Natural History Museum, San Diego

Natural History Museum, San Diego

Natural History Museum, San Diego: Our most recommended tours and activities

San Diego: Go City Explorer Pass - Choose 2-7 Attractions

1. San Diego: Go City Explorer Pass - Choose 2-7 Attractions

Experience San Diego's top attractions and tours and get up to 50%* off combined admission with Go City's Explorer Pass. Simply choose 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7 top attractions from over 40 options and go at your own pace - you have 60 days to use your pass from first activation. Visit the world-famous San Diego Zoo or the USS Midway Museum. Explore more of the city with a hop-on hop-off trolley tour, or kayak in beautiful La Jolla. The possibilities are endless. Your pass is fully digital and no physical card is required. Simply download your pass directly to your smartphone or print at home. Show your pass at each attraction for quick and easy entrance. Choose from the following things to do in San Diego with the San Diego Explorer Pass: Museums and Places of Interest • San Diego Zoo OR San Diego Zoo Safari Park (choose 1) • USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum • Belmont Park Ride and Play Pass • Maritime Museum of San Diego • Air and Space Museum • Birch Aquarium at Scripps • The Fleet Science Center with IMAX • San Diego Natural History Museum • Museum of Us • Living Coast Discovery Center • San Diego Museum of Art • San Diego Model Railroad Museum • Japanese Friendship Garden • PETCO Park Tour - Home of the San Diego Padres • San Diego Automotive Museum • Mingei International Museum • The Whaley House Museum Tours and Activities • 90-Min Best Of The Bay Harbor Tour by City Cruises • 2-Day Hop-On Hop-off Old Town San Diego Trolley • Living Coast Discovery Center • San Diego Speed Boat Adventures • 45 Min. Jet Ski Rental • Whale Watching by City Cruises • Plunge San Diego • San Diego Fishing Tour • San Diego Hiking Tour • La Jolla: Kayak Rental, Stand Up Paddle Board Rental, Surf Board Rental or Bike Rental • Coronado: Kayak Rental, Stand Up Paddle Board Rental, or Bike Rental • UTC Ice Sports Center • San Diego City Tour • GoCar San Diego Tours 1-Hour • Patriot Jet Boat • Best of San Diego eBike Tour • Gaslamp and Balboa Park Bike Rental with Unlimited Biking • Go Car 1-Hour Night Tour • Asylum Outdoor Bouldering • Gaslamp Ghost Walking Tour • Haunted Old Town Walking History + Paranormal Investigation • Historical Old Town Walking Tour *Savings based on itineraries on Go City website.

San Diego: All-Inclusive Pass with 50+Attractions

2. San Diego: All-Inclusive Pass with 50+Attractions

Simply choose between a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7-day pass and save up to 50%* compared to the cost of buying separate attraction tickets. The San Diego All-Inclusive Pass is an all-access pass offering the ultimate in convenience and savings for visitors to the area. Visit the San Diego Zoo, LEGOLAND, The U.S.S. Midway, take a sightseeing harbor cruise, rent a bike, stand-up paddleboard, and much more. With a total of over 50 attractions and tours included with your pass, there is something for everyone and you can visit as many attractions as you like per day. The San Diego All-Inclusive Pass also comes with a digital guide including helpful attraction information including how to get there and opening times. Activities, attractions, and tours included on the San Diego All-Inclusive Pass: Theme Parks and Zoos • San Diego Zoo • SeaWorld San Diego • San Diego Zoo Safari Park • Belmont Park • Knott's Berry Farm • LEGOLAND California Outdoors • La Jolla: 90-min Tandem Kayak Rental • La Jolla: All-Day Bike Rental • La Jolla: Surfboard Rental • La Jolla: Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP) Rental • Coronado: 90-min Tandem Kayak Rental • Coronado: SUP Board Rental • Coronado: Full-Day Bike Rental • San Diego Pier Fishing • Best of San Diego eBike Tour • Gaslamp and Balboa Park Bike Rental with Unlimited Biking • Asylum Outdoor Bouldering Tours and Cruises • 90-Min Best Of The Bay Harbor Tour by City Cruises • Whale Watching by City Cruises • Whale Watch & Dolphin Tour - Beautiful Newport Beach • San Diego Hiking Tour • One Way Coronado Ferry • Petco Park Tours - home of the San Diego Padres • TCL Chinese Theatre Tour OR Movie with Drink • Gaslamp Ghost Walking Tour • Haunted Old Town Walking History + Paranormal Investigation • Historical Old Town Walking Tour Museums and Places of Interest • USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum • Japanese Friendship Garden • San Diego Air and Space Museum • San Diego Natural History Museum • The Fleet Science Center with IMAX • Birch Aquarium at Scripps • Museum of Us • Madame Tussauds Hollywood • San Diego Automotive Museum • San Diego Model Railroad Museum • San Diego Museum of Art • The Whaley House Museum • Coronado Historical Association • San Diego Art Institute • The Gaslamp Museum at the Davis-Horton House • Mingei International Museum • The Plunge San Diego • Living Coast Discovery Center • Museum of Making Music • Richard Nixon Library • UTC Ice Sports Center • South Coast Shop & Dine Package *Savings based on sample itineraries on Go City website.

San Diego: San Diego Natural History Museum Ticket

3. San Diego: San Diego Natural History Museum Ticket

Visit the San Diego Natural History Museum, the oldest museum in San Diego and a flagship institution in Balboa Park, this summer! Featuring four floors of exhibition space, a giant-screen theater, and San Diego’s only Foucault pendulum, the Museum has something for everyone! With permanent exhibitions, rotating films, a robust calendar of events and activities (including late nights with trivia and access to our rooftop deck bar every Friday night until Labor Day), and the opportunity to see scientists at work, the Museum will expose you to fascinating stories about the natural world, fostering a lifelong love of learning and engaging you in a worldwide scientific dialogue. Come celebrate our 150th anniversary with us! Current exhibits include: Action from the Archives: The Nat at 150 (opens May 24, 2024) Our anniversary exhibition features regional conservation success stories—both historic and contemporary—as told through photographs and objects from our archives. Expedition Baja The Baja California Peninsula: our neighbor in nature. Explore towing mountains, desert flats, and isolated islands, and follow along with researchers working to conserve the peninsula's wild beauty. Living Lab Meet more than 20 of your not-so-cuddly neighbors, from stinging scorpions to elusive nocturnal lizards. The Backyard Learn and explore the natural world through play. The Nat's youngest visitors (ages 0-5) can play under a shade tree, search for hidden secrets along a wooden fence, or read their favorite book in a cozy potting shed. Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage This exhibition gives visitors a rare look into the Museum's storage areas. Different specimens offer the opportunity to revel in the natural world in all its beauty and peculiarity. Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science This exhibition explores the past, present and future of citizen science through rare books, art, photographs, and historical documents. Coast to Cactus in Southern California This exhibition will take you on an immersive walk through the major regions of southern California's coast, inland valleys, mountains, and deserts and celebrate the abundant variety of life found here. Fossil Mysteries From dinosaurs to megalodons to mastodons, travel through 75 million years and dig into the rich fossil history of southern California and Baja California. Giant-Screen Theater The Subaru Giant Screen Experience is one-of-a-kind. Settle into the 300-seat, stadium-style theater and enjoy films on the massive screen. Showing Daily until June 27, 2024: Shark Kingdom, FUNGI: The Web of Life, and Ocean Oasis Showing Daily beginning June 28, 2024: T. rex and Ocean Oasis

San Diego: Buffet, Brunch, and Cruise Tour

4. San Diego: Buffet, Brunch, and Cruise Tour

Sample a variety of breakfast and lunch dishes with fantastic views, and then head to the outdoor deck for fresh sea air and a narrated bay cruise. Enjoy private seating in the dining room to enjoy the food and the scenery with your friends. Try San Diego’s most popular and unique Sunday Champagne Brunch, with views that change with the courses. Enjoy breakfast and lunch entrees, carving stations, a salad and a dessert bar, and free-flowing champagne. Relax with light music to complete your cruise. Premier Buffet Brunch MenuEarly Riser:Assorted muffins and danishesScrambled eggsBreakfast meat and potatoesFrench toast Late Risers:Kale quinoa saladPasta saladHand-carved strip loinHand-carved oven-roasted turkeyPasta al Forno Dessert: CakesBrowniesSeasonal fruit

San Diego Walking Tour: Balboa Park with a Local Guide

5. San Diego Walking Tour: Balboa Park with a Local Guide

Balboa Park is home to gorgeous gardens, lovely walking paths, and plenty of cultural gems, from theaters to museums featuring the arts, the sciences, and more. You’ll get a full overview of the park and its rich history on this San Diego walking tour that explores how the park has become a symbol of the city. We’ll kick things off at the Founder’s Statue on the west side of the park. We think you’ll agree San Diegans were visionaries when they set aside 1400 acres of land for the park all the way back in 1868. Then we’ll stop at the California Tower, built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, has since become a city landmark. The face of the tower depicts the early history of the city. Next up, we’ll head to Alcazar Garden, which was inspired by the same-named gardens in Spain. Used for both the 1915 and 1935 expositions, the garden offered fair-goers a respite from the hustle and bustle of the exposition, and provides a picturesque foreground to photos of the California Tower. Snag the perfect Instagram shot while you’re here. Following after, we’ll head to the Old Globe Theater which is a Tony Award-winning, world-renowned professional theater group modeled after The Globe Theater London. From there, we’ll walk through the heart of the Prado, where you’ll get to spy unique building façades and roof supports that most visitors don’t notice. We’ll also check out Zoro Gardens, a sunken garden that was once a nudist colony (seriously) during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. Today, it’s a butterfly garden that contains everything butterflies need for their full life cycle. We’ll then continue past the Bea Evenson fountain, the Natural History Museum and we’ll pop into the Spanish Village Art Center to observe artists at work in their studios. By now you will have worked up a thirst so we’ll grab a drink at a local coffee cart before continuing on past one of the largest Morton Bay fig trees in California and the San Diego Junior Theater. But we’re not done yet! We’ll then head to the Botanical Building and the adjacent lily pond full of koi makes more than just a pretty picture — you’ll learn how the pond was an important part of the war effort during WWI and how it helped injured sailors and soldiers during WWII. Our tour will end at the Plaza de Panama, but before we say goodbye, your guide will give you directions to the nearby Visitor Center (for snacks, maps, souvenirs, and museum passes), suggestions for places to eat, and tips on what else to see and do within the park.

San Diego: Nighttime at the San Diego Natural History Museum

6. San Diego: Nighttime at the San Diego Natural History Museum

Visit the San Diego Natural History Museum, the oldest museum in San Diego and a flagship institution in Balboa Park, at night this summer! Nat at Night, featuring four floors of exhibition space, our rooftop deck, and San Diego’s only Foucault pendulum, runs from 5 PM to 10 PM every Friday through Labor Day. With permanent exhibitions, rotating films, and a robust calendar of events and activities like trivia, learn stories about the natural world and engage in a worldwide scientific dialogue. Come celebrate our 150th anniversary with us! Current exhibits and films include: Action from the Archives: The Nat at 150 (opens May 24, 2024) Our anniversary exhibition features regional conservation success stories—both historic and contemporary—as told through photographs and objects from our archives. Expedition Baja The Baja California Peninsula: our neighbor in nature. Explore towing mountains, desert flats, and isolated islands, and follow along with researchers working to conserve the peninsula's wild beauty. Living Lab Meet more than 20 of your not-so-cuddly neighbors, from stinging scorpions to elusive nocturnal lizards. The Backyard Learn and explore the natural world through play. The Nat's youngest visitors (ages 0-5) can play under a shade tree, search for hidden secrets along a wooden fence, or read their favorite book in a cozy potting shed. Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage This exhibition gives visitors a rare look into the Museum's storage areas. Different specimens offer the opportunity to revel in the natural world in all its beauty and peculiarity. Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science This exhibition explores the past, present and future of citizen science through rare books, art, photographs, and historical documents. Coast to Cactus in Southern California This exhibition will take you on an immersive walk through the major regions of southern California's coast, inland valleys, mountains, and deserts and celebrate the abundant variety of life found here. Fossil Mysteries From dinosaurs to megalodons to mastodons, travel through 75 million years and dig into the rich fossil history of southern California and Baja California. Giant-Screen Theater The Subaru Giant Screen Experience is one-of-a-kind. Settle into the 300-seat, stadium-style theater and enjoy films on the massive screen. Showing Daily until June 27, 2024: Shark Kingdom, FUNGI: The Web of Life, and Ocean Oasis Showing Daily beginning June 28, 2024: T. rex and Ocean Oasis

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What people are saying about Natural History Museum, San Diego

Overall rating

4.5
(180 reviews)

As a previous San Diego local of several years, I took Balboa Park for granted. Our guide was excellent, and the history I learned from her on this very pleasant walking tour has made me really appreciate this terrific park and everything it has to offer.

I really liked it just because of the times that are two hours different from my local time and that's why I think I asked for the notion of time and I couldn't use a ticket, everything else was excellent!!

Jennifer was an excellent tour guide. Very interesting, knowledgeable, and funny. We learned so much, The pace was perfect. We really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

I really liked the freedom the city pass gave us. Best way to fill your time with as many highlights in a short time

Looking through the lense of history, architecture and story Balboa Park came alive on this guided walk.