Arrived at Balboa Park intending to spend a day of exploring but our first stop was the Natural History Museum and we spent much of the day there. So much to see and while not as big as the Chicago or New York Museums the displays were very accessible and they had picture cards at many of the exhibits that explained what we were seeing. A neat room that was open to the public had the feel of a storeroom that allowed my touching. Several of their exhibits had similar animals so that we could compare sizes.There was a small refreshment area that had tasty salads, chicken tenders and fries and sandwiches. Although we were there on a school day with field trips the kids were all well behaved. There was a entrance fee about $18 per person with a few discounts for seniors etc.

Its a very great photo spot. Very artistic from all angles. Its better at night when they all light up. There are three paid museums nearby--better to visit one of them to make the cost of commuting worth it, cause you can at most spend 30 minutes taking photos there.

Awesome place to visit! Lots of interesting things and very informative and kid friendly. There is also a gift shop, and a penny press.

This is one of the smaller Natural History Museums compared to Washington DC, New York and Chicago but its worth a visit. The second floor is great with most of the exhibits.The museum features fascinating exhibitions and a new giant-screen Dolby digital 3D theater showing films with a focus on the natural world. Buy the San Diego Go Card to visit Zoo, Legoland, Seaworld and Balboa museums.

I love this place. I took my nephews here and they had a blast. Theres so many cool skulls, gemstones, dinosaurs replicas, and they have a few different 3D videos that play throughout the day. So much learning! I could spend all day here.

Loved this museum last time and it was great again. So much to see and learn. The dinosaurs, pleistocene animals and the Airstream Bambi were awesome.

The San Diego Natural History Museum is fantastic and a great place to visit with the family. We enjoyed the beautiful building with all the wonderful displays and also grabbed a bit to eat at the Flying Squirrel Cafe on the first floor. Overall, I definitely recommend the natural history museum to anyone looking for something to do outside of the house or to anyone visiting Balboa Park.

100% a must see. Its in Balboa park and only $15 ‐$20 to see depending wether you are military. This place has 4 floors and plenty of interactive displays and history to read,learn and listen about. Some of the collections in here are so amazing. Also has food, gift shop and coffee shop as well! Staffing is super friendly and the place is very clean with some great window views.

Really interesting fun place. So much to see & look at. I learn something new everytime I come here. I really liked learning about the condor studies & The way the water systems worked in San Diego. Cool interactive displays all through out. Wish there were more food selections but its in close proximity to other places so nothing is ever too far away.

Just visiting the IMAX exhibit itself is worth the money. From dinosaurs to local area wildlife, this place provides a lot to learn about. Bring the kids; inspire them. Weve have to engineer our way out of this mess, you know.

Really cool, lots of interactive displays. The gems were stunning, the bones were really cool. So many bones Ive never seen before. Really cool for kids. The meg was our highlight. Cafe was great, gift shop was reasonably priced.

Totally awesome! Such a great place for kids and adults. So many great facts and so much to see. Also its 4 floors so get ready to see many cool displays

A really nice easy walkthrough with the young kids. Not busy at all during the week. If you have a membership at another science centre or museum, check to see if you have reciprocity privileges with this one. We were able to get in for free and had access to a free 2D movie as well.

Unassuming from the outside but chock full of educational exhibits on the inside. The Nat is a really well organized and laid out. The whole family including grandma and kids spent a really fun and fulfilling day here. The terrace on the top floor is a wonderful place to take in views of Balboa Park and to enjoy a beverage to unwind. Be sure to check out a movie at the auditorium; the 3D National Park one is really good (as of current writing early 2019).

Great place for the entire family with 4 levels of places to explore and learn. Great exhibits with lots of information (take your time). They also have several movies that explore different aspects of the museum and of natural history, so make sure you take in one or more of them.You can explore the exhibits at your own pace which is really nice and even with children, you can have a fantastic time!

Very cool. Lots of exibits. Fun for both adults and kids. Fossils! Rocks! Gems! They even have some animals.

The Natural history museum is great!! It is a wealth of artifacts, history, species information and just straight up cool exhibits! Some of them are very interactive. We always enjoy a trip to “The Nat” as it has been dubbed.There are several levels to this place and they all offer something unique. The dinosaur and fossilized remains are evergreen and remain all year. Then they have other exhibits that are seasonal and scattered throughout the museum. Right now it’s: insects and gem stones. Both are pretty interesting and they do a very novel job of portraying the insects in portraits! (Pun intended).There is also an IMAX theater, gift shop, coffee stand which also serves some foods too. There is a library of sorts with cool exhibits and rare books. Also in the bottom floor there is a room (Living lab) with different animals that changes periodically. Right now It’s populated with reptiles and amphibians.The admission price is $20 for adults and I think it is well worth it! If you live in San Diego I highly recommend the Balboa Park Explorer Pass. It’s an annual subscription that is good for two adults and I think up to 4 children. That pass gets you unlimited access to all of Balboa Parks museums, and I know it’s more than a dozen of them. It also gets you exclusive access to certain events, pretty cool. All that for approximately $225 is a great deal. Highly recommend!

A great learning resource for San Diegans of all ages. Dont just look and find things, youll finish too soon and miss out on the real value of the place. Read the info cards, look closely at the specimens, take your time, and be sure to come back!

Lots of new interesting facts to learn.. great with kids of all ages.. they have 3 shows running daily which are included in general admission. Has a small cafe inside for a quick grub.

A moderate size facility in beautiful Balboa park, in the hills of San Diego, next to the zoo. Displays are a bit limited, and evolving/rotating. In May 2018, currently emphasizing racial differences and tolerance towards each other. Also displays on egypt, craft beer and monsters.

Interesting and informative...all the subjects in the exhibits, including 42 million year old dinosaur fossils and skeletons were found in and around San Diego and the Pacific ocean.

A fun museum for children. There are a couple of rooms where they can experience things up-close. Large enough to keep them busy for a couple of hours. Not so large that it exceed their attention span. There are nice exhibitions that teach a lot about animals that lived in western America through the ages.

Nice Museum, kids liked the play area which was clean and had dino toys. The Gift shop was really nice and reasonably priced considering its a museum. Exhibits could have been a bit more interesting but overall it was nice that they had areas for the kids to play and explore around the entire museum.

This place was wonderful. I went there with friends. We spend a great time. Great experience. Interior was beautiful.

Just had a fun time at the escape room inside the museum! So far, they are the only museum in the country with an escape room, and the 4 of us really enjoyed it. So many things to figure out, and the bonus is the price includes admission to the museum. We cant wait for the next one!

Pretty good five floors, each floor is not terribly big. Special collections on the third floor had a nice set of Audubon books.

My kids ages 2 and 6 really loved it here. Lots of if informative stuff for adults too. Plenty of things to touch for those active kids. We spent 5 hours going through all of the sections. They have scavenger hunts in most sections to keep kids busy looking for stuff. Theres is also a play area for 5 and under.

An enjoyable museum with nice close-up displays. The staff members were very friendly. There was a dinosaur exhibit downstairs for an additional $11/person, but we opted out of that. They have a decent amount of live reptiles and insects on display, as well.

A beautiful interactive museum. I appreciated the amazing dioramas of different ecosystems as well as the emphasis on gems, minerals, fossils, and flora and fauna found in San Diego county. We had ages 4 yrs -9 yrs well engaged. As adults, we could go back and read more. But that will have to take place another time!

Free admission on first the Tuesday of every month! I loved the IMAX movies about mammoths. The replicas of animals are so lifelike. And the live reptile exhibit was amazing.

This museum was so cool and informative. I could have spent all day here if I had the time. We looked at many exhibits and read about things I would have never known. The atmosphere is perfect for going out with the family to have a nice day. Would definitely recommend and I will be back

My 4 year old daughter loved the dinosaurs and the natural habitat exhibits. Balboa Park is a great place for kids to learn and have fun.

Got to take advantage of an annual family pass we were given. The museum has been a favorite of mine as long as I can remember. Always rotation of exhibits is cool, I really enjoyed the coast to desert interactive. Highly recommend.

Amazing museum. A little small compared to other museums Ive been too. Have a research facility where u can interact with researchers

Great place to learn about peninsular California. From the gems and fossils under your feet to the bugs and animals above the ground. Great lunch counter. And great docents. Live and learn at The NAT.

Brought my 4 year old son to the museum and he really liked it. This one is smaller than the one in Los Angeles, but its still an experience. Your purchase includes a ticket to watch the movie they are playing that week... it was in 3D!!!

Very recommendable for children. It is more interactive than others, unfortunately, some of the equipment needs to be fixed/improved. Overall a very good experience for a 3 and a 6 y.o.

My 4 year old daughter loved it as did I!

Beautiful, informative, 4 floors of gems, bones, insects. Doesnt take very long to get through, but you could spend a lot more time if you wanted

This is a medium size museum. You will find many skeletons and skulls of ancient creatures here. There a few live reptiles and insects as well. You can see the whole museum in about 1.5 hours.

Located inside Balboa Park in the middle. Expansive park, easily accessible to all of the exhibits. Buy the one day park pass to get into all the exhibits. Its an all fun for all. They have festivals during the year that are free. Rent a scooter and buzz around.

Decent medium. Wish I had more time to explore the museum. Nice movie area.

This is a smaller yet awesome museum. Its great for first timers and children. They carry alot of history regarding San Diego...

This is one of the best museums in Balboa Park and has over there floors to explore. Everything from Dinosaurs, gems, whale skeletons and even a lab with a window where you can see the staff working on artifacts!

This coffee shop is a gem! Most of the seating is outdoors on a large patio. There is a large tree providing shade to the outdoor seating area, and its a super relaxing place to read or do work. At night, they turn on strings of lights that create a lovely atmosphere. Overall, great workspace, great drinks, in a comfy environment.

This place is amazing! I didnt even get to see it all and I was filled with awe the entire time. What an incredible way to spend time. Plus the rooftop bar/eatery was great too with a beautiful view.

Beautiful, historic and very educative place to visit.It absolutely worth every penny paid. My mind was blown and I got to appreciate nature more after my visit here.To get a great experience, plan to spend 4 to 5 hours here.

Fantastic museum on different aspects of evolution, dinos, animals, geology and development, and much more. great for a variety of ages.

It had been many years since Id been in the Nat, so a friend and I decided to visit on residents free Tuesday. Id forgotten how much there is to this museum. If youre a biology or geology buff, theres plenty to engross you. My favorite part was the movie theater; there are various films running through the day, and its only $5 to see all of them. Theres a courtyard outside the the theater to sit and get a snack and drink. It was a fun afternoon.

They have a lot of nice exhibits and 3D theater. Movies are included with the ticket (the national park movie we saw made me want to plan some trips). Got a veggie sandwhich and latte at the snack shop that were pretty delicious. Uniquely, they also had an escape room with an additional fee which I kinda wish I had done. The huge hanging shark was also a highlight for me lol! It is a little small, but definitely worth a visit.

My expectation was a lot lower but it was actually amazing comparing to its entrance fee. It was actually very educational for the kids

This a great place for a family outing. All 4 tiers have incredible things to see and learn from. I recommend this museum to anyone that enjoys museums or anyone that has kids.

Wonderfull place, love it.

Very nice modern museum. Lots of entertaining and educational exhibits. Very clean and organized.

This museum is cool and learning of its natural history is amazing. It is located in Balboa Park. They have amazing exhibits here.

We took our grandsons they loved it. There are several interactive displays.

This building looks interesting but I didn’t go in because it’s not free. But I do look for its price which is $12

The exhibits were very interesting, and also got to watch a cool documentary about dinosaurs in Antarctica. The only downside was that there was a massive school group on a field trip while we were there running around screaming. They were having lots of fun learning but made it hard for everyone else to focus. Almost left right off the bat, but it calmed down eventually.

Had lots of awesome exibits! Definitely worth it

Great place for kids, we had free tickets from the library. Pricey for kids over 2 years old. Mine is 4 and didnt really care for much past the play area on the 1st floor

A great natural history museum. Wonderful educational experience for children. They just opened up a toddler play room which is awesome! I wish they expanded more on the animals they present, but they have limited space for each exhibit, so it’s understandable.

So much to see, I easily spent a few hours here!

We used our Denver Museum of Nature and Science membership for free admission! This was a great way to spend the one rainy day off or vacation trip. The museum is a bit smaller than the one here in Denver, but the exhibits were very nicely displayed. We concentrated on exhibits related to the local area and learned the identities of a number of southern California plants and animals not found elsewhere.

Was in a rush and didnt get to see the entire museum but what i did see was really good. The have a wide selection of exhibits and it is really kid friendly

Learned much about fossils and animals! Sweet gift shop. Sweet, informative 3 films!!

A great place to bring your children to learn about Natural History

Great museum about nature and outdoors! Learned a lot! Enjoyed the exhibits, and the movie they have! Saw their newer dinosaurs of Antarctica and it was amazing! Highly recommend..

It was the Art Alive and it was incredibly beautiful

Great exhibits & the heads of departments. Pleased to see collections upstairs now. Museum staff & volunteering is a mixed bag. Propaganda seems to be encouraged vs genuine/gut volunteer feelings. If Im volunteering for you, Id rather talk freely than use a draft.

Tons of fun and very informative! Loved it. Zoey didnt want to leave.

Definitely impressive. Lots to explore. I wish they would have had a larger bug exhibit. The best part was the 3d Antarctica dinosaur documentary

We went on resident free Tuesday. It was awesome. Many cool things to see and read and also interactive displays and maps. A giant dinosaur replica is the first thing you see when you enter. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nice Museum for adults and kids. You can spend a couple of hours learning something new about creature of yesterday and today!

Two entrances on opposite sides of the building, a lot of seating for their concession stand.Great for folks of all ages that are curious of the natural world around them.Right across the street from the rose garden, just walk on the pedestrian bridge over Park Blvd.San Diegos biggest fountain, the Bea Evanson, is right next door.In the summer they hold rooftop parties, both private and museum related.

Clean, friendly staff and great exhibits. The new Dinosaurs of the Antarctic was done really well. More interactive activities for the kids would be nice but they still loved it.

Great atmosphere. Great place to take the whole family. If you enjoy art and exploring historical items... Visit here.

Interesting displays. Good stuff for kids. Nice cafe. Clever Agave Christmas Tree

Great museum to explore for both adults and kids.

Great science museum with lots of bones, big screen movies included. My favorite one was a giant whale jaw bone. Hidden gems throughout museum. Everyone likes the three different included movies

Great place to spend half a day. Plenty of different things to look at. Fossils (prehistoric and present), taxidermied animals for show and research, 3d movies, plenty of things for kids to play with and learn about, historic books and geological history. Its bigger than it looks when you first walk in. Clean and worth going too.

There is a lot of things to see about nature

Ohh my god, what else to add for this, my kid has a exciting time while running around and excited to see all the history. In December nights it’s all free entry .

Great place to spend the day with my teenagers. Price is very fair.

Good museum. Hard to take in everything with one visit, but worth repeated visits if you can; otherwise consider prioritizing exhibits based on interests.

Lots of exhibits. Would probably be better for older kids and adults. But our small children enjoyed it too.

Nice but small. You can walk through and see everything in an hour or less.

Interesting displays. Walkable size. Geology & crystals spread out on multiple floors. Family enjoyed the live animal display.

I expected more, even a large T-rex on the entrance, bit its kinda cool...

Beautiful, informative, and totally San Diego. Enjoy.

Nice time, kid friendly, takes about two hours

Very educational but fun at the same time. Love the big shark!

The one in Philadelphia is better in my opinion. But they do have some very interesting exhibits and constant nature movies running. Also have even more exhibits coming soon and a very nice child friendly area if you want to drop them off for a minute.

It is a nice place to visit with your family. Tuesday is free for residents.

Lots of interesting history and a place where someone can get lost for a whole day just exploring

The museum was fun and nice. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The exhibits were clean and interesting. Fun was had for all ages.

Great deal if you put the family pass

My favorite museum at Balboa park. The butterfly 3D movie was a fun experience for my kids.

Way exceeded expectations - tons of fun for me and my kids both. Amazing insect exhibits and the dinosaur/shark section was the favorite for my kids.

Good depiction of evolution of history. Exhibits are not so great. Some interactive features are available for kids.

They advertised an insect exhibit. Thinking that it was going to be insect taxidermy I was excited. But when I found the exhibit, they were only photographs. So Im a little disappointed that I spend $20 to see photograph when I thought it was something else. However they do have movies included in the admission so hopefully that will make up for it.