Golden Gate Park

One of my favorite places to go to in San Francisco. If you are a runner you will be dodging the walkers on the bridge since they like to walk next to each other and block the bicyclists and «faster» walkers and runners. The distance from end to end is 1.65 miles. The good thing is that it is free however you will pay to get there by bus and BART.

It’s difficult to find much of a reason to dislike Golden Gate Park. There’s so much going on all the time, and the park is beautiful. It’s a great place for running or going on a leisurely walk. I’ve also had kickball games here, frisbee games, cookouts, and fundraising events. There are a few nice museums in the park too (De Young and Cal Academy of Sciences). Great place to hang out on the weekend, or to get together with a group of friends. One of the true gems of San Francisco.

The park seems pretty awesome. What is not awesome is the bathroom situation near the ballpark area… one ladies toilet… seriously? In a large park? Who thought this was a good plan? And then wading through the crazy homeless people to find the one toilet and wait in a long line while the one toilet was used by three families in front of me.

This park is definitely one of the famous parks in the city that everyone will tell you to visit especially if you are visiting the city. Even if you aren’t a tourist in the area, the locals here definitely appreciate this park in the city. It is a very large park and every part of it is gorgeous. This definitely makes for a wonderful walk in this park any time of the year. There are different trails that take you throughout the park which is nice and certain trails are for bikes. You can also bring pets here, just make sure to clean up after them please! Thankfully there is plenty of parking around the park with which how large the park there is no problem finding parking here. The park is definitely well taken care of by the city and always kept clean which is great. Definitely come by and check out this great gem in the city!

Drove straight to the Tulip Garden this past Monday afternoon just after 2pm… hardly anyone here. We parked DIRECTLY in front of the entryway to the garden. that’s how not busy this area was at the time.
Within 10 minutes of taking pics, we were approached by an elder woman and her grandson who said if that vehicle they were pointing to (ours) belonged to us as they heard a car window smashed and only caught a glimpse of the fleeing dark colored vehicle.
She went around to the left side of our rental minivan to show us the left rear sliding passenger window smashed and we discovered that they stole my nephew’s back pack!
We were so upset that this happened on our last full day of our vacation.
Other than that. we took a few pics of the beautiful garden and windmill. We would definitely return and hope karma will come to those thieves.
The undercover cops who just so happened to drive by about 15 minutes after the incident calmed us down somewhat. They told us there were a rash of break-​ins in the park at this time.
All i can say is that rental vehicles are «marked cars» with their visible window tags and are the target for these thieves!
Too bad there aren’t security cameras or bait cars placed here in the park. think they’d catch them.

Beautiful park!!!
can spend all day here!!!

We had a big walk around the park a few years ago. It’s a lovely place with lots of interesting and beautiful things to see.

Cute park. Great for bike riding, running and walking. Unfortunately there were a lot of homeless people roaming the park so I wouldn’t recommend laying out and taking a nap.

Port a potties in place for bay to breakers 5÷15÷16… wow what crowds here for B2B. Well behaved crowds for the most part. Lots of drinking and silly costumes that likely got itchy after the first mile. So many people from out of town.
The park is huge if you’ve never been. Japanese tea garden, bison, walking trails… lots of green and peace in the concrete jungle of SF.
This is a huge park to explore. I’ve been countless times and yet there are still parts that are new to me each time I go.

My boyfriend and I came here while it was mid downpour and we only made it to the Japanese Tea Garden, but we saw glimpses of many other attractions on the way. This park is super big– and I thought Central Park in NYC was big but this park was on a whole new level. Since we only saw the Japanese Tea Garden, I can speak more about that. It was not as big as I expected it to be but there was still plenty to be seen! Right when you walk into the entrance, you have entered a whole new world. They really did a great job capturing all the main aspects of a Japanese tea garden– and you choose to start or finish your trip with a cup of tea and a side dish to pair it with in their tea shop.
There was a pretty extensive pond, which house a good number of koi fishes– pretty massive and very impressive in size.
Try to go when it’s free entry. I gave this 5 stars because I caught it just in time. Honestly, I would’ve been a little upset if I had to pay the general admission fee.

My journey began on Martin Luther King Dr., right before SF Botanical Gardens. Uphill, downhill, go left, go right, there are so many options, but if you head Left while walking West, you can find a path or two that leads you away from the streets and into beautiful mother nature. Be prepared to see Dinosaur tree’s that look like they have been Bonanza, and birds making all kinds of ruckus. A relaxing journey that will lead you to the beach!

A walk through Golden Gate Park truly completes any San Fransisco trip. You can literally get lost in this huge maze of parks, museums and gardens (and on a recent ACRONYM trip, luckily our trusty leader Jessica T. navigated the way for us!) Make sure to take some time to visit the individual gardens or one of the in-​park museums, but note that although the park itself is free, the museums and gardens are paid admission. However, I highly recommend the Japanese Tea Garden, and they offer free admission when entering the gardens before 10:00am on Mon, Wed, Fri. In addition to this, you can find a tulip garden, Shakespearean garden and botanical garden within walking distance.
For museum visits, you’ll find the California Academy of Science and the De Young Museum. But if you want to stay outside to enjoy the sites, check out the buffalo, carousal or tennis courts or one of the many green spaces. Plus, you’ll find a lovely children’s playground on site to help get some wiggles out of your young ones. This is a perfect spot for tourists and locals alike, and with the acreage of the park, it’s large enough to get your out of the «big city» mindset and allow you to relax in the beauty of nature.

This review is #1000 for one of the most beautiful and useful parks that I have ever visited!
It’s functional — people drive, jog, bike, and walk through it.
It’s picturesque — tourists and residents alike take countless photos here.
It’s full of historical landmarks such as Francis Scott Key’s Memorial and the Dutch and Murphy Windmills!
It’s useful because it contains the Japanese Tea Garden, the de Young Museum, the Conservatory of Flowers, an archery field, California Academy of Science, and the amphitheater.
It’s awesome because there are Bison, a tulip garden, a carousel, a rose garden, squirrels, a golf course, and ducks there.
People gather together and do Tai chi exercises, have picnics and festivals here. Children learn and get exercise on its grounds.
Golden Gate Park has so much variety and so many activities! There’s something for everyone!

What a quiet and serene oasis Golden Gate park is in the middle of a bustling city! This is a great spot to get away from city life and relax. Also, it’s big enough that you wont hear the beeps and honks of everyday life on the road. I like GG park because it has the California Academy of the Sciences, de Young Museum, Japanese Tea Garden, Botanical Garden, Strawberry Hill, the Shakespeare and Rose Gardens. I also enjoy wandering through «hippie hill» and listening to the drums and watching the dancing. It’s great SF residents have this park to escape to, and it is one of the stops all tourists must make when visiting the city!

Golden Gate Park is huge, you can easily spend the day here and come back again and again and discover something new.
Very clean and well maintained, perfect place to take the kids and get out of the city for a bit.
Free parking which is great, tons of room to spread out so it is never really that busy.
Great spot while visiting San francisco!

I really had a good time coming to the park. We rented some bikes walking distance from the park for 25 $ a day. The owners from that bike shop are super cool, nice, and friendly. The park itself has so much to do. You could spend all day there just getting to know the park and the beach that is near by. Having a bike is a must to go all over the park and see everything it has to offer. I like the small hidden trails you can go into. There is a tulip garden next to a windmill that is nice just to sit down and have a snack. On a weekday parking was not bad at all.
There is an area where it looks like there might be museums and a Japanese garden (I’m not sure) where they might have bonsai trees and so much more. Make sure you plan an entire day at the park.
If you like sushi or Japanese food, you must go to ebisu! So delicious! It is about a block from the park.
Walk because parking is a pain!

Beautiful urban park that one can lose themselves in the city and truly take a nature break from the city life.
Unlike Presidio, which has its presidential status of proximity to the Golden Gate Bridge, the Golden Gate Park is where many of the culture treasures and natural gems of San Francisco (DeYoung Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden) calls home.
A stroll in the park is always very quaint and peaceful, the vastness of the acres swallows its visitors with its size granting the space and freedom for one to do anything and everything. Even so, at certain areas of the park, people often come together for a bit of a gathering and feeling of community — the drum circling in the park adds a certain character to the atmosphere, the rhythmic harmony can be heard from faraway and people joins in at random times to do their impromptu dance in the circle. The park spans 3 miles length wide and stretches from Haight to Inner sunset.
Always stunningly beautiful and lazying in the sun, a startling contrast with the busy-​ness of San Francisco.

To me the Golden Gate Park is the Central Park of the west with over 1,000 acres of fun. If you’re not a local, one can easily get lost or end up wandering about. There isn’t one main entrance into the park, but many ways for you to enter. What gives this park its character are the many museums, lakes, Dutch windmill, carousel, par 3 golf course, playgrounds, archery fields, and many more.
I enjoy the museums the best and recommend visiting the following:
1) California Academy of Science
2) de Young Museum
3) Conservatory of Flowers
4) Japanese Tea Garden
These museums do offer free days so refer to their website for additional info.
Golden Gate Park is also a great place to go for a run or a bicycle ride. On Sundays and all holidays, JFK drive is closed to vehicles. This is great as you can run or bike worry free of vehicles.
Pro tip: There is a free shuttle service that operates from 9am to 6pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Feel free to use this service to help you get around.

Very cool, very large. Golden Gate Park is a trip by itself. Between the de Young Museum, Academy of Sciences, Japanese Tea Garden, Botanical Garden, Strawberry Hill, the Shakespeare and Rose Gardens, and the Music Concourse, you could probably spend two days and never leave the vicinity of the park.
Neatly arranged and loaded with greenery, paths, signage and ball fields, this is the Central Park of the West Coast. It’s simply amazing.
I lucked out, not having any sort of idea what I was encountering. Instead, I stumbled upon the de Yong, the Bandshell and the Botanical Garden. A more organized organized Unilocaler probably would have had a better plan of attack. I’ll have to do that next time.
Well worth a read of the history of this park and how it was converted from dead sand dunes and trash dumps to a lush garden that’s a quarter bigger than New York’s Central Park.

Golden Gate park was probably one of the best ways I’ve ever spent a day in San Francisco. The park is huge and there is about a hundred different things to see and do here. The Middle of the park consists of lots of dog friendly trails that wrap around a lake, and you can even rent row and paddle boats if you’re in the mood. Too lazy for physical activity? Well you can sit and relax and feed the ducks then, since there are park benches about every couple hundred yards apart facing the lake.
There was even a water fall that you could choose from taking a stone path across the base of to a gazebo, or the stairs that climb beside the sides of the water fall to another trail at the top.
You can also find the De Young fine arts museum here which is extremely affordable for the classy type ($ 10 for general admission and $ 6 for students) or if you’re a free loader like myself, you can just go to the top of the museum which gives off a 360 degree view of the city and park all around, and the best part is it’s free to everyone.
Just a couple of steps across from the De Young is also the Academy of Science museum. Admission with student ID can still be a little pricey ($ 30) but it’s definitely worth it!
Most of the museum is pretty much a giant aquarium, ranging from a large quantity of sea and fresh water fish and marine life, with a few science exhibits at the base of the first floor, and a giant indoor terrarium rainforest that you can go inside and observe free flying birds, butterflies, African leaf cutter ants, and plants. In the center of it all is a pond filled with alligator gar the size of a full grown man just swimming around like «yeah no big deal!» But keep in the mind the indoor terrarium is extremely hot and humid!
At the very roof of the entire academy is an outside deck with a view of the entire park and rooftop ferns.
Parking is little bit of pain, but the golden gate park is something that was 100% worth it! I would definitely come back and bring friends with me here, if you haven’t been yet, do yourself a big favor and find a day you are free and go.

LOVE Golden Gate Park!
You would never have thought that this existed in San Francisco. The trees were beautiful, the paths were cleared, and there’s a small pond here somewhere.
This is a great place to jog and just go for a walk. Great place to take friends to!

If I can sum this park up in 3 words —- Huge, beautiful, scenic. There’s definitely a lot to see in the park and, for those who are first timers there are maps located throughout the park. For the people who decide to drive her, there are plenty of parking spaces on the road.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore the entire park, but we did visit the Rose Garden and Kezar Stadium. The Rose Garden was pretty small, but it was free! There were lots of beautiful roses in the garden scattered within a 100 yard area. We were going to visit the Japanese Tea Garden, but realized there was a fee, so decided to skip that. As we drove out, we came upon Kezar Stadium, which was apparently the old home of the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders. We stopped by and walked around inside, which was pretty neat. There were some people doing crossfit and running. The stadium looked rather small as they destroyed most of the original stadium and left the field there with some bench seating.
We only devoted 1 hour to the park, but if anyone plans on visiting, absolutely try to devote ½ of a day to the park as there is a lot to see in the park that we missed!

In the big, bustling city of San Francisco is a quiet piece of paradise. Besides being a beautiful park to just sit and relax at, there’s plenty to do and see here.
We came to Golden Gate Park to go to the California Academy of Sciences and had the wonderful opportunity of visiting this amazing park. Full of runners, people walking their dogs, and families picnicking, I was surprised that this very busy park was still a lovely place of solitude.
Besides the museums (Conservatory of Flowers, De Young Museum, and the California Academy of Sciences), there are amazing gardens (San Francisco Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden), lakes (Stow Lake, Spreckles Lake), and even a few waterfalls. There are also some unique statues throughout the park.
On the weekend we were here, there was an art show and the Golden Gate Park Band was performing in the Music Concourse. There are plenty of great walkways and benches everywhere. We also noticed a group people rollerskating to some music as we were exiting the park. The skaters looked like there having so much fun.
The trees and plants are really beautiful, and everything is really green and pretty here, With parking found in surrounding neighborhoods during the «car free» weekend, you can spend an entire day exploring this wonderful park.
We literally spent half the day here and only saw a small portion of this park. When I later looked at a map of this huge park, I found Stow Lake and those pretty waterfalls. If I get the chance to go back, this will definitely be my first stop here. I look forward to seeing this great park once again!

Golden Gate Park is one of my favorite places in San Francisco. Although I would imagine this place to be swarming with tourists, the park is so vast that it isn’t as crowded (thankfully). There’s plenty to see, do, and admire! During my most recent visit, we took some family from out of state to enjoy the scenic landscaping of the park. Our itinerary consisted of:
–Japanese Tea Garden ($ 8 adults, $ 6 for Child 5 – 17)
–Picnic on top of Strawberry Hill (Cross the bridge and follow the trail)
–Admired the waterfall on the other side of Strawberry Hill (Sprinklers might be on so it gets a little muddy)
–Pedal boated around Stow Lake for an hour ($ 35 flat rate for a 6 seater, lots of birds)
–Rose Garden (FREE)
Apart from the activities listed above, the park also is home to the DeYoung Museum and Cal Academy of Sciences… That being said, there is literally so much to do here. You could spend the whole day.
We parked in the garage below the park and I spent $ 25 for 5 hours… not sure if that’s the all-​day rate or not, I missed the sign with the prices. But there is free street parking in the surrounding area that you can also look for.
I encourage a visit here at least once. Spend a day exploring every crack of the park.

Grüße vom Golden Gate Park!
Dieser Park ist eine Mischung aus Jurrasic Park, einem lokalen Stadtpark, Hansapark, Hagenbecks & diversen modernen Sportanlagen. Man nehme eine Prise Abenteuer, ganz viel Natur, ein paar Tiere, ganz viel Adrenalin und natürlich auch noch ein bisschen Romantik und schwuppsdiewupps hat man einen Park, der so vielseitig ist, wie der Golden Gate Park.
Meine neuen Kollegen haben mir die Freude gemacht und mit mir eine Fahrradtour durch diesen wunderschönen Park zu unternehmen. Wir sind bis zum Strand gekommen, haben bei den Bisons halt gemacht und dann im Anschluss sogar ein leckeres Picknick veranstaltet. Mit ein wenig CornHole und Baseball spielen, ganz viel Sonne und in der Ferne ein paar chillige Gitarrenklänge. Ein Tag, den ich so schnell nicht vergessen werden.
Thank YOUUUUUUU!