Narrowing Down San Diego’s Must See Museums

With over 90 museums in San Diego, it is hard to narrow down which ones are worth visiting if you are only here for a short time.  All of them are very diverse and interesting, but here are some of the top San Diego museums that I think are worthy of a visit while vacationing in San Diego.  

The first place to stop for a day of museum perusing is Balboa Park where you will find over 15 great museums all in one place.  Besides the extensive list of great museums, Balboa Park has over 1400 acres of beautiful gardens and historical buildings so simply walking the park is like visiting a large real life museum, but you will want to step inside these must see museums on your trip to Balboa Park:

Museum of San Diego History: where you will learn the history of San Diego through photographs and cultural artifacts dating back to the 1840s.

San Diego Automotive Museum: where you can stole through several car exhibits that showcase the history of automotive progression.

San Diego Museum of Man: where you can explore the anthropology of mankind with artifacts, folklore, and human remains that tell the story of man.

San Diego Museum of Art: where you can browse the vast collections of fine and contemporary art from Renaissance, Asian, to nineteenth century European painting and sculptures, just to name a few.

If you venture outside of Balboa Park, which I hope you do, you can find a number of other worthy museums in San Digeo.  Here are some others you won’t want to miss while in town:

Children’s Museum San Diego: where the kids can explore the arts in interactive creative fun zones.

San Diego Chinese Historical Museum: where you will learn about the heritage of Chinese culture through a showcase of artifacts and photos in a building that was once a Chinese mission.

San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum: where you can track the story of the Navy’s Midway with over 40 exhibits featuring 21 completely restored aircrafts.

San Diego Maritime Museum: where you will learn the history of US naval advancement and also board and explore real anchored ships.

San Diego is home to many great museums that are all worth seeing for their own reasons, but I hope this narrowed down list gets you started learning and exploring what San Diego entertainment has to offer for museums.