Happy woman outdoors waves at the camera, people behind her wear lanyards with nametags.

Visit

Stanford spans 8,353 acres and is home to world-class arts and athletics – much of it free and open to the public.

Welcome to the Farm

Experience ideas, academics, art, athletics, and more across a campus buzzing with irreverent energy.

Former provost Persis Drell and Andrew Luck ride a motorized couch through campus.

Tours for prospective students

Tours are available on weekdays by registration for prospective undergraduates and their supporters.

Campus tours Visit the Undergraduate Admissions website for more information.
Two people walking on a tree-lined path on a sunny day.

Start your campus visit here

The Stanford Visitor Center, operated by the Office of Undergraduate Admission, is located at 295 Galvez Street, on the northeast side of campus.

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visitor Center Visit the visitor information website for more on the Visitor Center and tours.
Visitors look at a brochure. A fountain burbles beside them.

Getting around

  • Welcome to Stanford banner over Palm Drive with a shuttle driving under it.

    Visitor parking

    Visitor and hourly paid parking are available in designated areas across campus. All visitor parking payments are contactless and managed through ParkMobile.

  • Ahmad Koya rides the Marguerite Shuttle to campus

    Marguerite shuttle

    The Marguerite shuttle is a free, easy, and clean way to navigate campus. It travels from the Palo Alto and Redwood City Transit Centers to and around Stanford, Stanford Redwood City, and Stanford Research Park, Monday through Friday all year (except university holidays).

  • Paper map of Stanford

    Searchable campus map

    Find landmarks, parking, and Marguerite routes on the Stanford and Redwood City campuses and at Hopkins Marine Station.

8,353 acres to explore

Stroll through open plazas and sculpture gardens, meet a friend at a campus cafe, or jog through the foothills past live oak trees.

Campus Attractions

Explore museums, landmarks, gardens, and world-class art at every turn.

Hoover tower and the surrounding area from above.

Landmarks

Stanford’s architectural and natural landmarks invite you to contemplate, discover, and interact.

  • Looking at Memorial Chapel from the Stanford oval

    Palm Drive and the Oval

    This roughly half-mile boulevard between Palo Alto and Stanford, flanked by more than 160 palms, provides a dramatic entryway to the core campus and a distinctive backdrop featuring the Main Quad and the Stanford Foothills. The Oval is the university’s “front lawn,” welcoming visitors to explore and enjoy.

  • A woman looks at beautiful golden mosaics and stained glass windows inside Memorial Church.

    Memorial Church

    The university’s architectural crown jewel was built by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband, Leland. It was one of the earliest, and is still among the most prominent, non-sectarian churches in the West. Tours are held every Friday starting at 11 a.m. 

  • A person taking a photograph from the top of Hoover tower

    Hoover Tower

    Just to the east of the Main Quad, this iconic destination offers exhibitions, carillon concerts, and an observation deck with a fantastic view of the surrounding area. 

  • Two people walking along the paved path surrounded by trees and the Stanford Dish.

    Stanford Foothills and the Dish

    More than 5,000 acres of Stanford’s total campus is open space, including the Dish conservation area located in the foothills, which offers 5 miles of trails. Hiking the Dish is a beloved student pastime. Nearby, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve serves as a living laboratory and outdoor classroom, where students and volunteers can hike, learn about local ecology, and conduct conservation research.

Enormous oak tree in green grass.

Do you like trees?

Stanford has more than 43,000 of them, representing over 400 different species – not to mention these ones.

Museums

Stanford’s museums are open to the public and free of charge.

  • Rodin's "The Thinker" bronze sculpture on a white pedestal inside the Cantor Arts Center rotunda, surrounded by tall marble columns beneath a domed ceiling.

    Cantor Arts Center

    The university’s oldest and most extensive museum of art holds more than 42,000 works from around the globe, spanning 5,000 years.

    Hours: 
    Monday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
    Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
    Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Art exhibit with three people observing the admiring the art displayed on the walls.

    The Anderson Collection

    The Anderson Collection, which opened in 2014, is one of the world’s most outstanding private collections of 20th-century American art.

    Hours: Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Public art

More than 85 works of art, many commissioned specifically for the spaces where they reside, are situated among the plazas, courtyards, and walkways across campus. From Alexander Calder’s The Falcon to Andy Goldsworthy’s Stone River, the outdoor public art collection provides a fascinating platform for exploring campus.

Stanford’s public art Visit the Stanford Arts website for more information.

‘Pars pro Toto’

Twelve dazzling stone spheres, ranging in size from a diminutive 16 inches to a colossal 98 inches, are a surprising and provocative recent addition to the Science and Engineering Quad.

  • A tall carved wooden Papua New Guinea figure stands in a wooded sculpture garden among autumn leaves and grasses.

    The Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden

    Located near Roble dorm, the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden depicts the layout of “spirit homes” from six societies near the Sepik River. Artists from the region carved the sculptures over three months during a visit to campus in 1994, using kwila and garamut tree trunks shipped from Papua New Guinea.

  • Visitors walk through the Rodin Sculpture Garden toward the bronze "Gates of Hell."

    The Rodin Sculpture Garden

    This outdoor exhibition of 20 bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin includes The Walking Man;  Adam, Eve, and The Three Shades; and The Gates of Hell. Rodin’s life-size Burghers of Calais stand in Memorial Court in front of the Main Quad.

Campus Events

Expertise and exuberance flow in Stanford’s venues, which range from intimate to spectacular.

Coldplay performs at the sold out Stanford stadium.

Live performance

Stanford hosts our campus community, neighbors, and visitors from around the world for performances by Grammy-winning headliners and talented students alike. Innovative programming in dance, music, comedy, and more expands our world and concentrates it in a shared moment.

Seven performers of BTS stand in a line on an outdoor stage under bright lights during an evening concert.
A small ensemble with piano, bass, and violin rehearses on a stage lit pink and purple, before empty cabaret-style seating.
Musical artist Feist performs onstage before a silhouetted crowd, lit by dramatic radiating beams and scattered spots of light.
Acrobats in Circa's "Leviathan" drape across and hang from a suspended horizontal bar, lit gold against a dark stage.
Singer Meklit, in a red jumpsuit and leather jacket, laughs while holding a microphone onstage, amid congas and trailing greenery.
Three barefoot dancers in white skirts perform with raised arms on a dark stage, captured mid-motion with slight blur.

Conferences and public lectures

Feed your curiosity and forge connections through hundreds of conferences and public lectures hosted on the Stanford campus each year.

LeVar Burton speaks into a microphone during an event hosted by Stanford Graduate School of Education.
NewsEvents

LeVar Burton on how reading unleashes the imagination

At the annual GSE Cubberley Lecture, the actor and children’s literacy advocate talked about literacy, tech, and the power of storytelling. “No one can imprison your mind. Or your imagination.”

6 min read
Two speakers discuss topics on stage at the RAISE Health Symposium.
NewsEvents

9 big ideas from Stanford Health AI week

From empowering patients to rethinking how doctors and AI work together, Stanford’s weeklong symposium surfaced the ideas most likely to shape medicine’s next chapter.

13 min read

Stanford Athletics

Intercollegiate athletic competitions happen almost daily between September and May. Catch a game at one of Stanford’s superb facilities.

All-sports calendar Visit the Stanford Athletics website for more information.