The park offers a view of San Diego's harbor and skyline, as well as Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island.

The area encompassed by the national monument includes various former military installations, such as coastal artillery batteries, built to protect the harbor of San Diego from enemy warships.

Other events are held above at the National Monument and include Kumeyaay, Portuguese, and Mexican singing and dancing, booths with period and regional food, a historical reenactment of a 16th-century encampment, and children's activities.

On October 14, 1913, by presidential proclamation, Woodrow Wilson reserved 0.5 acres (2,000 m2) of Fort Rosecrans for "The Order of Panama ... to construct a heroic statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo.

"[4] By 1926 no statue had been placed and the Order of Panama was defunct, so Calvin Coolidge authorized the Native Sons of the Golden West to erect a suitable monument,[4] but they were also unable to carry out the commission.

[5] The site was designated as California Historical Landmark #56 in 1932 to commemorate the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, the first European expedition to set foot on what later became the West Coast of the United States.

The statue was intended for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco but arrived too late and was stored in an Oakland, California, garage.

Then-state senator Ed Fletcher managed to obtain the statue in 1940 over the objections of Bay Area officials and shipped it to San Diego.

It was stored for several years on the grounds of Naval Training Center San Diego, out of public view, and was finally installed at Cabrillo Monument in 1949.

[8] Cabrillo Monument was off-limits to the public during World War II because the entire south end of the Point Loma Peninsula was reserved for military purposes.

The species that live in the tide pools include coralline algae, chitons, true limpets, acorn barnacles (Sessilia), goose neck barnacles, rock louse, sea lettuce, kelp fly (Coelopa frigida or seaweed fly), pink thatched barnacles, encrusting algae, periwinkles, mussels (Mytilus californianus), dead man's fingers (Codium fragile), sea bubbles, unicorn snail (Acanthina spirata), anemones, Tegula top snails, sculpin, aggregating anemone, sandcastle worms, hermit crabs, rockweed (Silvetia fastigiata), wavy turban snails (Turbo fluctuosus), keyhole limpet (Fissurellidae), brittle star, surfgrass, surfgrass limpet, kelp crab, garibaldi, sea hare, opaleye, bat star, knobby blue star, sea urchin, sargassum weed, feather boa kelp, octopus, chestnut cowry, sea palm, ruddy turnstone, and lined shore crab.

The park's ecosystems have encountered multiple non-native species not originally part of the habitat but rather have been introduced and adapted to it over time.

The crest seemed like the right location: it stood 422 feet above sea level, overlooking the bay and the ocean, and a lighthouse there could serve as both a harbor light and a coastal beacon.

The auditorium offers several showings a day, and features three different films including: “In Search of Cabrillo,” “On the Edge of Land and Sea,” and “First Breath: Gray Whales.” Cabrillo National Monument also hosts a "Junior Ranger" program in which children can earn a Junior Ranger badge by exploring the park and filling out an activity sheet.

A four-day commemoration of the park's centennial year had been planned for October 11–14, 2013, but it was cancelled due to the partial shutdown of United States government functions.