Balboa Park, San Diego

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This is a great area to have a picnic and just walk around. Balboa park has so many different areas about it there's just no going wrong if you decide to visit. There are also a variety of museums scatted in one area and various historic buildings. You'll need a good day to visit all of Balboa Park if you're keen to exploring everything the park has to offer.

We spent a couple hours just strolling on through the grounds, poking our heads into gift shops, smelling flowers at the botanical gardens, people-watching on the main square with the fountain. Neither my mom nor I were in museum mode, so we didn't take advantage of the many, many museum opps. Even still, it was worth it for us to just stop through the park and roam. And it was absolutely free.

This is obviously the the place to visit while in San Diego. Balboa park has museums, an IMAX theater and of course the famous San Diego Zoo! It also has playgrounds if you want to just let the kiddos run around. There is also the artists colony called Spanish Village that has great local artists selling their work. We lived in the San Diego area and visited here quite a bit. It's beautifully maintained and worth the time. The architecture of the museums alone are amazing to see. If you have kids who LOVE trains then the Miniature Railroad museum is worth a trip. People have loaned their train sets for display and there is also an area where the kids can control the trains. My two boys loved that! There is much more to see and do so check out the park's website listed below.

Locals and San Diego visitors flock to Balboa Park for the San Diego Zoo and more than 15 museums, theaters, golf, gardens and acres of open space. Balboa Park is open year-round and located a few minutes from downtown San Diego.
The easiest and cheapest way to experience Balboa Park is on foot or by bike. The park is one of the few places left in San Diego where pedestrians really do have the right of way.

West side of the park - The west side, located between Sixth Avenue and Route 163, includes a sample of Irving Gill architecture, found at Marston House; a favorite spot for dogs, Nate's Point; and Marston Point. It's a good place to start most any excursion. Balboa Drive, which runs parallel to Sixth Avenue for approximately a mile, provides ample parking. Long pathways run the length of this green patch, stretching from the Marston House in the north to Marston Point in the south.

The heart of the park - Crossing over Route 163, the Cabrillo Bridge gives cyclists, runners and strollers alike grand views of the city's skyscrapers to the south, the San Diego Zoo to the north and the majestic California Tower, looming over the park to the east. The bridge leads directly into the pedestrian-only portion of El Prado, the wide stretch of pathway approximately a half-mile in length, stretching east from the House of Hospitality to the Plaza de Balboa and its fountain.

The park's center is suitable for a rest stop, providing pleasant spots like the reflective Lily Pond, the bubbling Bea Evenson Fountain and Plaza de Balboa or the Moreton Bay Fig and other garden spots. If you want to be entertained, keep an eye out for the Prado's park players. And while you're there, take a pit stop at the House of Hospitality (Visitor's Center) or head into a few museums.

The rugged east side - If you're into more rugged terrain, the one- to three-mile loops and the packed dirt trails of Florida Canyon should do the trick. The park's guided tours give visitors another way to take in the park by foot.

Balboa Park is considered the US's largest "urban cultural park" with 15 museums and and World Famous San Diego Zoo. Admission to the park itself is free, but each of the various museums has a fee, but a "passport" gets you into the zoo and most of the museums at a discounted rate: $55. Without the zoo, the passport is just $30. With 12 million visitors per year, this is the 6th most visited city park in America, but only the 2nd most visited in the city behind Mission Bay Park!

The zoo is at the northern end of the park, while the majority of the museums and other attractions are at the center of the park on the east-west axis between 6th Ave and Park Blvd.

Kate Sessions is known as the "Mother of Balboa Park", altho casual visitors don't know that. She devoted her life to horticulture. She was the single largest influence in transforming the Park's barren mesa tops and canyons into the extensive botanical collection it is today. Her statue, was created by sculptor Ruth Hayward, and made possible through the support of the members of the community.
There is a self guided tour which you can take. Brochures are available near Kate's statue. Kate lived in the early 1900's. Bless these people who give to their community with such energy and devotion. Where would places like this be without them?

There are many wonderful trees throughout the park. Many worthy of photographing. I don't want to bore you, so I've put a few extras into a travelogue for those who are interested. I noticed people stopping constantly to look at the odd varieties. Some were shedding their bark...many had been upturned in the heavy rains the preceding week.....some drooped lazily while others had trunks and roots like an octopus. I wish they had been marked. I know they come from all over the world.

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Since this place is SO HUGE, I thought I would add a second part of pictures. The artwork and sculptures designed on these musuems are unbelieveable. You can spend a whole day just gazing at these. Here are some pics.