Several San Francisco museums and gardens offer free admission days in October 2026. The month opens on a Thursday, so the first free day falls on October 1 at the Museum of Craft and Design, and the de Young, the Legion of Honor and the Conservatory of Flowers follow on Tuesday, October 6. Free days draw crowds, so arriving near opening helps. Special exhibitions usually carry a separate fee even on free days.
Free Days in October 2026
Thursday, October 1: The Museum of Craft and Design in the Dogpatch is free on the first Thursday of the month. It is open Thursday to Sunday, noon to 5pm, and OBJECTS: USA is on view through January 17, 2027. Across the bay, the galleries at BAMPFA, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, are free on the first Thursday as well.
Sunday, October 4: The Asian Art Museum in Civic Center is free to all in its collection galleries on the first Sunday of the month, 10am to 5pm. Special exhibition tickets are $10 that day. Same-day walk-up availability is limited on free Sundays, so reserving ahead helps.
Tuesday, October 6: The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park and the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park are each free to all on the first Tuesday of the month. At the de Young and the Legion, free admission covers the permanent collection galleries only; Treasures of the Pharaohs at the de Young is ticketed separately. The Cartoon Art Museum is pay what you wish the same day.
Wednesday, October 7: The GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro is free to all on the first Wednesday of the month. Free entry is first come, first served, with no online reservations for that day.
Saturday, October 10: The Museum of the African Diaspora, which reopened on September 30, is free on the second Saturday of the month. Its three floors are given over to Dewey Crumpler: Sonic Lineages, on view through May 30, 2027.
Tuesday, October 13: The San Francisco Botanical Garden is free to all on the second Tuesday of the month.
Sunday, October 25: SFMOMA holds a Free Family Day. Up to two adults get in free with each child; exhibitions with a surcharge, including RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me, are not included.
What the Free Days Get You This Month
Two things make October a good month for a free day. At the Legion of Honor, Eternal Paris: Photographing the City of Light is included with general admission, which means the October 6 free Tuesday and every resident Saturday cover it. At the Asian Art Museum, Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean opens on October 23 and is also included with general admission, so the November first Sunday will cover it.
The de Young and the Legion have no exhibitions opening or closing in October. Treasures of the Pharaohs runs at the de Young through January 31, 2027 on separate timed tickets. The next opening across the two museums is Azzedine Alaïa: Sculpting Fashion at the Legion on November 21.
Free Every Week or Every Day
The de Young and the Legion of Honor are free every Saturday for residents of the nine Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma. Bring ID showing your address. As with first Tuesdays, this covers the permanent collection galleries only. Visitors 17 and under are always free in those galleries.
At the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden is free to everyone from 9 to 10am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the San Francisco Botanical Garden is free to everyone from 7:30 to 9am daily. San Francisco residents with proof of address get in free at all three garden sites. Note that the Conservatory of Flowers is closed on Wednesdays.
SFMOMA is free every day for visitors 18 and under.
Other Ways In
Bank of America Museums on Us: Bank of America, Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank cardholders get free general admission at the de Young and the Legion of Honor on the first full weekend of the month, October 3 and 4. Tickets are day-of and on-site only.
Museums for All: Visitors with a Medi-Cal or EBT card get free general admission at the de Young and the Legion of Honor, and reduced or free entry at several other museums. The Exploratorium sells $3 Museums for All tickets, and the California Academy of Sciences charges $5 with an EBT card.
Discover and Go: California public library cardholders can reserve free museum passes through the Discover and Go program, which covers the de Young, the Legion of Honor, the Asian Art Museum, the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences. Passes are limited and book up quickly.
Transit discount: The de Young and the Legion take $3 off admission with proof of a same-day trip on BART, Muni, Caltrain or another Bay Area transit system, in person only. The Academy of Sciences offers a $3 transit discount too.
Good to Know
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass runs in Golden Gate Park October 2 to 4, and the Fine Arts Museums say access to the de Young may be affected that weekend. That weekend is also Museums on Us and a resident Saturday, so allow extra time or pick the Legion instead.
Monday, October 12 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The de Young and the Legion are closed on Mondays as usual, and the Museum of Craft and Design and the Museum of the African Diaspora are closed that day. The California Academy of Sciences is closed on October 21 for a private event.
The California Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium do not have a regular free day. The Contemporary Jewish Museum has been closed since the end of 2024.
For everything else happening this month, see our guide to things to do in San Francisco in October 2026.
Details from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s free and reduced admission page, the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, the Asian Art Museum’s Free First Sunday calendar, MoAD, SFMOMA, the GLBT Historical Society and the Museum of Craft and Design.
