Discovery Museum

North Coast & Redwoods


A hands-on kids’ museum with an excellent gift shop.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby North Coast & Redwoods attractions

1. Morris Graves Museum of Art

0.07 MILES

Across Hwy 101, this hit-or-miss museum shows rotating Californian artists and hosts performances inside the 1904 Carnegie library, the state’s first…

2. Clarke Historical Museum

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The best community historical museum on this stretch of the coast houses a set of typically musty relics – needlework hankies and paintings of the area’s…

3. Romano Gabriel Wooden Sculpture Garden

0.29 MILES

The coolest thing to gawk at downtown is this collection of whimsical outsider art that’s enclosed by aging glass. For 30 years, wooden characters in…

4. Kinetic Museum Eureka

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Come see the fanciful, astounding, human-powered contraptions used in the annual Kinetic Grand Championship race from Arcata to Ferndale. Shaped like…

5. Carson Mansion

0.43 MILES

Of Eureka’s fine Victorian buildings, the most famous is the ornate 1880s home of lumber baron William Carson. It took 100 men two years to build. Today…

6. Sequoia Park

1.92 MILES

A 67-acre old-growth redwood grove is a surprising green gem in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It has biking and hiking trails, a children’s…

7. Samoa Dunes Recreation Area

4.13 MILES

Grassy dunes and windswept beaches extend along the mile-wide, 10-mile long Samoa Peninsula, Humboldt Bay’s western boundary. At the peninsula’s south end…

8. Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary

5.69 MILES

On the shores of Humboldt Bay, this sanctuary has 5 miles of walking and biking trails, plus outstanding birding. The Redwood Region Audubon Society…