Ripley's Believe It Or Not occupies several floors of the Royal Garden Plaza mall on Beach Road, part of the global "odditorium" chain built from Robert Ripley's newspaper cartoons of strange-but-true stories. The exhibits mix genuine curiosities — shrunken heads, unusual taxidermy, optical illusions — with waxworks and oddities collected from around the world, all delivered with a fair amount of showmanship.
It is a fun, slightly kitsch visit rather than an educational one, and works well as a break from the heat or a rainy-day filler. The complex includes a few adjoining paid attractions, such as a mirror maze, that can be added to the ticket. An hour or two covers it.