• Please note: Food served in the Café by Highway Inn restaurant is not prepared in an allergen-free kitchen.
• All guests—especially those with dietary sensitivities or food allergies—are welcome to bring outside food to the Bishop Museum as long as food is not taken out or consumed in the exhibit spaces.

• Any interpreter accompanying a visitor who is blind or partially sighted is admitted free of charge.

• Any interpreter accompanying a visitor who is deaf or hearing-impaired is admitted free of charge.
• Sign-language interpretation for the Planetarium, lava-melt demonstration, exhibit tours, and Museum visits up to two hours will be made available with two weeks’ advance notice.

Bishop Museum is busy a place, full of a variety of sights, sounds, and people. The following tips and resources are designed to help guests of all ages with a variety of autism spectrum disorders or sensory sensitivities feel safe, comfortable, and welcome at the Museum.

• Visit in the afternoon: Bishop Museum is quietest one to two hours before closing time of 5 pm. We’re typically busier with school groups until noon on weekdays and have peak attendance in the summer.
• Be thoughtful of transitions: Moving between exhibits can be difficult for children with sensory needs. Please be aware that there are noise, temperature, and lighting changes when going to and from various buildings on campus or from the Planetarium to the campus walkway.
• Get comfortable in advance: Review our exhibits and daily programs before your visit.
• Take frequent breaks: Take advantage of the Museum’s in-and-out privileges when wearing your day-of-admission sticker. You can step out and enjoy lunch off-campus and re-enter the same day as often as you like.

• Nursing is allowed anywhere on the Bishop Museum campus.
• A private space can be made available upon request.

• Accessible parking is available in our main visitor parking area and the secondary Pākī Lot. Vehicles with a Disability Parking Placard displayed are not required to pay any parking lot fees.
• Visit our Getting Here page for more transportation resources.

• Accessible restrooms are located in every public-facing building on campus.
• The quietest restrooms are located on the second floor of the Castle Memorial Building and the second floor of the Pākī Building.
• Baby-changing stations are available in Hawaiian Hall, Science Adventure Center, and Atherton Hālau.
• Nursing is allowed anywhere on the Bishop Museum campus.

• Service dogs are welcome at Bishop Museum if providing assistance to individuals with disabilities, but a small number of areas including research collections and back-of-house areas do remain off-limits.
• While we understand that animals other than dogs may provide assistance to individuals with disabilities, dogs are the only animals legally regarded as service animals and thus permitted at Bishop Museum.
• Service dogs are permitted on the premises but must be announced through[s4]  the Admissions Desk before being escorted onto the Museum campus. Please be aware that non-service animals are not allowed on Bishop Museum premises.
• We expect appropriate behaviors from service dogs and their handlers. Service dogs must be under the control of their handler at all times during their visit. Leash control is preferred, but under certain circumstances voice or signal control is acceptable.

• Wheelchairs: Bishop Museum is wheelchair accessible, welcoming manual and electric wheelchairs. A limited number of manual wheelchairs are available to borrow free of charge at the Admissions Desk in Shop Pacifica on a first-come, first-served basis. To borrow one, visitors are asked to leave their photo ID for the duration of their visit. Visitors must have a member of their party assist with guiding the wheelchair throughout the visit or be able to do so on their own.
• Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices (OPDMDs): The recreational use of Segways, golf carts, hoverboards, skateboards, etc., is strictly prohibited at Bishop Museum. The Museum is wheelchair accessible, welcoming manual and electric wheelchairs, electric mobility scooters, and other power-driven mobility devices (OPDMDs).
• Wheelchair and OPDMD users must remain in control of their device, operate at the lowest speed (turtle mode) consistent with walking pace, yield to children, seniors, and other walking patrons as well as exercise caution turning corners, entering and exiting exhibit areas, and must obey all reasonable safety instructions given by staff. Subject to the specific device’s dimensions, users may need to dismount and walk through certain thresholds, when entering and exiting elevators, or in the vicinity of railings around open exhibits and raised walkways.

• Note that wheelchairs are available to borrow at the Admissions Desk in Shop Pacifica.
• Sports Hall of Fame: Make this your first stop after the Admissions Desk to explore the big names of Hawaiʻi’s sports past. (Approx. 10 min.)
• Hawaiian Hall Complex: Enter the Hawaiian Hall Complex through our covered Portico and enjoy one of our rotating exhibit spaces in the hallway that takes you right to the heart of Hawaiian Hall. Once inside, you’ll be greeted by our expansive Atrium space, where you’ll find an elevator that gives you access to both upper floors on the Hawaiian Hall and Pacific Hall sides of the complex.
• Science Adventure Center: Take the ramp around the wind generator and down the glowing Hawaiian Origins Tunnel to the Lava Theater for a noon lava show (30 min.). After the pour, explore the deep-sea creatures of the lowest level before taking the elevator up to the main level. There, explore your way back to the building entrance though specimen drawers and displays of Hawaiʻi’s natural history. (Approx. 30 min.)
• Planetarium Lobby: Check out the Science-on-a-Sphere interactive in the Planetarium lobby, which projects data sets of Earth and space that can be viewed from all locations in the room. (Approx. 15 min.)
• Planetarium: Enjoy The Sky Tonight at 12:30 pm or 3:30 pm. Tour the current evening sky with the guidance of our planetarium presenter and our full-dome Digistar 4 system. Locate stars, planets, and constellations, and hear their stories. (30 min.) Exit through the back doors of the Planetarium lobby to quickly reach the Café by Highway Inn, Shop Pacifica, or the parking lot.