6 things to do in San Diego when it rains

Rain is rare enough here that most visitor plans assume sunshine. This winter may be different: the site has been tracking a strong El Niño forecast (see Will it rain in San Diego this El Niño winter? and When does it rain in San Diego?). These six picks are genuinely indoors, or close to it, and the prices and closed days below come from each venue's own site.

1. USS Midway Museum

The hangar deck is the rainy-day core: restored WWII aircraft including an F4F Wildcat and SBD Dauntless, the Battle of Midway Theater's 15-minute film, flight simulators, and enlisted sailors' bunks you can lie down in. The museum suggests 4 to 5 hours and warns there are a lot of ladders. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, last admission 4 p.m. Navy Pier parking is $20 for up to six hours. The honest drawback: the flight deck, where most of the aircraft sit, is open to the weather, so save it for a break in the showers.

2–3. Fleet Science Center and The Nat, Balboa Park

Both are fully indoor and both are in Balboa Park, so one parking spot covers two museums (see how Balboa Park parking works right now). The Fleet Science Center is $21.95 for adults 13 and up, including one documentary in the Heikoff Giant Dome Theater, and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. The Nat (San Diego Natural History Museum) is $24.95 for adults, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and stays open until 11 p.m. on Fridays for Nat at Night, when adult tickets drop to $12.50 after 5 p.m. Balboa Park Explorer pass holders get into The Nat free. Residents should check free Tuesdays before paying.

4. Comic-Con Museum

Also in Balboa Park, at 2131 Pan American Plaza. Adults 18 and up pay $30. It's open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., last entry 4:30 p.m., and closed every Wednesday. That's the one closure on this list most likely to catch you out, so check the day before you go. Several other Balboa Park museums keep their own weekly closures; What's open on a Monday has the early-week picture.

5. Liberty Public Market

A covered food hall at 2820 Historic Decatur Road in Liberty Station, Point Loma, with more than two dozen vendors. It's open daily 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., though individual stalls set their own hours. No ticket, no reservation, and enough choice that a group can split up and meet back at a table. Drawback: on a wet weekend it's where everyone else had the same idea, so seats go fast at lunch. More in Liberty Station Public Market.

6. A Convoy food crawl

Kearny Mesa's Convoy District, officially designated the Convoy Asian Cultural District, is one of the largest pan-Asian business districts in the country, with Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and dim sum spots along Convoy Street and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Hot soup on a cold, wet day is the point. Every stop is indoors, but you're outside between them, and the strip-mall parking lots are not built for umbrellas. In heavy rain, drive between stops rather than walking. Start with Convoy District: what to know.