One of the largest, most diverse and most celebrated zoological parks in the world, the San Diego Zoo occupies 100 acres of lushly landscaped hillsides and ravines at the northern end of Balboa Park. Some 4,000 animals represent 800 different species..

San Diego's cultural focal point is a 1,200-acre park rising immediately to the north of downtown. Velvet lawns, lush gardens and century-old shade trees harbor a world-renowned zoo, outdoor and indoor performance spaces, and a wealth of diverse muse..

The white and blue ring-shaped Art Moderne structure (1935), formerly called the Ford Building, housed a demonstration automobile assembly line for the California Pacific Exposition. The Aerospace Museum has been here since 1980.Dedicated to chronicl..

Born out a Smithsonian Institution exhibit in the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, the museum now has a collection of more than 70,000 objects, arranged to explore evolution, anthropology, ancient history and indigigenous cultures. The museum oc..

Sleekly clad in Italian travertine marble, the compact, single-story museum (1965, Frank Hope) displays in its six galleries and rotunda the Putnam Foundation Collection, a trove of art spanning 600 years, as well as high-qualty traveling exhibitions..

A broad plaza surrounded by restored adobe and wood structures marks the original heart of San Diego, dating from the 1820s. Situated at the foot of Presidio Hill, it became known as Old Town when it was eclipsed by the development of waterfront New ..

Situated in attractive Mission Bay Park, this waterfront attraction mixes entertainment and education in a venue designed to heighten awareness of conservation issues.The park had just four attractions when it opened in 1964 on a 22-acre site on the ..

Located on the crest of a sandstone ridge 400ft above the sea, this park at the southern tip of Point Loma commemorates the European exploration of the US Pacific coast in 1542 and preserves one of the oldest lighthouses on the West Coast. Juan Rodrí..

Downtown's stateliest hotel, this massive 11-story Italian Renaissance Revival structure (1910) faces Horton Plaza. In 1895 Fannie Grant, daughter-in-law of 18th US President Ulysses S. Grant, bought the Horton House Hotel that had occupied the site ..

This 30-story cluster of eight hexagonal glass office towers (1990, C.W. Kim) lights the downtown skyline by night with the glow of emerald-green neon. The complex includes the Wyndham Hotel, whose 100ft-high atrium is dominated by a hanging green gl..

With its twisting and turning passageways, multiple ramps and stairways, crazy quilt of architectural styles and dazzling palette of more than 49 pastel colors, the open-air, multilevel, post-Modern shopping center (1985, Jon Jerde) is deliberately d..

Three historic ships, two replicas, a submarine and their onboard exhibits form the core of a museum dedicated to the city's maritime history. The highlight of the collection is the Star of India. Launched as the British full-rigged ship Euterpe on N..

The museum is building a state-of-the-art new facility in San Diego's marina district. Projected date of completion is fall 2007.

Regal bay windows front San Diego's oldest Victorian-era hotel (1886), named after influential developer Alonzo Horton. Restored in 1981, the structure combines two hotels that were dismantled from their original sites in the downtown area and reloca..

Hugging the harbor within sight of the downtown skyline, this popular, 14-acre complex of one- and two-story New England- and Mediterranean-style buildings connected by cobblestone pathways unites gift shops, restaurants and a waterside boardwalk. Th..

With its open-air rooftop plaza surmounted by a giant white tent, this waterfront convention center resembles a futuristic sailing ship docked on its 11-acre site beside San Diego Bay. Inaugurated in 1990, the convention center more than doubled its ..

This folk art museum occupies six galleries on two levels of a building known since 1934 as the House of Charm. Mingei, a term by scholar Soetsu Yanagi, combines the Japanese words for people (min) and art (gei). Changing exhibits of traditional and ..

The collection here totals more than 12,000 objects, with particular strengths in Renaissance, Baroque, Asian and American art. It's housed in a 1926 building in Balboa Park. The elaborate Plateresque facade of the building was inspired by the entry ..

Expanded fourfold in 2000, this museum has reinvented itself with vast exhibition galleries, a 228-seat theater, and a learning center with a photo library. The permanent collection of 4,000 19C-20C works features Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Margaret..

Erected in 1887, this elaborate mansion was commissioned by wealthy city residents for Jesse Shepard, a popular musician, spiritualist and author who was persuaded to remain in San Diego by the promise of a great home in which to perform and hold sal..