The Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park is the largest park in San Francisco City and County. The Golden Gate Park is actually longer  than the Central Park in New York. However, the Golden Gate Park is not as wide as Central Park in New York.
The Golden Gate Park is a  1017 acres park that  extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to Stanyan Street in the East, located  20 blocks from San Francisco Civic Center.  The Golden Gate Park is limited by Fulton street (North) and Lincoln Way(South).
The Golden Gate Park  attractions are number one in San Francisco for nature lovers and outdoor people.
The Golden Gate Park was designed by William Hall back in 1870, the park was conceived  to attract housing development  around a recreational park.  William  Hall   converted the  sand dunes into a spectacular  park         with hilly park  landscape to protect from the Ocean. The Golden Gate Park constitutes of  meadows, beautiful lakes, ridges and winding roads. The Golden Gate Park is home to the impressive Japanese Tea Garden, The Museum of Science, San Francisco Botanical Garden, The famous De Young Museum, The Conservatory of Flowers, The Music Concourse Area, California Academy of Sciences, Dutch floral garden and an authentic Windmill by the Pacific Ocean.

Golden Gate Park Major Attractions

The Japanese Tea Garden, Originally developed as the Japanese Village for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition. It was constructed by Makoto Hagiwara  to display the Japanese lifestyle in California. The Japanese Tea Garden extends over  5 acres and  features 3 spectacular gates, a tea house, a Bronze Buddha, The Buddhist Pagodas , the Lantern of Peace ponds, picturesque  bridges  such the  Drum Bridge.                                 

The Conservatory of Flowers

KThe Conservatory of Flowers was built between 1876 and 1883 with a Victorian-style greenhouse modeled after the Palm house at the Kew Gardens in London. The Conservatory of Flowers houses a collection of tropical and beautiful plants and flowers. San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers  is one of the world's largest conservatories built of traditional wood and glass panes

De Young Museum

The De Young Museum  is a permanent museum with a section that houses temporary exhibitions. De Young Museum was opened in January 1921  as a  part of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894,The museum has a very diverse collection of art  including paintings, pre-Hispanic works from Teotihuacan. Peru, and    tribal art from  Africa. De Young Museum is also home to exhibitions of the American decorative pieces, textiles, and paintings from the Rockefeller Collection of American Art.
Many locals and visitors enjoy a coffee, breakfast or lunch in De Young Museum’s restaurants and café overlooking the backyard and its interesting collection of Statues. Don’t miss the last and 9th story of the museum  that offer spectacular views over the Golden Gate Park

Other Attractions

The Golden Gate Park offers many more attractions including  California Academy of Sciences  that Houses a Natural History Museum, a Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium all in one location. The Steinhart Aquarium is an aquatic world, with nearly 600 species of fishes, large invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians and even black-footed penguins. Also, The Golden Gate Park has a unique Botanical Garden -Arboretum with 55 acres containing  more than 7,500 plant species and houses the  California's largest horticultural library. If you like Music, you may check  out the  Music Concourse Esplanade, an outdoor Music Hall surrounded by De Young Museum and  the Academy of Sciences. It’s an open  area with three water fountains surrounded  by Sycamore trees where  popular concerts take place.
Don’t miss the  Dutch floral garden  with its authentic Windmill   located at the western end of the  Golden Gate Park, it was a gift of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The garden has tulip bulbs in winter and other flowers depending on the season.

Also, you may check out the Speckles Lake  located on the northern side of the park near 36th Avenue. Speckles Lake  is   home of the San Francisco Model Yacht Club.

The  Golden Gate Park is also popular for its outdoor activities and sports facilities which include tennis, golf, fly-fishing, biking, inline skating, archery, handball, Volleyball   and horseback riding.