Golden Gate Park includes Dutch Windmill, Beach Chalet Visitor Center, Murphy Windmill, Golf Course, Buffalo Paddock, Riding Stables, Fly Casting Pools, Spreckels Lake, Lindley Meadow, Marz Meadow, Portals of the Past, Stow Lake, Japanese Tea Garden, Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, DeYoung Museum, California Academy of Sciences, National AIDS Memorial Grove, Conservatory of Flowers, Sharon Meadow, McLaren Lodge, and Kezar Stadium.

San Francisco Tours

Golden Gate Park is larger than New York's Central Park. The first buildings came with the Midwinter Fair, a sprawling expo and carnival meant to boost the economy and increase tourism. San Francisco wanted to prove that it had culture, so a fine-arts museum was built. To prove that outdoor activities could be pursued, horse stables and vast, unlandscaped greens were preserved. Finally, to showcase the exotic and quirky atmosphere of the City, several theme areas were developed, including Cairo Street, Japanese Village and an Eskimo habitat.

The fair succeeded at what it set out to do. Millions of people visited San Francisco, business boomed and locals found renewed pride in their formerly sand-covered park. Today, the only remnants of that enormous event are the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, the Japanese Tea Garden and the Music Concourse esplanade.

What remains today is a testament to the will of the City to preserve a place to play, relax and grow culturally. Following are more than 50 ways to spend a day in the park, ranging from French lawn bowling to riding an 87-year-old carousel.

San Francisco Tours