Things To Do
A Weekend in Pasadena
Two days across the arroyo, Old Pasadena and the museum district.
By PasadenaCalifornia.com Editors · Published January 14, 2026 · 8 min read
How to spend forty-eight hours in Pasadena without spending them in the car.
This guide is assembled from the same underlying records that power the rest of the site — the neighborhood profiles, the directory listings and the attraction pages linked below. Rather than repeat that material here, the sections that follow point you to it in the order that makes sense on the ground.
Details change: hours, menus, ticketing and access are all worth confirming with the venue before you plan around them. Where an official source exists, we link to it directly.
Places in this guide
Museums
Norton Simon Museum
European, American and South and Southeast Asian art on Colorado Boulevard at the western edge of the city.
Architecture
The Gamble House
Greene and Greene's 1908 Arts and Crafts house museum above the Arroyo Seco.
Sports
Rose Bowl Stadium
The 1922 National Historic Landmark stadium in the Arroyo Seco, home of the Rose Bowl Game and a 3.1-mile public loop.
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