University of California Museum of Paleontology

Go and do this click on the name San Francisco good ass pictures one of them has over 1K likes but anyway the museum 5 out of 6 recommended gives you something to do when you're bored one day🌎🦖

This is a research museum with no public exhibits besides for a couple of dinosaur skeletons on display in the library and in the lobby. They have an enormous collection, but there is only one day per year that any of it is available to the public, and even then only a small sample. That is on Cal day, which is on a Saturday in April each year.

small collection, but impressive. a running T-Rex and a triceratops, a plus other stuff. worth the visit. free.

Not open to the public

This museum is only open to the public one day a year, but you can see some fossils at the nearby Valley Life Sciences Building.

Once upon a time I attended the University of California, Berkeley for graduate school in geophysics. Some of my classmates/department peers were into dinosaur bones, so I got to explore the Museum of Paleontology (on-campus) with geochemist(s) as my guide. Since none of us were actively studying fossils/vertebrates, we all got to spitball our guesses. It was our idea of a wild time. I might have brought up the dinosaur bones as something to see when my sister visited me, however, she was not very interested. She majored in anthropology as an undergraduate at the University of Washington and did not share my zest for things existing millions of years before us. While I was unsuccessful on that occasion, I did later use space by the entrance/exit for work if my office in McCone Hall got too loud.

It's cool to see the few skeletons! it's not the typical museum you are looking for .. it's apparently apart of a class

Not a museum, not open to the public, and not worth trying to access. It's supposedly open for one day a year (mostly for prospective students, I think) but there isn't anything at all to see the other 364 days of the year. I think it shouldn't even be listed on Yelp, to be honest.

Just letting everyone know they are no longer open to the public, even on Cal day, which they used to be.

Museum NOT open to the public!! Yep, should have read the yelp reviews first. Not worth the trip, especially if you're taking very young kids. I did give it two stars, we were able to see some fossil replicas aka "casts of skeletons" from OUTSIDE the museum. I thought this was still cool but my 4yr old said it was lame. Also, UC Berkeley has a beautiful campus, we ate our packed lunch outside, under a tree, next to a beautiful little creek. I loved it, my boys were not amused. Cranky kids = nobody's having any fun. If you would like to go, park at the RSF- Regional Sports Facility's parking lot. This is the ONLY public weekday parking on campus. It's located at the cross street of Ellsworth and Bancroft, and is $2/hr. Good luck and have fun

This is a long awaited review... So where do we begin? Where's that T-Rex everyone talks about? Oh right, it's in the Museum of Paleontology in VLSB near the roundabout and towards the West end of UCB. Let's not forgot about the triceratops displayed at the front of the library either. Came here for Cal Day a while back as they had opened up all the exhibits. Had so much fun here learning and touching all the reptiles and insects they had out. Undergrads and Grads volunteering here really know their facts. Science bro!

Open to the public only one day a year (Cal day), The Museum of Paleontology is a research facility only. However, you can enter the Valley Life Siences building and see a few of dinosaur fossil replicas (including a t-rex) and other exhibits throughout the halls. Pretty cool!

great place for adults to hangout for social time with other adults. forget the kids and leave their lazy butts at home.

Not open to the public. Wish I could check out the Dinos. They should be more vocal about this fact so they don't end up being on so many top 10 lists. This was our main destination when driving out to Berkeley aka tad disappointing. Oh well.

DYNOSSS. The best, the biggest (or smallest) and, best part FREE exhibit! It's not a full museum by any means, but if you're on campus it's something any dino-enthusiast would love to check our!

For their free museum it's an informative 15 min walk through can't wait to see it on Cal Day

Recently my four year-old has gotten really interested in dinosaurs, so when he asked me if I would take him to see one, I said sure. Little did I know that finding dinosaurs in the Bay Area would be so difficult. With the California Academy of Sciences housed in a temporary facility, I guess there just isn't that much room for the giant beasts any more. Still, after an exhaustive web search, I eventually found UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology. Calling this place a museum is a bit misleading because most of the facility is only open to researchers. For the everyday visitor it's really just a permanent exhibit in the atrium of Cal's Life Sciences Building. But don't let that deter you. There are three massive dinosaur fossils worth seeing: a tyrannosaurus rex, a triceratops, and a pteranadon. There aren't any docents to lead you around, but there's also no fee, so it kind of balances out. There are also some smaller displays, but nothing to really ooh and ahh over. This is a great "hit and run" spot to take kids 4 and up. You can see the whole place in under 15 minutes or spend up to 45 minutes if you want to read the information with every display. Perfect for little kids with short attention spans. Less useful for older kids and adults who have a special interest in dinosaurs and are looking to learn more.

The Museum of Paleontology is a research facility only and is not open to the public. But one can see a limited number of dinosaur and other fossils in the Valley Life Sciences Building atrium. Right inside the entrance to the Valley Life Sciences building is a T-Rex fossil- among the most complete ones put together, almost 98% complete. A little to the side, one can see the skull of another T-Rex. And overhead, one can see a fully reconstructed fossil of a Pterodactyl. Up the stairs and just outside the entrance to the library, one can see the skeletal remains of the skulls of a couple of Triceratops dinosaurs (including one of the smallest Triceratops skulls ever found). Along the hallway, one can view fossils of a Saber, Archaeopteryx and other exhibits of creatures that lived in the Cretaceous period. Here is the link to exhibits on display http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/about/publicexhibits.php This is not the most extensive display that one can see of the Jurassic, but we are indeed lucky to have such easy access to viewing these fossils right here in the Bay Area.

I'm cranky! Online it said the museum was supposed to be open today. Being a paleo nerd, I was excited to learn of the museum's existence. So my husband and I schlepped our way across the bridge and after a parking nightmare (-1 star, UC Berkeley, for your miserable antiquated parking machines that don't take credit or ATM cards....come ON, this is 2011!!), we found the Life Sciences building. If there's more to the museum that I'm missing, someone please enlighten me - because all we saw were a wall display with a saber tooth tiger and some primate skeletons, a cast of a T-Rex skeleton and skull (just casts!), some forams and ammonites in a case, a billed-dinosaur skull, and another wall display with a non-proofread card clinging for dear life to the wall trying not to fall like the rest of its case-mates. Lame!! Very disappointed.

I go here for two reasons: I take my granddaughter here (as others have mentioned, it's a great quick stop for kids) and a geology hiking group I lead. Others have given good details, but one other tip I'll add: While the building is officially closed on Sundays, I've never not been able to get in. Two ways in when closed: Wait around for 5-10 minutes and you will likely find a grad student coming out who you can sneak in behind (especially if you have young kids in tow) OR (I worry about posting this, hope they don't fix this) if you pull on the doors without handles (the doors are in pairs, the right one has a handle, the left does not), you can usually find one that has not latched completely, and in you go! UCB, and most universities, have many great "hallway museums" (check out the rocks in the halls of the Earth and Planetary Science Department), and the dinosaurs in the hallway are a great example. They also have a cast of "Lucy" that can be viewed.

Now here is a dinosaur museum to go in the Bay Area. There is a Rex and a Pteranodon in there there mounted on display! They have trikes (Triceratops) there!

Looking for a place to take your date? Bored with your friends? Got kids? Go to UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology! You can see a full T-Rex skeleton, triceratops skull, a pterodactyl and many other fossils for FREE. I can't tell you how many times I've asked my friends, family, even UC Berkeley students if they've been to the Museum of Paleontology and they all gave me the same response: "where's that??" If you can locate the Life Sciences Building of UC Berkeley, you can view many of these public displays right inside! However this is not quite a "museum", its more of a research facility . Most of their collection is private but you can still appreciate all the things they have outside! And like I said before its free so you can't complain too much!

Small with few real exhibits but of course the dinosaurs more than make up for it! One of those surprise gems you don't expect to find and you'll always miss unless you just happen to know it's there. But then, sometimes a few of those gems on a hazy winter afternoon in Berkeley is all one needs. Plus, it's free, hard to argue with that.

Come here on Cal day! Yes it IS crowded but there are AMAZING things they take out that rarely see the light of day. True, I am a big science dork, but I just LOVED it.

T-Rex, Sabertooth tiger etc. All In the lobby of the museum and free entrance