San Diego has an abundance of museums, with fifteen museums in Balboa Park alone, making it the perfect city for touring museums whether you’re vacationing in San Diego or a full-time resident. February is Museum Month in San Diego, and admission to any museum is half price during this time.

Balboa Park

Balboa Park, a large park and community area north of the city center, is home to the San Diego Zoo, outdoor parks and gardens, and several performing arts centers, in addition to its fifteen museums, making it the nation’s largest urban cultural park. Admission to the park grounds is free, including the botanical building and outdoor gardens. The park offers a seven-day passport for admission to the zoo, museum, and other attractions, or a one-day pass that allows visitors admission to five of the museums, not including the zoo and other attractions.

Museums and Exhibits in Balboa Park:

1. Centro Cultural de la Raza – a multidisciplinary arts center dedicated to education about Mexican and Latino cultures.
2. Japanese Friendship Garden – an outdoor tour area with a Zen meditation garden, exhibit house, koi pond, bonsai exhibit, ceremonial gate, and wisteria arbor.
3. Marston House – a 1905 arts and crafts museum on five acres of English and California gardens.
4. Mingei International Museum – exhibits of historical and contemporary folk art, craft, and design.
5. Museum of Photographic Arts – displays over 7,000 works that exhibit the history of photography, with a focus on social documentary and photojournalism.
6. Reuben H. Fleet Science Center – a planetarium, IMAX Dome, and over 100 hands-on science exhibits.
7. San Diego Air and Space Museum – includes a collection of worldwide historic aircraft and spacecraft, a GPS satellite, and interactive exhibits.
8. San Diego Art Institute Museum of the Living Artist – Focusing on local art, the museum opens a new exhibit of a local artist every four to six weeks and showcases local jewelry and children’s art from San Diego schools.
9. San Diego Automotive Museum – an exhibit of more than 80 historic and famous cars and motorcycles.
10. San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum – visitors can both learn about and participate in San Diego-based sports in the nation’s largest multi-sport museum.
11. San Diego History Center – artifacts, costumes, textiles, arts, and one of the largest collections of photographs in the west exhibit the rich history of the development of the San Diego area.
12. San Diego Model Railroad Museum – the world’s largest operating model railroad museum contains a toy train gallery and four large-scale model railroad layouts depicting the railroads of the southwest.
13. San Diego Museum of Man – a building inspired by Spanish colonial and mission-style architecture showcases the anthropology of people and places from all over the world.
14. San Diego Natural History Museum – in addition to hosting traveling exhibits, the natural history museum has a focus on the biodiversity of Southern California and includes a 3D movie theater that plays films about the natural world.
15. San Diego Museum of Art – hosts art exhibits from all over the world, in addition to the works of old European masters, 19th and 20th century American art, Asian collections, and Latin-American art.
16. Timken Museum of Art – Includes the Putnam Foundation’s collection of European old master paintings, American paintings, Russian works, and special exhibits.
17. Veterans Museum and Memorial Center – inside the Old Navy Chapel, this museum celebrates veterans of the Armed Forces, Coast Guard, and Wartime Merchant Marine with artifacts, photographs, documents, memorabilia and artwork.
18. The WorldBeat Center – with art, music, dance, and education, the center celebrates and preserves African, African-American, and other indigenous cultures of the world.

As if Balboa Park didn’t have enough historical culture to offer, San Diego County houses over 90 museums, including:

The Maritime Museum of San Diego: exhibits at the Maritime Museum include The Star of India, the deepest diving submarine in the world, the San Diego Navy exhibit, and public and private sailing adventures, located at 1492 North Harbor Drive.

The Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego: exhibits over 4000 works of painting, sculpture, film, and photography created after 1950, between its two locations in San Diego and La Jolla. The museum’s European bistro creates breakfast and lunch from locally-grown organic ingredients. Address: 1100 Kettner Boulevard (downtown)

The Museum of Making Music: visitors can experiment with music hands-on using a variety of instruments, in addition to viewing a display of hundreds of vintage instruments and musical artifacts and listening to audio samples of recorded music. Address: 5790 Armada Drive in Carlsbad

For more info on San Diego museums and an undated list of events and current exhibits, go to http://www.sandiego.org/nav/Visitors/WhatToDo/Museums.