About San Diego Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum in San Diego, also known as The Nat, is a huge palatial museum in the heart of Balboa Park that has exhibits spanning the natural history of the Southern California region from the Cretaceous period to modern times. The San Diego Natural History Museum has five floors of exhibits, including the newly opened basement, all showcasing different parts of San Diego’s local wildlife and landscape over the last several million years, as well as highlighting the research that goes into learning about them.

Starting in the basement they have their archives and live viewing of paleontologists at work. The first floor hosts a gift shop (Gold Leaf -a sister store to their location in South Park), as well as a cafe, a kids play area, and their movie theater. The second floor is where most of the action is, with dinosaurs and giant creatures. Make sure to check out the great Coast to Cactus exhibit – a creative space for learning about modern San Diego naturalism.
The Natural History Museum hosts events, including their popular Nat at Night every Friday from 7pm to 10 pm. Out front is the Morton Bay Fig Tree (one of the biggest trees in the country) and a nature trail of local plants.

The Natural History Museum is chock full of information about local flora, fauna, and geology, so it takes a few visits to get it all down. Go as deep as you want in one exhibit or try to tackle the whole museum at once.

Best Parts

• Great place for a rare rainy day
• Learning about Southern California’s unique natural history
• See full size replica prehistoric creatures

Behind The Counter

The San Diego Natural History Museum was founded by the San Diego Society of Natural History, an organization that came together in 1874 and has been exploring the regions natural beauty ever since. The Society has a long rich history of discovery and exploration around Southern California and the Baja Peninsula. They were instrumental in advocating for the establishment of Anza Borrego Desert State Park and have played a huge role in preserving San Diego’s wonderful, wild city canyons. They moved to their current building in 1933.