The Sofia Hotel’s a short bike ride from one of San Diego’s most happening landmarks: the big, beautiful, and exciting Balboa Park.

Balboa Park is the perfect place to stroll and relax on one of those warm, sun-kissed days we specialize in here in Southern California, but there’s also a dense concentration of world-class educational and entertainment centers. In Balboa Park, there’s always something going on!

The Park

Balboa Park’s a deeply special place for San Diegans: This rolling mesa has been set aside in one form or another for public enjoyment and recreation since the city’s earliest days. The modern park, formally established in 1868, really came of age leading up to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition: Many of its great landmarks, including the California Tower and the Botanical Building, stem from that event.

Special Exhibitions

Visitors of all ages will be delighted by Balboa Park’s lineup of special exhibits this season. Over at the San Diego Natural History Museum, for example there’s “Real Pirates,” co-presented by National Geographic: This one-of-a-kind showcase displays better than 200 relics from the wreck of the Whydah, a slave ship captured by the pirate Sam Bellamy and sunk by storm off Cape Cod in 1717. “Real Pirates” runs through mid-September.

There are also a slew of excellent offerings at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, including “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Weirder and Wackier Than Ever.” Come marvel at some of the odd and fantastical artifacts first compiled by the famous adventurer Robert Ripley, including such gems as a miniature sculpture of Buzz Aldrin contained within the eye of a needle.

Other Attractions

The natural history museum’s giant-screen theater will be showing several unforgettable educational films this summer that’ll have you on the edge of your seat, including “Great White Shark 3D” and “Dinosaurs Alive! 3D.”

How about taking the whole gang to Family Science Saturdays at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center? These fun, interactive presentations explore such subjects as DNA and the Golden Ratio.

You also won’t want to miss the Balboa Park audio tour, rentable at the visitor’s center, which takes you on a 1.5-hour journey through the site’s history, architecture, and landscaping.

The Sofia and Balboa Park: Match Made in Heaven

Get in touch with us today to book a beautiful room in the Sofia Hotel. You’ll be wonderfully close to Balboa Park’s many attractions—and you’ll never run out of things to do.