Section
98 listings in 25 counties. Indoor outings for wet or cold days. Every listing links to its source.
Every listing links to its source · Updated
7 picks
Art galleries and downtown Berkeley's only movie theater. Galleries are free for all on the first Thursday of each month.
Livermore Valley Arts' downtown theater for concerts, jazz, dance and speakers. Upcoming: Al Jardine and The Pet Sounds Band (Oct 24) and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno (Oct 25).
Space and science center, home of the NASA Ames Visitor Center. Free telescope viewings Friday and Saturday evenings. Free parking.
3 picks
Museum with five exhibits, including the Don Williams Automobile Gallery, and a cafe. Free parking; allow about two hours.
The Victorian mansion that became the final home of John Muir and his family. Free admission and a small free parking lot.
Visitor Education Center on the Richmond waterfront telling the stories of civilians on the WWII home front. Free admission and free parking; plan 1-2 hours.
3 picks
Hands-on museum for children ages 0-8 at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. EBT/SNAP/WIC tickets $5 (up to 4).
Working hydraulic model of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Fully accessible.
City library with a regular calendar of free talks and events.
2 picks
Dioramas by Disney animator Ben Sharpsteen, the restored Sam Brannan Cottage, a stagecoach and exhibits on the Wappo people. Kid-friendly with a free scavenger hunt.
Contemporary art center with galleries and outdoor artwork. Tours Friday-Sunday at 11am; advance reservation encouraged.
13 picks
Northern California aquatic life on the waterfront. While the Aquarium's exterior elevator is out of service, take the PIER 39 elevator to level 2 and walk through the gift shop.
Civic Center museum with docent talks and Thursday night programs. Timed tickets let you stay as long as you like.
Aquarium, planetarium, rainforest and natural history museum under one living roof in Golden Gate Park.
5 picks
Science and wildlife center at Coyote Point where kids get up close to wild animals and hands-on science exhibits. Last entry 4:30pm.
Aviation museum at the San Carlos Airport. Free parking in the museum lot.
Museum of the San Mateo County Historical Association, in Redwood City.
8 picks
A free museum of modern and contemporary American art. Visitor parking is paid via ParkMobile.
Children's museum with Museums for All access.
Museum of computing history, with exhibits including Chatbots Decoded: Exploring AI. Closed Thursday, Oct 22 for a private event.
4 picks
40 bowling lanes plus an arcade, laser tag, billiards and a sports bar.
Five galleries on the history of Vallejo and the U.S. naval base at Mare Island.
Weekly blues night at the Marquee Club next to the Empress Theatre. Doors and dinner from 5:30pm; music from 6:30pm.
2 picks
Museum of the Peanuts creator, with exhibitions, a recreation of Schulz's studio, animated specials in the theater and a place to draw your own comics. Tickets are sold on arrival only; free parking.
Art and history museum steps from downtown Santa Rosa and Railroad Square, typically with two or three exhibitions and a sculpture garden.
2 picks
County history museum preserving and interpreting El Dorado County's past through artifacts, documents, exhibits and programs since 1974.
Tahoe history from the Washoe people to trappers, pioneers, ice cutting, logging, Snowshoe Thompson, the Pony Express, steamships, the Lincoln Highway and gaming, plus a bookstore with more than 5,000 historic photos. Private tours can be arranged by phone.
6 picks
Museum beside the Lake Tahoe dam with one of the largest Native American basket collections in the United States, plus exhibits on Tahoe's maritime and resort history, pop culture and art.
Learn about the Nisenan Maidu, who have lived here for thousands of years: exhibits on acorn processing and basket weaving, contemporary Native art, and an outdoor trail past petroglyphs and hundreds of bedrock mortars.
Free county history museum on the first floor of Auburn's historic Courthouse, from the Nisenan people to the late 20th century, with the Placer County Gold collection, the Pate Collection of American Indian artifacts and Thomas Kinkade's original "Auburn Centennial". A docent-led Old Town walking tour starts here Saturdays at 10am.
11 picks
Aviation and space museum at McClellan Park, including exhibits from McClellan Air Force Base's Tuskegee Airmen chapter.
Museum home of the California Hall of Fame, with Museums for All low-income access.
Admission to the Capitol and its museum is free, with public tours and exhibits on California history.
1 pick
The story of the Yuba-Sutter region, from the Nisenan people to the Gold Rush, farming, floods and the area's many cultures, plus a handmade 3D relief map of the Sutter Buttes. Now showing Abuelita's Kitchen: Mexican Food Stories, through Nov 21.
4 picks
Home of the Yolo County Historical Collection, 13,000 objects from the 1830s to the 1930s showing early county life. Current exhibition: Glass From the Past, through May 15, 2027.
Davis history museum on the northeast corner of Central Park, beside the farmers market and plenty of play area.
UC Davis art museum with rotating exhibitions, including the ongoing Together Again, 1956-2026, plus the Margrit Mondavi Sculpture Garden. Art Spark offers drop-in art-making for all ages Saturdays 1-4pm. No timed tickets.
2 picks
One of the oldest continuously operating Chinese temples in North America and the only Taoist temple in the United States with Bok Eye, the water god, as its central deity. The museum inside displays artifacts dating back to the mid-1800s.
Guided tours of the Warren P. Miller house, a Gothic Revival landmark, tracing Marysville from trading post to Gold Rush city through exhibits, artifacts and period furnishings. Free street parking nearby.
2 picks
Exhibits on Merced County history in the county's three-story 1875 Italianate courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Current exhibits include The MAC at 30: A Canvas of Community and America 250 Merced County.
Four art galleries and the Arbor Gallery presenting local, regional, statewide and national artists.
2 picks
Hands-on play exhibits for young children in downtown Stockton. Adults must be accompanied by a child, and children by an adult. Guests with an EBT card and ID get 50% off admission for up to four people.
Art and local history in Victory Park, now showing an exhibit celebrating the Stockton Symphony's 100 years. Free for everyone on the first Saturday of the month (Nov 7, Dec 5).
2 picks
Now showing Prism Play: A Full Spectrum of Art Quilts (through Jan 2), 62 works by Studio Art Quilt Associates members, and Our Sierra: Works by David & Vivian Patton (through Jan 23). Free for children 12 and under with an adult and for SNAP EBT cardholders plus up to 3 guests.
A free community museum in downtown Modesto with exhibits on Modesto and Stanislaus County history.
2 picks
A museum about John Steinbeck in Oldtown Salinas. Docents greet visitors; allow at least two hours.
Natural history galleries with hands-on activities, a native plant garden with a fossil dig pit, and Sandy, a life-size gray whale model. Bring a same-day Monterey Bay Aquarium ticket for $2 off.
4 picks
Bowling alley a block from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, open until midnight daily.
Downtown art and history museum with rotating exhibitions, weekly Open Archives hours and a busy calendar of classes, talks and community celebrations.
Small natural history museum founded on Laura Hecox's collections, with exhibits and fossil collections near the East Cliff shore. Free for everyone on the first Friday of every month.
1 pick
An 1859 Greek Revival home with 15 rooms of county history, including a Gold History Exhibit, past fashions, a Victorian bedroom and parlor, Native American and Chinese American collections and a schoolroom. Large-scale working models of the Kennedy and North Star mines run Fri-Sun at noon and 1pm.
6 picks
The state historic park's visitor center has an exhibit hall and gift shop. The mansion itself remains closed after the December 2024 fire.
Exhibits on Chico history in the downtown Carnegie Library building, including the Mechoopda, the Bidwells, the Chico Chinese Temple and Chico's natural history.
Chico State's science museum near Bidwell Mansion. Chico State and Butte College students get in free.
2 picks
The Lake County Historical Society's museum at the Ely Stage Stop.
Lake County's museum in the historic courthouse, with Pomo baskets, exhibits on the geologic history of Clear Lake, gems and minerals, pioneer artifacts and a restored courtroom.
3 picks
Grace Hudson's artwork, Pomo basketry and Carpenter-Hudson family history, the 1911 Sun House, and the current exhibition Deep Valley: People, Places, Memory (through Feb 7, 2027). Docent-led Sun House tours generally Fri-Sun 12-3pm.
The Mendocino Headlands visitor center in an 1854 house, with a scale model of Mendocino in 1890, historic photographs, tools and relics of the logging and lumber-shipping era, and free videos on request.
An 1861 house museum overlooking the ocean. The current exhibit, Art of Resistance (through Feb 28, 2027), shows protest and activism art from Mendocino's history.
1 pick
Railroad and aviation artifacts, including Engine 5, an 1875 Baldwin that later worked as a movie engine at Universal Studios, plus wooden rail cars, an early steam automobile and docent-led tours of the museum, rail yard and restoration shop.