- Hours: Open 365 days a year but library and bookstore closed on major holidays
- Reservations: Not required
- Cost: Free admission for residents, fee for non-residents
- Location: Golden Gate Park, driving directions below
- How Long: 1 hour to all day
- Best Time to Visit: Any time, but prettiest in spring
Visiting the San Francisco Botanical Garden
The San Francisco Botanical Garden covers 55 acres, filled with landscaped gardens and open spaces and home to over 7500 varieties of plants from around the world. Special collections include ancient plants, a Japanese moon-viewing garden and a Garden of Fragrance that presents a different way of thinking about a garden. Free dailly guided walks are given at 1:30 p.m.
Tips for Visiting the San Francisco Botanical Garden
- If you like what you see at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, they hold plant sales every Saturday at the nursery in the southwest corner of the Gardens.
- You can check what's in bloom before you go.
- If you get hungry, the Botanical Garden doesn't have a cafe, but the nearby museums do.
Getting to the San Francisco Botanical Garden
San Francisco Botanical Garden9th Avenue at Lincoln Way
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Botanical Garden website
The San Francisco Botanical Garden is on the east end of Golden Gate Park, near the California Academy of Sciences, de Young Museum and Japanese Tea Garden.
If you drive to San Francisco Botanical Garden, enter Golden Gate Park at Lincoln Way and 9th Avenue or follow Martin Luther King Drive through the park toward its east end. Street parking is available, but it fills up on weekends and holidays. On Saturdays, Sundays and major holidays, you can park somewhere else in the park and take the Golden Gate Park shuttle - or any time, you can get there by public transportation.
