Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium - Fort Myers (FL)

5 /5 Robert McClellan: If you have a rainy weekend and are looking for something to do, the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is an inexpensive and enjoyable visit where the kids might even learn a little something. The newly renovated Planetarium has super comfortable seating and the new projection system is truly remarkable. In between Planetarium shows they offer animal experience shows where the kids can get up close and personal with anything from a turtle, snake, or even a baby gator. The rustic trails are short but can provide some quiet time in between programs. Pretty easy to spend the day.. they dont offer any food, but there is a large covered area with plenty of tables for sack lunches or snack time. Always enjoyable.

5 /5 Toni Thompson: This gem of natural science and planetarium is a great visit for kids and adults. Inside tha main building, one finds several live and stuffed animals with live turtles, baby owls, Baby alligators and several stuffed deer, and others. We enjoyed seeing live snakes. The outdoor butterfly garden offered several butterflies and native plants. The center offers 2 trails, one of 0.3 miles and another over a mile. We didnt see the one big outdoor alligator today The planetarium offers 2 shows daily and 3 on Sunday. The enthusiast young man in the planetarium offered a tour of all the exhibits. The outdoor trail is a nice walk except on hot summer days. Accessible restrooms in main building and planetarium. Accessible van parking in free parking lot with shells on ground and ramps to enter

5 /5 Vanessa Cebula: What a great find!! My kids ages 3-9 visited and we saw and learned about so many new creatures. Nice nature walk and friendly staff. They even had a little terrarium for a jumping spider! The kids truly enjoyed that they could touch a lot of things like snake skins, shells of many different kinds, manatee teeth, turtle shells. Areas for kids to play with puzzles and toys and microscopes too! The planetarium was also very neat and my kids enjoyed the show about the solar system and brains! I definitely used this as my homeschool education! So much to learn and sad we dont live closer!

3 /5 Adrienne Smith: I was actually pretty disappointed in this nature center. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely needs help. I understand that they are still being repaired after the hurricane. There were unused exhibit spaces, and things on display without any information. The Calusa section on the indigenous folks of the area seemed really slapped together. I loved seeing the birds of prey, but really wished they had more information on them. Like their story? Why are they there? The butterfly exhibit was sad. There were like 5 butterflies. And surprised they didn’t have double doors to help reduce escapees. Information was quite scarce everywhere, tbh. It was unfortunate that I was there during a yearly maintenance time when the big trail loop was closed for fire suppression practices. I went late morning on a Friday and just got there in time for a school field trip to be leaving.

5 /5 M A: Great little nature center and planetarium. We enjoyed the animals and the show in the planetarium. The butterflies and raptors were also a nice experience. We didn’t have time for the trails this time but plan on making another visit!