One of the most popular places to visit in San Diego and all of Southern California. With over 1,200 acres of land, Balboa Park is the largest urban park in the U.S.! Yes, bigger than New York’s Central Park, Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, or San Francisco’s Golden Gate. This is a great place for the entire family to explore. Balboa Park has everything from miles of hiking trails, 15 major museum and gardens, and the world renowned San Diego Zoo & Safari. I’ve been here twice and it’s not enough. You can spend days and even a week exploring every inch of this wonderful place. If you love arts and kids love animals, there’s no better place in San Diego that can satisfy everyone’s favorite activity.
Phone: (619) 239-0512
Address: 1549 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, 92101
Hours: The Balboa Park grounds are open 24 hours a day, the Visitors Center is open 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily, and museum hours vary by institution.
Things To Do: here’s the list of all museums at Balboa Park. Some notable ones are the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Rose Garden, and they celebrate Diwali here at Balboa Park!
Fee: the park is open for the public free of charge but museums and gardens do cost money. *parking is also free!!
Food: There are a couple of expensive restaurants in the park, but there are also affordable food options as well. You may want to pack a picnic! This place is beautiful and eating lunch under the sun surrounded by beautiful garden and building is like living in a dream. If you’re seeking outside affordable delicious food option outside of Balboa Park, then I highly recommend the Escape Fish Bar. It is only 10 minutes drive (2 miles) away from the park.
With so many museums to explore and gardens to appreciate, my favorite thing to do at Balboa Park is just to simply walk around and observe all the wonderful architecture. This place will make you forget that you’re in California because you will like you’re walking around Rome or some other European cities. This is a great getaway from the crazy Downtown San Diego.
It is located right in the city, which makes it even more accessible. I organize a large group of 50 people here once and everyone could have a better time. Because of the range of activities that one can do, no one will go bored here. My personal favorite museum at Balboa Park is the Museum of Photographic Art. It is so incredible and the pictures there are just magical. I love photography. I wouldn’t call myself a photographer but I definitely have appreciation for that.
If you’ve been here before, please share with me your experience. Especially if you’re a local, let me know your tips and tricks on how to get more out of this place. It is fantastic that I want to visit every month!
No More Talking, Check Out These 42 Pictures Of the Park
If these pictures don’t convince you why Balboa Park should be your next weekend trip, then nothing will
One Cool Thing Every Weekend 
Balboa Park is a MUST go-to place in San Diego! So many to explore, so many things to do. So many choice, everyone is guarantee to find something that suits them.
AWESOME, AWESOME images. Love the vibrant color and the sharpness of the images.
Thank you so much for your compliment. It means a lot especially coming from you because I love your photos! Balboa is magical. It is one of the reasons why I want to live in San Diego.
It is one of the most amazing places to visit in San Diego, in my opinion. Your photos certainly do it justice…lovely! 🙂
It is certainly! Actually if there’s only one thing that you can do in SD, it must be balboa park for sure
Wow! Your pictures are incredible, and you have done a fabulous job of describing Balboa Park and showing the images of that amazingly beautiful park, that is not just a park but so much more. Thank you so much for your wonderful post, and for linking it to my post of the Diwali Celebration at Balboa Park.
Thank you so much for your compliment! I had a ton of fun taking pictures at this place because it was impossible to take a bad picture. You’re very welcome. I liked your Diwali post and I thought that other readers should read it as well.
Thank you so much – I really appreciate that!
beautiful photos of the garden, I like the flower photos most 🙂 thanks btw for the follow and I just did. I like that we share our discoveries of places.
Yes! definitely one of my favorite things about wordpress so far is how awesome the community is! I love reading and looking through everyone’s blog. They are truly inspiring! I
Great photos of beautiful Balboa Park!
Thank you very much!! it’s hard to take a place picture there
Hi there!
My name is Jane and I’m with Dwellable.
I was looking for blogs about Balboa to share on our site and I came across your post…If you’re open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
Hope to hear from you 🙂
Jane