This February in San Diego County is Museum Month. The San Diego Museum Council is offering patrons Museum Month Passes at half-off to over 40 museums. Passes are available at any Macy’s store beginning Feb. 1 in San Diego, Temecula, and Imperial Valley. 

If you’re interested in upping your art game and visiting some museums but don’t know which ones are worth it, Neighborhoods.com has you covered. We’ve already outlined our picks for the best art museums to see. Now we’ve compiled our picks for the best “non-art” museums in the San Diego area worth checking out.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps 

Photo courtesy of Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Located on a bluff in La Jolla, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps offers views of the Pacific Ocean and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus. Inside, it hosts more than 5,000 fish in over 60 habitats, three outdoor tide pools, and more than 60 tanks containing coral reefs, sharks, jellyfish, and other marine life. Current exhibits include the bioluminescent Infinity Cube, the shark-focused ElasmoBeach, and There’s Something About Seahorses.

Normally, this museum charges $18.50, but adult admission in February is $9.25 for those with a pass.

Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego

Photo courtesy of Japanese Friendship Garden of San Diego

Located in Balboa Park, the Japanese Friendship Garden (JFG) represents the partnership between Yokohama, Japan and San Diego. Situated on a 12-acre plot, it showcases Japanese culture with exhibits, festivals, educational programs, and accredited horticultural classes. Part of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, it’s known for its water features, moon viewing deck, stone arrangements, cherry blossom trees, koi ponds, and sukiya-style buildings and landscapes. The JFG has a permanent bonsai and koi collection as part of their exhibits. Their most recent exhibits include Creativity and Joy: The Dance of the Brush by Jean Shen and intrinsic. matter. by Sammy Seung-min Lee and Kaza Oba.

With your pass, adult admission is $5 for the garden and $10 for the garden and special exhibits.

Water Conservation Garden

Photo courtesy of Water Conservation Garden

In El Cajon, you’ll find the five-acre botanical garden that makes up the Water Conservation Garden (WCG). It offers weekend gardening workshops, a youth education program, tours, gardening festivals, and more. Their mission is to “inspire positive change in the living environment through the conservation of water and other natural resources.”

WCG’s exhibits are full of water-smart gardening for the Southern California region. They have plants from California, Chile, the Mediterranean, South Africa, and Australia. Their exhibits include a butterfly pavilion, succulent and cactus garden, native habitat garden, a water-wise victory garden, mulch exhibit, sensory garden, and more.

Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum and Foundation

Photo courtesy of Cdydatzigs

Located at the Marine Corps Air Station near Mira Mesa, the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is the sole museum dedicated to preserving the contributions made by aviators from the Marine Corps and their ground support personnel. It has hundreds of artifacts from World War I to today, and 27 aircrafts on display. An exhibit worth spending some time with is the Navajo Code Talkers. 

The museum was already free to begin with so you don’t even need the pass to check it out, but we felt it warranted a mention anyways.

Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum

Photo by Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum

Located in Carlsbad, the Craftsmanship Museum displays objects carefully crafted of wood and metal. The museum has approximately 500 working miniature engines of all types: airplanes, architecture, automobiles, engines, and machines. They also have a machine shop that features craftsmen at work, showing visitors how all kinds of things are engineered.

Some of its latest additions include 16 new engines from the Paul Knapp collection, two Weir Stationary Boiler pumps from Wilhelm Huxhold, a Formula 1 race car, a Hudson erector set locomotive and tender, and a Stiletto Land Sailing Yacht.

Mingei International Museum

Photo courtesy of Mingei International Museum

The Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park is all about conserving and collecting folk art, crafts, and designs. It’s dedicated to displaying and teaching about the “art of the people” (mingei) from all cultures of the world. Their collections include creative works from renowned contemporary designers, as well as unknown craftsmen, in order to further their celebration of “every-day-ness” art.

Current exhibitions include Indonesian Shadow Puppets, Kantha—Recycled and Embroidered Textiles of Bengal, and Art of the Americas. Admission is just $5 for adults who have a pass.