Things to do in San Diego

Culture · Central

1,200 acres of Spanish Colonial Revival pavilions from the 1915 exposition, holding seventeen museums, gardens and the zoo.

Local tip: Larger than Central Park and free to walk. San Diego residents get free museum days on a rotating monthly schedule — check the Balboa Park site before paying. The Botanical Building is free and the best building in the park.

Nature · La Jolla

Sandstone cliffs, sea caves, and a protected cove full of sea lions and leopard sharks.

Local tip: Swim at La Jolla Shores rather than the Cove itself in summer — the leopard sharks gather there and are harmless. Parking is the real problem; go before 9am.

Culture · South of downtown

The largest collection of Chicano murals in the world, painted on the concrete pylons under the Coronado Bridge.

Local tip: A National Historic Landmark since 2017 and free. Come on a weekend when the galleries and taquerias along Logan Avenue are open, and read the murals — they document the community's fight for the land they sit on.

Neighborhood · Across the border

A city of two million a Trolley ride away, with a serious food and craft beer scene and a very different cost of living.

Local tip: Walking across at San Ysidro is easy southbound and slow northbound — check the CBP wait times app before returning. Avenida Revolución is the tourist strip; the food to seek out is in Zona Río and along the taco carts near Sexta.

Nature · Point Loma

Eroding sandstone cliffs above the Pacific at the western tip of the peninsula, with tide pools below.

Local tip: The cliffs genuinely crumble — stay behind the fencing, which people ignore every year with predictable results. Go at sunset, obviously, but arrive an hour early for parking.

Landmark · Torrey Pines

Louis Kahn's 1965 research campus — two travertine blocks framing a courtyard with a single channel of water running to the horizon.

Local tip: One of the great works of twentieth-century architecture and it is open for free guided tours on weekdays if you book ahead. Almost nobody outside architecture circles knows you can walk into that courtyard.