San Francisco hides one of its happiest family playgrounds in the sky. Salesforce Park, the 5.4-acre public park that crowns the Salesforce Transit Center downtown, is a living roof of grassy lawns, dancing fountains, gardens and skyline views, and it is completely free, open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
For families, the star is the children’s play area: a bright yellow climbing rope frame on soft, spongy flooring between the Central Lawn and the Main Plaza, made for climbing, balancing and burning off energy high above the city streets. Around it, a curved walking trail loops the whole park, perfect for strollers, scooters and little explorers on the move.
The park is also a garden tour of the world. Thirteen mini botanical gardens line the perimeter trail, each labeled with interpretive signs and planted with flora from different regions, from a desert garden at the western end to a lavender patch loved by butterflies and bees. Kids can picnic on the lawns, splash near the fountains and hunt for the park’s plant treasures as they go.
Free organized activities fill the calendar year-round, from family-friendly fun and fitness classes on the lawns to noontime concerts and movie nights at the amphitheater at the park’s west end. It is the kind of place where a downtown errand turns into an afternoon of play.
Happy City News tip: ride the elevators up from the Transit Center, let the kids claim the yellow climber, and stay for the view. A rooftop park this green, this playful and this free is San Francisco at its happiest.
Photo: The wub / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
