Museum of Making Music

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

Founded by the trade group NAMM for its 1998 centennial and opened in 2000, the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad holds more than 450 vintage instruments and artifacts spanning the 1890s to the present. Galleries move from how instruments get made to how retailers sold them and how musicians actually used them, and Sit 'N Play areas let visitors pick up and try some of what's on display. A major renovation finished in 2021 updated the space, and the museum still runs free field trips for schoolchildren from lower-income districts.