Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond and Sunset districts of San Francisco, United States. It is the largest park in the city, containing 1,017 acres (412 ha), and the third-most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 24 million visitors annually.

The creation of a large park in San Francisco was first proposed in the 1860s. In 1865, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a park designed with species native to San Francisco. The plan was rejected for a Central Park-style park designed by engineer William Hammond Hall. The park was built atop sand and shore dunes in an unincorporated area known as the Outside Lands. Construction centered on planting trees and non-native grasses to stabilize the dunes that covered three-quarters of the park. The park opened in 1870.

Main attractions include cultural institutions such as the De Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, and the Japanese Tea Garden; attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the Beach Chalet, the Golden Gate Park windmills, and the National AIDS Memorial Grove. Recreational activities include bicycling, pedal boating, and concerts and events such as Outside Lands music festival and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Golden Gate Park is accessible by car and by public transportation.

Golden Gate Park earned the designation of National Historic Landmark and of California Historic Resource in 2004. The park is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the park's development. Golden Gate Park is over three miles (4.8 km) long east to west, and about half a mile (0.8 km) north to south.