California Academy of Sciences With Steinhart Aquarium Admission Tickets

The California Academy of Sciences is the first scientific academy founded west of the Atlantic seaboard. Established in 1853, the Academy opened the first public museum in California to share its research with the public. The building houses the Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium, Kimball Natural History Museum, and the Osher Rainforest, a four-story indoor living rainforest in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The Academy lost its museum and many artifacts in the Great Quake of 1906. Ten years later, the Academy reestablished itself in the Golden Gate Park. Here, the Academy expanded to include different exhibitions, including the Morrison Planetarium and the Steinhart Aquarium.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit and served as an impetus for a remodeling of the Academy. After decades of work, the new Academy opened its doors on September 27, 2008.

Note: The Osher Rainforest is closing to the public August 21 through November 17, 2023, for infrastructure maintenance, but don’t let that stop you from visiting because there are endless discoveries to be made at the California Academy of Sciences.

What to Watch For

• Kimball Natural History Museum - Explore hands-on exhibits as you stroll beneath the bones of some of the planet's largest inhabitants. Meet the charismatic African penguin colony while a biologist feeds them and answers your questions, be dazzled by nearly 400 dazzling specimens from the Academy's renowned geology collection, keep your balance in an earthquake simulator, and more.
• Morrison Planetarium - The 75-foot planetarium dome screen will immerse you inside cutting-edge visualizations and hyper-realistic virtual environments. From faraway galaxies to the working of our own planet, zoom through the cosmos like never before. Planetarium show passes are included in the price of admission and can be reserved at the planetarium pass pick-up desk across from the planetarium entrance.
• Osher Rainforest - Step inside a glass dome filled with a lush four-story rainforest teeming with over 1,600 plants and animals. Mingle with free-flying birds and butterflies to exotic reptiles, golden-silk orb weaver spiders, enormous Amazonian fish, and more. At each stage of the journey, you'll come face-to-face with some of the incredible animals that call these forests home.
• Steinhart Aquarium - This aquarium is over 100-years-old and is home to nearly 60,000 live animals, representing more than 1,000 unique species, you can experience one of the most biologically diverse and interactive aquariums. Plunge into the world's deepest living indoor coral reef, encounter over a dozen species in the Venom exhibit, and more.