MUSEUM & CULTURE
Cox Science Center and Aquarium
Palm Beach County · South Florida & the Keys
A science center in Dreher Park since 1961, with a quarter-mile outdoor science trail. A large expansion closes its planetarium and Hall of Discovery until late 2027.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The Cox Science Center has served Palm Beach County since 1961 and shares Dreher Park with the Palm Beach Zoo, so the two make an easy pair in one afternoon. Indoors there is a 5,000-square-foot Hall of Discovery holding a hundred hands-on exhibits, along with a planetarium, a theater and a science laboratory. Outdoors, the quarter-mile Fisher Family Science Trail opened in 2018 and links more than ten exhibits including a solar installation, an interactive splash pad, a gem-panning station and a dinosaur walk, with an open-air amphitheater added in 2020 for daily live science shows. The center is in the middle of an expansion it puts at one hundred and fifty million dollars, which enlarges the aquarium from 10,000 gallons of tanks to 130,000. Construction is expected to finish in late 2027, and until then the Hall of Discovery and the planetarium are closed, so check what is open before coming. Dreher Park is a few minutes from downtown West Palm Beach, and the parking for the science center and the zoo is on the same ground, which is what makes the pair workable in one afternoon rather than two separate trips
Keep comparing