Balboa Park 

Balboa Park (San Diego, USA): detailed description, address and photo. Opportunities for sports and recreation, infrastructure, cafes and restaurants in the park. Reviews of tourists.

Balboa Park is a giant (490 hectare) urban cultural park in San Diego, full of recreational areas, natural greenery, flower beds, gardens, paths and numerous cultural sites. It houses several museums and theaters, as well as the world famous San Diego Zoo. In addition, the park has several outdoor activities, sports and restaurants. To be honest, if you seriously set yourself the goal of examining everything that is here, in its entirety, then a week will not be enough.

The area occupied by the park was allocated for it in 1835, making it one of the oldest public parks in the United States. The park got its name in honor of the Spanish navigator and explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa. In 1977, the park itself and the historic buildings that were built in it for the Panama-California exhibition in 1915-1916. and the exhibition “California Pacific International” 1935-1936, were declared a landmark district of national importance.

To be honest, if you seriously set yourself the goal of examining everything that is here, in its entirety, then a week will not be enough.

Balboa Park is considered one of the main attractions not only of the city, but of the entire region. Many old and sometimes rare plants can be seen here, many of which were planted by the famous American landscape designer, botanist and gardener Keith Sessions.

El Prado, a long, wide boulevard with a promenade, runs through the center of the park. Most of the buildings that adorn it were built in the style of the Spanish Colonial Revival. It is on El Prado that most of the park’s museums and cultural centers are located. In addition, there is the Reflection pond and a beautiful fountain.

Even if you just list everything that is in this park, without going into details, you get an impressive paragraph. There is a Botanical Garden, Japanese Friendship Garden, Old 1935 Cactus Garden, Alcazar Garden, Australian Garden, California National Plant Garden, Casa del Rey Moro Garden, George Washington Children’s Ethnobotanical Garden, Desert Garden, Florida Canyon National Plant Sanctuary , Ines Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, Marston House Garden, Palm Canyon, Health Plant Garden, Veterans Memorial Garden, and Zoro Garden.

The list of museums in Balboa Park is hardly less impressive than the list of gardens. It houses the Aerospace Museum, Museum of Art, Automobile Museum, Hall of Champions, Natural History Museum, Museum of Photography, Timken Art Museum, Veterans Museum, George Washington Marston House Memorial Estate, Museum of Living Artists, Museum of Man in San Diego, Railway Museum Modeling in San Diego, Mingey International Museum, De la Raza Cultural Center, Ruben Fleet Science Center and San Diego Historic Center.

Finally, on top of all of the above, the park houses the San Diego Zoo, Old Globe Theater, Mary Hitchcock Puppet Theater, Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Starlight Open Air Theater, Balboa Stadium, WorldBeat Cultural Center, Carousel and a children’s railway.

The Spreckels organ pavilion was built for the 1915 exhibition, and in 2002 its organ was last enlarged, so that now it has more than 4,500 pipes. Every Sunday, the pavilion hosts free organ concerts, and on Monday evenings during the summer, the pavilion hosts the Spreckels Summer International Organ Festival.

Practical information

The park is almost square and is located in the very center of the city. It is adjacent to Sixth Avenue in the west, Apas Street in the north, 28th Street in the east, and Russ Boulevard in the south. Balboa Park is so large that several freeways run through it: for example, Highway 163 was laid through Cabrillo Canyon in 1948 (it goes under the Cabrillo Bridge) – and this section of the highway is considered one of the most beautiful park roads in the state. The main entrance to the park is located on the Cabrillo Bridge.

In addition, a section of Interstate 5 runs through the park.

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