Once you settle in to your academic program take some time to acquaint yourself with the many free or discounted activities, cultural events, and places of quiet repose on campus and close by. This list is just the beginning. Find all of this and much more on the Campus Calendar!
Rec Sports
Cal Performances
UC Berkeley theater that presents artists from the Bay Area, the United States, and around the world in performances and community programs. Tickets for students are 50% off. Special student packages are available. Zellerbach Hall.
Rec Sports
Need a convenient place to work out? Rec Sports members enjoy access to two recreation centers, four pools as well as free drop-in group exercise classes, discounts on personal training, massage services, outdoor programs and much more. Student membership is included in your registration fees.
LUNCH
Morrison Reading Room
Hertz Hall noon concerts, a series of free weekly concerts each semester presented by the Department of Music in Hertz Hall. Traditionally on Wednesdays, now expanding into Fridays, the concerts begin at 12:15 and end by 1 pm.
Lunch poems is a noontime poetry reading series under the direction of Professor Robert Hass.
Story Hour at the Library is a monthly prose reading series hosted by English department faculty Vikram Chandra and Melanie Abrams, featuring distinguished prose writers from the Bay Area and beyond.
Morrison Library opened in 1928 as a traditional library reading room providing an ambient atmosphere for students to take a break from the rigors of academic life. The library offers comfortable seating for leisurely reading, naps, and maintains a circulating collection of newly published popular fiction and non-fiction. They also have a limited collection of circulating audiobooks, travel books, and newly published poetry books, as well as subscriptions to several popular magazines, a few daily newspapers, and a graphic arts loan program. This treasure is not to be missed!
MUSEUMS
BAMPFA
BAMPFA is the visual arts center of the University of California, Berkeley, featuring art, cinema, workshops, and activities for children, now in its vibrant new location in downtown Berkeley.
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life was established in 2010 after the transfer of the Judah L. Magnes Museum to the UC Berkeley. Its remarkably diverse archive, library and museum holdings include art, objects, texts, music and historical documents about the Jews in the Global Diaspora and the American West. The museum is located at 2121 Allston Way in downtown Berkeley.
Lawrence Hall of Science
Visit Lawrence Hall of Science to combine awe-inspiring views of the San Francisco Bay with hands-on indoor and out door science exhibits. Great for kids and families.
PLACES TO GO
Tilden Park
Botanical Garden is a non-profit research garden and museum for the University of California at Berkeley, with a notably diverse plant collection that includes many rare and endangered plants. Established in 1890, the Garden has over 13,000 different kinds of plants from around the world, cultivated by region in naturalistic landscapes throughout its 34 acres. Free to UC students.
Strawberry Creek is a major landscape feature of the Berkeley campus, and was one of the primary reasons the site was chosen in 1860 as the location for the campus. It is home to a growing number of native animals and plants due to a restoration project started in 1987. Take a self-guided tour.
Tilden Park is one of the jewels of the East Bay Regional Parks offering great hikes and beautiful vistas. Ride the carousel or steam trains, have a picnic, visit the little farm, swim at Lake Anza, or stroll through the Botanic Garden. The park is reached via Canon Drive, Shasta Road, or South Park Drive, all off Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley.