Tours
Date NightCity Cruises San Francisco
$50+Hornblower dining and sightseeing cruises on San Francisco Bay, with dining cruises leaving Pier 3 on the Embarcadero.
Photo: Amy Snyder, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
MuseumsIconicFamily Favorite
Exploratorium
Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco, CA, part of the San Francisco Bay Area guide. Cost: $25 to $50.
Pier 15 · San Francisco, CA
Why you should go…
The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology and art on Pier 15 along San Francisco's Embarcadero, founded by physicist Frank Oppenheimer in 1969. It houses over 650 hands-on exhibits across galleries covering human behavior, tinkering, and living systems, among other themes. Its Tactile Dome lets visitors navigate a pitch-black space using touch alone. The museum draws more than a million visits a year and moved to its current waterfront piers in 2013.
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Maps and brochures
What's around here?
The closest stops to Exploratorium, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
0.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Tours
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Coit Tower
Under $25Ride the elevator up this 210-foot Art Deco tower on Telegraph Hill for 360-degree views of the city and bay.
0.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
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Ferry Building
FreeBrowse nearly 50 food merchants and restaurants inside an 1898 ferry terminal on the waterfront, with bay views.
0.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Shopping
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San Francisco Railway Museum
FreeA small nonprofit museum on the Embarcadero celebrating San Francisco's cable cars and vintage streetcars.
0.6 mi awayMore like this
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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
$25–$50A major modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Francisco with free admission on the first Thursday of every month.
1.1 mi awayMore like this
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USS Pampanito
$25–$50A World War II submarine museum at Pier 45 on Fisherman's Wharf, run by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association.
1.3 mi awayMore like this
