Things To Do
Pasadena for First-Time Visitors
What to see first, and how the city fits together.
By PasadenaCalifornia.com Editors · Published March 19, 2026 · 7 min read
An orientation to the arroyo, the historic core and the museum corridor.
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
History
Old Pasadena
Twenty-two blocks of restored 19th- and early-20th-century commercial architecture, now the city's main walking district.
Museums
Norton Simon Museum
European, American and South and Southeast Asian art on Colorado Boulevard at the western edge of the city.
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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