Intel Museum Museum of Art Palace of Fine Arts Pez Museum Legion of Honor Museum

San Francisco Bay Area Museums

The perfect resting place when exploring San Francisco’s museums and attractions, Crowne Plaza San Francisco International Airport is perfectly situated in the beautiful City of Burlingame. Our casually elegant hotel with a chic, contemporary ambiance for business and leisure travelers offers an environment of peace, play and productivity – with exceptional lifestyle amenities ranging from an indoor pool to a state-of-the-art business center. You’ll find our convenient location perfect for visiting the Bay Area’s top museums, such as San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum or the Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose.

Intel Museum.

Discover the transformation and impact of Intel silicon technology in our evolving world at the Intel Museum in Santa Clara. See over 40 years of innovation through 30 interactive exhibits, educational programs, and guided tours. Enter a micro-mini world of computer chips - how they are designed, manufactured and used in millions of global products. Intel Museum offers amazing interactive exhibits that lead you to explore the inside of an automated silicon chip manufacturing facility, travel through Intel silicon history, create a digital postcard, and write binary code. Visit www.intel.com.

HP Garage.

Tucked away on a tree lined street in Palo Alto stands the symbol of innovation and the rise of technology. Two college friends, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard used the garage of a rental on Addison Avenue as their research lab, development workshop and manufacturing facility to build HP in 1939. The garage was preserved and dedicated as the birthplace of Silicon Valley in 1989 and then rehabilitated in 2005. Visit www.hp.com/go/garage

Tech Museum of Innovation.

Located in downtown San Jose, the Tech Museum of Innovation is a unique technology museum that inspires people to explore the amazing technologies that touch our lives. The museum engages you to become innovators in the technologies of the future through incredible interactive exhibits and activities that showcase how technology impacts our every day lives. The Tech features four themed galleries that highlight innovation, internet, exploration and the human body. The Tech also features Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater, an educational center for workshops, a café, and a museum store. Visit http://www.thetech.org. [Top]

San Jose Museum of Art.

The artistic voice of the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Jose Museum of Art is a contemporary art center whose acclaimed exhibits evolve across modern masterworks and paintings to the newest frontiers of visual art. The Museum is recognized for its excellent contemporary collection, which reflects West Coast visual art and the country’s cultural crossroads. Check out new and wonderful exhibitions such as Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo: Portraits of An Icon. Admission is free. Visit www.sjmusart.org/.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Housing an impressive collection of 25,000 works of modern and contemporary art, SFMOMA features painting, sculpture, photography, architecture and design, and media arts from around the world. Art galleries display the museum’s collection of art, sculpture, furniture, and photographs as well as changing exhibits. See the masterworks of Henri Matisse, René Magritte, Jackson Pollock, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Visit the museum’s beautiful atrium lobby, 299-seat theater, Rooftop Garden, museum shop, and CaffË Museo. Visit www.sfmoma.org.

Asian Art Museum.

With one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian art in the world, Asian Art Museum showcases 17,000 artworks spanning 6,000 years of history. Located at the Civic Center, the museum highlights aesthetic achievements of Asian art and culture, with rare and exceptional objects. The collection includes paintings, tiny jades, monumental sculptures, porcelains, ceramics, lacquers, textiles, furniture, arms and armor. The museum’s gilt bronze Buddha - dated 338 - is the oldest dated Chinese Buddha in the world and a wonderful model of Chinese Buddhist art. Visit the children’s discovery center and special art rooms that line the sun-filled atrium. Visit www.asainart.org. [Top]

Palace of Fine Arts.

Designed as a "valentine for San Francisco" for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Palace of Fine Arts is a magnificent structure highlighted by a classical Roman rotunda with curved colonnades. Set in a peaceful park setting, The Palace hosts a diversity of events, concerts, theater performances, art exhibitions, and festivals, and has been the backdrop for many movies, including Hitchcock's Vertigo. Experience the ethereal beauty of the park, stroll along the lake and waterways, and enjoy a romantic picnic. Visit www.palaceoffinearts.org.

Coyote Point Museum.

Located in San Mateo, Coyote Point Museum is a learning center that fosters awareness about the global environment and inspires us to respect and preserve Planet Earth. One of the country’s leading environmental institutions, the museum offers engaging, educational experiences, through wildlife, gardens, exhibitions, and programs that help us understand the interdependence of people and nature. Four interconnected areas - Environmental Hall, Themed Gardens, Wildlife Habitats and Bird Aviary - show us the natural history and wildlife of the Bay Area. Visit www.coyoteptmuseum.org.

Hiller Aviation Museum.

Dedicated to the dreams of flight, Hiller Aviation Institute explores aviation history and looks into its future. The San Mateo County attraction showcases the history and future of aviation with a vast display of aircraft, interactive exhibits, and multimedia presentations - from the advance of aviation since the early 1800's. This educational and entertaining experience will shed new light on the technical innovations of flight. Visit www.hiller.org. [Top]

Burlingame Pez Museum.

Dedicated to world of Pez, this playful Burlingame museum of American pop culture features Pez memorabilia, Pez Exhibit of 550 vintage Pez dispensers, Pez Store selling new and vintage Pez dispensers, and unique Pez art. Pez heads can view rare dispensers, including Bugs Bunny, Darth Vader and Elvis Presley, and the world’s largest candy dispenser. Pez candy was invented in 1927 by Austrian candy man, Eduard Haas. Pez dispensers have appeared in movies such as "E.T. The Extraterrestrial, "The Client” and "Stand By Me.” Visit www.burlingamepezmuseum.com.

Mike Hartnett, Sales Manager, recommends the Pez Museum and says “A Guiness Book of World Records Museum for having the most Pez dispensers in the world, and they’re set up by subject - you have to check out the Star Wars section”.

Peninsula Museum of Art.

Located in a lovely park in Belmont’s Twin Pines Art Center, the Peninsula Museum of Art features a formal gallery, a reference library, and museum store that celebrate arts of the San Francisco Peninsula.

A wonderful environment for art, the museum offers growing gallery space and art education facilities Visit www.peninsulamuseum.org.

De Young Museum.

Set in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the de Young Museum has been an integral part of the cultural mosaic of San Francisco since 1895. Reopened in 2005, the de Young Museum is a state-of-the-art museum that integrates art, architecture and the natural landscape in a multi-dimensional destination that inspires people. The new de Young is San Francisco’s landmark art museum, showcasing priceless collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries, as well as beautiful art of the native Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Visit www.famsf.org. [Top]

Legion of Honor Museum.

Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and Pacific Ocean, the Legion of Honor is San Francisco's most beautiful museum. The beautiful Beaux-arts building presents an amazing collection of 4,000 years of ancient and European art in a picture-perfect setting in Lincoln Park. San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Housed within the Legion's grand neoclassical architecture, the collection presents ancient art, European painting and decorative arts, and a massive collection of prints and drawings. Check out the monumental Rodin's Thinker in the outdoor Court of Honor. The museum honors California soldiers who perished in WWI. Visit www.famsf.org/legion.

San Francisco Maritime Museum.

Located near Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park tells the story of Pacific Coast maritime history. Discover San Francisco's rich maritime heritage on 8 historic national vessels, including USS Pampanito submarine museum & memorial at Fisherman's Wharf. Stand on the stern of Balclutha and feel the sea winds blow in from the Pacific Ocean. Visit http://www.nps.gov/safr/index.htm. [Top]