Maritime Museum of San Diego in Imperial Beach

We went to spend a couple of hours looking around the Museum. We ended up being there 5 hours with a 30 minute lunch stop. For 30 dollars senior rate which includes a 45 minute harbour tour on an old PT boat from the 70s. The docents were fantastic and all of the volunteers dedicated. Highly recommend it.

My son and I had a great time on the tour. Friendly and knowledgable staff. An excellent interactive sailing tour on a beautiful day at the harbor. All that was missing was an antique maritime WHISTLE! I would have left 5 star..

Ive been before, but I think theyve added a few things since then. I really wanted to get back on the HMS Surprise, but its closed for renovations. I did get on the other ships though, and the sub. I quite liked the San Salvador. It wasnt busy then, and I just hung out on the upper deck and soaked it in. I would recomend the whole experince. You feel like you get your 20 bucks worth.

The Swift boat tour was excellent and highly recommended! For a few dollars extra you get a 75min tour of San Diego harbor with docents explaining the navy ships you see in the harbor. I consider this a must see in San Diego!

Lots of interesting info. Tour different ships and a submarine. Definitely worth an hour or 2 of your time.

Very cool place. You could spend 4 or 5 hours there. Definitely get a boat tour. Check ahead to see if the gift shop is open. It was closed when we were there. Parking can be tough, but its San Diego, so be patient. The museum is mostly on the ferry and the other boats you are free to explore. Well worth it if youre in the area.

Model boats, sea "monsters" ... many ships and a submarine! Definitely worth the small entry price. We watched the tour pirate ship set sail and it was entertaining for sure.

This was an amazing museum with so much history. We added this to our San Diego CityPass. We got there at opening and there was no line and no crowd. The adults and kids enjoyed exploring the different ships and learning the history of the old ships and life living in them. Some of these boats are still active boats and events can even be planned on some of them. Its in a beautiful location right in the heart of San Diego Harbor. We added the harbor tour onto our tickets and were able to take a tour on an old Military boat. 🪖It was great learning of the history of the Harbor and the boat right from a real Vietnam Navy boat. We even had the Navy wave at us and people waving from the USS Midway. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and nice.I highly recommend the Maritime Museum and the added Harbor tour on you San Diego adventure.

So many amazing ships to explore. I had such a wonderful time, the workers are all so nice, and all of the vessels are taken very good care of. If youre visiting, or just never been and want to see some really cool things definitely go.

This a great value! There are 5 or 6 different vessels to explore for one ticket price. A whaling ship, a paddle boat, submarine, galleon, swift boat.

Ive been going to this museum since I was a little kid and it never disappoints, The lady in the gift shop was very nice and gave us a return ticket to go on the swift boat ride the next day because there wasnt enough people to go on the current day. Highly recommend this place.

This is one of the smaller maritime museums I have seen but it tells a number of varied and fascinating stories about San Diego’s maritime history and is well worth a visit.

Great museum for the price. You get to see multiple ships and theyre all fascinating. Totally worth the visit. The submarine and the Star of India were our favorites. Prepare to spend at least half a day.

We visit the Maritime Museum on our annual visit to San Diego. The ship tours never grow old. And I have a great connection to the museum, having served on the Pilgrim during the Tall Ships Festival. LOL I used the showers on the HMS Surprise after getting a little dodgy on the tall ship cruise. The gift shop always has some cool stuff... and the harbor tour is one of the best for a great price. I highly recommend a visit when you are in San Diego.

Really cool place to visit. The steam boat had a ton of stuff to see. Kids will be impressed with how much of the boat they can walk through and explore.

This is quite a remarkable little museum, run by volunteers. You should not expect the most modern displays or digitally enhanced options but everything is in top condition and we can see the volunteers doing maintenance on the ships all the time. Plan on spending about 90 minutes here exploring the different ships, which give you access to a variety of decks and information. Street parking is somewhat easy nearby.

Great museum to learn history and spend the afternoon! I definitely recommended the 45 min tour on their awesome historical 80 yr. Old boat! We had a great tour guide and spend 45 minutes on the San diego bay

Is great museum you can explore and learn how was life on the sea. Its grate for the entire family

Travel is about experiences. In the case of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, its about the past, the present, and even the future. We visited the museum last month as a visit here will be a part of our new San Diego group travel experience. As we are a nautical- and ocean-focused company, spending time at the Museum is just a must-do when in San Diego.The indoor museum space is replete with nautical and ship history, old equipment, ship models, and truly invaluable knowledge concerning nautical history. However, our favorite part of the Museum was exploring the collection of ships. Tall ships are our thing, so the Californian, San Salvador, and Star of India were particularly enjoyable. We are looking forward to bringing groups to the Museum to enjoy sails on the Californian.In summary, the Museum is a wonderful part of the San Diego community and we look forward to supporting their efforts in the future.

Nice museum, can easily spend 1 hour here. Make sure you sign up for the 45-min bay cruise guided tour. The narrator we got was amazing!

Great museum with a lot of replicas and cool boats to see. Definitely worth spending extra to get the tours on the water and see the other boats docked at sea. The best part is it was mainly fully staffed by veterans who were in combat and even who piloted the boats that your able to sail on.

This is a must visit if you ever spent your youth dreaming you were a sailor or a pirate. Exploring the Star of India was incredible! Each exhibit contained neat areas to explore and helpful information about the ships and sailing traditions of the past. The submarine is also a big standout!

Very interesting to see the different ships through different time periods. It was fun to go in ships and the submarine.Can see layout being confusing for some. Most ships are well preserved, one was dry docked.Lots of parking out front that is pay per spot. ( We parked at Midway hit that in am and walked herehint if you buy online Midway tickets you save $5 a person at Maritime museum admission.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego is a real treasure for people with an interest in history, sailing, tall ships, and life prior to the 20th Century (for the most part). My primary interest is in the tall ships, which include The Californian, San Salvador, and Star of India. All three are beautiful ships representing their era and its always fun to climb onboard, explore, and imagine life on the sea on these ships. The Californian still goes on cruises in San Diego Bay, too. There is also a steamship and a submarine (USS Dolphinthat represent more recent times, but are just as fascinating. All of these ships remind us of humanitys rich heritage on the sea and its important for everyone to learn about this, remember this, and continue these traditions into the future. People can buy a day pass or buy a memberships, the latter which offers a variety of perks depending on your level of membership.

Lots of interesting ships to explore in this museum. A few are undergoing renovations but most are open for the public to climb through as part of the tour.

Really cool ships and boats. It also has a military discount.

The Maritime Museum of SD was amazing. My 10 year old had so much fun. It took us 5 hours to walk trough all the ships and my son was never bored. It was an amazing experience. The tickets were 20 dll per adult and 10 per child. Not expensive at all. And when we were done I took my son to a very nice park infront of the museum. Beautiful boats,ships, submarine with a lot of history. I will defenitely return!

You must go and pay extra for the Swift boat tour. Its great for families and the elderly. The tours would be harder for a elderly person to get on and off the boats but not the Swift boat tour. Park at the USS Midway. Its a small walk but not bad considering the price for parking is better with a 12 hour time limit. My 2 teenage boys love it.

Well worth the tour. I will definitely be back as there is so much information to take in. We just didnt have time to read everything!

My family had a wonderful time at the Maritime Museum. Not too many people, lots of interesting facts, maps, models, stories, and more. We saw the Star of India, the S.S. Dolphin, and a few others. The H.M.S. Surprise was unfortunately closed for repairs, but we still greatly enjoyed our visit!

My Wife and I did the tour and I’m here to tell you it was wonderful. Multiple ships to see and explore including a Submarine.We also took the Harbor Pilot Boat tour and it was outstanding our Tour-guide was Kiki and she made the experience fun as well as educational.When visiting San Diego this is a must see!!

If youre visiting the San Diego Harbor I highly recommend the Maritime Museum with the addition of the PT Naval Swift Boat. The Swift boat takes you further into the harbor for 90 minutes where the shipyards are and you get a history of each ship as you pass them. My BF and I had SO MUCH FUN, as the crew told their Vietnam stories and interacted with us. This tour is the best deal on the harbor as far as boat tours, in my opinion.Note: The Swift Boat only runs on weekends and sells out fast- buy in advance. You cannot purchase tickets separately- must buy museum ticket + the swift boat tour.

Excelente, very well kept, clean. Each ship is kept in the condition of its time, lots of educational resources. My grandbabies and all of us enjoyed it very much.

I had no idea this was so huge. I just thought it was the star of India so I previously had no interest in going inside. Boy am I glad we finally did. Not only are there several historical boats to see, as well as a submarine, there are also scale models of basically the whole off maritime history. The gallery is so well done and fun to peruse. Its a little worse for wear in some areas, but overall well worth the time and money spent!

This place is unbelievable! I loved being inside the submarine. I got that checked off my bucket list. My kids loved this experience and the history documented within.

A great time to spend 3 hours in San Diego. You can visit all the ships for one price.

Really cool museum. Great for families. You can go on the worlds deepest diving submarine. Its really cool I highly recommend it. If you missed the Oscar class Soviet submarine. Heres a good picture of the torpedo room.

The Maritime Museum was a great place to spend a couple hours with some good friends. You get to step on historical vessels at every level: a pirate ship used on pirates of the caribbean, a submarine, and more. Each vessel is staged with props and information.

Get the swift boat ride, it is incredible. Also, this is an amazing collection of model ships, the largest i have ever seen. All the boats are great depictions of history. Highly recommended, along with all the water front.

We came to see the pirate show "Boarded" aboard the San Salvador! It was a great show for a day in the of a pirate! Also cruising around the bay on a Galeon was quite a treat. Pirate lover or not this is a great voyage and fun time for the whole family.

We went for the parade of lights. The boats at the museum are incredibly well taken care of and the staff was more then pleasant to be around. The parade or lights dinner was…okay. Great portions. Would recommend if you have the time. Submarine was incredible and my kids loved it.

What a great place to check out with so much to see! Lots and lots of history to tour. I wish I wouldve added on the boat tour, maybe next time;)

Great collection of ships of all types. Also took the Bay cruise aboard the pilot for an extra $15.00 for 45 minutes. Highly recommend.

Do yourself a favor and spend the extra $10 for the boat ride / harbor tour. Really neat to see the old maritime vessels but the best part of the experience was the guided harbor tour.

We had such a great time at this museum on the water, so much history of the ships, their time in history, how ships were used to discover new land in Pacific and going up and down the coast of California, very very interesting! You have to go here. We were a few hours going through all three ships, the steam boat and the submarine.If you dont get to go through all of them, they are really kind and will time stamp your receipt, so you can come back on another day during your trip to finish. I highly recommend this! Also park at the pier by the MIDWAY. Its only 10 dollars for 12 hours, whereas other parking is more money for less time.

Amazing artifacts from the old maritime history of US. I particular recommend the Pilot Ship Cruise, it is an add on to the museum entry fee but it is well worth. Crew member Kiki does explain in a joyful and knowledgeable way all the nitty gritty details of the history of the San Diego bay. Do not miss the bell-like arcs of the San Diego bridge and the view of the US Midway. Godspeed!

It is a beautiful museum featuring sailing and seamanship history: beautiful replicas and original ships, boats, and submarines.I’d say we had the best time in San Diego while visiting this museum.My eighth years old son liked it a lot.Remember to bring sunscreen, hats or caps, and lots of questions to the volunteers and the museum crew.

Maritime museum is simply an awesome place to visit! Many ships here to see and experience, you can board them, walk around, read about their history and get a feel for what life was like for the people that operated, lived, worked, or fought upon them was like. Very eye opening and worth the visit. The Russian nuclear submarine sadly was damaged and is currently closed and is one of my favorite attractions here so hopefully theyll be able to restore and reopen in the future but still very worth it.

I have been coming here since I was a kid. I absolutely love this place and so does my husband. It is so awesome to walk on such immaculately cared for sailing vessels. The Star of India is always the show stealer for me given her incredible history. Its cool to put in to perspective how our ancestors used to travel. They even have a movie ship used in Master Commander Far Side of the World. Both the pilot boat bay tour and the Vietnam boat tours are awesome, reasonably priced, and super informative.

This museum is great. If your fan of sailing history this is a place to go. I would recommend parking close to it as the meters max at 3 hours. But otherwise go see the deepest diving sub and HMS Surprise the latter being used in two movies but built to Admiralty drawings of a sixth rate vessel. They also offer tours on pilot boat and a Navy PCR.