San Diego , CA
Visit the San Diego Natural History Museum, the oldest museum in San Diego and a flagship institution in Balboa Park, featuring the regional natural history and unique biodiversity of Southern California and Baja California! The Museum has four floors of exhibition space, a giant-screen theater, and San Diego’s only Foucault pendulum, the Museum has something for everyone!
With permanent exhibitions, rotating films, a robust calendar of events and activities (including late nights with trivia and access to our rooftop deck bar every Friday night until Labor Day), and the opportunity to see scientists at work, the Museum will expose you to fascinating stories about the natural world, fostering a lifelong love of learning and engaging you in a worldwide scientific dialogue.
Come celebrate our 150th anniversary with us!
Current exhibits include:
Action from the Archives: The Nat at 150
Our anniversary exhibition features regional conservation success stories—both historic and contemporary—as told through photographs and objects from our archives.
Coast to Cactus in Southern California
This exhibition will take you on an immersive walk through the major regions of southern California's coast, inland valleys, mountains, and deserts and celebrate the abundant variety of life found here.
Expedition Baja
The Baja California Peninsula: our neighbor in nature. Explore towing mountains, desert flats, and isolated islands, and follow along with researchers working to conserve the peninsula's wild beauty.
Extraordinary Ideas from Ordinary People: A History of Citizen Science
This exhibition explores the past, present and future of citizen science through rare books, art, photographs, and historical documents.
Fossil Mysteries
From dinosaurs to megalodons to mastodons, travel through 75 million years and dig into the rich fossil history of southern California and Baja California.
Living Lab
Meet more than 20 of your not-so-cuddly neighbors, from stinging scorpions to elusive nocturnal lizards.
The Backyard
Learn and explore the natural world through play. The Nat's youngest visitors (ages 0-5) can play under a shade tree, search for hidden secrets along a wooden fence, or read their favorite book in a cozy potting shed.
Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage
This exhibition gives visitors a rare look into the Museum's storage areas. Different specimens offer the opportunity to revel in the natural world in all its beauty and peculiarity.
Giant-Screen Theater
The giant-screen experience is one-of-a-kind. Settle into the 300-seat stadium-style theater and enjoy films on the massive screen. Ocean Oasis and T. REX are showing daily.
10 AM - 5 PM Daily
Closed Thanksgiving Day & Christmas Day
