UC Davis Tahoe Science Center — Attraction in Nevada

We had wonderful experience during our recent visit to the UC Davis Lake Tahoe Science Center. The docent was incredibly kind and accommodating, ensuring our group could join the tour and making us feel welcome right from the start.

The science center's exhibits were simply fantastic, providing a wealth of knowledge about the fascinating Lake Tahoe ecosystem, its watershed, and the geological history that has shaped it. We were particularly impressed by the informative 3D movie and interactive sand box.

We appreciated how the science center made complex concepts accessible and engaging. While some information may be more suitable for older children and adults, there seemed to be enjoyable science activities available for younger visitors during the tour.

The tour is donation based and it was well worth it. I would book your tour online but if you are stopping by I would bring some cash for the donation bin.

For anyone who enjoys science centers and has an interest in learning about the wonders of Lake Tahoe, I highly recommend a visit to the UC Davis Lake Tahoe Science Center. You'll be treated to a wonderful experience filled with knowledge, discovery, and appreciation for this...

The displays are great and appeal to all ages. Lots of fun hands-on exhibits and great information! Historically this has been one of our favorite places to bring our family when we come to Tahoe.

We chose to do the self-guided tour today so that our small children wouldn't disrupt or slow down the group of older adults who had paid for the guided tour. The docent was very pushy about our joining the guided tour and rude when we remained firm in our decision not to. I was careful to make sure my kids were respectful and followed all posted instructions, and we tried to stay out of the way of the guided tour group. It was made clear on three separate occasions that we were not welcome in the space because our use of the exhibits (though in compliance with all directions) was inconvenient to the "real" visitors (aka: those on a paid tour). We left after only seeing about 2/3 of the small museum because even my preschooler had started to pick up on the fact that we weren't...

This is a great little science center but it's not for everyone. In the tour, they provide a lot of cool information about the lake in a variety of ways. There's a 3D movie on how the lake was formed, a mock-up of a research vessel with a video on how they collect data, and a guide who discusses the watershed and also the food web in the lake and how it has changed from the introduction of invasive species. This was all great for me, but is over the head of small children.

They do have a few interactive exhibits that visitors are free to explore after the tour and this caught the attention of my 6yo - especially the sand box that would project a realtime topographical map over the sand.

The tour does have several places where you can sit, but also some parts where standing is the...