the cost of our tickets towards our year membership.

Fantastic experience! I really appreciate that the exhibits are spread out in separate buildings- really great during this pandemic. It was the least packed event we’d had in Oahu—even with private surf lessons!Staff were super kind. We had other plans for the day, but admission was all day, so we went, left, came back with no problems or questions asked (just our admission tags).Check all exhibits- they’re all worth it! So much information to absorb, respect is a presence and the exhibits captured the attention of several age ranges.

We read several reviews about how this place is great for kids especially in rainy days, so decided to take a trip here. After paying over $80 we were kindly informed that all interactive areas (the fun kids stuff) was closed dude to Covid. We didn’t realize exactly what this meant at the time, needless to say our trip was just over an hour as this place is TERRIBLE for little kids without the interactive areas. For adults and older kids, it would be wonderful. For families with kids 6 or younger (like mine) it was a horrible, expensive choice. I would never take my kids back there until everything is opened (call ahead so you don’t waste money). The fact that everything is closed should be plastered all over the website. The prices should also be discounted since half the place is closed. So disappointed for what could have been a fun experience.

Valuable experience. Re correcting history

Spent 4 hours and saw only one main bldg. Beautifully narrated displays of Hawaiian culture and history.

Such an immersive, gorgeous, and best of all, educational experience. Captivated and in awe, a must see if you want to learn about Hawaiian culture and influences.

Good little stop for the family. Get to learn some history about Kings and Queens on the Hawaiian island and its past

Great museum with a wealth of information about Polynesian culture and history. Every American should learn about the injustice and atrocities we caused the Hawaiian people.

Great museum. Easy to pay/park. Went during covid; August 2021. The planetarium and some of the interactive activities were closed. Took us 3 hours to go through, despite not everything being available. Had a wonderful time. I recommend going and exploring. You learn quite a bit about Hawaiian culture, tools, etc. FANTASTIC!!

Great place to spend the day learning new things! Great for kids and adults.

The Bishop museum is great for both locals and tourists. The kids love the Science Adventure Centre with the interactive exhibits; can’t wait for the lava rock melting to return post COVID. The J. Watumull Planetarium is also fascinating if you can get tickets when you are visiting. The staff member who was leading our session of Wayfinders did a fabulous job of narrating the star show and added a lot of interesting facts! Finally, the current Pow! Wow! exhibit is fascinating and the whole family enjoyed it.

History and Pow Wow exhibits were fantastic. Science center didnt have much to offer. Still a good 2-3 hours of time. Very informative and the historic building is beautiful.

WOW! The museum is HUGE! and we loved the science part in the other building. Super informative and beautiful set up!

It was a total depiction of the art and culture of native Hawaii. It also displayed the other peoples who lived in greater Polynesia.

A wonderful museum to learn about the Hawaiian culture. Highly recommended.

Bishop museum was a great experience. There is so much to see and do at the location. I learned a great deal and that was by being self-guided with no audio material provided. The material is presented in such a way that even young children could learn if they had reading comprehension and without reading comprehension there was enough to see that would cause anyone to be curious about what happened. I am happy to have had this experience and will be recommending this cultural exhibition to others.

Nice historical and natural history/science museum in Honolulu. Tons of historical artifacts of the Hawaiian Islands. Reservations are required but easy to get online, even the night before.

Great way to learn more about the people, history, and geography of Hawaii. There is a lot here and to really appreciate it you would need to take several trips. But still great for the tourist looking to know more about Hawaii.

I had a good time here. I personally think the price is steep for the size of the museum. Ive been to much bigger facilities that offer much more for the same. There is a discount for locals and military. Despite that, the history was rich and I could have spent hours reading through everything. I did come away more knowledgeable about the history of Hawaii.

Good place to finding history of Hawaiians.

Took my wife & 1 year old son here today and had a great time! Walked around all of the great exhibits and we actually loved that it wasnt too busy or crowded. Lots of conveniently placed hand sanitizers around the entire facility. Admission was $15/adult for Kamaaina rate, free admission for the boy under 4. Once Covid restrictions are done, and all of the hands on activities resume, the annual pass would definitely be worth it at $120 per family for up to 6 kids. If you love Hawaiian history, this is a must visit for any local or tourist.

Besides the rude teller who butted into my conversation with the friendly teller who rang me up, it was a great experience. Tip for the manager: tell your employees to keep their COVID opinions to themselves unless asked. My teller handled the situation skillfully. She should take some notes.Liked it enough to buy the family membership so well be back.

Nice and cognitive place

Great museum, but there is a $5 parking fee. Theres usually free parking on the side streets near the museum, so you may want to look there first. There are bathrooms and a cafe on the premise. Would recommend visiting.

Lots of good knowledge, unfortunately they are also pushing their own agenda as well. Saying race is made up from political view is absurd!Also, they have 0 interaction with anyone coming into the museum. Very depressing. Would not recommend.

We had some time to kill so we checked out the museum on a whim. It was well worth the time and actually had quite a few things to see. If you can go soon and see the Pow Wow exhibit, then definitely go. It is great to learn Hawaiian history, visit the science building for some fun things to do, then finish with the Pow Wow exhibit.

They are sorry only, but I payed about 100 bucks for nothing! I got only Sorry. Dont recommend really. Waste of money

I Loved the chanting that is heard in the Hawaiian Hall, beautiful and chicken skin moments

So interesting. It took us several hours to complete the self guided tour. If you enjoy museums you will surely enjoy this one.

Extremely rich Hawaiian history.

Such an amazing experience even under the circumstances! I see others complaining about the lack of interactive exhibits due to COVID, but it was amazing without all of that! We used a groupon to save some money but I would pay full price to go again. So much history that corrects common misconceptions about Hawaiian and Polynesian culture. I highly recommend checking this place out, theres waaaay too much to see and learn though so be prepared for another trip!

Great place to learn about the local culture and history of a great people.

I cannot explain how much I love the pow wow exhibit. This museum has a little bit of everything for everyone. I am not particularly interested in the history of Hawaii so I was not as amazed by the Hawaiian hall but everything else I was so absorbed, I completely lost track of time.

Excellent exhibits, pleasant dining outside, good cafe food, bring your smart phone and maybe extra batteries for the audio tours. Hot lava exhibit was out of order during this visit. Planetarium shows not available on Mondays and Wednesdays. Short walk from the #2 bus stop.

Absolutely beautiful place! There were so many artifacts and so much to learn there about Hawaiian culture. I highly recommend you make this your first visit on the island to get a better understanding of its culture and people.

Cool museum of Hawaiian History. The main building is open during Covid, so the exhibits are somewhat limited. Look for the Groupon to save some $. We went 5/3/21, and the air conditioning was out, that is the reason I didnt give it 5 stars. Call ahead to see of it is fixed-You will enjoy the visit more.

Some stuff is not available (mostly interactive exhibits) due to covid but it was still cool to learn Polinesian culture.

If you like history, then you will enjoy this place.

The museum was not like 3 museums. There was the history of Hawaii and Pacific islands, then a cool art instillation, and a fun science museum. This is a great app for tourist who want to learn about Hawaiian history.

Bishop Museum 2021. A fun and educational place to take the family of all ages. I went and explored with my family the other day and honestly cant wait to come back for a second tour.