things to do in balboa park

In San Diego, there may be a single wonderland where vast green spaces meet cultural attractions, venues, and scientific investigation. Balboa Park is so impressive, that the navigation facilities that can be like asking San Diegans what their favorite taco shop is – brace yourself for selection, and a lot of them. To make the most of your visit, think about how you want to spend your time, and craft your schedule around their pursuit. Here’s how, if you are with a group or solo exploring.

Stoke Curiosity: Museum and Performing Arts Venues

The foresight of civic leaders transformed 1,400 hectares in 1868 to “Park City.” Today, 1,200 acres in what might have been called the San Diego Park or Silver Gate Park, known as the Balboa Park.

Throughout, choose from 17 museums diverse and profound cultural space for various purposes. There Fleet Science Center for a super-sized IMAX movie about volcanoes or the sensory power of the life-saving dog, or the Museum of Photographic Arts, where you admire the work of visual artists debuting in the US for the first time (from the comfort of the couch, if you want). Every week, take in a puppet show full size, resonant voice Spreckels Organ on Sunday, or one of the 15 mainstage productions at the Old Globe theater, from Shakespeare’s How The Grinch, Stole Christmas!

In 2020, anticipating the entrance to the renovated and new museums, including the Folk Museum Mingei International global art, and Comic-Con Museum, although the opening date remains ambiguous.

Hiking, Wildlife Staring, And More

Marked (and unmarked) trails for all levels wend through and around the park, and more than a dozen gardens – rose, cactus, Moorish-inspired – how to reflect the natural attributes of the park. Families tend to sprawl on the grass of the Sculpture Garden, near the San Diego Museum of Art, where you will also find a restaurant outside of Panama 66 (bookmarks for craft beers and live jazz most Wednesdays).

Or, sit down for a relaxing meal at The Tea Pavilion in Japanese Friendship Garden, Craveology, Lady Carolyn’s Pub, or more upscale dining at The Prado. Appears to Food Truck Friday through the summer for more snacks. Excited at the coffee kiosk-like Prado Perk (outside the Visitors Center), and Daniel Coffee (Spanish Village).
20th Century Architecture From the 1915 Panama-California Exposition

The original structure of the Panama-California Exposition can still be seen today, fortunately, due mostly meant as a temporary building. Take, for example, the intricate details Building California (home to the San Diego Museum of Man), decorated three-story tower and unmissable Spanish-Colonial-style façade mixture of Plateresque to Rococo. Looked up to the dome tiles, a mosaic of yellow, blue, and green.

Along El Prado, looking again to see the statue of a female figure Casa de Balboa, who appears to bear the weight of the roof of the building. On it, a lily pond length handsome announced the Botanical Building. Biophilic can admire more than 2,000 plants, including orchids, ferns, and palms. And while you can certainly walk in the Cabrillo Bridge – another relic of the Exposition, the best way to view the multi-arched bridge early in Southern California driving along route 163.

During the early 20th century, the exhibition, in addition to marking the opening of the Panama Canal, the grandest marketing campaign to attract local officials and trade settlement. Then the mayor, echoed the sentiment expansionist period, summarized: “From this meeting, the future is bright as the dawn of the millennium, stretched out before us, and in the dim distance we saw the San Diego our dreams – big metropolis West, star of the city, built by the love and power stonework on the basis of location, port, climate soil, and Exhibition. “

Know Before You Go

Before you arrive, it’s helpful to know the majority of the park lined Park Boulevard, electric car charging stations are available at the Pan American Plaza, Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Zoo parking, and valet parking is available in front of The Prado Restaurant, at the House of Hospitality. A free tram picks up passengers from selected lots and stopped at several points throughout the park. Do note, however, that the parking lot is usually filled up before noon on weekends.

Balboa Park has a mostly flat, smooth surface, with ramps and accommodating bathrooms that should make getting around in a wheelchair. Some agencies, such as the San Diego Natural History Museum, offering escorts of disabled visitors have free entry.

Even with a lot of information available online garden, you can still interact with people onsite – looking building a Hospitality building near Plaza de Panama to the visitor center. Here, also find a public toilet nearby, as well as the San Diego Automotive Museum, Organ Pavilion, Statue History Center Court, and Spanish Village. And, rejoice! Wi-Fi is available throughout the park.