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TIMKEN MUSEUM OF ART

Don’t skip the Timken. Distinctive for not being in imitation Spanish style, this museum (Map; 619-239-5548; www.timkenmuseum.org; 1500 El Prado; admission free; 10am-4:30pm Tue-Sat, from 1:30 Sun, closed Sep), built in 1965, houses the Putnam collection, a small but impressive group of paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco, Cézanne and Pissarro. There’s also a wonderful selection of Russian icons.

BOTANICAL BUILDING

The Botanical Building (Map; admission free; Fri-Wed) looks lovely from El Prado, where you can see it reflected in the large lily pond that was used for hydrotherapy in WWII when the Navy took over the park. The building’s central dome and two wings are covered with redwood lathes, which let filtered sunlight into the collection of tropical plants and ferns. The planting changes every season; in December there’s a particularly beautiful poinsettia display.

CASA DEL PRADO

This is one of the most handsome buildings along El Prado. Rebuilt after an earthquake, it now stages theater and dance performances.

CASA DE BALBOA

Dating from the 1915 exhibition, this building house three museums.

The Museum of Photographic Arts (Map; 619-238-7559; www.mopa.org; adult/student & senior/child $6/4/free; 10am-5pm, to 9pm Thu) has some 7000 photos in its permanent collection, tracing the history of photography, and special exhibits from crowd-pleasing landscapes by Ansel Adams to avant-garde cell-phone photography.

The San Diego Historical Society operates the Museum of San Diego History (Map; 619-232-6203; www.sandiegohistory.org; adult/child/student & senior $5/2/4), covering the American period of San Diego from about 1848.

Your (inner) four-year-old boy will love the Model Railroad Museum (Map; 619-696-0199; www.sdmrm.org; adult/student/senior $6/3/5; 11am-4pm Tue-Fri, 11am-5pm Sat & Sun; ), one of the largest in the world. It has some 40,000 sq ft of amazingly landscaped working models of actual Southern California railroads, both historical and contemporary.

REUBEN H FLEET SPACE THEATER & SCIENCE CENTER

One of Balboa Park’s most publicized venues, this hands-on science museum (Map; 619-238-1233; www.rhfleet.org; adult/child & senior $7/6.25; from 9:30am; ) features interactive displays (though with less flash and dazzle than at others you may have visited) and a toddler room. The big draw is the huge-screen IMAX theater (adult/child incl Science Center $11.75/9.75, Fri night $7, additional films $4; 11am to close of museum; ), which screens several different films each day. The hemispherical, wraparound screen and 152-speaker state-of-the-art sound system create sensations ranging from pretty cool to mind-blowing. Comet Impact ($4) is a motion simulator ride through space.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

The original 1933 building by William Templeton Johnson has been renovated into a museum (Map; 619-232-3821; www.sdnhm.org; adult/child/student/senior $9/4/6/7; 10am-5pm; ) with beautiful spaces and a giant-screen cinema. Feature movies change but always focus on the natural world; kids love them. The museum houses 7.5 million specimens, including rocks, fossils and taxidermy animals, as well as an impressive dinosaur skeleton and a California fault-line exhibit. Children’s programs are held most weekends. The museum also arranges field trips and nature walks in Balboa Park and further afield.

SPANISH VILLAGE ART CENTER

Behind the Natural History Museum is a grassy square with a magnificent Moreton Bay fig tree (sorry, no climbing). Opposite the square stand there’s an enclave of small tiled cottages (billed by park authorities as ‘an authentic reproduction of an ancient village in Spain’) that are rented out as artists’ studios (Map; 619-233-9050; admission free; 11am-4pm), where you can watch potters, jewelers, glass blowers, painters and sculptors churn out their crafts. North of the Spanish Village there’s a 1924 carousel (Map; 619-239-0512; admission $2; 11am-5:30pm