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Stretch your legs — and your mind — by exploring San Diego’s cultural heartbeat. Spanning 1,200 acres, Balboa Park is often referred to as the “Smithsonian of the West”, as it hosts the highest concentration of museums this side of the Mississippi.
You’ll find a dozen major museums, key performing arts venues, botanical and sculptural gardens, cafés and restaurants, walking trails, San Diego Zoo, and much more — it’s the reason nearly 10 million people a year, like thirsty seekers, are lured to this cultural oasis.
Culture, Here We Come
From model railroads to Monet; paleontology to photography; and ballet to butterflies — a visit here is an experience you’ll never forget. Here is a glimpse at fall in Balboa Park:
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Children are drawn to the 1910 Balboa Park Carousel. For five minutes, they’ll gallop around on a variety of European hand-carved animals prodded by military band music. Adjacent to San Diego Zoo, this is a whimsical way to orient children to the animals they’ll soon see in real life.
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There are more than eight gardens in the park, balancing the beauty of horticulture with art and architecture. A popular free experience (and great for nature photography) is found inside the Botanical Building with a lily pond in the foreground. This building was erected during the 1915-16 Panama Exposition, and houses thousands of permanent plants in its collections, including tropicals, such as orchids, palms, and cycads.
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Crawl through corkscrew tunnels, climb giant multi-sided shapes, and more in Geometry Playground, now on exhibit at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The patterns, angles, arcs, and shapes that make up the most visual branch of math are explored in mind-and-body-twisting fun.
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Spanish Village Art Center houses more than 30 art studios representing 250 artists from the San Diego region. Visitors find artisans at work — from silversmiths to jewelers to glassblowers — creating works of art in all types of media. You can also buy fine art and American crafts.
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Balboa Park is a mecca for unique merchandise. The stores of museums and attractions feature a shopping experience that transports you to far-flung regions around the world. If shopping alone is the goal, this is an ideal place to buy gifts and souvenirs in San Diego.
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See San Diego Museum of Man's latest exhibit, Modern Day Mummy: The Art & Science of Mummification. The highlight of the exhibit is “Mumab”, a modern-day mummy preserved from the cadaver of a 70-year-old Baltimore man who donated his body to science in the 1990s.
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Listen as miniature trains wend through scaled landscapes representing Southwest railroading in the world’s largest collection of model railroads inside San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Several train enthusiast clubs operate these exhibits, complete with bells and whistles, preserving the heritage of railroading in the United States.
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The Tony Award-winning Old Globe Theatre, a replica of London’s 16th-century Elizabethan Globe Theatre, was
founded in 1935. Fifteen plays and musicals are produced and performed here annually in three indoor/outdoor venues. The world premiere of many productions have gone on to Broadway (see Curtain Call for latest performance).
Re-Hydrate
From coffee carts and sandwich stands to award-winning cuisine, there are plenty of reasons to take a break and enjoy cafés and restaurants. Try a variety of hot teas or sushi rolls in the Japanese Garden Tea Pavilion on the patio. Before a performance, enjoy sangria and tapas in the Prado Restaurant, known for its fusion of Latin and Mediterranean dishes and contemporary California cuisine. The interior is decorated with sculptural enhancements reminiscent of its museum environment.
Balboa Park on a Budget
Insider’s Tips to Savings
Residents Free Tuesdays
As a public service, the cultural centers offer rotating free admission on the first four Tuesdays of the month to San Diego residents (with ID), active military, and dependents. Check balboapark.org for featured museums each Tuesday.
Passport to Balboa Park
Save more than 50% with a pass that admits the holder to 14 museums. It’s available for purchase online ($45 adults and $24 children) or by visiting the Balboa Park Visitor Center in the House of Hospitality. Check into the option of adding the world-famous San Diego Zoo to this combination pass.
Public Transit
Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) operates bus routes 7 and 21 to the park. The Orange and Blue Line Trolleys connect visitors to within walking distance of the park. MTS offers a trip planner online through balboapark.org.
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