Golden Gate Park

Nestled in the midst of San Francisco is over 1,000 acres of greenery, a space devoted to providing a "backyard" for all the apartment and town-house dwellers throughout the city.

Golden Gate Park features:

• 3 manmade lakes (including Stow Lake, where you can rent rowboats)
• horseback riding
• polo grounds
• golf courses
• tennis courts
• Japanese Tea Garden
• Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
• restored Herschel-Spillman Carousel

The park is also home to American bison (buffalo) – that have grazed in the Park since the 1890s.

On Sundays, some of the Park’s roadways, such as a long stretch of John F. Kennedy Drive, are closed to allow greater freedom for runners, rollerbladers, strollers and cyclists.

In the spring, look for the tulips by the Dutch windmill.

The city bought land in 1870 – it was then a vast expanse of sand dunes. Eight years later, the city found a landscape architect to accept the commission (Frederick Law Olmstead, city’s first choice, would not accept the job). The result is an oasis of wooded parkland that covers an area 3 ½ miles long by ½ mile wide.