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Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is among the world's greatest urban parks. Approximately three miles long and a half mile wide (1,017 acres), this treasure is covered with grassy meadows, wooded bike trails, secluded lakes, open groves, gardens and several museums.
The Conservatory of Flowers, built in 1879 and modeled after London's Kew Gardens, is a glass Victorian displaying a paradise of flowers. Situated near the eastern edge of the park, the Conservatory of Flowers is a spectacular living museum of rare tropical plants.
Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens contains the Garden of Fragrance, the Moon-Viewing Garden and the New World Cloud Forest. The Japanese Tea Garden is a four-acre refuge of traditional Japanese architecture, koi ponds and bamboo trees.
The deYoung Museum features American art from the 17th through 20th centuries and art of the native Americas, Africa, and the Pacific in a state-of-the-art new facility.
Attractions at the west end of the park include the Dutch Windmill and the historic Beach Chalet visitors center. At Stow Lake, paddle and row boats can be rented for a trip around the lake.
The herd of bison that graze in an enclosed paddock just off Kennedy Drive have been a tradition at the park since the 1890s.
The Children's Playground offers swings, slides and climbing structures as well as the restored Herschel-Spillman Carousel.
Every Sunday from dawn to dusk, strollers, roller skaters and bicyclists are allowed free run on a long stretch of John F. Kennedy Drive which closes to auto traffic.
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