List of free things to do in San Diego:
1. San Diego Beaches: At the heart of the Southern California lifestyle is a day at the beach. With San Diego’s miles of shoreline with wide stretches of sandy shoreline, much of it nestled under majestic cliffs, hitting the beach has been elevated to an art form.
2. See a concert in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion: Concerts in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion are also always free. Check out the free Sunday afternoon organ concerts from June to August from 2 to 3 p.m. The Spreckels Organ Pavilion also hosts the Summer International Organ Festival, with free concerts on Mondays at 7:30 pm during the summer months.
3. Take a free tour of Balboa Park: Balboa Park also offers four free tours of the park, which depart in front of the visitor center. The architectural heritage tours are scheduled on the first Wednesday of each month at 9:30 am. Offshoot tours are scheduled every Saturday at 10:00 am and are led by trained volunteers. Tour topics include the history of Balboa Park (first Saturday of the month), palm trees (second Saturday), other trees in the park (third Saturday), desert vegetation (fourth Saturday), and tour of the day (fifth Saturday).
4. San Diego Zoo: The San Diego Zoo is free to everyone the first Monday in October for Founders Day, and kids 12 and under are free every day during October!
5. Museums in Balboa Park: All the museums in Balboa Park are free to the public on a Tuesday of every month! The La Raza Cultural Center, the Natural History Museum, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the Model Railroad Museum are free on the first Tuesday. The Museum of Photographic Arts and the San Diego Museum of History are free on the second Tuesday. The Museum of Art, the Museum of Man, the Mingei International Museum, the Japanese Friendship Garden and the Museum of the Living Artist of the Art Institute are free on the third Tuesday. The Air and Space Museum, the Automobile Museum and the Hall of Champions Sports Museum are free on the fourth Tuesday.
6. Olympic Training Center: Visitors enjoy a bird’s eye view of the campus from the Olympic Trail, where they can see the training fields and tracks, the athletes’ dormitories, and the Lake Otay Reservoir. Free tours are offered daily starting at the Copley Visitor Center. You can buy Olympic souvenirs (and support athletes) at the Olympic Spirit Store.
7. Reuben H. Fleet Science Center – On the first Wednesday of each month, the San Diego Astronomy Association installs telescopes at the Rueben H Fleet Science Center to give guests a great (and free!) View of our solar system .
8. Summer Concerts: Free Summer Concerts include Chula Vista Music in the Park, Coronado Summer Concerts in the Park, Del Mar Summer Concert Series, Encinitas Sunday Concerts by the Sea, Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay, International Summer Organ Festival, La Jolla Concerts By The Sea, Pacific Beach Concerts on the Green, Point Loma Summer Concert Series, Seaport Village Concerts, TGIF Jazz in the Park and Viejas Concerts in the Park.
9. Timken Museum of Art: The Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park is an unusual display of works of art from the collection of two sisters, Anne R. and Amy Putnam. The Putnam sisters, who came to San Diego in the early 1900s from Vermont, spent decades acquiring paintings by old European masters. Initially, these paintings were loaned to prestigious museums across the country, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the National Gallery in Washington, DC; and the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University.
10. Seaport Village: Seaport Village along the Embarcadero includes 14 oceanfront acres that recreate a historic harbor setting, combined with a modern landscape that includes ponds, lakes and fountains. A great place to dine, shop, and party – in addition to just strolling its cobbled walkways, the resort includes 54 unique shops, 13 casual restaurants, and four elegant waterfront restaurants.
11. Old Town – Along the San Diego River is Old Town, the birthplace of San Diego, and the adjacent Mission Valley, a major commercial center and the location of Qualcomm Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers, and the Mission San Diego de Alcala. , the oldest of the California missions. Also, San Diego State University is located here.
12. Gaslamp Quarter – No visit to San Diego should be done without visiting the Gaslamp Quarter, the historic downtown neighborhood, now home to many of the best restaurants in the city, a plethora of pubs and clubs, theaters, galleries and al less than 100 retail stores, not to mention the contrivances of everyday life, offices, and residential / work lofts, many of them housed in a grand Victorian-era building.