SeaWorld
This marine park is one of California's most popular attractions, giving visitors an ‘up close and personal' encounter with fish and marine animals in tidepools filled with sea urchins and starfish and walk-through tanks housing sharks.

The park is best known for its killer whale (orcas) shows starring Shamu. Amusement rides include 'Journey to Atlantis' a six-minute, wet and wild thrill ride that includes a 18m (60ft) plunge, and the ‘Wild Arctic' simulated flight to the world of the walrus, polar bear and beluga whale.

New in 2008 is the Sesame Street Bay of Play, an amusement park starring Big Bird, Elmo and friends and the 'Cirque de la Mer' circus-like show.

500 SeaWorld Drive
Tel: 1 800 257 4268/SHAMU.
Website: www.seaworld.com
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (basic hours); hours vary according to season and day of month/week - longest peak hours 0900-2300 (summer).
Admission charge.

Balboa Park
The largest urban cultural park in the US, this 485-hectare (1200-acre) park is located just north of Downtown San Diego and is a favourite landmark for locals and visitors alike. Local developers set aside the land in the early 1900s and commissioned some of the country's finest architects to create exhibit spaces for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal. Several buildings with ornate colonial-style architecture, high archways and tiled walkways have been meticulously preserved through the years and house excellent museums.

The main street in the park is El Prado, leading past museums, a lily pond and botanical building and several gardens. Walkways lead from El Prado to the park's other areas, including an outdoor organ pavilion and the San Diego Zoo (see below).

Among the park's 15 museums is the Reuben H Fleet Science Center, with a planetarium, IMAX wide-screen theatre and hands-on science exhibits. Some of the other most celebrated museums include the Automotive Museum (featuring over 80 classic models of car and motorbike), the Museum of Man (exceptional exhibits on anthropology and archaeology), the San Diego Air & Space Museum and the Museum of Art (regularly featuring artists from around the world).

Art lovers will find a wide range of topics, artists and mediums to explore throughout the park's many art museums, such as the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Timken Art Gallery and the Mingei International Museum featuring folk art from around the world. The Centro Cultural de la Raza provides resources for Mexican, Chicano and indigenous art and culture.

Other attractions include Japanese Friendship Garden, San Diego Hall of Champions, San Diego Historical Society Museum, San Diego Model Railroad Museum, San Diego Natural History Museum, The Globe Theatres, and the Veteran's Memorial Center Museum.

Central entrances are at Sixth Avenue and El Prado, and Park Avenue and Village Place
Tel: (619) 239 0512 (House of Hospitality Visitor Center).
Website: www.balboapark.org

Reuben H Fleet Science Center
1875 El Prado
Tel: (619) 238 1233.
Website: www.rhfleet.org
Opening hours: Daily 0930-2000.
Admission charge.

Automotive Museum
2080 Pan American Plaza
Tel: (619) 231 2886.
Website: www.sdautomuseum.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700.
Admission charge.

Museum of Man
1350 El Prado
Tel: (619) 239 2001.
Website: www.museumofman.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1630.
Admission charge.

San Diego Air & Space Museum
2001 Pan American Plaza
Tel: (619) 234 8291.
Website: www.sandiegoairandspace.org 
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1630 (regular hours); daily 1000-1730 (summer).
Admission charge.

Museum of Art
1450 El Prado
Tel: (619) 232 7931.
Website: www.sdmart.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800; Thurs 1000-2100.
Admission charge.

Museum of Photographic Arts
1649 El Prado
Tel: (619) 238 7559.
Website: www.mopa.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700; Thurs 1000-2100.
Admission charge.

Timken Art Gallery
1500 El Prado
Tel: (619) 239 5548.
Website: www.timkenmuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1630; Sun 1330-1630.
Free admission.

 
San Diego Zoo
Known for its conservation efforts, the San Diego Zoo maintains several endangered species exhibits and works with conservation groups worldwide to encourage protection of threatened wildlife. The enormous reserve has rambling scenic walkways and narrated bus tours.

'Monkey Trails' at the heart of the zoo includes Asian and African forests with more than 30 species of exotic birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. At 'Tiger River', misty trails wind amid waterfalls in a tropical forest of more than 5,000 types of exotic plants and tigers, Burmese pythons and Malaysian tapirs. The most popular exhibit is the Pacific Bell Giant Panda Research Station, where several endangered pandas have given birth. The baby pandas are a big hit and long lines often form at the enclosure. The zoo hosts several ‘after dark' events, including live music performances and up-close animal encounters.

2920 Zoo Drive
Tel: (619) 234 1515.
Website: www.sandiegozoo.org
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1600 (basic opening hours); varies according to season.
Admission charge.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Scripps Institute of Oceanography is one of the pioneers in oceanographic studies. Visitors can get a glimpse of some of the institute's more unique projects at its Birch Aquarium. Public presentations and displays include lectures, whale-watching expeditions, tide-pooling trips for families and live cam demonstrations of the institute's current research programmes.

Among its more impressive exhibits is the Kelp Forest, a giant live exhibit of one of nature's more impressive habitats. It is home to thousands of different kinds of sea life, from leopard sharks to the minuscule kelp fish that survive in camouflage along the leaves of the tall plant. A video camera provides a close-up view of many of the aquarium's inhabitants. The aquarium's Jelly Tanks are home to some of the more beautiful and exotic types of jellyfish in the world, such as moon jellies, the lion mane jellies and the purple-striped jellies.

2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla
Tel: (858) 534 3474/FISH.
Website: www.aquarium.ucsd.edu
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700.
Admission charge.

Old Town State Park
San Diego's Old Town is where California's Spanish history first began. The area is home to the famous Presidio (Spanish for fort), situated on the grassy knolls above San Diego Bay. The Presidio commands a stunning view of the city, Old Town proper and the Californian coastline. Visitors can wander the Presidio's immaculately sculpted gardens or visit the historical museum.

The Old Town State Park includes a number of residential and commercial buildings down the hill from the Presidio in the main part of Old Town. The old school house and blacksmith's building, both of which were constructed of adobe in the early 1800s, are some of Old Town's last remaining pioneer structures. Early San Diego hacienda-style homes house restaurants and shops and art galleries and folk-art stores and cafes are scattered throughout the neighbourhood.

San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street
Tel: (619) 220 5422.
Website: www.parks.ca.gov
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800 (some shops and cafes are open until 2100).

USS Midway Museum
In 2004 the longest-serving aircraft carrier in history was turned into a museum. The venerable USS Midway was commissioned in 1945 and served as a flagship during Desert Storm as late as 1992. More than 225,000 Americans served on her. The vessel is now a highly popular attraction offering a self-guided audio tour, a wide range of exhibits and displays, access to the mess deck, berthing spaces, hangar deck, flight deck and island superstructure, Mach Combat F-8 and F-4 phantom flight simulators and flight stations, flight avionics motion simulators and 15 restored aircraft, among other things.

910 North Harbor Drive
Tel: (619) 544 9600.
Website: www.midway.org
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700.
Admission charge.