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San Francisco Exploratorium Ticket: 700+ Hands-On Exhibits

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$39.95 /person
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About the activity

Immerse yourself in a world of curiosity as you touch, tinker, and play with 700+ hands-on exhibits at San Francisco’s iconic Exploratorium with this full-day admission ticket.

  • Free cancellation
    Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.
  • Instant confirmation & Mobile tickets
    Receive your ticket right away. Use your phone or print your voucher.
  • Skip the line
    Get priority entry.
  • Valid
    1 day
  • Includes
    • General admission to the Exploratorium on date selected
    • All taxes and applicable fees
    • Written Guides in 12 Languages
    • Food and beverages
    • Public tours
    • Tactile Dome (available for purchase on-site or by calling the museum)
Highlights & Description

Highlights

  • Rated #1 Museum in SF (Tripadvisor) & Top US Science Museum (USA Today)
  • 700+ immersive exhibits: touch a tornado, bend light, dance with your shadow
  • Watch science in action as staff prototype & build exhibits before your eyes
  • Journey through the Tactile Dome in total darkness, using only touch as a guide
  • Stunning waterfront location, steps from Ferry Building & Fisherman’s Wharf

Description

Step into San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a museum where science, art, and human curiosity come alive. Founded in 1969 by physicist Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, the Exploratorium reinvented what a museum could be by encouraging visitors to touch, tinker, and test the world around them.

Inside six galleries and outdoor spaces, you’ll find more than 700 exhibits built on-site by artists, scientists, and educators. Stop time with a strobe light, play with perception, watch fog swirl in a tornado, or test your senses in the pitch-black Tactile Dome. Exhibitions change regularly, so there’s always something new to explore, like Glow, where you can discover the art and science of light.

The Exploratorium is for everyone, including families, students, couples, and solo adventurers alike. On Thursday nights, the museum transforms into After Dark, an adults-only (18+) event with cocktails, music, and immersive programming (different ticket).

Beyond the exhibits, the building itself is a model of sustainability. Since relocating to Pier 15, the Exploratorium has become the largest net-zero energy museum in the U.S., powered entirely by renewable energy and cooled by Bay water. It’s a museum that doesn’t just teach science, it lives it.

What You’ll Explore Inside
• Human Phenomena Gallery: Experiment with thoughts, feelings and social behavior
• Tinkering Gallery: Try out our latest prototypes that we build for museums around the world, and get creative with hands-on building activities
• Seeing & Listening Gallery: Put your perceptions to the test with light, sound, color, and heat.
• Living Systems Gallery: Discover all scales of the living world in this working laboratory
• Outdoor Exhibits: Immerse yourself into large-scale exhibits on wind, water, and motion
• Bay Observatory: Enjoy panoramic Bay views with exhibits on local history, geography and ecology

Meeting point

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the cancellation policy for this activity?
Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.
2. When will I receive the confirmation of my booking?
You will receive an email notification right after your successful payment. If you don't see it in your inbox, check your spam or junk mail folder. When the payment is completed you have the option to download your ticket directly.
3. What does the 'skip the line' ticket mean?
'Skip the line' tickets provide the fastest possible entry with no or very little queuing.
4. Are mobile tickets enough or do I have to print them?
Tickets don't need to be printed. You can show your ticket from your smartphone as a PDF.
  • Adults
    18-64 years
  • Seniors
    65-99 years
  • Children
    4-17 years
  • Infants
    0-3 years
October 2025
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