Balboa Park Resident Free Tuesdays

For me, every summer is a great opportunity to spend lots of quality time with my family. The busyness of the school year has all too wrapped up with routines where summer allows us to just take each day at a time!

One of the highlights for me each summer is the Resident Free Tuesdays at Balboa Park. The museums rotate Tuesdays to offer free admission to San Diego residents. Being a family of four, enjoying the museums at Balboa Park can get pricey, but thanks to the resident free Tuesdays, we're able to enjoy what Balboa Park has to offer at no cost.




Here is the schedule for the free Tuesdays at Balboa Park:

First Tuesday

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

Centro Cultural de la Raza

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

San Diego Natural History Museum (Not valid for 3-D films)

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.


Second Tuesday

Museum of Photographic Arts

San Diego History Center

Veterans’ Museum and Memorial Center

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.


Third Tuesday

San Diego Art Institute

Mingei International Museum

San Diego Museum of Art

San Diego Museum of Man

Japanese Friendship Garden

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.


Fourth Tuesday

San Diego Air & Space Museum (Not valid for special exhibitions)

San Diego Automotive Museum (Last admission 3:45pm)

San Diego Hall of Champions

SELECT House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.


During our last visit, we started off at the Museum of Art. My 6 year old Jelo took his iPad in hopes to take pictures inside the museum, but photos were not allowed. The art arranged by time period and geographical location helped me talk about the art pieces with my boys. There were even a few exhibits that had children's picture books that coincided with the theme of the paintings. I enjoyed reading those books to my boys! You can see Jelo and DJ's blog post about their visit here. Here are my two boys after the visit at the Museum of Art enjoying a snack!



Our next stop was the Japanese Friendship Garden. It was such a nice day, the visit to the garden was perfect. Here is Jelo enjoying the scenery!



The friendship garden also had crafts for kids so my boys jumped right in!



Here are some samurai hats my boys made!



Before heading home, we enjoyed a picnic lunch under a tree nearby!


Resident Free Tuesdays at Balboa Park can get crowded and parking can get tough. Museums open at 10AM so we try to get into the parking lots by 9:30AM. The museums aren't too busy when they first open.

We were able to visit two museums, have a picnic lunch, and get home in time for an awesome nap (another one of my summer favorites)!

We hope you''ll enjoy Balboa Park's Resident Free Tuesdays too!