Music may be the food of love, but Balboa Park also has plenty for those with a love of food. For a posh nosh head to the Sculpture Garden Café at the San Diego Museum of Art or tuck into Mediterranean fare at the uber-swanky Prado Restaurant. More modest fare may be found in snack bars dotted around the park. But for something different, try the Japanese Friendship Garden's Tea Pavilion. Here, you can tuck into sushi and down Darjeeling while observing Schwarzenegger-sized hornets dive-bomb wild flowers in the nearby canyon.
For green-fingered visitors, Balboa is blooming brilliant. Horticultural highlights include one of the world's premier rose gardens, an oasis containing over 250 palm trees and a desert garden with succulents from all over the world. A blaze of colour greets visitors to the Alcazar Gardens, while the striking Botanical Building houses over 2000 tropical plants. And if all that doesn't sate your passion for plants, don't forget the botanical pleasureland that is San Diego Zoo.
The world-famous zoo occupies 100 acres of Balboa Park and can easily occupy all of your time. Here you can marvel at the meerkats and peer at the pandas in startling replicas of their natural habitats. One moment you're in the Antarctic, the next it's a tropical rainforest. If it all gets too much for your feet, you can hop on to a double decker and watch the animal world go by. Alternatively, enjoy stunning views from the aerial cable car, hilariously named "the Skyfari." Nervous fliers know this better as "the sky-feary."
I never did uncover the mystery of the rabbit in the pram. But I do know I've never seen a more happy bunny. And why not? Balboa is a park for all seasons and a playground for all creatures, great and small. No matter how long their ears might be.
Article comments
1 - Tim from San Diego
Great article. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to San Diego. You have provided a nice overview of Balboa Park. I will point out two additional things for your readers - 1. If you are a golf lover, Balboa Park has a public course with nice views of downtown and Coronado Island. 2. If you love aviation, the Aerospace Museum is definitely worth a visit. San Diego was home to a lot of early aviation innovations because of its good weather and limited wind. Our airport is called Lindbergh Field because the Spirit of St. Louis was built here.
2 - Joanne Huspek
Great review. I haven't been there in decades, but I'm going back in a few weeks. What amazed me the first visit was that it was so "California." My daughter is going to school on the Left Coast, and so the visit. I'll be sure to check it out again.
3 - OutsiseTemtes
Definately will not go to Vilamoura anymore, 6 Hour rounds of Golf and 4.5 Euros for a beer, we will stay clear of the Vilamoura golf courses this year, and the so called free shuttle bus turns up if you are lucky.