Balboa Park

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

A grazing common set aside as City Park in 1868 took its current name in 1910, when San Diego renamed it for the Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa ahead of the Panama-California Exposition. Architect Bertram Goodhue and his assistants designed the Spanish Colonial Revival buildings that went up along El Prado for the 1915-16 fair, linking the park's museums to collections from the Smithsonian and the Southwest Museum. The 1,200 acres now hold 17 museums, the San Diego Zoo, and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the largest organ in the western hemisphere with free public concerts. Entry to the park itself is free, though its museums and the zoo charge separate admission.