This is a must see and has so many things to offer starting with the Sundial Bridge. We watched it from start to finish and have lived here for 45 years and nothing can compare to this. The Canadian Honkers, salmon runs up the river, and just the various native flowers are really wonderful. This area is great for all age groups where you can hike and bicycle to see all of the beauty. read more

Try to go between 3pm and 5pm. There pricing is reduced to only $9 per person during the last 2 hours of operation. The bird cage was my favorite, I fed them nectarine and had about 6 of them on me at once! The park itself is so much bigger than I thought and the animals are very fun to watch. The gardens are also very beautiful and the little store next to the entrance has great coffee! (If you like your drinks sweet) They have lots of interesting nick knacks. I ended up purchasing a glass nail file from the store that is suppose to last you over a year! All in all, this place is great if you want to spend sometime outdoors. read more

We went on a Monday and it was a huge waste of $55. All of their shows were "closed because it's Monday"... how about charging half price on Mondays then? The bird feeding cage would have been awesome if you could pet the birds, or walk around the birds...or look them directly in the eye... there were SO many rules about what not to do while feeding the birds that it was a drag for kids. Here's an idea: have less fragile birds in the "hands-on experience for kids" bird-feeding cage! You have to walk about a mile to get to a glorified playground with a few cool caged birds to look at. Aaaaand that's pretty much it at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. They have so much space and are doing very little with it. I complained at the front desk and they couldn't have cared less. Never again! read more

Spent a few quick hours at Turtle Bay on the way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. The grounds appear clean and well-maintained. The museum is small but very nice with varied and informative displays. We saw the "T-Rex named Sue" display, which wasn't worth the extra $5 in my opinion. There is a nice animal show and a nice Paul Bunyan play area for the kids [providing it's not too hot to play]. There is a Butterfly habitat exhibit complete with new age music. One not so great thing is the $1 charge to go into the bird enclosure. A dollar isn't a lot, but one doesn't want to open his or her wallet again. The Arboretum is free, but we didn't feel like trudging back over [the impressive Sundial bridge] and looking at the plants in 95 degree weather. It's worth a visit and probably worth buying a membership if you live in the area and have kids. read more

So this place is a lot of fun! Great for kids and adults alike. The gift shop has really neat things and the even have a snack bar with seating area outside. When you're done with the museum the sun dial bridge is right there to walk across. Have fun peeps! read more

After living in SF for years, I was excited when I found out about Turtle Bay. If any location needs a good attraction like this, it's Redding. The price has gone up recently from $13 to $14 (for adults... not sure for kidlets as I don't have any)... but the price is worth it in my opinion. Once you pay your admission fee, you're free to roam. There's art exhibits which rotate on a seasonal basis in addition to some really cool hands on activities. I do biological field work for a government agency and find the hands on stuff to be really informative, accessible, and fun for people of all ages. There's lots of stuff to pull out, pick up, and play with (even if you're not a kid, you should be doing this!). There's also an wildlife facility where you can observe animals that are common in the Redding area, like a Red Tail Hawk, Porcupine, Scrub Jay, among others. Your admission also gets you into Paul Bunyan's Forest Camp, which is a fun exhibit as well. You can easily spend hours walking around and exploring and much of the museum is open air. After your visit, you can pop into the cafe for lunch and take a walk on the Sundial Bridge. read more

We went to Turtle Bay this week. Redding is about 3 hours north of Sacramento. We had been to Turtle Bay before for a wedding reception and knew it was a beautiful facility. This time we were headed north to see SUE! Our kindergartener is a dinogeek and had learned about Sue the TRex about 3 years ago on a video. Since then a few of his toy dinosaurs have been named Sue. A visit to Turtle Bay was an obligation, since she had traveled from the Chicago Field Museum....and a heck of a lot of fun. I was suprised that it cost more to see Sue, but we got over it. Besides Sue you have awesome gardens, the sundial bridge, a butterfly and exotic bird habitat, Paul Bunions play area and all the other exibits with fish and critters and local history. And the cherry on top was the Art of the Brick exibit. Nathan Sawaya's Lego art was inspiring. Sue will be at Turtle Bay until September 7th. I believe the Lego exibit will be there until February. read more

Lots to do. Great animal show, beautiful gardens, the museum has good exhibitions, you can spend all day here. Have a membership and the family goes often. Don't forget to sit in Merle's old truck! read more

Love the Museum and the staff at Turtle Bay. Glad to have something of educational value for my children in our city.

This was our first pit stop on a Northern California road trip, and our kids (almost 4 years old and 20 months old) loved it. Lots of nature, hands-on science, history, art, outdoor playground, you name it. The Dr Seuss exhibit currently here was awesome for adults and kids alike. And when we fed the lorikeets and they landed all over us, we were all amazed. When our kids are older and have longer attention spans, I would go back and spend some more time here. It may have been a bit pricey if we actually had to pay (our membership at our local kids' science center got us in for free!), but for a once-in-a-while visit this place is definitely worthwhile. read more

An interesting place. Great for kids, and good for us old folks, too. There is quite a bit of walking, and we visited on a very hot day. Shuttles to the botanical garden across the bridge would have been nice. We stayed a few hours, and did not even make a dent in all there was to see. Very nice written explanations at the exhibits, as well as staff nearby watching that things are not ruined. Everyone was friendly. Kids were under control by parents who seemed to care about their education and exploration. There was a lot of "hands on" things for the youngsters to do and feel. read more

Its a nice place,great for kids, etc. but i think by far the best part about Turtle Bay Exploration park is the Sundial Bridge. Its an actual working giant sundial! The garden is also pretty nice. I don't think its quite the best place to go alone so yeah... don't be alone XD. Its not just a great place for kids its a great place for adults as well. Make sure to come here if you are in the area because I highly recommend it! :D read more

The Turtle Bay Exploration Park is a great place for kids and adults. We found ourselves in Redding on July 4th weekend and since it was only 102 degrees we decided to explore the city. Our girls loved the aviary and the birds that perched on their hands and heads to sip nectar from cups you could buy for a dollar. There are lots of great animal and nature exhibits throughout the museum and grounds. We liked the reptile house which was big and well lit compared to most we've seen. The play ground is large and had a working water pump that our girls used to cool off. The staff in both the aviary and the butterfly house were friendly and helped the girls get close to the birds and butterflies. My favorite part of the museum was the section devoted to puzzles and mind games. The Sundial Bridge which is also on the grounds is beautiful. Four hours flew by and we could have spent another few hours there. Turtle Bay is worth a visit if you're near Redding. read more

We didn't go into the actual building with exhibits, just around the park area so can't really comment on the price or whats inside but it's a nice, quiet, little park next to the river. read more

Must stop on the drive up the 5, especially if you have kids. Lots of interactive exhibits on the inside of the museum and a beautiful outside area right on the Sacramento River. There is also a nice hiking trail that runs through it. It's gets even better. If you cross the bridge from the museum-- not the sundial-- but the other little wooden one, you end up in the big outdoor section. There are cages with birds and whatnot, and a huge play area. Behind that is a building with snakes and such on the inside, and benches. Behind that is the best part of the park, the parrot playhouse. I think this is only open in the summer however. You pay for bird feed, you hold it, and little parakeets come onto you and eat it. They also get into entertaining fights with each other right on you! There is also a butterfly house that I also believe is a summer seasonal. It's a beautiful extremely enclosed building that is very cool on the summer. You can pay a dollar to release a juvenile butterfly into the enclosure by putting them on leaves. Last thing, there is an awesome animal show during the summer! It is held in the outside pavilion behind the water wheel thing. If it's really hot like it's been when I've been during the dying days of June, they'll hold it inside of the snake building. Congratulations to making it to the end of this review! All in all, definitely a must stop in Redding. read more

My kids and I had so much fun! There is so much to do it took us all day to get through it. Starting with the sundial bridge first thing while it was still cool, feeding the fish, the museum, and the animal show. read more

There is something for the entire family. My two & four year old grand children love the animals, play area, water area as well as many of the exhibits. My children enjoy the exhibits inside the museum and having a chance to let their children play outside in a safe area. There is always something for the little ones to do while the adults look around. Ask about the arts and crafts that are almost always available. The preschool program on Thursday morning has been a big hit with our grandkids. read more

love this place family pass is best deal

We love turtle bay! We come here almost weekly. It's got so many fun filled exhibits that are always changing. The annals are so much fun. We love the aviary also. read more

Waste of time!!! Exhibits are not that nice and the staff is rude. I took my daughter there to see the animals and to play in the different areas. We had to go see the animal show because none of the animals were in their cages and the staff gave me a hard time because I had a stroller with a sleeping infant in it. The initial entry staff were extremely nice about the situation, asked me to put the stroller in a specific place as to not disturb the animals or interfere with the animal show. (we were sitting in the very back row with the stroller behind us, as directed. Not a big deal at all, or so we thought) The staff on stage yelled across the area after the show had started telling me to move my stroller and scolding the entrance people. It was embarrassing and unprofessional. I was told I would receive a call from the manager the next day and I never heard from anyone. Guess there are multiple people, including the manager, who are unprofessional at this location. I would not recommend going, not only was this a horrible experience but definitely not worth the $14 entrance fee per person. They need to just ask for the donation! read more