Exploratorium
An interactive science museum on Pier 15 with more than 600 hands-on exhibits. Visitors of all ages can spend half a day playing, and it is considered one of the best science museums in the world.
The Exploratorium was founded in 1969 by physicist Frank Oppenheimer and moved to Pier 15 on the Embarcadero in 2013. Nearly every exhibit can be touched: optics and visual illusions, sound, biology, and bay hydrology and weather. The most famous attraction is the Tactile Dome, which requires a reservation, where visitors crawl and feel their way through complete darkness. At the end of the pier, a glass pavilion offers views of the bay and Alcatraz. Admission is about $30-40. On Thursday evenings after 6 p.m., there is an adults-only (18+) night session. From the Ferry Building, it is about a 10-minute walk along the waterfront trail, and the F Market historic streetcar line also stops nearby.
Opening hours
Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00; Thu also has evening sessions; closed Mon
Nearby sights
- Transamerica Pyramid
- Ferry Building Marketplace
- Coit Tower & North Beach
- San Francisco Cable Cars
- Chinatown, San Francisco
- Fisherman's Wharf & Pier 39
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
- Union Square