🏆 Things to Do · San Diego, CA
Things to Do in San Diego, CA
63 real, currently-open attractions across every category — the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park’s museums, La Jolla’s sea caves, and the city’s legendary craft beer scene — so you can plan your trip around what you actually want to do.
🏖️ Zoo, Beaches & Museums
✅ Verified Open
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🏖️ Beaches
🌳 Parks, Gardens & Golf
🌊 Coronado
🇰 La Jolla
🎨 Museums, Theater & Culture
🛍️ Shopping & Districts
⛵ Tours & Boat Trips
🎡 Family Fun
🚗 Day Trips
🍺 Craft Breweries
San Diego’s attractions span a wide, car-friendly coastline — the San Diego Zoo and more than a dozen museums cluster in Balboa Park, while Coronado, La Jolla, and Mission Bay each anchor their own beach and outdoor scene. Beyond the big-ticket names, the city’s coves, cliffs, and beach towns (La Jolla Shores, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, and Del Mar) are free to explore and don’t have a single official website of their own — we’ve covered them here in the surrounding neighborhood sections instead of forcing a card for each one.
7 Things to Do
San Diego Zoo
World-famous zoo in Balboa Park with 12,000+ animals across 1,800+ species and immersive habitats.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Expansive safari-style wildlife park in Escondido with truck safaris, a giraffe feeding platform, and a zipline over the savanna.
SeaWorld San Diego
Marine-life theme park on Mission Bay with animal exhibits, rescue programs, and thrill rides.
USS Midway Museum
Retired aircraft carrier turned floating museum on the Embarcadero with a self-guided tour through the flight deck and hangar bay.
Balboa Park
1,200-acre urban cultural park with Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, gardens, and the largest concentration of museums in the western U.S.
Cabrillo National Monument
NPS site on Point Loma marking Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo’s 1542 landing, with a historic lighthouse, tide pools, and a whale-watching overlook.
LEGOLAND California Resort
Family theme park in Carlsbad built around LEGO-themed rides, Miniland USA, and an attached water park and aquarium.
3 Things to Do
Coronado Beach
Wide, powder-soft sand beach on Coronado Island next to the Hotel del Coronado, consistently rated among the best in the U.S.
Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
Dramatic sandstone bluffs above the Pacific in Point Loma/Ocean Beach, a top spot for sunset views and tide pools.
Silver Strand State Beach
Narrow, quiet peninsula beach connecting Coronado to Imperial Beach, good for calm-water swimming on the bay side.
9 Things to Do
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Rugged coastal reserve in La Jolla/Del Mar with sandstone cliff trails, rare Torrey pine trees, and ocean views — includes Black’s Beach below the cliffs.
Mission Bay Park
Largest man-made aquatic park in the U.S., with calm waters for kayaking, paddleboarding, sailing, and waterfront paths.
Presidio Park
Hilltop historic park in Old Town marking the site of California’s first Spanish settlement, with sweeping city views.
Waterfront Park
Downtown bayfront park beside the County Administration Building with interactive fountains, lawns, and skyline/bay views.
San Diego Botanic Garden
37-acre garden in Encinitas with themed gardens, a bamboo collection, and a children’s Seeds of Wonder garden.
Japanese Friendship Garden
Traditional Japanese garden in Balboa Park with koi ponds, a teahouse, and cherry blossom season events.
Spanish Village Art Center
Cluster of artist studios and galleries in a 1935 Spanish-tile village in Balboa Park where visitors can watch artists work.
Spreckels Organ Pavilion
Outdoor pavilion in Balboa Park housing one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs, with free Sunday concerts.
Torrey Pines Golf Course
City-owned public oceanfront courses on the La Jolla cliffs, host of the annual PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open.
4 Things to Do
Hotel del Coronado (“The Del”)
Iconic 1888 Victorian beach resort, a National Historic Landmark open to visitors for strolling, dining, and shore-side viewing.
Coronado Ferry Landing
Small waterfront shopping and dining complex reachable by ferry from downtown San Diego, with skyline views.
Coronado Municipal Golf Course
Affordable public bayside course with views of the Coronado Bridge and downtown skyline.
Coronado Ferry
Passenger ferry connecting downtown San Diego’s Broadway Pier to Coronado Ferry Landing.
4 Things to Do
La Jolla Cove Sea Lions & Snorkeling
Protected cove where wild sea lions and harbor seals haul out on the rocks; a top spot for guided snorkel and kayak tours.
Sunny Jim Sea Cave (The Cave Store)
Historic hand-dug tunnel from a clifftop shop down to a natural sea cave, the only sea cave in the mainland U.S. accessible by land.
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Aquarium run by Scripps Institution of Oceanography with tide-pool touch tanks, a kelp forest tank, and ocean-science exhibits.
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla)
Contemporary art museum overlooking the Pacific, with a sculpture garden and rotating exhibitions.
17 Things to Do
San Diego Museum of Art
The region’s principal fine-arts museum, with European Old Masters, American art, and Asian art collections.
San Diego Natural History Museum (“The Nat”)
Natural-history museum covering Southern California and Baja ecosystems, fossils, and a giant-screen theater.
Fleet Science Center
Hands-on science museum with a planetarium/giant-screen dome theater, geared toward families.
San Diego Air & Space Museum
Aviation and space history museum in the historic Ford Building, with vintage and replica aircraft and space artifacts.
San Diego Automotive Museum
Collection of classic, custom, and race cars and motorcycles with rotating exhibits.
San Diego Model Railroad Museum
Billed as the largest model railroad museum in North America, with detailed HO/O-scale layouts of California landscapes.
Mingei International Museum
Folk art, craft, and design museum showcasing global “art of the people.”
Museum of Us
Anthropology museum in the park’s landmark California Building, exploring global cultures and human history.
Timken Museum of Art
Small, free-admission museum with a notable collection of European Old Masters and Russian icons.
San Diego History Center
Museum and archive dedicated to San Diego’s regional history, in the House of Charity building.
Comic-Con Museum
Museum celebrating comics and pop culture, operated by Comic-Con International, with rotating fandom exhibits.
The New Children’s Museum
Contemporary-art-meets-play museum downtown designed for kids, with interactive installations.
Junipero Serra Museum
Mission Revival museum on the Presidio Park bluff overlooking Old Town, telling the story of San Diego’s Spanish/Mexican founding era.
Veterans Museum at Balboa Park
Museum honoring San Diego’s military history, housed in a historic Balboa Park building.
Maritime Museum of San Diego
Waterfront collection of historic ships on the Embarcadero, anchored by the 1863 tall ship Star of India, plus a submarine and steam ferry.
Old Globe Theatre
Tony Award-winning regional theater complex in Balboa Park staging classic and new plays, including an annual Shakespeare festival.
La Jolla Playhouse
Acclaimed regional theater on the UC San Diego campus known for launching Broadway-bound productions.
5 Things to Do
Gaslamp Quarter
16.5-block historic downtown district of restored Victorian-era buildings, packed with restaurants, bars, and nightlife.
Little Italy
Walkable downtown neighborhood known for Italian restaurants, the weekly outdoor Mercato farmers market, and design shops.
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Preserved historic district on the site of San Diego’s original 1820s-1870s town, with adobe buildings, museums, and Mexican restaurants and shops.
Seaport Village
Waterfront shopping and dining village on the Embarcadero with skyline and bay views.
Liberty Station
Redeveloped former naval base with restaurants, galleries, a public market, and open lawns near the bay.
5 Things to Do
San Diego Harbor Cruise (Flagship Cruises & Events)
Narrated sightseeing cruises around San Diego Bay past the Navy fleet, Coronado Bridge, and downtown skyline.
City Cruises San Diego
Bay cruises, dinner and brunch cruises, and whale-watching excursions aboard a fleet including the Admiral Hornblower.
San Diego Whale Watch
Dedicated whale-watching boat tours — winter gray whale migration, summer blue and fin whales — departing from Point Loma.
Old Town Trolley Tours
Hop-on/hop-off open-air trolley narrated city tour covering major downtown, Old Town, and Balboa Park stops.
La Jolla Sea Cave Kayak & Snorkel Tours
Guided kayak and snorkel excursions to the La Jolla sea caves and around the marine reserve’s sea lions and leopard sharks.
2 Things to Do
Belmont Park
Historic oceanfront amusement park in Mission Beach, home to the wooden 1925 Giant Dipper roller coaster and an arcade.
Petco Park Stadium Tour
Behind-the-scenes ballpark tour of the San Diego Padres’ downtown stadium, including dugout and press-box access.
1 Things to Do
Del Mar & Del Mar Fairgrounds
Coastal North County town home to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club horse-racing season and the San Diego County Fair.
6 Things to Do
Stone Brewing
One of San Diego’s flagship craft breweries, known for aggressively hopped IPAs, with a Liberty Station tap room.
Ballast Point Brewing Company
Pioneering San Diego brewery (Sculpin IPA) with a Little Italy tasting room.
Karl Strauss Brewing Company
San Diego’s original craft brewery, founded 1989, with several taproom locations around the city.
AleSmith Brewing Company
Award-winning Miramar-area brewery known for barrel-aged and Belgian-style beers.
Coronado Brewing Company
Long-running Coronado craft brewery with a public taproom and American pub fare.
Societe Brewing Company
Craft brewery known for consistently excellent, gimmick-free beer, with a Kearny Mesa tasting room.
Planning Tips for This Area
- Give Balboa Park a full day. Between the Zoo and more than a dozen museums, it’s the single largest concentration of things to do in the city.
- Book the Zoo, Safari Park, SeaWorld, and LEGOLAND online in advance. These are the city’s biggest draws and can sell out or hit capacity on peak days.
- A car is genuinely useful here. Coronado, La Jolla, Balboa Park, and Mission Bay are spread across a wide coastline — a car makes moving between them far easier.
- San Diego’s craft brewery scene turns over often. Every taproom above was checked for current operating status, but confirm directly before a special trip.
What’s the single must-do attraction in San Diego?
The San Diego Zoo is the city’s signature attraction — pair it with a walk through the rest of Balboa Park’s museums and gardens for a full day.
Is La Jolla worth a separate day from downtown San Diego?
Yes — La Jolla’s sea lion coves, sea caves, and cliffside dining are a distinct experience from downtown and Coronado, and the drive alone is a scenic half-day.
How does NME choose which attractions to feature?
We verify each attraction directly against its own official site and current operating status rather than relying on aggregator lists, and we exclude anything we can’t confirm is still open. Read more on our methodology page.
Know Something We Missed?
If you know a great attraction in San Diego we’re missing, email us and we’ll take a look.
Heading to San Diego?
See the full trip guide — where to stay and where to eat, organized the same way, by category.
