96 Parks to Explore in California

Teh hisotory park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s. Since its inauguration in 1971, 32 historic buildings and other landmarks have either been moved from their original San Jose locations or are represented by replicas.

Hooker Oak Park is one of Chico's oldest outdoor recreation facilities. Sharing it's boundary with the beautiful Big Chico Creek adjacent to Bidwell Park, this full service park offers an array of recreation and leisure activities. This much-loved park has both covered and uncovered picnic areas, barbecues, baseball fields, softball fields, basketball courts, two playgrounds, horseshoe pits, restrooms, and walking paths through the beautiful oak trees and next to Big Chico Creek.

A majestic forest park set over 900 acres of coastal mountain environment with numerous trails running along cool gulches and over unique hillside habitats. It has barbecue pits, a playground, grassy meadows, and hiking and riding trails, Huddart Park makes a great place to have a picnic or explore a redwood forest.

Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park is a California State Park, preserving an outcropping of marbleized limestone with some 1,185 mortar holes This is the largest collection of bedrock mortars in North America. The park is nestled in a little valley. This museum within the park grounds features a variety of exhibits and a vast collection of Sierra Nevada Indian artifacts.

This is the San Francisco's second largest park, offers a wide range of both active and passive recreational opportunities. These elements range from trails and paths, to six playgrounds, five picnic areas, tennis and basketball courts, an amphitheater, natural areas, a clubhouse and so more. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.

This majestic10,882 acre park includes some of the County's finest open space resources, as well as rich environmental, cultural and recreational assets. The landscape is characteristic of the east foothills of the Santa Clara Valley with grasslands and majestic oak trees. As part of the park's tradition and history, cattle grazing currently takes place in some areas, and is monitored under a resource management plan.

This foothill park, open all year round, provides family and group picnic areas, hiking and nature trails and shelter buildings. Visitors are drawn to the Oak Foothill plant community, spring wildflowers, El Zanjon Creek, and the peaceful retreat the area affords from surrounding urban development.

This is a 156-acre city park in San Jose, California. The Leininger Center, just south of Happy Hollow, is the central location where citizens apply for city park permits and reservations. Most of the rest of the park is picnic areas, lawns, groves of trees, and plenty of pathways in between. There is also an 18-hole disc golf course in the walnut orchard behind History park

Lands End is a park in San Francisco within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is a rocky and windswept shoreline at the mouth of the Golden Gate, situated between the Sutro District and Lincoln Park and abutting Fort Miley Military Reservation. A memorial to USS San Francisco stands in the park. Numerous hiking trails follow the former railbeds of the Ferries and Cliff House Railway along the cliffs and also down to the shore.

This beautiful park, which is adjacent to Sugarloaf Mountain, has serene walking areas and a playground as well as trails leading into Sugarloaf Mountain.The park was acquired in 1923. The wedge-shaped park underwent a major renovation in 2021.

Leo J. Ryan Memorial Park offers 20 acres of lawn areas, lagoon access, a gazebo on the lagoon, and restroom facilities. The park is situated on 20 acres which overlook Foster City's lagoon. The park houses the William E. Walker Recreation Center, and includes a waterfront, outdoor amphitheatre, sailboat tie-up facilities, boardwalk, lawn areas, and a gazebo on the lake.

A nice little park and playground in central Ojai. It offers quiet places for relaxation, a playground for the tots, tennis courts, a community bandstand and the renown Libbey Bowl, site of the Ojai Music Festival and many other events. The park operates eight dedicated outdoor hard surface tennis courts and is sectioned off in two areas.

A 133-acre (54 ha) zoo founded in 1966. Major attractions include botanical gardens, Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Gorilla Reserve, and Elephants.

A majestic 15-acre beachfront park in Ventura, featuring a large open grassy area for kids to play, families to host a picnic, or to just sit and enjoy the California sunshine.This park has nearly an entire mile of oceanfront that’s directly adjacent to Ventura Harbor, with plenty of beachfront land and flat sand.

Martha McLean – Anza Narrows is a 40-acre regional park located along the Santa Ana River in Riverside. A plaque in the northwest corner of the park marks the point at which the Juan Bautista de Anza party, the first Europeans to traverse the Riverside area, crossed the river in 1774 and again in 1776.The park contains picnic facilities, hiking, bicycle and equestrian trails as well as an eighteen hole disc golf course. Group picnicking with reservations is available.

McKinley Park is a historically significant city park located in Sacramento, California. The Sacramento Street Railway Company built the park in 1871 to attract passengers to its line and the park continues to serve as both a recreational area and a gathering spot for residents of the greater Sacramento area.

One of the popular city park in San Francisco, California. The park is surrounded by residential buildings of two to four stories, in various architectural styles. It offers several features including many tennis courts, a basketball court, a multi-purpose court, a soccer field, a pissoir, a children's playground, and a dog play area.

This is a 10-acre park located at the cross section of Laguna and E. Los Olivos Street and spans between Alameda Padré Serra and Mission Ridge Road. This monument to Santa Barbara was the tenth Californian Mission built by Spanish Franciscans. The grounds contain ruins of Mission Santa Barbara’s old waterworks, tannery vats, grassed areas, and the City Rose Garden and so more.

A majestic 110 acre park located in Pacifica, California, that is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The ponds and wetlands of Mori Point serve as habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog and the endangered San Francisco garter snake. Mori Point also has northern coastal scrub and California coastal prairie habitat in upland areas, and is well known for its spring wildflower displays. Trails, many newly built, connect the ridgeline to the entrances to the park.

Mount Rubidoux is just west of downtown in the city of Riverside, California, United States. It has been designated as a city park and landmark. The mountain is a popular Southern California destination and is still the site of the oldest outdoor non-denominational Easter Sunrise service in the United States.