The Casa de Balboa has a fabled past. A Spanish renaissance-style structure was built in this very spot for Balboa's 1915 exposition. It burned down in 1978, but was rebuilt in 1982 to the same style. While you can't gain access to much of the building, you can look up and marvel at the ornate reconstructed details and turrets, and walk under the arches to enter the San Diego History Center, Model Railroad Museum and Museum of Photographic Arts.
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
10.99 MILES
Built in the 1930s behind a wave-cutting seawall, La Jolla’s Children’s Pool was created as a family beach but has since been invaded by herds of seals…
11.01 MILES
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1.58 MILES
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1.67 MILES
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Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
3.26 MILES
On the site of San Diego's first European settlement, Old Town consists of a cluster of restored or rebuilt historic 19th-century buildings filled with…
1.56 MILES
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10.79 MILES
Waves have carved a series of caves into the sandstone cliffs east of La Jolla Cove. The one below the Cave Store, a shop selling vintage curios, is 200…
Nearby San Diego attractions
1. San Diego Model Railroad Museum
Your (inner) four-year-old child will love this railroad museum; one of the largest indoor railroad museums in the world, it has some 27,000 sq ft of…
2. Museum of Photographic Arts
Tracing the history of photography, the museum offers special exhibits from crowd-pleasing animal themes to landscapes by Ansel Adams and avant-garde cell…
0.02 MILES
The San Diego Historical Society operates this center, with permanent and temporary exhibitions on city history. Previous exhibitions have included the…
0.06 MILES
Don’t skip the Timken, home to a small but impressive collection of American and European paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco,…
0.06 MILES
Designed using the simple principles of Japanese gardening, this well-maintained quiet garden includes flowers like the cherry blossom.
0.08 MILES
An ornate reconstruction of a building to honor the 1915 Panama–California Exposition fair held in San Diego. It's not possible to go inside the building,…
0.08 MILES
Balboa Park is a 1200-acre space with 17 museums and cultural institutions, including key attractions San Diego History Center, San Diego Air & Space…
0.1 MILES
The Botanical Building looks lovely from El Prado, where you can see it reflected in the large lily pond that was used for hydrotherapy in WWII when the…