Balboa Park, just minutes from downtown San Diego, is a single, 1000-acre area that's not only a cultural and artistic center, but also offers an abundance of recreational activities, and many of them are free!
Spreckels Organ Pavilion concerts are also always free. Check out free Sunday afternoon organ concerts June - August from 2-3pm. Spreckels Organ Pavilion also puts on the International Summer Organ Festival, with free concerts on Monday at 7:30pm throughout the summer months.
Balboa Park also offers four free tours of the park, leaving from in front of the visitor center. There are currently three tours, listed below.
The San Diego Zoo is free to all on the first Monday of October for Founders Day, and children under 12 enter free every day during October!
Every museum in Balboa Park is free to the public one Tuesday of each month! Check out the list below for the free days. Also, the Timken Museum of Art and the Botanical Building are always free!
Free Tours
- The Architectural Heritage Tours:
- Scheduled on the first Wednesday of each month at 9:30am.
- Offshoot Tours:
- Scheduled every Saturday at 10:00am and lead by trained volunteers. Tour themes include Balboa Park history (1st Saturday of the month), palm trees (2nd Saturday), other trees in the Park (3rd Saturday), desert vegetation (4th Saturday) and tour del dia (5th Saturday).
- Ranger-led Tours:
- Balboa Park Rangers discuss the historical and botanical treasures of Balboa Park at 1:00 p.m
Free Museum Time-Table
- 1st Tuesday of each month:
- Centro Cultural de la Raza
- Natural History Museum
- Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
- Model Railroad Museum
- 2nd Tuesday of each month:
- Museum of Photographic Arts
- Museum of San Diego History
- 3rd Tuesday of each month:
- Museum of Art
- Museum of Man
- Mingei International Museum
- Japanese Friendship Garden
- Art Institute's Museum of the Living Artist
- 4th Tuesday of each month:
- Air & Space Museum
- Automotive Museum
- Hall of Champions Sports Museum
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