This museum gives the history of the Hawaiian people and the islands they came from. We didn't expect to like it so much but it was absolutely excellent and memorable.
I highly recommend the Bishop museum to anyone interested in the islands history.

This museum may be all right for those with young children or those with a burning interest to learn minute details about Hawaiian culture. The interactive elements on how tsunamis are caused and how lava flows and the like are pretty basic stuff that anyone with a passing knowledge of these things already knows. Children, however, may appreciate them. The main building is itself a magnificent structure, and contains incredibly detailed information about Hawaiian culture--e.g., the names the natives had for each day in the lunar cycle. It is a bit overwhelming for anyone who is not deeply interested in the subject and probably more information than the casual tourist wants or can reasonably assimilate.

We went to the museum in order to see the full size whale skeleton that my wife wanted to see. You could put the Bishop in the "science museum" category because of the wide variety of exhibits - planetarium, volcano hands on things, natural history etc. The Hawaiian Hall had lots of great displays that explained the Polynesian history of the entire Hawaiian Island chain.

If you are curious about the history of polynesia then this is the place for a good education. Beautiful displays along with guided tours and an incredible planetarium with shows daily. Not to miss if you want to be touched by Hawaii