Beyond the gallery walls

Across California, museums and cultural attractions are reimagining how visitors experience art, history, and science through immersive exhibits, interactive storytelling, and innovative design. These destinations go beyond traditional galleries, inviting guests to connect and engage with art in unexpected ways.

North Coast

 

Where Napa wine meets contemporary art

Larkmead Vineyards is redefining the winery experience by blending more than 125 years of winemaking with contemporary art, design, and sustainability. Family-owned by artist Kate Solari Baker, the estate features an onsite gallery, botanical artwork integrated into its wine labels, and restored pollinator gardens that transform the property into an immersive cultural destination.

San Francisco Bay Area

Fairfield’s sweetest museum inspires every generation

The self-guided Jelly Belly Factory Tour takes visitors behind the scenes of candy production with interactive exhibits, tastings, and views of the factory floor. Guests can also explore the Jelly Belly Museum, art gallery, café, chocolate shop, flagship store, and specialty experiences, including the Chocolate & Wine Experience for adults (21+).

 

The Walt Disney Family Museum inspires every generation

The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco brings Walt Disney's story to life through interactive exhibits, animation stations, scavenger hunts, and hands-on activities for all ages. Weekly classes, workshops, and virtual programs make it an engaging destination for families looking to learn and create together.

 

Filoli turns history into home

Filoli's “Creating Home” transforms the historic estate into an immersive journey through its people, gardens, wildlife, and history. Visitors explore interactive exhibits, monumental art, historic rooms, and redwood forests while contributing their own family stories along the way.

 

160 years of cheesemaking in Petaluma

Marin French Cheese Co., the country's oldest cheese company along the California Cheese Trail, invites visitors to explore 160 years of cheesemaking along its self-guided Heritage Trail. The scenic walk features historic sites, original aging caves, local artwork, and wildlife before ending with award-winning cheeses perfect for a picnic.

 

Santa Rosa's cultural side comes alive

Santa Rosa's museums and historic sites offer immersive experiences ranging from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Snoopy's Home Ice to the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens and self-guided and docent-led tours at the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. Together, they showcase the city's creativity, horticultural legacy, and local history through interactive exhibits and guided tours.

  

The San Francisco museum that changed museums forever

Since 1969, the Exploratorium, founded by Frank Oppenheimer, has pioneered hands-on learning with more than 650 interactive exhibits exploring science, perception, and human curiosity. Its innovative approach has influenced science museums worldwide, making it one of California's most iconic interactive experiences.

Gold Country

 

California's Gold Rush lives on in Columbia & Jamestown’s Railtown 1897 State Historic Park

Columbia State Historic Park preserves one of California's best-surviving Gold Rush towns, where visitors can experience life in the 1850s through gold panning, stagecoach rides, historic shops, and living history events. Railtown 1897 State Historic Park brings California's railroad history to life with vintage steam trains, a working roundhouse, and guided tours of its historic railway shops. Seasonal train rides and year-round educational programs offer an immersive look at the role railroads played during the Gold Rush era.

 

Sacramento's California Museum gives history a voice

The California Museum's award-winning “Uprooted’ exhibit explores the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II through immersive exhibits and personal storytelling. Visitors can hear directly from survivors and descendants during special programs that bring this history to life.

 

Rancho Cordova’s museum built for play

The Sacramento Children's Museum inspires curiosity through interactive exhibits, imaginative play, STEM programming, and cultural events designed for children under eight. Sensory-friendly play sessions also provide welcoming experiences for children with special needs and their families.

 

High Sierra

 

Yosemite story goes beyond the scenery

Yosemite National Park offers guided tours, ranger programs, and immersive experiences that reveal the park's history, geology, wildlife, and cultural significance. Explore Yosemite Valley aboard the Valley Floor Tour, experience Glacier Point and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias on the full-day Grand Tour or discover the park under the stars during the seasonal Moonlight Tram Tour. Step inside the Ahwahnee Hotel for an architectural and art tour and Yosemite After Dark to explore the park’s ecosystems and importance of preserving its dark skies. 

 

Living Sierra Mono traditions in North Fork

The Sierra Mono Museum and Cultural Center shares the history and living traditions of the Sierra Mono Tribe through exhibits, oral histories, and cultural programs. Visitors can also participate in language workshops, Soaproot brush-making classes, guided hikes, and seasonal storytelling events.

 

California's best-preserved ghost town

Bodie State Historic Park preserves one of California's most authentic Gold Rush ghost towns, where visitors can walk historic streets, tour the 125-year-old Standard Mill, and join seasonal ranger and twilight tours. Annual events hosted by the Bodie Foundation offer even deeper insight into the town's mining history.

Central Valley

 

Modesto's most unexpected museums

Modesto's museums offer something for every interest, from hands-on exhibits at the Modesto Children's Museum to planetarium shows at the Great Valley Museum. Visitors can also explore local history at the McHenry Museum or see the world's largest permanent Barbie collection at the Be Anything Museum.

Central Coast

 

Oaxaca's monumental art takes over Salinas

Salinas transforms into an open-air gallery during Alebrijes y Nahuales, featuring eight monumental , 20-ft-tall fiberglass sculptures by acclaimed Oaxacan artists displayed throughout the city from July 31 to Sept. 4. The free exhibition celebrates Mexican folklore, culture, and craftsmanship with opening and closing community events.

 

Solvang brings Denmark to California 

Solvang's museums celebrate the town's Danish heritage through Viking artifacts, immigrant history, fairy tales, and public art. Highlights include the Elverhøj Museum, Solvang Viking Museum, Hans Christian Andersen Museum, and Thomas Dambo's indoor troll installation at the California Nature Art Museum.

 

A wine bunker becomes Santa Maria Valley’s newest gallery

Presqu'ile Winery has transformed an unused concrete bunker into a contemporary art destination through its partnership with Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND). View multiyear artist residencies and large-scale works that blend art, landscape, and wine in a uniquely California setting. The inaugural installation by California artist Cole Sternberg, features work including soil, wind, rain, and the Pacific Ocean. It’s free to view through Sept. 20, Saturdays and Sundays from noon - 5:00 p.m.

 

Paso Robles inspires creativity day and night

Paso Robles offers immersive art experiences from sunrise to after dark. At Sensorio, acres of rolling hills come alive with large-scale light, music, and solar-powered art installations, while Studios on the Park, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit invites visitors to watch artists at work, explore rotating exhibitions, and participate in hands-on classes and workshops.

 

Gilroy’s indigenous history lives on

Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park shares the living history of the Mutsun-speaking people through interpretive trails, cultural sites, and preserved grinding stones. Family programs and storytelling events offer visitors a deeper connection to the region's Indigenous heritage.

Los Angeles County

 

Los Angeles blends public art, innovation and culture

Los Angeles’ Hotel Figueroa marks its 100th anniversary with “High Water,” a new exhibition by local artist Emily Colvin, while Beverly Hills invites visitors to explore more than 100 public artworks, renowned galleries, and iconic architecture throughout the city. The city’s cultural evolution continues with DATALAND, the world's first Museum of AI Arts and the soon-to-open  Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, celebrating the future of technology, storytelling, and visual culture. The museum will open Sept. 22, 2026, in South Los Angeles’ Exposition Park.

Torrance blends art, culture and history

Torrance offers immersive cultural experiences at the Chen Art Gallery, home to one of the world's largest collections of Chinese artifacts outside China, and the Torrance Art Museum, known for contemporary installations.

 

Glendale's historic gas station gets an artistic revival

Glendale transformed its restored 1936 Adams Square Gas Station into a public art space featuring rotating exhibitions inside the historic landmark. The current installation, "Gentle Giants,"  a gathering of tall, hand-formed characters who share the space with a calm, watchful presence, invites visitors of all ages to experience art in an unexpected setting now through Oct. 2, 2026.

Orange County

 

Irvine’s city built just for kids

Pretend City Children's Museum immerses children in a kid-sized city where they can explore real-world roles through interactive spaces like a Trader Joe's store, construction site, doctor's office, and marina. Every exhibit encourages creativity, problem-solving, and imaginative play.

 

Huntington Beach celebrates 50 years of pro surfing

The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum's “World Surfing League: 50 Years of Professional Surfing” celebrates the sport's biggest moments through historic photographs, surfboards, trophies, and memorabilia. Opening inside the museum’s new home at the Main Street Library on July 24, alongside the 2026 U.S. Open of Surfing on July 25, the exhibition reinforces Huntington Beach's legacy as Surf City USA®.

Inland Empire

Big Bear becomes a living classroom

Big Bear blends astronomy, history, and nature through SkyFest, the August dark-sky festival featuring NASA and astronomy speakers, telescope viewing, astrophotography, guided night hikes, the AstroDome and more. The Big Bear Discovery Center offers eco-tours, environmental programs, and the Nature Discovery Zone while the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum brings local history to life through hands-on discovery.

San Diego County

 

San Diego's art scene goes beyond museum walls

San Diego's arts and culture scene extends far beyond the traditional museum experience. At Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD,) “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” showcases more than 130 works celebrating Black creativity and identity, while The Border Series transforms The Guild Hotel and Granger Hotel into year-round cultural spaces featuring regional artists from San Diego, Tijuana, and Baja California. Visitors can also explore Liberty Station's 100-acre arts campus of galleries, studios, and performance venues, or experience the intersection of ocean science, conservation, and immersive exhibits at Birch Aquarium, the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

 

Oceanside blends surf culture and art for wellness

The California Surf Museum celebrates surfing's history through rotating exhibitions, iconic artifacts, and community events, while the Oceanside Museum of Art is using creative programs to support mental wellness through its Art Rx partnership and interactive experiences. Together, they showcase how art can inspire, educate, and heal.