Musée Mécanique
Over 300 coin-operated machines from the 1800s to the 1990s crammed into a warehouse at Fisherman’s Wharf. Free to enter. Bring quarters.
Attraction Category: Science & Nature
Cal Academy Herpetology Collection
The California Academy of Sciences houses the sixth-largest herpetology collection in the world with over 315,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. Behind-the-scenes tours occasionally give access to the research storage.
Claude the Albino Alligator
An albino American alligator at the California Academy of Sciences with white skin and pink eyes. Fewer than 100 albino alligators are known to exist, and Claude has been a resident of the Swamp exhibit since 2008.
Exploratorium
A hands-on science museum where you touch everything. Over 600 exhibits explore perception, physics, and the natural world. Adults love it as much as kids.
California Academy of Sciences
An aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum under one living roof. The rainforest dome alone is worth the visit.