Exploratorium Reviews

Chaotic when there are school trips, not much interaction or presentations with staff to engage kids like at the Ontario science center. Admission is a lot for a bunch of homemade attractions.

A wide variety of very high quality and interesting exhibits. Nice restaurant too.

Very cool place to take your family and explore science.

A real site pass. It is a science museum in the port. It is not expensive to enter and it is very good.

Great place to nerd it up as an adult!! This place is huge. You'll need an annual membership to really delve into all the exhibits. Plus it's always changing!

So much to see and do, interesting and stimulating. I had a for year old and six year old with me. Both enjoyed it very much, as did I.

Great for kids and science nerds. All the displays are interactive but also designed for little people, not for some adults.

After dark events are pretty cool. They serve alcohol. :)

Small but very informative museum, very worthwhile on Thursday late nights after dark.

Interesting and fun for science. Lot's of interactive displays. Parking is atrocious.

Very large establishment with a lot of different physical & biological phenomenons to observe.
Plenty to do for adults as well as kids, plan for at least 2-3 hours there.
I've been told (but not verified) that the cafe here is good too.

This is a really cool place to take kids of any age. There are a vast number of things to do that will keep you engaged at any age. Arrive early in order to avoid the lines.

A lot to do and our kids aged 10 and 12 enjoyed it.

Fun for all ages big or small the fog bridge is really cool but goes off on a timer not from a button so got to watch it at certain times food is also amazing nice variety

If you have a chance to go to SF, you have to go. Some of the facilities are sloppy, but the overall quality and quantity are good.

Lots of hands on gizmos and fun experience to keep your kids busy for hours. Pricey tix though.

A large and rich science museum for children with lots of exciting and enriching activities for young and old. A good place to spend a few hours when it's hot or too cold outside

Very fun, not too much for older kids but still fun. quite crowded, don't expect to get hands on time with every exhibit.

Lots of interesting fun for all ages. I went with a bunch of family including little kids and I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids did. There is just so much to see and to do, it's almost impossible to see in one day! So,e of the exhibits gave me a totally new perspective while others just had us laughing our heads off. I was impressed by the extent of having unique way to blow bubbles to live demonstrations on eyeball experiments. Super awesome and I would love to go back!

I never knew exactly what my city was missing, it's this place. Making science fun !

We had a party night at the Exploratorium! Fun night and it s a awesome place for kids!!

Crowded but worth two hours. call ahead and find out when the least amount of people are going to be there before you come.

Lots of cool stuff for kids 10+. Unfortunately there were a large group younger kids that was too young to understand what to do at the experiments and occupied most of the stuff.

3.5 stars. I have been a huge fan of the Exploratorium for years, although the change to their new location on the pier has made it less appealing to me somehow. They don't have enough staff on the floor - which is a problem when there's an emergency like a lost kid, etc. (We discovered that the hard way.)

A lot to do, see and experience! My 3-year-old found a lot of fun stuff to do, however, it was more interesting for my older kids.

Absolutely wonderful science centre, whose displays were designed by science-savvy folks. Many interactive exhibits that teach important fundamentals of physics, and awaken an interest in STEM concepts. Bravo!

School field trip with the whole family after 4 hours, I'm happily exhausted... we haven't even scratched the surface. Could definitely use 2 days here. All 5 kids enjoyed from 18 months to 19 years. Adults too. Educational and fun. Will definitely be back.

Amazing place where you can learn a lot things, I just loved it.

Excellent educational activities, great exhibits, amazing views. The cost of admission and parking is excessive. Expect crowds.

Been here many times, both during the day and after dark. The last after dark event was so awful, we left after one hour. Not sure if I will pay to go again. Seriously, the Exploratorium needs to go to museums like the science museum in London to see how to get the SF Exploratorium off the ground. They couldn't even get the mics to work for the guest speaker for the first hour!

Perfect for children! Curious and fun interactions.

Worth getting the season pass. The children are actually less annoying then the nighttime crowd

Fantastic place. Hundreds of engaging and interesting exhibits, all of which worked. Excellent for kids and adults alike.

Excellent for kids though the appeal starts to fall down the curve as the age increases. Some of the exhibits are interesting, some are educational and some look pretty dated. Admission is relatively inexpensive for San Francisco and there's enough here to keep an adult entertained for 1-2 hours. The cafe is bad even by museum cafe standards so get fueled up before you arrive.

Highly recommended for the exploratorium after dark experience. Happens every Thursday day. Although the food is over priced even in sf standard, it's definitely worth it. Amazing experience.

There are so many different experiments involving light, sounds, electricity and other activities like cardboard prototyping clothes and mazes, that curious children and adults alike will have a great time exploring them all.

There's so much to do and explore. There are permanent exhibits as well as new ones that come and go.

Very interesting museum but super super expensive with no discount at $30... but so nice of the clerk to let us know we can make volunteer donation of $5 or more to get in. Whew! Favorite part was the 3D mirror. The kids would love it. Age 3 or under is free.

Just great for kids and adults of all ages. Too much to see in one day! Well organized with a good flow. Lots of exhibits so never a lomg wait. Plenty of seating throughout

Thia place is super fun. Hands on for,kids and still intetesting for adults.

Fun and creative exhibits that make you think about how you interact with the world and why. Thursday adult-only nights are fun.

A huge number of great, interactive, scientific demonstrations for all ages!

Love this museum. Informative, fun, and unique. The array of interactive demonstrations, installations, and programs is inspiring. Great for kids that want some hands on learning! I can't wait for my nephews to come so I can bring them here!

This place rules. I could spend all day there. Everything is interactive. Thursday night is adults only with a cash bar. However I can t even imagine going there with kids running around, so I would only go on Thursdays. Great place to bring a visitor.

This is my absolute favorite place to visit in the city. I've cherished the exploratorium since childhood. The exhibits are so interesting and artistically engaging and I just love this place so much!

Lots of interactive exhibits for adults and kids, fun learning, a must see in SF.

Best interactive museum anywhere. Spend 2 hours here. Note that no one is turned away for lack of funds.

Fantastic place for kids and adults alike. Well worth the admission and we spent hours here. I'll definitely be back here when my second is older and can enjoy the experience like her brother did.

I've been wanting to go here since I was a kid. I had the Explorabook, which basically instilled in me the desire to learn more about science and engineering. I got to bring my son, although due to our schedule we arrived around 4 PM, just an hour before the museum closed. That hour, however, was a blast. Even though he was only two, he loved playing with magnets, ramps, spinning chains, mirrors, soap bubbles, and more. The Strandbeest exhibit was also fascinating; I could have spent an hour here alone. The best part was that guests are allowed to push one of the Strandbeests and feel the joints twist and the whole beast shift back and forth to walk forward. Pretty remarkable. I would want to come here often, if I lived in the SF area.

The exploratorium is a collection of hands on science projects. It is interactive and fun for children. Be warned that this place gets very busy. Just about every station was occupied during our summer visit. There were countless day camps at the place. Recommend buying tickets on smartphone as the ticket line was very long and slow. They have a nice cafe on the water.

I could spend days here. It's amazing. If you're visiting San Francisco, don't miss it. For seriously.

An excellent tourist destination. You can easily spend a couple of hours (or more) with all the exhibits. All the exhibits encourage interactivity which makes it fun for both kids and adults.

The best museum for kids and and adults alike. I can confidently say that everything there is interesting and fun. The food is ovebut priced but I have to say it is good.

So many interactive exhibits for every age. Cow eye dissection was very interesting. So much to see, we weren't able to see everything. Must go again!

Best ever science museum with almost all apparatus working

Great for mulling around on Sunday. Everything is interactive.

This is an amazing hands-on museum that is good for kids AND adults. Hundreds of stations to play with and learn something new.

If you have a kid, find the drawing station to bring home a one of a kind masterpiece.

This is a bay area institution. You gotta visit at least once, if not once a year!

This is the most incredible place for both kids and adults alike. World class and proud that it's in SF. I didn't want to leave. Nor did the kids.

My kid's favorite science museum. Coming over and over. Fun and not too big. The Dome is worthy to try. But you have to pay another $15/$30 for it. Kids(over 7) may get in alone, but parents need to be outside waiting. If you have been to exploratorium, you may purchase the Dome tickets only, just to experience the darkness in Dome but not playing any other games in the exploratorium.

Came here to recharge my car battery. Super friendly staff with futuristic charging capabilities.

Great experiments and great exhibition. Suitable for young and old.

Excellent museum with many fun, interactive exhibits. Best to go on a weekday when it won't be as crowded.