GOLDEN GATE PARK

Description

Essentials about Golden Gate Park in brief

When San Franciscans talk about “The Park,” they mean just one: Golden Gate Park. Like a long green ribbon, the five-kilometer-long and 800-meter-wide park stretches right through San Francisco to Ocean Beach on the Pacific Ocean. With its 4.1 square kilometers, it is one of the largest inner-city parks in the world and even larger than Central Park in New York City. Golden Park is also one of the most interesting and diverse parks in the world. Its attractions range from world-class museums to botanical gardens, music stages and numerous sports facilities.

The grounds of Golden Gate Park

The rectangular city park was planned by William Hammond Hall in the 1860s and built in the 1870s on land that was thought to be uninhabitable at the time. It is thanks to William Hall that the park’s grounds today are not home to casinos, racetracks and hotel resorts, but actually feature nature. Through elaborate landscape design installations such as artificial watercourses, a waterfall and lakes, it has been possible to model a varied and natural scenery on the difficult terrain.

Golden Gate Park attracts over 13 million visitors a year. This is not surprising, as there is hardly any other park in the world that offers its visitors so many interesting and varied attractions. From world-class museums to botanical gardens to sports fields, Golden Gate Park offers an incredible range of things to do.

Sights in Golden Gate Park

The park is home to two of San Francisco’s finest and best-known museums: the California Academy of Sciences science museum and the de Young Museum of Art of the Americas. For those who visit a park more for its flora, there are three botanical highlights: The Conservatory of Flowers, a greenhouse of rare and exotic plants; the San Francisco Botanical Garden; and the delightfully idyllic Japanese Tea Garden.

There are also a number of unusual sights in Golden Gate Park. For example, you can visit a herd of buffalo in an enclosure, see a Dutch windmill (surrounded by tulips, of course), climb Hippie Hill and reminisce about the flower children of the 1960s in the “Grass Smoke,” or listen to a musical performance in the Music Concourse.

Sports in Golden Gate Park

And last but not least, sports enthusiasts will of course get their money’s worth in Golden Gate Park. From tennis to handball courts to soccer fields, there are plenty of sports options. There is even an archery range on site. And if you just want to discover the park with its many facets, it’s best to rent a bike or skates and jet along the many streets and paths. Segway tours are also offered, by the way.