San Diego Chinese Historical Museum

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

A mission building slated for demolition was saved and moved to the corner of J Street and Third Avenue in 1996, becoming San Diego's Chinese Historical Museum. Scale models of old Chinatown's homes and businesses sit alongside artifacts recovered from the neighborhood's original buildings, including a jade burial suit, a limestone Buddha head and a warlord's bed frame. Behind the galleries, a garden with a koi pond and a small waterfall runs along a winding stone path.