Well done! Its small enough to keep the kids interested and the deer experience is something special. Definitely going back.

Fun for the whole family. Free admission is great.This place is a little small. The aquarium set up is very neat. Bathrooms are clean.

Nature center has deer feedings 3 times a day in the summer. There is a few turtles & a fish in the inside pond. Theres lots of great information on native animals and plants. Theres a fun play area for little kids inside and a fun outdoor area. They also have a nature hiking trail.There is a great playground right across from the parking lot too. Great for a quick visit or a longer stay with great information.

The nature center is great but what is even more fabulous is the playground right outside. I’ve never been to such a cool playground!!!! There’s a small nature playground right outside the nature center and then the bigger playground near the parking lot. You can fish there too.

Belle Isle Nature Center is a really educational experience. It tends to focus on native to Michigan species through informative posters and displays. A good place to walk through with the entire family

My boys and i loved this! We went easter Sunday and it was opened and it was our first time to the nature center. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot and even made the deer feeding time! It was a great day at belle isle again!! There is a park outside the nature center so my kids playes after looking around tge nature center and feeding the deer. They also had a bingo sheet for the kids and a scavanger hunt sheet for kids of all ages to do! It was set up really nice and lots of facts about all kinds of animals!

Great place, excellent nature exhibits on display. You can touch & feel different animal parts such as skulls, skin(furr) horns etc. nice decor & children play room. Bird house outside center is very nice & many birds & sparrows are taking shelter. Small but beautiful place & without visiting this place your visit to island is not complete

I have a better Nature Center in White Lake called Indian Springs! But its something to do very briefly while on Belle Isle. Small children like it!

Make sure to stop here! Great information and exhibits on Michigan species!

Its small but please dont let that deter you. They have so many adorable turtles and they also have an indoor bee hive that you can watch through plexiglas. I watched a bee be born! You can feed deer at various times of that day. We will definitely visit again.

Weve been coming here for quite some time now and always have a great adventure. This is a Belle Isle must see for growing and adventurous minds. Directed towards younger ages but in my opinion, fun for all ages! Plus there is a neat playground right next to it!

Very fun and informative! Our daughter loved it and so did I! Highly recommend a visit if your on Belle Isle! The white deer are so cute! Plus its FREE lol!

Nice place for nature as far as turtles, amphibians, snakes and fish but the deer....it hurts my soul to see them locked behind the fence with no freedom to run free when they live on an island. ...they look so unhappy.

Its a small indoor nature center but quite nice. One outdoor activity is the deer feeding which occurs 3 times a day - 11am, 1pm and 3pm. The admission and the deer feeding is absolutely free. Excellent experience for kids. Theres a very neat playground right opposite to the building which has not so common equipments such as playground zip line, rocking boat etc. Kids will enjoy those for sure.

The kids loved the play scape it had the coolest stuff according to them. There was this one ride that you can push them in a seated swing up and down a long track, it was a blast. The actual nature center was fun and interesting for them. IT WAS FREE, which is crazy. What a great day for the kids to spend having fun and learning.

Could be so much more. Huge island. Many great parks and views of Canada. Many run down areas and abandoned parts.

Lovely place to take a child to learn about animals and play .

Nice little zoo. We enjoyed the live displays of turtles, albino deer, a couple of Black Rat Snakes, and the educational displays for the kids. There is a nice birdwatching area which drew in a Bluejay, the first I have seen all summer. It even had a groundhog hogging the food

This is a place from my childhood. I love the place. It was awesome to see the changes and educational opportunities. A great place to share with your family.

Nice place to visit for something thats free...nature center is located in the back past the zoo that closed down

Very nice Nature Center. The bird sounds playing in bathroom are a nice touch.

Great place for kids and adults to learn about local native wildlife. Nice staff/volunteers, special programming weekly for little ones, and a few times a day, can feed the fallow deer while learning a bit of history of the island. Theres also a newer, medium sized playground across the street.

Place for a field trip and to take the kids. My boys really enjoyed looking at all of the different reptiles and birds and being able to touch just about everything. The best part is the playground its awesome.

Cool place. You never know what isin your own backyard.

Loved looking at the cool insects and reptiles.

Not much to see in the center. If you come to Belle Isle with a car, won’t lose anything if you go there. But I wouldn’t recommend bicyclists or pedestrians to go to this place since it is kinda isolated and so far away from other places on the isle.

A really cute place with a lot of fun activities for kids but they let adults join in the fun too! We fed deer.

I brought my 5 year old great nephew here and we had an excellent time. There are about 7 turtle exhibits housing various turtle species, a salamander, frog and snake exhibit. There is a very cool bee farm and an outdoor area to observe and feed deer. Its a wonderful place to visit; especially, with a young child.

Great little place to beat the heat when at belle isle. Lots of charm built in to the little circular building. From the natural blocks and story time tree house nook to little tidbits of information of the animals that live in the area we thoroughly enjoyed our tour in the air conditioned building.

Small and sweet place.

It was so beautiful for my first time l love it thank yall so much for it l am for Birmingham AL l live there now

The nature center and all the aquariums and flower centers all beautiful. The parks are nice to. Also the bathrooms where clean and all of them where open when we went in a school trip.

For being the size of my thumb, this place had a bit more than anticipated, although a lot less than Id hoped - before I saw how very small it was. Bees, aquatics like turtles and frogs, not-your-backyard-deer, a trunk tree house (ground) play room with AWESOME painted walls, an outdoor mini play area before the deer, bird feeders, and pretty much everything youve ever wanted at your own house that youve just never got around to making happen. Parking was good, more down the road. Place did not stink of fragrance but did require a mask. Very friendly, including to people with disabilities. Went for the Bee Fest and, although cute, I think there could have been more to do, see, learn about, explore. There wasnt a lot in the way of HOW YOU CAN HELP! type of concepts. Lots of mini education info. Stayed 2-3 hours.

Really fun and entertaining place

Cute, quaint, well organized. Great for kids. Clean restrooms.

As always educational for my grandson

Not a huge variety of animals but I really enjoyed looking at all of the turtles and frogs. They have an area with many bird feeders and it was cool to see all the different species of birds that were enjoying the food (along with the squirrels ). The bee hive was my favorite!! I was able to watch and observe a functioning bee hive. It was so interesting!!

One of the best things you will ever do for free (its all donation based), is visit the Belle Island attractions. The Nature Center is very informative, interactive for kids and adults, and is also located right next to a beautiful little park for the kids.

Very informative and they have a wide array of local live aquatic animals on display with lots of information as well as a bird watching area.

I had so much fun we got to see animals and see awesome things

Super fun! As a kid, I really enjoyed it!

A fun and educational place to take the kids!

This is very nice, especially for kids. It is definitely worth to stop by and learn some new things. I really enjoyed seeing a group of black squirrels and birds just co-existing. It was beautiful. I also liked the egg comparisons.

Pops took me there upon return from Free China. Most remembered was their eels. Chicago has free Aquarium visits also. This idle also had a zoo butterflies and a famous fountain. It also is now a national park I believe after isle royal. They host the Grand Prix race which is world famous.

If you visited the nature center a number of years ago and are expecting the same experience... dont. Its dramatically scaled down from what was effectively a zoo for small things to a few large fish tanks, some old tired deer, a bee hive, and a bird viewing window. When my oldest child was very young, I seem to remember an outdoor circuit where you could see everything from butterflies-on-up... indoors (I believe) HAD large exhibits with detailed education plaques. The Detroit Zoological Society should be ashamed of how theyve starved this facility while the rest of the park has flourished. 3 stars for good memories.

So nice to walk around....

My kids love this place

Full of amazing animals found right here at home in Michigan. If you are there around 1 or 3 pm you can take part in an event where you meet some deer and give them a treat. EXCELLENT for kids.This is also free admission! If you have a recreation passport for the Belle Isle everything there costs nothing to experience. It more than makes up for the cost.

Very friendly place for kids, special needs and more. At 1PM you can go along and feed the deer. Lots of cool things to see. The beekeeper is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. All around family-friendly, cool place.

Born and raised in Michigan and this was my first time to visit.Enjoyed it. Clean, easy to walk through and didnt feel rushed to hurry through. Displays were all interesting and educational.

Nice little aquarium with fresh water critters, and beautiful plant life.

Nature Center is nice, rather small. Has a nice kids play area and features local species. Close to a good size play structure. My biggest problem is with Belle isle itself, so much construction hard to get around to the nature center.

I skipped work to go here and may I say I shouldve just went to work

Wish there were more interactive things but cute cave with wood cushions and wooden kitchen set. Great for toddlers

Nice area and building. Pleased with a lecture on bird identification.

Free admission! A great place to take your family.

This is a nature center set apart from others in that it is deeply inset with the surrounding flora and has a more open feel from its location on the island of belle isle. A must visit. Often.

We seen some much and I learned a lot from there also when I went to Summer camp there I got to see a fox and it was adorable ️

Absolute gem, inside one of our best state parks. #publiclandowner

Awesome place kids had lots of lots to do

Loved our visit here yesterday, been visiting this place since i was a little boy and brought out a carload of kids from.2 hours away that have heard me talk about Belle Isle for a long while.Staff was very friendly and welcoming. the center was clean and educational, seen the fattest squirrels i have ever seen along with a couple of plump opossums and a few fallow deer. Also seen an albino turtle. Another Great FREE ADMISSION thing to do with your family in the cuty of Detroit. Be sure to give a donation to help with operating costs.

Great place for everyone to visit. Always something to learn and explore.

Lovely place to see along with the Aquarium.

You have guest wifi on site but wont allow guests to use it normally. I think this policy should be revisited. The cell service is really poor on the island due to proximity to Canada and so using the wifi is very helpful.

There may not be a zoo anymore on Belle Isle but there is this lovely nature center with plenty of creatures. It would be easy to spend an hour here inside with young kids. There are the animals but also night cam recordings to watch. There is a tunneled out tree to play in with a painting of seasons and animals on the inside. There are also lots of puppets. There is a bird watching area where we even saw a groundhog! There are bathrooms inside and portapotties outside if the building is closed (this message is for you bikers ). Inside there are also vending machines. One for drinks and one for snacks. There is a water bottle filling water fountain inside.Another of my favorite thing that is not on the map is an AMAZING new playground right there on the water!!! For ALL ages.

It was beautiful.. we had a great time

Checked online last night to verify days and times for the different things on the island. So, we drove 4 hours to have a nice enjoyable time as a family. Got here and the ONLY place open is the nature center. The little kids (2-9) enjoyed it, but otherwise, it definitely was NOT worth the gas. Apparently nothing is open until the Grand Prix is over with. Which that is not posted ANYWHERE! Updating the website could be quite helpful. Needless to say, I will not be returning.

What an awesome, free (if you dont want to donate) place to go. You can see (almost) all the local wildlife in one building. If two 25-30 year olds can have a good time there, anyone can.

Its clean. Nice. Free and my son loves it

This place is a hidden gem, there is so much to do & it was all free! The outdoor center is so simple yet my kids were entertained for two hours & got to feed deer. There is a cool park right across from the building, the aquarium is not far, & again free!We just discovered this place last year & will spending may weekend days in the future here the island is so beautiful.

Great Place. Very friendly staff of rangers and park security. The improvement of this park to the organized control by the State of Michigan park authority, is truly amazing. We have always been Belle Isle park visitors, so I have seen it during its fallen times...and believe me I feel 100% safe there now. No one could ever dispute this fact. Good job State of Michigan for returning dignity once again to this Gem of a park.

Always trying to figure out how they grow those beautiful plants have flowers a wonderful place to take a date and a beautiful background and take pictures

I love the bird feeding station you can watch from inside. Theres one of those book sharing boxes outside, so you could take a book and sit to read it at the bird window. Would be great with a coffee or tea.

Very nice and clean. It is a smaller Nature Center but is done nicely and is informative. We enjoyed it.

Great place to visit.

Small nature center, but very entertaining . The entire family had a great time and learned lost of new things!

Boring. Nothing like I remember as a kid. Just a bunch of turtles. The have the cute treehouse to play in...

Excellent place to bring little kids! My 1 1/2 year old daughter love looking at the turtles and fish. My 5 year old liked feeding the dear and some of the science based activities. Also its free, even the parking!

Nice nature center! Kids love it

Loved it. Thought the deer experience could be a little better. There was no shade for then in the open area and could only see one. The aquarium was closed due to a feild trip so maybe online could have this marked so we go at different times

I took my 2 year old and he enjoyed looking at the turtles and he ran all over the place and they enjoyed his energy. Cool spot to take the kids. Its definitely worth checking out.

Cool, but I wish they had more stuff. Very child-centered. Not good for adults. The deer encounter was solidly disappointing.

Very nice. Had fun with grandkids.

Fun island with lots of beaches, and tons of things to do.

Awesome Belle isle winter in Michigan

In the heart of Detroit, the island offers a glimpse of the way things used to be. The nature center is not going to take more than an hour to fully enjoy, which is good though because there are plenty of other things youll also want to do while youre there. The aquarium is on the comeback, fishing is great all around the interior streams and ponds, and a couple great parks the kids can play on. You need a State park pass to get in. Dont be surprised.

Great facts on animals that live in Michigan. Its free too.

Nice place to visit

Nice over all but they need to work on the place some. A new coat of paint here some deep cleaning of the building as a whole. Its ran by the Detroit Zoo but they definitely dont maintaine it like they do the Zoo

Was very here for Nature Tots, it was a great program! My 2 year old had SO much fun! We cant wait until next month. I live all the things they offer at the nature center though, our older kids love their summer camp.

Had a great time here!! My grandson loved it!

Just meeting a friend for a vessel exam. Fishing boat passed issued a vessel exam sticker, we had coffee (Tim Hortons)& talked. He was going to go fishing. I went to Sector Detroit. Great parking lot No Pot Holes.

My kids love this place. We come often to both the play place and center. We learn something new each time.

If your a flower and plant lover this is the place. I loved the butterflies back in the day. They were so colorful and the atmosphere was so serene. Perfect place for a wedding.

This place is great. A lot of great interactive things for the kids. The deer encounter was fun. The treehouse was a favorite. Such a fun and interactive place to go with the family!

Im giving it 5 stars because my 2 and 5 year old siblings had a great time their and cried when we had to leave. Its not a large facility and you can get through it in about 30 mins but we managed to stretch it out to an hour because they have this cute play area inside of what looks like a hollowed out tree. I believe they also have activities their some days of the week for children aged 2-4. So for a fun and quick stop to get the ants in the pants of busy children out this is a good place to go.

Its good place to visit, one of the oldest US aquariums to visit.Apart from that it has its own beauty, you can come here to see conservatory botanical, aquarium, their shows etc. There is $9 fee per car.You can take strollers and food inside. Small island but its beautiful.

Small but very informative. Has a nice outdoor section with a path you can walk around.

We had an awesome time visiting the beach area, the Nature Center and the Big Slide. The water was nice and clear enough to see a school of minnows swimming around our feet. The Nature Center was very informative. The bee house, with glass on both sides is really cool! All of the displays and animals were well done! It was also a nice place to cool off and use the restroom. We ended our day at the slide and my grandson loved it! It cost a dollar to ride down the slide but he thought it was well worth it! The far left lane, when looking at the slide is the fastest.

Belle Isle is a great place to take the family to spend a day off. I give it only 4 starts because it still has a lot of work to clean up the place and build out facilities, but they have done amazing work from what it was a few year back.The kids loved seeing the wildlife and playing on the playground. The playground structures are some of the best Ive seen anywhere.Give this place a chance, but remember its still a bit rough (abandoned buildings, construction sites, bad signage, etc)...give it time, it looks like it will keep getting better.