San Diego Natural History Museum

Address:	1788 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101, USA
Phone:	+1 619-232-3821
Site:	sdnhm.org
Rating:	4.3
Working:	10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM 10AM–5PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 11

Roger Parrish

The San Diego Natural History Museum is an outstanding example of just how to display and interpret the beautiful natural wonders that surround us all. Our family has been coming to this museum since my Mom was a teenager, my Wife and I were children, we brought our children and our grandchildren over the years. The Pendulum in the main lobby fascinated me as a child and still does, as it seeks to demonstrate the movement of the earth on its axis. Whales, sea lions and dinosaur bones are on display. Love this place! El Museo de Historia Natural de San Diego es un excelente ejemplo de cómo mostrar e interpretar las hermosas maravillas naturales que nos rodean. Nuestra familia ha estado viniendo a este museo desde que mi mamá era un adolescente, mi esposa y yo éramos niños, nos llevamos nuestros hijos y nuestros nietos lo largo de los años. El péndulo en el vestíbulo principal me fascinaba cuando era niño y todavía lo hace, ya que trata de demostrar el movimiento de la Tierra sobre su eje. Ballenas, leones marinos y huesos de dinosaurios están en exhibición. ¡Amo este lugar!

Ben Cheeseman

This is about their customer service: Went there on the 4th of July, since we were visiting San Diego (we live just north, in the Inland Empire), purchased the one-day multi-park explorer at the recommendation of staff (wanted to get the most for our money) as well as the Maya exhibit pass, which we were told we were getting a discount on (...and did not). The Maya exhibit is good, but overpriced. As for the rest, we visited other museums that day and found out that there is an annual family pass offered through Balboa Park for less money ($84 less) than we had paid and is good for a whole year! We were told that it would be easily exchanged, but we couldnt do it at the Air and Space Museum, only at the museum we originally purchased them at. OK. We went back, but we were told unceremoniously (and rudely) that isnt their policy. Tough luck. Nothing more. Wow. That doesnt sound like it should be the response of charitable organization for public education. Well, we decided cooler heads prevail, so we waited over the weekend and yesterday and called today. After several calls, we found out all of the museums are vendors of Balboa Park (a city park) and they cannot and will not do nothing about it; when we called the NAT, it just keeps going to voicemail (like 10 times!). This is not just unprofessional, but in bad faith. We visit San Diego frequently; we live in the next county over. We take our kids to museums; there is a treasure trove there. This just leaves a bad taste in our collective "mouths". Seems like bad policies, worse customer service, zero accountability, and greed win out...again. So excited to break it to my kids that we arent going back, despite what the other museums said about easily exchanging the passes for annual passes, because we got ripped-off. Stay classy, NAT! :(

A Private User

The Museum is sponsoring more and more exhibits geared solely to making money, such as Body Worlds. 60 Minutes did an excellent exposee on human plasticizers and these kinds of exhibits. While the museums and the companies displaying these bodies may be legitimate what is not legitimate is how the plasticizers originally obtained the human beings. There is some evidence that many if not all were executed Chinese prisoners. If so then they are being demeaned and objectified in the worst way possible. How could anyone with any sense of human decency support something like this? How would you like it if someone you loved were on display like this for everyone to be titillated by? Well, just seeing how acceptable Body Worlds is in this country shows that it could easily happen to anyone, in the future.

Corey Murphy

Great museum, a little pricey for a single visit. If youre a local just such it up and get a membership. You can also get a membership for multiple museums in the area, that is very with while. I took my 2 year old to see the King Tut exhibit. She was excited for exactly 5 minutes. The museum is kid friendly but i would recommend waiting until the kids are a bit older. Three most incredible find at the museum is Ms. Frizzles class. Thats right, Ms. Frizzle from Magic School bus comes in on the weekends and teaches different classes. My daughter has been watching the old series when we stumbled across this one. She pretty much lost her mind when she really got to net Ms. Frizzle.

Mary L

my review is about their customer service....I have been on the phone for a half hour trying since they open at 10 am to reach someone, anyone in either the membership, customer service and even the main number...all I got was a voice mail saying that they would try to get back to me in a 24 hour period. Most people who want to visit the museum or other programs and have questions call the day of their visit. No other agency I know has such poor customer service..not the zoo, wild animal park, Sea World...not even the other museums at Balboa Park. Whats up with that?

Chris Hoover

One of many of the available museums in Balboa Park. This ones concentration is natural history. The newest permanent display, Coast to Cactus, is very well done, and very informative. This museum, like the other museums in the park is not huge. It is quite possible to repair this museum with another museum during the same day. Its best to avoid this on the first Tuesday of the month. Each Tuesday a set of museums is free. This one is free on the first Tuesday, and is often very busy.

Nathan Hearns

Its a fantastic place to see exhibits that come into San Diego. Most of the exhibits are travelling one so you definitely should get up there and see. Just went and viewed the King Tut exhibit. So very interesting. Many of the pieces were replicas but the learning experience was full of knowledge. There are also a few interactive areas where you can get hands on and the 3D movie theater to see some amazing visual presentations. Just another great place at Balboa Park.

Carl Mape

This is good for 1-2 visits, but its not too exciting. The old Natural History Museum back in the mid-1990s had a "mine" you could go into, and a bunch of minerals and gems, including very cool fluorescent rocks that glowed in the dark. I dont know why they gutted it and got rid of that whole section? Some of the special exhibits are also lame, and have little to do with Natural History (like the Pirate exhibition in 2014).

DAVID HERNANDEZ

Educational: Yeah. Enough play area for kids: Not really. Did my kid have fun: Not really, but he did get excited to see dinosaur bones for about 2 seconds. Is it worth the cost: Not really. Also, it Sucks that main attraction is not part of the admission. I came to this place about 3 years ago and the general admission stuff is still the same... My kid had a little fun so it was okay.... I guess.

lior bikoveski

מדהים מדהים מדהים. הנגשה מעולה של המידע לכלל הציבור (ילדים, מבוגרים). בכל פינה מדריך. מוצגים מעולים! מיקום מדהים. שווה ביקור, לשמור לפחות שלוש שעות.

Jeremy Ross

My three-year-old had a blast. There arr several levels with some fun interactive opportunities. We had three adults, one toddler, and one infant. Made a lot more sense to get the $79 annual pass than to pay $67 for a single visit (the infant was free). The annual pass also includes free movies, whereas it would have been $5 extra per person with the single visit tickets.