All Museums on the Big Island (list + description)

The Big Island has fifteen museums and heritage centres, and most cost under $20: volcano science at the edge of Kīlauea, Hawaiian royalty’s seaside palace in Kona, a planetarium in Hilo, and a tsunami museum housed in a 1930 former bank. This page covers all fifteen, what each one holds, current opening days and hours, and admission prices. We count the visitor and discovery centres that keep real exhibits, so the national park and the marine monument are in here alongside the palaces and the plantation collections.

Several are run by volunteers and keep short or shifting hours, so a couple of these reward a phone call before you drive out. Whether you have a spare afternoon in Hilo or a full day crossing the island, the map and table below let you match a museum to where you already are.

If you are into museums you may enjoy our full list of historic and cultural sites on the Big Island.

Map and Comparison table of Big Island Museums

The map below plots every open museum on the island. Click an icon for opening hours and admission, or read the full write-up for each museum below.

Five of the fifteen are in Hilo, close enough to walk or drive between in an afternoon: the East Hawaiʻi Cultural Center, Mokupāpapa, the Pacific Tsunami Museum, the Lyman Museum and ʻImiloa. Three sit around Waimea, Parker Ranch, Anna Ranch and the Paniolo Heritage Center, and three in south Kona, Huliheʻe Palace, the H.N. Greenwell Store and the Kona Coffee Living History Farm. The rest are spread along the Hāmākua Coast, the Kohala resort strip and the national park.

All Museums on the Big Island

Fifteen museums and heritage centres are currently open.

Hawaiʻi Museum of Contemporary Art

The Hawaiʻi Museum of Contemporary Art (HMOCA) runs out of the East Hawaiʻi Cultural Center, a former county police station and courthouse on Hilo’s Kalākaua Park. The galleries rotate through shows by Hawaiʻi Island artists alongside touring exhibitions, plus a small permanent collection of work by artists living in the state. The focus is temporary exhibitions and arts education rather than a fixed display, so what you see depends on when you come. Admission is free, which makes it an easy stop if you are already walking downtown Hilo.

Directions: 141 Kalākaua St. in Hilo.

Opening hours: Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 12 noon to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 2pm. Closed Sunday to Tuesday. The center marks the Wednesday to Friday blocks as office hours, and the gallery itself closes between exhibitions for installation, so call (808) 961-5711 first if you’re driving in just for the gallery.

Admission: free, donations appreciated.

Website: East Hawaiʻi Cultural Center website

H.N. Greenwell Store

Run by the Kona Historical Society, this museum sits inside the Greenwell family store, built around 1875 and one of the oldest commercial buildings still standing in Kona. The shelves are stocked to recreate a working general store from the 1890s, and the displays walk you through what daily life and commerce looked like in the ranching district at the time.

The Society runs Hands-on History programs and seasonal exhibits through the year, listed on their calendar. Hours have narrowed since the pandemic: the store now opens one day a week, so confirm the day before you drive down.

Directions: 81-6551 Hawaii Belt Rd, Kealakekua, HI 96750.

Opening hours: Thursday, 10am to 2pm.

Admission: suggested donation of $5 for adults, free for children under 17, free for Kona Historical Society members and Museums for All cardholders.

Good to know: the Society fires its Portuguese stone oven in the pasture below the store every Thursday, the one day the store is open. Staff light it at 6am, the public is welcome to help roll dough from 10am, the first loaves come out around 12:30pm and bread goes on sale around 1pm at $10 a loaf, cash or card. It is first-come and cannot be reserved, and the bread is not sold at the oven itself.

Website: Kona Historical Society.

Honokaʻa Heritage Center

The Honokaʻa Heritage Center fills a storefront in the old Botelho Building (1927) on the town’s main street, working to preserve the history of Honokaʻa for residents and visitors alike. Exhibits trace the sugar plantation era through its final harvest and the closing of the mills, alongside the story of Historic Honokaʻa Town. The center also holds an archive, a visitor desk, and a gift shop where you can pick up a map for a self-guided walk through town.

Directions: 45-3490 Māmane St., Suite C, Honokaʻa, HI 96727.

Opening hours: the center publishes no hours on its own site, and its guided tours are listed as coming soon. It has kept Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm in the past. Confirm those before you build a day around them.

Admission: free; donations welcome.

Website: Honokaʻa Heritage Center.

The Honokaʻa Heritage Center occupies the Botelho Building, built in 1927. Image: Honokaʻa Heritage Center.

Huliheʻe Palace

Huliheʻe Palace was the seaside vacation home of Hawaiian royalty, built in 1838 and standing right on Aliʻi Drive in the middle of Kailua-Kona. Inside is a collection of furniture, portraits, and personal belongings of the kingdom’s ruling families, much of it Victorian-era koa furniture. You can walk through on a self-guided visit or book one of the guided Moʻolelo tours, which dig into the stories behind the rooms. Reservations are encouraged, and the last entry is at 2:30pm.

Directions: 75-5718 Aliʻi Dr, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740.

Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm (last entry 2:30pm).

Admission: self-guided $16 adults, $14 youth (6-17), $12 kamaʻāina, seniors, and military, free for keiki 5 and under; guided Moʻolelo tour $20.

Website: Daughters of Hawaiʻi.

The Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua-Kona is a former vacation home of Hawaiian royalty, now a museum of furniture and artifacts.

ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi

ʻImiloa connects Hawaiian cultural tradition with the astronomy carried out on Maunakea, in a building marked by three titanium cones above the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo campus. The center pairs interactive exhibits with a full-dome planetarium, and runs talks, tours, and events through the year. It is one of the better rainy-day stops in Hilo, and the planetarium shows are worth timing your visit around.

Directions: 600 ʻImiloa Pl, Hilo, HI 96720.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 4:30pm.

Admission: $19 adults, $17 seniors (65+), $12 children (5-12), free for children 4 and under. Kamaʻāina rates run $14 adults, $12 seniors and $9 children.

More on our website: ʻImiloa center for Astronomy

Kīlauea Visitor Center

The Kīlauea Visitor Center closed in February 2025 for a major renovation, so park rangers and the bookstore have moved to a temporary Welcome Center nearby at Kīlauea Military Camp. This is still the first stop worth making inside Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park: rangers post the latest on eruption activity, lava viewing, road and trail closures, and air quality, all of which change fast. Pick up a park map here and ask what is accessible the day you visit.

Directions: Within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (temporary Welcome Center at Kīlauea Military Camp).

Opening hours: daily, 9am to 4:45pm.

Admission: park entrance $30 per vehicle, valid 7 days; $25 per motorcycle, $15 per person on foot or bicycle, free under 16. The park doesn’t take cash, so bring a card.

Website: nps.gov/havo for the visitor center, and here for the welcome center.

Kona Coffee Living History Farm

Also run by the Kona Historical Society, this is a working coffee farm you walk through rather than a building of display cases: the Society calls it the only living history coffee farm in the country. Costumed interpreters work the 1920s Uchida farmstead the way a Japanese immigrant family would have, roasting, pulping, drying coffee on a hoshidana and tending the trees, and they will talk you through what they are doing. Visits are self-guided, so you set your own pace and stop where the work is happening.

Directions: 82-6199 Māmalahoa Hwy, Captain Cook, HI 96704. Note this is a separate site about two miles south of the Society’s headquarters and the H.N. Greenwell Store, not the same address.

Opening hours: Tuesday and Friday, 10am to 2pm. The farm and the store museum are open on different days, so you cannot do both in one trip: the store opens Thursday only.

Admission: $20 adults, $10 students (7-17); Hawaiʻi residents $15 adults and $5 students; free for children under 7. Museums for All cardholders pay $3 per paid admission with a valid EBT, SNAP or WIC card. No reservation needed unless your group is over 20.

Website: Kona Coffee Living History Farm.

Laupāhoehoe Train Museum

The Laupāhoehoe Train Museum sits in the restored station agent’s house and commemorates the Hilo Railroad, which ran along the Hāmākua Coast from 1899 until 1946, when a tsunami wiped out long stretches of track and trestle. Inside are photographs, railroad artifacts, and memorabilia from the line’s working years.

It’s volunteer-run, and its website sits under reconstruction with every page beyond the holding notice unpublished. That notice still posts the opening hours, but nothing currently online confirms the admission, the phone number or the email address, so the hours are the only part of this listing you can lean on.

Directions: 36-2377 Māmalahoa Hwy, Laupāhoehoe, HI 96764.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 2pm (volunteer-run, call ahead).

Admission: by donation when last published; not currently listed anywhere online.

Website: Laupāhoehoe Train Museum website (a holding page at the time of writing).

Laupāhoehoe Train Museum. Image adapted from Google Streetview.

Lyman Museum & Mission House

The Lyman Museum pairs a natural history collection covering the islands’ geology and ecosystems with the 1839 Mission House next door, the oldest wood-frame building on the island still on its original footing. The mission house is furnished with the everyday belongings of the missionary families who lived there, and is shown by guided tour.

Its stairs are steep and there’s no elevator, so wheelchair users and anyone with limited mobility can reach the main museum but not the house. The museum side is strong on Hawaiʻi’s volcanic and cultural story, and pairs easily with a downtown Hilo morning.

Directions: 276 Haili St, Hilo, HI 96720.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday. Entry runs in three timed two-hour sessions, at 10:00am, 12:15pm and 2:30pm, capped at 30 visitors each. The Mission House is a separate guided tour at 10:05am, 12:20pm and 2:35pm, five people at a time. Reserve both ahead. Walk-ins depend on space.

Admission: the museum and the Mission House are booked and priced separately. Museum, out-of-state $7 adults, $5 seniors, $2 children (6-17); kamaʻāina $5 adults, $3 seniors, $2 children; university students $3. Mission House tour, $3 adults and seniors, $1 children, $2 university students, at the same rate for residents and visitors.

More on our website: Lyman Museum and Mission House in Hilo.

Mokupāpapa Discovery Center

Mokupāpapa is the shore-side discovery center for Papahānaumokuākea, the marine national monument that stretches across the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Exhibits cover the reefs, wildlife, and Hawaiian cultural connections to that region, anchored by a 2,500-gallon (9,500-liter) saltwater aquarium and a mock-up of a research submersible’s control panel with working robotic arms. It is free, hands-on, and a good stop for kids on a wet Hilo afternoon.

Directions: 76 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo, HI 96720.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm.

Admission: free.

Website: papahanaumokuakea.gov

Pacific Tsunami Museum

Housed in a 1930 former First Hawaiian Bank building downtown, the Pacific Tsunami Museum tells the story of the waves that have repeatedly struck Hilo, including the deadly 1946 and 1960 events that reshaped the waterfront. It works as both an education center and a memorial to those who died, with survivor accounts, photographs, and clear explanations of how tsunamis form and how the warning system works. The museum is on a limited weekend schedule during a longer revitalization, so plan around the shorter hours.

Directions: 130 Kamehameha Ave, Hilo, HI 96720.

Opening hours: weekends only, 10am to 2pm.

Admission: $15 general, $10 seniors (65+) and military, $5 youth (6-17), $5 kamaʻāina, free for kamaʻāina youth 17 and under and for members.

Website: tsunami.org

Paniolo Heritage Center at Pukalani Stables

Run by the Paniolo Preservation Society rather than by Parker Ranch, this is the place to go for the cowboy side of Waimea. The collection holds original Hawaiian saddles, ranch artifacts and archive images, alongside the Nā Wahine Holo Lio Paʻu Museum honoring the paʻu riders who still open Hawaiʻi’s parades. Pukalani Stables itself is one of the older ranching sites on the island. There is a store on site, and the building doubles as an event venue, so a large private booking can occasionally take over the space.

Practically it is the easier of Waimea’s two ranching stops: free, six days a week, no booking, where the Parker Ranch homes tour runs two days a week by appointment. The two are a natural pair on the same morning.

Directions: 67-139 Pukalani Road, Kamuela, HI 96743. This is a different address and a different organization from the Parker Ranch historic homes.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 2pm.

Admission: free.

Website: Paniolo Heritage Center.

Parker Ranch Historic Homes

Parker Ranch is one of the oldest and largest cattle ranches in the United States, and its two historic family homes in Waimea, Puʻuʻōpelu and Mana Hale, trace the story of John Palmer Parker and the paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) culture he helped start. Puʻuʻōpelu is a Victorian-style manor hung with fine art; Mana Hale is an early koa-wood saltbox house. The homes are open by appointment only, on a self-guided tour you book ahead. Book before you drive to Waimea.

Directions: 66-1304 Māmalahoa Hwy, Waimea, HI 96743.

Opening hours: by appointment only. The self-guided tour of the homes runs Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am, 11am and 1pm, and takes about an hour. The ranch store is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm, and closes for lunch.

Admission: $20 general admission, all ages, booked ahead through the ranch.

More on our website: Parker Ranch in Waimea.

Hawaiʻi Keiki Museum

The Hawaiʻi Keiki Museum is a hands-on children’s science museum that moved into the Kings’ Shops at Waikoloa Beach Resort. More than a dozen interactive exhibits connect kids (and their parents) to the island through open-ended play built around science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). It is aimed squarely at younger children and works well as a break from the beach or a rainy-day option on the Kohala Coast. The earlier Kailua-Kona location has closed, so Waikoloa is now the place to go.

Directions: Kings’ Shops, 69-250 Waikoloa Beach Dr, Waikoloa.

Opening hours: daily, 9am to 6pm.

Admission: the museum sells tickets through its online shop and doesn’t publish the price on the page, so you won’t see the cost until checkout in the shop. What it does state: a kamaʻāina rate exists with a valid Hawaiʻi ID, “children” means 18 and under, infants under six months are free, and a full-price adult ticket includes a free return visit within seven days. The mini golf next door runs daily from noon to 6pm on a separate ticket.

Website: HawaiiKeikiMuseum.org

Anna Ranch Heritage Center

Anna Ranch is the restored 14-room home of Anna Lindsey Perry-Fiske, a paniolo, pāʻū rider, and rancher who ran this Waimea spread through five generations of the Lindsey family. The house is on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, furnished with period antiques and the family’s photographs and archives, and shown by guided tour that walks through Hawaiʻi’s ranching history. It pairs naturally with Parker Ranch a few minutes away, and there is a free Hawaiʻi Beekeeper Legacy exhibit on site.

Tours are by reservation only and cap at five guests, so book at least 72 hours out. The ranch also closes for public holidays and for the occasional private wedding or buyout, so ask about your date when you book.

Directions: 65-1480 Kawaihae Rd, Kamuela (Waimea), HI 96743.

Opening hours: historic home tours Tuesday and Thursday at 10am and 1:15pm, by reservation. Beekeeper exhibit Tuesday to Friday, 9am to 3pm.

Admission: home tour by suggested donation, $20 adults and $10 keiki; beekeeper exhibit free.

Website: Anna Ranch Heritage Center.