Exploratorium
Everything here is meant to be touched: 1,000+ participatory exhibits built from a blacklisted physicist's conviction that curiosity is teachable.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk San Francisco offline.
Frank Oppenheimer developed hands-on science methods teaching high schoolers in Pagosa Springs, Colorado after being forced out of academia by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He opened this museum in 1969; in 2013 it moved from the Palace of Fine Arts to Piers 15 and 17 on the waterfront. The format he invented here has since inspired participatory museums internationally.
What to look for
- Over 1,000 participatory exhibits across galleries organized by content — each designed for direct interaction, not passive viewing
- The waterfront pier setting at Piers 15 and 17, a 2013 move from the original Palace of Fine Arts home
- Exhibits tracing back to Oppenheimer's 'Library of Experiments' — nearly 100 models built from a National Science Foundation grant that became the founding collection
Located at Piers 15 and 17 on San Francisco's waterfront.
Exploratorium is one of 31 sights worth the detour in San Francisco, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the San Francisco pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in San Francisco
- Golden Gate BridgeOpened May 27, 1937 as simultaneously the world's longest and tallest suspension bridge — you can walk the 4,200-foot main span yourself.
- Alcatraz IslandFor 29 years, cold Bay tidal currents did what bars alone could not — make escape nearly impossible.
- Transamerica PyramidAn 853-foot pyramid that ruled San Francisco's skyline for 45 years — still on the Transamerica logo even though the company quietly moved its HQ to Baltimore.
- Golden Gate ParkSan Francisco turned three miles of bare shifting sand dunes into the country's third-busiest urban park — starting from scratch in 1870.
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)The West Coast's first museum devoted solely to 20th-century art, now stretched across 170,000 square feet after a 2016 expansion that nearly sextupled public space.
- Alcatraz Federal PenitentiaryA 9-by-5-foot cell surrounded by cold bay currents — the federal government once staked its reputation on the claim that no one could leave.