Golden Gate Park

This is a well planned park. There are many trails, lakes, and various exercising stations.

The park also has many tourist must visit areas.

Lastly, the free shuttle tops it all. It is a saving grace after a long walk .

Shot in the Park

1,017-acre park located in the heart of San Francisco and is currently in the lead for USA Today's "Best City Park" award (https://shorturl.at/tB86D)--and for plenty of good reasons!

It's hard to describe Golden Gate Park to someone who's never been, as it's not just fields and meadows like a normal city park. GGP is more of a cultural epicenter that has pretty much all one needs and more when visiting a city.

The Good:

*Free to visit the park (note that some of the gardens and museums require entrance fees)

*Street parking only, but there is a parking garage for de Young & CA Academy visitors.

*Not one, not two--but five botanical gardens: Shakespeare Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, Queen Wilhelmina Garden, and Conservatory Valley

*Windmill @ the Queen Wilhelmina Garden

*Buffalo!! Yes, you read that right.

*de Young Art Museum

*Fishing

*Multiple small lakes

*CA Academy of Sciences

*Park is extremely walkable from venue to venue--which is good because you're not gonna want to give up that parking spot once you've secured it.

*Food and drink trucks parked along the JFK

*Lots of great restaurants in the surrounding vicinity that you can easily walk to.

The Meh:

*Multiple restrooms around the park, but cleanliness might vary

*A few Local Outdoor Enthusiasts™ lurking, but it's not as bad as you'd think.

The Ugly:

*As with anything, the bippers are for real, so don't be stupid and leave anything valuable in eyesight or be prepared to be relieved of it.

Conclusion: Amazing park with lots of history and fun things to see. If you're visiting SF, I'd highly recommend blocking out at least one whole day to check out the GGP. Two if you really want to get the whole experience.

Fun walking with many sights! Loved the:
- rose garden: tons of varieties that you can scope out for your backyard.
- bike rentals: tandem bikes or 4 seaters available for $45 a hour.
- lake: tons of turtles and cute stuff!

Can't wait to come back!

A gorgeous location dedicated to the creation of the Golden Gate Bridge.

There are so many beautiful places to take photos, to explore and to learn about the making modern marvel.

Having enough time for seeing everything in this park is hard. It has so much to check out that it's pretty much to be honest impossible. Golden Gate Park covers so much ground that you have to give yourself a few days to see it all. Make sure you get to visit a couple of the famous museums. There's also a lot of beauty including some famous and crowded ass lakes and other places for boating and things.

Basically this is like San Francisco's version of Central Park, except it's bigger. It's got such a shit ton to see that you need a few visits to see all of what it's got. This is kind of hard to know where to start, but you may want to start at the world famous museums. A City Pass helps to save money and visit a few. For natural history go to the California Academy of Sciences. Known for the aquarium and the rainforest exhibits among other things. Has a pretty big collection of bones and other creatures from long ago. There's still lots more to see. For art go to the De Young Museum. There's art from the 1800s on forward including local artists, so that's cool to check out and support.

Gatherings are pretty common in here. It's crowded like every weekend for concerts and those sorts of things. There's other parts of the park though that aren't as crowded and you can enjoy the natural environment or whatever.

This is a one of a kind park indeed! I didn't realize how large this park actually was until I pulled it up on google. We came here initially to get a good view of the bridge and we did get to experience that and had a great time! We also got to check out the incredibly beautiful Japanese Tea Garden too and wow. I genuinely cannot even begin to describe the beauty here.

We took an uber here initially and then caught a bus to the gardens and that was a super easy and quick ride. We walked through the park from the street to get to the garden and on the way we saw a lot of beautiful trees and even a herb garden. We probably could have spent all day here!

This is such a cool park. I really wished I could have brought picnic supplies, spent a day here relaxing and then hopped on a bike to see the scenery. Golden Gate Park is humongous. We drove forever on the main road along this park, entrance after entrance, mile after mile.

One of the entrances had this really cool 'No Dancing' sign that I wanted to take a picture in front of; I didn't know it existed until our Uber driver went past, so I thought I'd walk back and take a picture when we got dropped off, but we drove so far from that point to the entrance he dropped us off at that there was no way I was walking back to get that picture. That's how huge this park is! We literally would have needed a bike, scooter or Uber to get back there in a reasonable amount of time.

I love how it's typical in SF to chill out on a sunny day, enjoying nature and people. This is the perfect place to do it too. We saw babbling brooks, pretty plants, and tons of cars!! There were so many people, but this park is literally so big no one is on top of one another. A must see for anyone visiting SF.

Also, contrary to what I believed, Golden Gate Park is not close to Golden Gate Bridge. Not if you'd like to walk there in under an hour anyway. For most people it's a longer hike and around 3 miles. Time wasn't on our side so although I would have loved the challenge and wellness aspect of the walk, we opted for a ride between the two.

Golden Gate Park feels like air to me.

It is profoundly special and not of this world.

The trees speak. Reaching to the sky with a unique boldness - majestic, burled, and full of secrets.

When I am here - I am at home...and transported.

Life feels so abundant in Golden Gate Park's gaze.

The sun kisses you differently.

The sky - more expansive.

The ground cradles you - as you close your eyes. Gently.

And listen to the park sing in unison with the beating of your heart.

Trust.

There are so many things to do and see at Golden Gate Park. I have been here a dozen times and still have not done them all.
Being frugal, I love all the free things to do like stopping by the Bison Paddock or taking a stroll around Stowe Lake. You can see waterfalls, gorgeous flowers, ducks, turtles and bunnies and more. There are also tons of open areas to enjoy a picnic or play with your pup. It's really a treasure.
There are also plenty of low-cost things like the Botanical Gardens and conservatory of flowers where you could easily spend a few hours. I recommend the Free Queen Wilhelmina Garden where you can enjoy the gorgeous windmill and flora but if flowers are really your thing you will see much more at the Botanical Gardens. You can see music and art installations and statues and more at Golden Gate Park. I have even attended a concert here and it was lovely.
Even if you only have time for a quick drive through and a stop or two, I highly recommend putting this place on your list.

We had an absolute blast visiting this park! I grew up nearby, so bringing my bf somewhere I spent a lot of time in my younger years was so awesome.

We took a Lyft to the park, hopped on some bikes, and rode a few miles. Once we reached the rose garden, we left the bikes and walked for the next 2 hours. Exploring the manicured trails, sitting on the benches, and watching people work out.

There were a few events going on, and we were able to see live music, watch folks working out, and admire the recently installed art sculptures.

Everyone we encountered in this park were soooo nice, and we were also able to learn about the various trees and other plants from one of the gardeners. All in all it was a wonderful visit, and I cannot wait to return.