The San Diego Historical Society operates this center, with permanent and temporary exhibitions on city history. Previous exhibitions have included the Place of Promise exhibition covering Kumeyaay peoples to first European contact in 1542, plus 100 years of San Diego Zoo, a celebration of San Diego children’s book author Theodor Geisel (Dr Seuss, of Cat in the Hat fame), and the evolution of the San Ysidro border crossing.
achinthamb/Shutterstock
San Diego History Center
San Diego
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
11.01 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…
11.02 MILES
This state-of-the-art aquarium is a wonderous underwater world home to 5000 fish. Visitors can watch sharks dart, kelp forests sway, and even meet a…
1.6 MILES
Next to the new Waterfront Park, this collection of 11 historic sailing ships, steam boats and submarines is easy to spot: just look for the 100ft-high…
1.68 MILES
This interactive children’s museum offers interactive art meant for kids. Installations are designed by artists, so tykes can learn principles of movement…
13.63 MILES
For a glimpse at what a wall between neighbors really looks like, find your way to binational Friendship Park. On the Mexico side of the wall in Playas de…
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
3.28 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…
1.57 MILES
A couple blocks east of Petco Park, the city's recent landmark is a beauty. Crowned by a steel-and-mesh dome, the futuristic, nine-story library features…
10.81 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. Museum of Photographic Arts
0.02 MILES
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 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…
3. San Diego Model Railroad Museum
0.02 MILES
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…
0.07 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
Don’t skip the Timken, home to a small but impressive collection of American and European paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco,…
0.08 MILES
A top pick in Balboa Park, this hands-on science museum features interactive displays, including a room geared to the milk-tooth set. Look out for…
0.08 MILES
Designed using the simple principles of Japanese gardening, this well-maintained quiet garden includes flowers like the cherry blossom.
8. San Diego Natural History Museum
0.08 MILES
The 'Nat' houses 7.5 million specimens, including rocks, minerals, fossils and taxidermied animals, as well as an impressive dinosaur skeleton and an eye…