Musée Mécanique
A private collection of more than 300 antique coin-operated arcade machines at Pier 45, including the Laffing Sal automaton from Playland at the Beach. Free entry. 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 at Pier 15. About 600 exhibits explore perception, physics, and the natural world. Founded in 1969, relocated to the Embarcadero in 2013.
California Academy of Sciences
An aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum under one living roof in Golden Gate Park. Over 46 million specimens, plus a four-story rainforest dome.