UC campuses are some of California’s true treasures. From stunning natural reserves to internationally lauded museums, many campus resources are open to the public. Whether you are on a road trip, checking out colleges or just visiting town, you’re invited to dip your toes in the UC experience.
In addition to the experiences listed here, each UC campus has a full slate of performances, exhibitions, talks and sporting events throughout the school year. Check campus event calendars to see what’s on.
Click the links for a shortcut to each campus.
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UCLA
UC Merced
UC Riverside
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
UC Santa Cruz
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Located in downtown Berkeley, BAMPFA’s head-turning Diller Scofidio + Renfro building houses rotating exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and a robust slate of art-house film screenings, with family-friendly admission and a drop-in, all-ages art lab.
$14 general; $12 students, seniors and disabled; FREE for members, youth 18 and under, one adult per child 13 and under, UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Pacific Film Archive screenings require a separate paid ticket. Hours and info
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Explore the history, vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life through exhibitions and public programs at one of the world’s preeminent Jewish museums.
FREE. Hours and info
Campanile tours and carillon concerts
An elevator ride and 38 stairs take you up 200 feet to the observation platform of UC Berkeley’s iconic Campanile, the third-tallest bell-and-clock tower in the world. Take in spectacular views of the Bay Area, see the giant carillon bells up close and get a front-row seat for daily noontime concerts. (P.S. — Don’t forget to look up before you enter the tower. You might see Annie and Archie, UC Berkeley’s resident peregrine falcons, or one of their brood).
$5 general; $4 seniors, alumni and youth; FREE for kids under 3 and UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Hours and info
Campus ramble
Whether you choose to follow the woodsy banks of Strawberry Creek, take in grand Beaux-Arts buildings or just relax in Memorial Glade, a walk through UC Berkeley’s 200-acre core campus does not disappoint.
FREE. Get the campus map
Doe Library
You might think you’ve landed at Hogwarts when you peek in Doe Library’s spectacular upstairs reading room. Don’t miss the ground-floor exhibits from the library’s special collections.
FREE. Hours and info
Valley Life Sciences Building
A bony Pteranodon soars above a giant T-Rex skeleton ambling through the Valley Life Sciences building, where you can get a close view of these and other dinosaur fossil casts.
FREE. Hours and location
Botanical Garden
From the Redwood Grove to the Carnivorous Plant House, the Chinese Medicinal Garden and much more, discover the natural treasures of this 34-acre research garden with over 13,000 plants from around the world.
$18 general; $12 seniors and students; $8 youth; FREE for children 4 and under and UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Hours and info
Lawrence Hall of Science
The Lawrence Hall of Science is all about engaging kids in science — from climbing on the beloved giant fin whale sculpture outside to meeting live animals and exploring hands-on exhibits. Dramatic views of campus and the San Francisco Bay are a beautiful bonus.
$20 adults and children 3+; FREE for kids 2 and under, UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Planetarium and 3D theater shows are extra. Hours and info
California Raptor Center
Dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned birds of prey, the Raptor Center cares for hundreds of birds each year, successfully returning most of them to the wild. You’re likely to meet some of the resident ambassadors when you visit — non-releasable raptors with permanent disabilities.
FREE. Hours and info
Main Quad
No visit to UC Davis would be complete without hitting the main Quad. With acres of grass, big shade trees and even hammocks, it’s a perfect place to stretch out and relax.
FREE. Get the campus map
Eggheads Tour
The UC Davis community takes its Eggheads very seriously. Find out why on a self-guided walking tour of the iconic public sculptures by California artist Robert Arneson.
FREE. Get the tour
UC Davis Arboretum
Wander through shady groves and flower-filled gardens or picnic near Lake Spafford: 100-plus acres of exploration await. Programs include guided tours, plant sales and drop-in folk and ukulele jam sessions where you’re invited to bring your instrument.
FREE. More info and visitor map
Putah Creek Riparian Reserve
Part of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, Putah Creek is a rare stream and grassland ecosystem managed for teaching, research and habitat protection. As you enjoy a hike or swim, think of the reserve as a natural time machine to help us imagine what this area was like before UC was born.
FREE. More info
UC Davis Bee Haven
Learn about bees and the plants they rely on and find out how to make your own pollinator garden at this unique outdoor museum.
FREE. Hours and info
Design Museum
Explores how design shapes, improves and makes viable the objects, technology and environments we use, inhabit and experience every day.
FREE. Hours and info
Gorman Museum of Native American Art
Founded over 50 years ago and unveiling its new, LEED Gold certified building in 2023, the Gorman Museum features contemporary Native American and Indigenous art in changing exhibitions, with a special commitment to showing work by living artists.
FREE. Hours and info
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art
The Manetti Shrem’s curators want to change the way you see the world. Thought-provoking, rotating exhibitions feature art from the university’s Fine Arts Collection in a new context, from teaching prints to works by UC Davis faculty and alumni like Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, Bruce Nauman and Deborah Butterfield.
FREE. Hours and info
Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve
Set in the steep folds of the California Inner Coast Range, Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve offers miles of trails and spectacular ridgetop views. An ecological preserve for teaching and research, it’s one of the few UC Natural Reserves that is fully open to the public. Due to summer heat, it’s best enjoyed in spring and fall.
FREE. More info
Maya Lin water table
Designed by celebrated artist and architect Maya Lin, the Arts Plaza at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts is an environment that embraces the senses, featuring one of Lin’s signature water sculptures and colorful lighted pathways.
FREE. Get directions
Langson Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art
From California Impressionism and plein air painting to Post-War and contemporary art, the Langson IMCA celebrates artists responding to the California experience, presenting a diversity of voices, genres and media.
FREE. Hours and info
Beall Center for Art and Technology
Delving into interdisciplinary thought, the Beall Center’s exhibitions and public programs explore new relationships between the arts, sciences and engineering, promoting new forms of expression using digital technologies.
FREE. Hours and info
Performing and visual arts
During the school year, student dance, drama and musical performances and exhibitions abound at campus venues like the Claire Trevor Theater and the Contemporary Arts Center and Gallery.
Check the campus box office for shows (note that student productions take a pause for the summer).
Aldrich Park
The UC Irvine campus was designed with 19 acres of inviting gardens at its heart. Aldrich Park is a great place to relax or stroll, with 51 types of trees (some over 100 feet tall), a sculpture garden and more.
FREE. Get a campus map
The Hammer Museum
Known for critically acclaimed exhibitions and prized as a hub for Los Angeles’ creative community, the Hammer presents both historically overlooked and emerging contemporary artists along with a full slate of public programs.
FREE. Hours and info
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Explore global arts and cultures past and present, with an emphasis on Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Indigenous Americas.
FREE. Hours and info
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden
Spanning five acres of the UCLA campus, the garden includes more than 70 sculptures by artists such as Hans Arp, Deborah Butterfield, Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin and David Smith.
FREE. More info
Self-guided campus walking tour
From its iconic, stripey Romanesque Revival buildings to more modern facilities, UCLA’s sprawling main campus reflects its history and its future-facing commitment to innovation. Spoiler alert: Your Instagram will thank you.
FREE. Get the map
UCLA Meteorite Collection
At 1,500 meteorites, UCLA’s collection is the largest on the West Coast. About a hundred of these cosmic specimens are on display in the Geology building’s Meteorite Gallery for you to enjoy.
FREE. Hours and info
Mathias Botanical Garden
A living museum of unique plants from all over the world, the botanical garden offers a tranquil respite amid a large, urban campus. Wander through the themed garden collections featuring California native plants, cycads, palms, lilies and more.
FREE. Hours and info
“Beginnings”
Walk through “Beginnings” and feel the UC Merced spirit. Two enormous, curving steel arms each 40 feet high rise from a large circular base in this iconic sculpture. Created by artist Aristides Burton Demetrios, it’s a metaphor for the embrace of a caring university that values its students and community.
FREE. Get the campus map
The Labyrinth
For a few moments of mindfulness, try walking the labyrinth overlooking Little Lake.
FREE. Get the campus map
Vernal Pools
Part of the UC Natural Reserve system, the beautiful Merced Vernal Pools appear in winter and spring, bringing a wildflower bloom and a haven for all kinds of animals. By summer they disappear. The pools are protected and only open to the public in spring for special guided tours.
FREE. More info
Art exhibitions
Art is a part of campus life at UC Merced. Stop by La Galería, the Art Gallery and the exhibition spaces in the library to see what’s on.
FREE. Get the campus map
Shakespeare in Yosemite
Every April, UC Merced students and faculty join with park rangers to put on a Shakespearean production in nearby Yosemite, adapting the Bard’s works to address contemporary environmental issues.
FREE. More info
UCR ARTS
Under one roof, UCR Arts brings together the Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts and the Sweeney Art Gallery along with the California Museum of Photography, an invaluable collection that includes half a million photographic prints, negatives, books, cameras and more.
FREE. Hours and info
UC Riverside Botanic Gardens
Stop and smell the roses — or the 3,500 other plant species from around the world — on a stroll through the Botanic Garden’s 40 enticing acres.
FREE. Hours and info
Annual Pow Wow
A spring tradition going on 42 years, the UC Riverside Pow Wow is an intertribal celebration of Native American culture with singing, dancing and drumming. UC Riverside sits on land where Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño and Serrano people have lived for thousands of years, and the pow wow is a reflection of the school’s thriving Native American Student Programs.
FREE. More info
The Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy
Check out the world’s largest publicly accessible collection of science fiction, fantasy, horror and utopian literature, housed in the UC Riverside library special collections.
FREE. More info
Rupert Costo Library of the American Indian
With thousands of books, documents and audio recordings documenting Native American history, the Costo Library is a center for studies of the Native people of inland Southern California, the Southwest and North America.
FREE. Hours and info
Stuart Collection
Unlike a traditional sculpture garden, sculptures in the acclaimed Stuart Collection are site-specific works fused into the campus landscape. The collection includes works by Niki de Saint-Phalle, Ann Hamilton, John Baldessari, Mark Bradford and more. In Do Ho Suh’s “Fallen Star,” a small house clings precariously to the edge of the Engineering building — discover a hidden garden outside its front door and enter, if you dare!
FREE. More info
Geisel Library
Take a tour of UC San Diego’s architecturally indelible Geisel Library. Named for Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), it’s one of the top-ranked public academic libraries in the country. The library is also the primary repository for original Dr. Seuss works, and it happens to looks like it might have come straight out of the pages of one of his picture books.
FREE. Hours and info
Chicano Legacy Mural
Students from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán created this mural honoring people (César Chavez), cultural icons (the Corn Mother) and local places (Chicano Park).
FREE. Get the campus map
Birch Aquarium
The public face of UC San Diego’s world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Birch Aquarium is perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. Get a close-up view of underwater creatures in turtle and sea dragon exhibits, hands-on tidepools, the Hall of Fishes and much more. The adorable Little Blue Penguins are a visitor favorite.
$29.95 adults; $27.95 students and seniors; $24.95 children 3–17; FREE for kids 2 and under. Advance reservations required. More info
Coastal Meander Trail
Located on the campus of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Coastal Meander Trail offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Diego coastline from La Jolla Cove to Torrey Pines State Beach. Be sure to check out the coral reef succulent garden along the way.
FREE. More info
ArtPower
ArtPower energizes UC San Diego year-round with a dynamic lineup of performing and media arts presentations.
Ticket prices vary. More info
Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve beach
Part of UC’s Natural Reserve system, Coal Oil Point protects a wide variety of coastal and estuarine habitats for research and education. Its pristine beach is accessible from the UC Santa Barbara campus and a popular spot for student surfers.
FREE. Get the campus map
Art, Design and Architecture Museum
Set alongside the campus lagoon, the museum offers rotating installations of its collections along with special exhibitions. Holdings range from Old Master paintings to American Realism and contemporary California art — not to mention one of the largest and finest architecture and design archives in North America.
FREE. Hours and info
UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures
From critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series, Arts & Lectures presents more than a hundred public events each year.
Ticket prices vary. More info
The Labyrinth Trail
Nestled between the UC Santa Barbara Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean, the Labyrinth offers a slice of serenity amid the bustle of campus. Unlike most other labyrinths, it is built to ADA specifications to accommodate wheelchairs.
FREE. Get the campus map
The REEF at the Marine Science Institute
Have you ever wanted to hold a sea hare or a lobster? Head over to UC Santa Barbara’s teaching aquarium every Friday and Saturday to get up close and personal with sea creatures.
FREE. Hours and info
The Porter Squiggle
Take in a panoramic view of the Pacific and snap a selfie on the iconic “squiggle” sculpture by Kenny Farrell at Porter College (technically named “Untitled”).
FREE. Get the campus map
Campus walking paths
From redwood groves to meadows overlooking the ocean, the beauty of UC Santa Cruz is legendary. Take it all in as you meander along the network of trails that connect the school’s 10 colleges.
FREE. Get the walking map
Upper Campus Trail
Eager to explore more? For hiking enthusiasts, the Upper Campus Trail gives you access to the special spots and gorgeous vistas of the wildlands just above the central campus. Mountain bikers will love this trail, too. (Note that bikes are not allowed on the Seven Springs trail and remember to leave your dog at home.)
FREE. Get the trail map
Campus art galleries
The Sesnon Gallery and other campus art spaces are a cultural resource for the university and the region. Rotating exhibitions feature artwork by students, local artists and international luminaries.
FREE. Hours and info
Arboretum and Botanic Garden
Tucked away on the western edge of campus, the Arboretum and Botanic Garden hold a world-class collection of plants from California and the Southern Hemisphere, including a magnificent succulent garden.
$10 adults; $8 seniors; $5 youth 4–17; FREE for UC Santa Cruz students and kids under 4. More info
UC Santa Cruz Farm and Alan Chadwick Garden
Two of the unique jewels of UC Santa Cruz, the 30-acre Farm and Alan Chadwick Garden are internationally known sites for training and research in organic horticulture and agriculture. Set at the base of the spectacular Great Meadow, they're also a peaceful oasis to visit. Download a self-guided tour map in advance or grab one at the entrance to the Farm.
FREE. More info
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Located in downtown Santa Cruz, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs that bring the arts together with the sciences, social sciences and humanities as a catalyst for social change.
FREE. Hours and info
Seymour Marine Discovery Center
Gray and blue whale skeletons and life-size elephant seal sculptures greet you outside the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, located off campus near the bluffs in Santa Cruz. Inside, meet octopus, eels, rockfish, jellies and other creatures that inhabit the Monterey Bay. You can even touch a swell shark — no worries, they don’t bite! Behind-the-scenes research tours are offered daily.
