San Diego Zoo

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

Animals left over from the 1915 Panama-California Exposition became the seed of the San Diego Zoo, brought together by founder Dr. Harry Wegeforth on a 100-acre plot inside Balboa Park. Giant pandas returned in 2024, the first in the U.S. in three years, and the exhibit still draws a line most mornings. Gorilla Tropics and the Lost Forest hold western lowland gorillas, bonobos and hippos, and an overhead gondola called the Skyfari carries riders across the park for a wider view of the grounds. It remains the most-visited zoo in the country, laid out along Balboa Park's canyons rather than a flat grid of enclosures.