>> Sidebar: information for planning your visit

Whether you're traveling in California or staying close to home, UC campuses are a great place to find summer cultural activities, from art museums and concerts to botanical gardens and outdoor theater — and many of the attractions are free.

You can explore the physics of roller coasters at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, take a tour of one of the best outdoor sculpture gardens in the country at UCLA or drop by UC Santa Cruz's Seymour Center to touch sea stars at the aquarium and marvel at the immense skeleton of a blue whale, one of just four on display in North America. And that's just the beginning. The list below is a sampling of all UC campuses have to offer this summer.

UC Berkeley

The Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive and Lawrence Hall of Science are some of the most popular cultural repositories on the Berkeley campus. BAM houses collections of more than 14,000 objects, including the world's largest collection of abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman's work. A show exploring how the natural world influenced his paintings is on display through Aug. 29. More on exhibitions.

The museum's partner, the Pacific Film Archive, holds extensive collections of foreign and domestic films, including the largest collection of Japanese films outside of Japan. Fittingly, PFA features a centennial retrospective of director Akira Kurosawa's works through Aug. 29. Additional film series.

Ever wonder about the science of roller coasters? Visit the Lawrence Hall of Science Scream Machines exhibit to satisfy your curiosity. Suitable for thrill-seekers of all ages, Scream Machines offers interactive exhibits, artifacts and images that allow you to explore the physics of roller coasters and the physiology and psychology of thrill-seeking. Be prepared for a head-spinning, stomach-churning experience. Additional exhibits.

UC Davis

The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, in its seventh season, presents a wide variety of performances throughout the year by students and professional artists alike. The SummerMusic '10 Series offers free entertainment during the dog days; catch Grammy nominee Nortec Collective, featuring Bostich+Fussible, on Aug. 27.

The visual arts also are well represented at Davis. The Richard L. Nelson Gallery and Fine Arts Collection features contemporary art exhibitions, such as the locally produced "Flatlanders 3" exhibit, continuing through Aug. 15. The Design Museum has changing installations of architecture, graphic design, costumes, textiles, folk art and popular culture. The Carl N. Gorman Museum exhibits contemporary Native American and indigenous art. The Craft Center Gallery shows works by area artists. And Shields Library features works by current and former members of the UC Davis Art Department, which include such luminaries as Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest and Wayne Thiebaud.

UC Irvine

Summer Session offers free foreign films and free snacks along with after-movie group discussions. During August, the film series includes the most famous Spaghetti Western of all time, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," starring a young Clint Eastwood. The shows take place in the Lucille Kuehn Auditorium (Humanities Instructional Building, Room 100).

Summer also is a great time to visit UC Irvine's botanic garden and research center, which features plants and habitats from around California as well as an African bulb garden.

UCLA

Two of the highlights of UCLA's extensive cultural offerings are the Fowler and Hammer museums. The Fowler, part of the School of the Arts and Architecture, showcases art and culture from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Americas. Collections feature more than 150,000 art and ethnographic objects and 600,000 archaeological objects. Current exhibits include "Fowler in Focus: Courtly and Urban Batik from Java" (through Sept. 5), highlighting the free-form artistry that is the hallmark of fine hand-waxed batik. Additional exhibitions.

The Hammer, also part of the School of the Arts and Architecture, boasts a special emphasis on contemporary art. One of its highlights is the Murphy Sculpture Garden — an exquisite sight, especially in summer. It features the work of Jean Arp, Deborah Butterfield, Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Auguste Rodin, and David Smith, and is spread across more than five acres of the UCLA campus. Tours are available. More exhibitions.

Take a virtual trip to outer space at UCLA's Planetarium. Night sky shows feature the stars, constellations and other astronomical phenomena, followed by special presentations on stellar clusters, black holes, brown dwarfs, and other topics that change each week. Weather permitting, the planetarium also offers glimpses through their telescopes.

UC Merced

Visit the library's second floor to view photographs of set designs by UC Merced's Artist in Residence, Dipu Gupta (through Sept. 15). He has designed scenery for opera and theater companies throughout the country including for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the Julliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, the Gotham Chamber Opera and two productions for Opera Africa in Johannesburg. Up one flight more are costume designs by Dunya Ramicova for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's production of Igor Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" and "Symphony of Psalms," through Sept. 30.

UC Riverside

UCR/California Museum of Photography has the largest, most comprehensive photographic collection in the West. Its images range from works by contemporary artists to student projects to the 1,600 photographs taken by Ansel Adems for UC's centennial celebration. (Those images comprise the 1967 book "Fiat Lux: The University of California.") David Maisel will have concurrent exhibitions — "History's Shadow" and "Library of Dust" — opening Aug. 31. The museum's Digital Studio offers media-based programs, lectures and family-friendly events.

UC San Diego

Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the La Jolla Playhouse is one of California's best known regional theaters. Many of its productions have gone on to Broadway. This summer's playlist includes "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the dark fairytale "Cankerblossom."

Birch Aquarium, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, also is worth a visit. The aquarium displays fish and invertebrates from more than 60 habitats, ranging from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico. The interactive museum showcases research discoveries by Scripps scientists on climate, earth and ocean science.

UC San Francisco

The UCSF library's East Asian collection is home to the largest group of health-related Japanese woodblock prints in the United States. Most of the 400 prints date back to the mid-19th century and focus on foreigners and disease, women's health, contagious disease and religion and health and include drug advertisements. They offer a unique visual perspective on Japanese attitudes towards health and illness.

The prints are housed in the library's Archives and Special Collections on the Parnassus campus, or they can be viewed online.

UC Santa Barbara

The University Art Museum houses a fine arts collection of more than 8,500 works and an architecture and design collection of historical materials documenting the built environment of California and the Southwest.

While the museum is closed for seismic retrofitting until fall 2011, its treasures will hit the road with satellite exhibits around Santa Barbara. "Fernand Lungren: The Desert Speaks," runs through Sept. 19 at the Wildling Art Museum in Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley.

UC Santa Cruz

Shakespeare Santa Cruz has been hailed as one of the nation's most influential Shakespeare companies. Now in its 29th year, this professional repertory company in residence at UC Santa Cruz interprets the works of William Shakespeare through a contemporary lens. This summer, theatergoers can choose from "Othello," "Love's Labor's Lost" and "The Lion in Winter."

Lick Observatory, perched high atop Mount Hamilton east of San Jose, was the world's first mountain-top observatory (built in 1888) and still is in operation today. One of the best ways to get a chance to peek through the telescopes is by attending Music of the Spheres, a summer concert series held Saturday evenings through August. After the concert, enjoy a science lecture and look through the historic 36-inch Great Lick Refractor and the Nickel 40-inch telescope, weather permitting.

Get your fill of nature with a visit to the Arboretum or the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The Arboretum features flora from around the globe, with an emphasis on plants native to California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Chile. Seymour Marine Discovery Center let kids of all ages get up close and personal with marine ecology. Visitors can view the skeleton of an 85-foot blue whale or take a tour to learn about ongoing research projects involving bottle-nosed dolphins, California sea lions, elephant seals and harbor seals.