Top Bay Area Museums

Arts abound in this culturally diverse region, with different experiences and styles all over the Bay Area. Start in Golden Gate Park, where manicured gardens cradle a cultural hub. At the copper-clad de Young Museum, see major touring collections and a massive permanent collection of classic paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. The museum’s dramatic 44-metre-high tower offers a stunning view of the city and bay—and entrance to the tower is free. Across the park’s concourse is the California Academy of Sciences, with a natural history museum, aquarium and planetarium housed in the greenest museum building in the world. 

On a promontory overlooking the mouth of San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge is another art-related stop, the Legion of Honor, where ancient and European works are presented in a Beaux Arts building; Rodin’s iconic bronze sculpture, The Thinker, sits in the museum’s Court of Honor. San Francisco is also home to The Walt Disney Family Museum, in the Presidio, which focuses on the accomplishments and innovations of the man behind the mouse, and The Museum of Craft and Design, which showcases the work of designers, makers and artists whose work often falls outside the conventional notion of art.

True to the Bay Area’s reputation as a leader in all things tech is Market Street’s Onedome, a community space dedicated to interactive and immersive art. Featuring playful works and installations from digital artists that hail from all over the world, the 1,800-square-metre high-tech wonderland is really a collaboration between venue and visitor; experiences involving projections, music, sound and light come alive as you engage with it, with results that never repeat themselves. A must for curious children and adults alike. 

Geared more exclusively to kids is the Children’s Creativity Museum, which exhibits multimedia art and technology experiences for children aged 2 to 12. Animation, robot coding, an 'augmented-reality sandpit' with kinetic sand, and many other activities, along with a DIY Cloud Gallery, enable visitors to live out the museum's mantra—to imagine, create and share.

Other worthwhile museums around the Bay include the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), where a mid-century modern building, surrounded by terraced gardens, houses Californian art, natural science and history. Fridays at OMCA are spirited events with live music, food vans and local colour. In Silicon Valley, the San Jose Museum of Art showcases West Coast modern art. Nearby is the Tech Museum of Innovation, a hands-on celebration of technology and science and a huge hit with kids.