Do San Diego, California museums have days set aside for free admission?

Admittance is free to the Park grounds, Botanical Building, outdoor gardens, and some attractions. Admission charges vary at the other cultural attractions. The Balboa Park Visitors Center is located at 1549 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101.

It is open daily from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, and closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. If you're planning to visit many of the Park's museums, purchase a Passport to Balboa Park at the Visitors Center or at any of the participating museums. It provides admission to 14 museums within a seven day period from the date of purchase, at a savings of more than 50% off the usual entrance price and the convenience of a one-time purchase.

The Zoo/Passport Combo includes the Passport to Balboa Park plus one-day deluxe admission at the San Diego Zoo, all for one low price. Or, try their Stay-for-the-Day pass, where you can choose any 5 of 14 participating attractions (Zoo not included), for only $39. This pass is available online, at the Visitors Center or at the MTS Transit store downtown.

City leaders designated a large track of land for public recreational use in 1835, making it one of the oldest such sites in the United States. No further activity took place until 1868 when 1,400 acres of that land were set aside for a large city park. In 1870, the state legislature passed a law stating that the lands would be held in trust for a park forever.

For many years, there was little development of "city park" as it was then known. A high school, which later became San Diego High School, was built and several gardens were created by various private groups. Then in 1892, local horticulturist and botanist Kate Sessions leased 36 acres for a nursery.

In exchange for using the land, she agreed that the nursery would be open to the public, and that she would donate hundreds of trees and plants to the city every year for its beautification. Sessions, who would become known as "the mother of Balboa Park," is credited with bringing in many of the different varieties of native and exotic plants to the park, and many of her original trees are alive and visible today. In 1910, with preparations already underway to hold an expo to coincide with the opening of the Panama Canal, the park was named for the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to cross Central America and see the Pacific Ocean.

A number of the buildings as well as much of the present-day look and feel of the park can be attributed to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Built in the Spanish Colonial-revival style, it was the first time that this highly ornamental style had been used in the United States. Scheduled to last only one year, the 1915 Expo was extended for a second year, and more than 3.7 million visitors came to the expo during its run.

Twenty years later, San Diego hosted the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition to boost the local economy during the depression and additional structures and landscaping were added to the park, including the Old Globe Theatre, International Cottages, and Spanish Village, all of which are still in use today. In 1977, Balboa Park, and historic Exposition buildings from 1915 and 1935, were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. As of this writing, plans are in progress for a year-long celebration of the centennial of the 1915–16 exposition, called the Balboa Park 2015 Celebration.