California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park

The California Academy of Sciences consists of multiple science museums blended into one interesting building. Inside you will find a biosphere of a rain forest ecosystem, a fantastic aquarium, a planetarium, and a natural history museum. All of these different types of museums blend really beautifully into one whole, and the museum itself is topped off with a "living roof." The Academy is located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, which is one of my favorite things about the city of San Francisco. Click "read more" to see photos of our visit.

This map above is a detail of the full map of Golden Gate Park, showing where you can find the museum. You can find a full map of the park at this link. I doubt that many people go to this museum and then plan to hike (or want to hike to the museum); however, there are plenty of trails that wind their way through Golden Gate Park, so you could easily make a hike out of your trip to the museum as well.

This museum was really great for my toddler in ways that I did not even appreciate before going. Although I knew that she would love the butterflies in the rain forest and the fish in the aquarium, I didn't even know about the amazing toddler play space in Curiosity Grove. This was a totally safe place for her to get out of her stroller and to play and crawl and touch everything. Although there were plenty of other people in the play area, it was way less crowded and overwhelming for her. It helped her to get a sense of her bearings, and it built up her confidence to enjoy the museum even more than before. For example, we had started going to the aquarium before Curiosity Grove, but she wasn't having it at first. After we left the play area, she was much more excited to see the fish and less worried about how different the light looked "under the water."

It was so lovely to see her face fill up with wonder as she took in all of the sights around her. I know that we will be back even though it is a long drive to get to Golden Gate park from where we live and the museum is quite expensive. It's worth it, especially if you can go on a weekday when it is somewhat less crowded.