San Francisco's Top 5 Parks To Live Near Ranked (2024)

San Francisco was ranked number 7 on a list of the 100 best park systems for the most populous cities in the country, and I'm honestly shocked it didn't rank higher. In a city that's less than 50 square miles, there are over 200 parks and 4,000 acres of open space. And what's incredible about living in San Francisco, and definitely one of the reasons why it ranked so high on this list, is that no matter where you live in the city, you are within a 10-minute walk of at least one of these incredible parks. I'm Austin Klar, your lawyer and real estate agent in San Francisco and Marin County, and in this video, I'm gonna break down my top 5 favorite parks in all of San Francisco, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the neighborhood that each one is in. Let's kick it off with number 5, Washington Square Park. Washington Square Park is on the north side of San Francisco in the North Beach neighborhood, and it was established in 1847, which makes it one of the city's oldest parks. Now, it is by far the smallest park that I'm going to talk about on my list, but the reason why it ranks so highly for me is because of the way that you experience the park. North Beach is basically San Francisco's Little Italy, and my best memories in the park are things like grabbing pizza to go from Tony's, which is one of my favorite pizza restaurants in the city, or a sandwich to go from Molinari, which I think is the best deli in the city, great Italian deli on Columbus. And you get one of these and you just have a great picnic in the park. The weather is generally very middle of the road in North Beach, you know, much less extreme than in places like the Sunset or closer to the Pacific Ocean, not quite as hot as it gets in like SoMa or Noe Valley. Mm-hmm. Very middle of the road, which makes it really pleasant to hang out in the park, eat outside. It's also almost entirely flat, so it's really easy to set your things down, find a place to sit that's comfortable without worrying that you're gonna slip down a hill or spill everything. And there are awesome events held at the park every year. The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation holds movie nights in the park. They set up screens outside and play movies. Really, really fun. The North Beach Festival is hosted all around the park every year. There's a ton of food. Jewelry vendors, drink vendors, you name it. They've even done car shows in the park before. I remember Ferrari did a festival in the park. There were dozens of Ferraris lined up in the park. It was super cool. This park is definitely one of the most low-key parks in the city. Definitely the most low-key, you know, maybe under-the-radar park of the parks on my list, but it is one of my favorite parks in the city, even though it doesn't have the crazy views or some of the other amenities that some of these other parks have. I just love the lifestyle that this park embodies. By the way, if you want to learn more about what it's like to live in North Beach, I've got a whole video dedicated entirely to that that I'll link at the top of the description below. North Beach is the first neighborhood that I lived in when I moved to San Francisco. I lived there for 5 years. I know it very well, and it is one of my favorite places in the city. And I break down all those reasons why in that video, so definitely check it out if you're interested. And if you want more videos just like this, or about day-to-day life in San Francisco and current events or upcoming developments, I make videos about this stuff every single week, so subscribe to my channel to stay up to date. And if you ever have questions about navigating the market or whether a particular neighborhood is right or wrong for you, definitely reach out to me. I'll put my contact info in the description below as well, and I'd be happy to help you. Now back to my rankings, and we'll move to number 4 on my list, the Presidio. It's fascinating to me how many different places in San Francisco had their origins or a significant portion of their past with military roots, and the Presidio is no different. Back in the 1770s, Spain established the Presidio to guard against other European powers, and when Mexico achieved independence from Spain, the Presidio passed to Mexico in 1820, and then it went to the US in the 1840s after the US seized it at the start of the Mexican-American War. The Presidio was involved in most of America's military engagements in the Pacific Rim, including as an assembly point for army forces that invaded the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. In the 1980s, Congress ended the Presidio's status as an active military installation, and it was passed to the National Park Service this in the '90s, and today it is hands down one of the most beautifully preserved park spaces in all of San Francisco. There are kind of two different sides to the park. There's the more hilly wooded area of the park, which is more south, you know, the area that borders Pacific and Presidio Heights. And then there's a more flat, open green area where like food trucks congregate, where a lot of people have picnics. You get more views of the water from the ground level, and it's this flat area that is really surrounded by all of the military buildings that are still present at the site. Thank you. There are great nature trails, walking trails, hiking trails. Um, there are playgrounds everywhere, tennis courts, pickleball courts, baseball fields, basketball courts. They just built a brand new park, the Presidio Tunnel Tops, at the edge of the Presidio, uh, near the flat part of the Presidio on the north side, close to the waterfront. You get awesome views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the bay. It's really, really fun. It's also a great place to go on a run. One of my preferred run routes in the city from my place in Pacific Heights is through Presidio Heights to the top of the Presidio, all the way through the winding roads down to the flat part of the Presidio and then along the waterfront. So you get a ton of great scenery, a change of the different views that you get in your surroundings that you get in the area. Really great place to go on a run. Next on my list, coming in at number 3, is Dolores Park in the Mission. This park, in my opinion, has hands down the best views of any of the parks on my list. You get views not only of the historic Victorian homes that are surrounding the park, but you get completely unobstructed panoramic views of the downtown San Francisco skyline. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] And the park definitely has the best weather of any park on my list because of its location in San Francisco. It's on the south-central part of the city in the Mission District, just 2 blocks away from Mission Dolores. This is traditionally a hotter part of the city. It can sometimes be, you know, 10 degrees warmer or so than the colder parts, like on the west side of SF, closer to the Pacific Ocean. And when the weather is nice here, it is one of the busiest parks in the city. People really take advantage and come out in droves, and it can sometimes be really hard to find a place to sit. The park is pretty hilly in certain parts, so it can be a little difficult to find a comfortable area to sit, but there are also a good amount of non-hilly areas as well. They just get really, really packed. There are several giant open green spaces and rec spaces throughout the park. The park recently underwent a $20+ million renovation, so you have, you know, new sport courts like tennis, basketball. You have new playground, new infrastructure throughout the entire park. And like some of these other parks, part of what makes this park so great is the surrounding area. In Dolores Park's case, it's the Mission. The Mission is, I think, the best neighborhood in the city for food. There is a ton of variety in the area, which makes it really easy to spend an entire day there. You can have your time at the park and then go get a great meal from some casual street food place nearby, or you can spend time at the park, go home, shower, and then go to, you know, a really fancy multiple Michelin star dinner there. I've done walking food tours and art tours there before. There are a ton of great activities both in and in the area surrounding the park. It is an awesome place to visit. Coming in at number 2 on my list is Alta Plaza Park on the north side of the city in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. I think Alta Plaza Park has some of the best views of quintessential San Francisco architecture. You have a ton of huge historic homes, very emblematic of what you get in Pacific Heights, all surrounding the park. You also get incredible views of the city to the south, all the way to Sutro Tower. Hi. On the south side of the park, you'll find the terraced side of the park, traversing the hillside, leading up from Clay Street to Jackson Street. Each of the terraces has grass for sitting, sidewalks for walking. The views to the south and east get better and better each step up you go. And then at the top, you have a really awesome children's play area. There's picnic areas, basketball court, tennis courts. All of them have incredible views. And as I mentioned, you have beautiful, colorful Victorian homes and also some of the best mid-rise co-op and condo buildings things in the city. And then on the other side of the park, on the other side of like that playground area, you have a much more flat part of the park. So you have a lot of people doing picnics more on that side. You have people walking, jogging, just lounging around, or maybe playing lawn games. That's really more going to happen on that side of the park versus the south side of the park, which is more terraced. The park actually has a pretty odd history. It used to be a privately owned rock quarry before it was purchased by the city in the 1870s, and after that it sort of just sat unused and undeveloped for about 20 years before it started being turned into the park that we have here today. I think I like this park so much because it's really never that busy, so it is always a very relaxing vibe. It is easy to just take a really relaxing stroll, a quiet stroll through the park without having to navigate a ton of people. I live a block away from the park, so I will very often take a break from, you know, my computer screen or whatever's going on and just walk across the park. It takes less than 10 minutes to do it. So it is also really close to both Fillmore Street and Sacramento Street, which is where a lot of the shops and restaurants are in the neighborhood. So it's really easy to grab coffee and just take a stroll through the park and hang out with friends. And coming in at number 1 is San Francisco's biggest park, Golden Gate Park. Believe it or not, it's actually 20% larger than New York's Central Park. It is over 3 miles long east to west and about a half a mile wide. Over 24 million people visit the park every single year, making it the third most visited park in the entire country. And it has a pretty spectacular history as well. After the 1906 earthquake and fire that just rocked San Francisco, Golden Gate Park was used as sort of a refugee site for all the victims who lost their homes. Without shelter, there were dozens of encampments in the area set up under the control of the US military. And since that time, over the years, it has transformed into one of the most beautiful green spaces in the entire country with so many amenities. Aside from all the open green space, you've got baseball fields, disc golf, regular golf, educational museums like the Cal Academy of Sciences, art museums like the de Young. There's a music concourse, conservatory of flowers, windmills, sculptures, lakes, a tea garden. You could literally spend the entire day in the park and still not do everything that there is to do and see everything that there is to see. It's also super close to great neighborhoods like the Inner Sunset, The Inner Richmond, Cole Valley, so many places, all super walkable, each with their own great food and culture. So many places to visit around the park as well. There you have it. Those are my top 5 favorite parks in the city, and these are all like classic SF parks. They've been here for decades. I also have another video where I rank my favorite new parks that have opened in recent years in San Francisco. Go check it out. I'll link that in the description below. SF is also on a tear building new parks and releasing new parks to the public in the coming years as new new mixed-use communities get built, especially along the Central Waterfront. I'm going to be making videos about all that stuff. So if you want to stay in the loop, make sure to subscribe to my channel. I'm going to be posting videos about that stuff every single week, including current events, new developments, new parks, new restaurants, you name it. And if you want to learn more about what neighborhoods are great to live in to have access to all these amenities, or the pros and cons of those neighborhoods, definitely reach out to me. My contact information is in the description below, and I'd be happy to help you. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I moved to San Francisco over a decade ago without really knowing much about any of the neighborhoods in San Francisco or what it was like living in San Francisco. So I know how scary it can be moving to a place that you're not quite as familiar with or that you're unsure about. So I'd be happy to help you. I hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you in the next one. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Hello.