If you’re looking to visit San Diego, then your visit is undoubtedly incomplete without dropping by the Balboa Park. As the single largest urban cultural park in the whole of the United States, Balboa Park has much to offer to its visitors. Most of the time, they referred to it is known as the “Smithsonian of the West” for the concentration of cultural institutions within its boundaries.
The San Diego Balboa Park was originally built for temporary use during the years 1915 and 1916 of the Panama-California Exposition. The buildings here, however, are beautiful enough to be considered as attractions in themselves, but most people are drawn to the culture, history, science, and arts held within their walls. Balboa Park boasts of eight gardens, fifteen museums, a Tony-Award winning theater, and the Zoo.
At its heart, Balboa Park is as its name implies a place for a place that provides a pleasant environment for relaxation. Visitors will find a multitude of trees and other plant life throughout the park grounds interspersed amidst several enclosed and open garden areas. These include the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Botanical Building, the Cactus Garden and more.
At its very simplest, visitors can merely traverse to discover the sheer variety of plant life on offer. But Balboa Park has more to offer through a host of other attractions that can be found running along the prominent El Prado. Located in the heart of the park this extensive and long promenade features a range of structures constructed in a typical Spanish Colonial Revival Style.
Museums are one of Balboa Park’s strongest points with an offering of a remarkable 15 different museums. The area of focus varies greatly among these museums through there is undeniably a strong emphasis on art with the San Diego Art Institute, Museum of Photographic Art and the San Diego Museum of Art to name a few, however other museums include the San Diego Railroad Museum and the Natural History Museum.
Events are yet another staple at Balboa Park encompassing both the theatrical and the musical. The park has earned itself a quite a reputation for events through its formidable offering of event venues that include the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Old Globe Theatre Complex and Starlight Bowl which is an outdoor amphitheater. Balboa Park also houses the Morley Field Sports Complex that features a golf course, baseball fields, tennis club, archery range, swimming pool and discusses golf course providing further variety.
And speaking of families, Balboa Park is a great place to spend time together. Kids who are interested in planes, trains, automobiles, dinosaurs, planets, sports, art, flowers and animals will all find something to enjoy during a day in the Park. There are also kid-friendly museums such as the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, the San Diego Air & Space Museum, the San Diego Natural History Museum as well as the Automotive Museum and the Hall of Champions. And if Halloween is your favorite holiday, you certainly don’t want to miss the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park.
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