San Francisco Botanical Garden

I had an amazing experience here. I was really surprised by the lush nature that existed in San Francisco. The garden offers a display of hundreds of plant species originating from/native to tens of different countries from different continents, hosting a diverse ecosystem in the park. Overall, I think it is a great place to visit.

I visited the Botanical Garden for the Lightscape show at 5:15 PM. The experience was really nice — the lights, atmosphere, and the whole walk-through felt magical and peaceful. Tickets were $33 per person + tax, which felt a little pricey, but overall it was still fine for a one-time experience. We also found parking very close to the park, which made everything easy and smooth. A beautiful evening and worth visiting at least once during the season.

With a disability and lots of life changes, I haven't been back to the Botanical Gardens in 7 years. I saw an ad for Lightscape (embarrassingly) while playing solitaire on my phone, and then again during a commercial on TV. It looked cooler than the Oakland Zoo's Glowfari and my kid and I prefer Fto avoid zoos. The event was well done overall With the exception that it was extremely popular and the line to enter was quite long (we went the night before 🦃 Thanksgiving), us adults enjoyed the 1 mile of adorned path winding through assorted trees and displays. Maybe a few hundred yards just inside the entrance was a cluster of food/snack trucks and a bar surrounding a squishy lawn with a few tables and chairs set up, but it was way too cold for anyone to want to be stationary. The path led us past resident giant Sequoia, ginko, New Zealand Christmas Tree, to a frighteningly close, zeppelin moon as well as a large swathe of lawn shimmering with thousands of LED lanterns. The grove of artificial cherry trees with their soft pink crystalline blossoms gave off an ethereal and photo-op worthy oasis in the dark, but difficult to capture it's splendor with a regular phone. The pond with giant lillies as well as the very next display of enormous, feathery pompom poppies both had color changing features which have those displays more Insta- and Tok- video opportunities for the younger crowd. There were two displays that we liked quite a bit, although they could have been done slightly better. The laser light and fog machine show through the oaks (?) was fun and made us moms feel like we were in a nightclub reliving our 20s again, and the other display with the giant Sequoias made their branches move in a seemingly preternatural way, but the repetitive songs (especially the sequoias section - the same Lindsey Stirling song over and over again) was just a bit annoying. I'm sure they wanted people to just walk through and take things in at a relatively decent clip and not linger. I rarely go out though, and being able to stop, enjoy nature at night (safely!) with my kid and friends, and with a cool lighted display, I really wanted to take my time. If you've never been, it's definitely worth seeing. I'd be happy to go again; I do wish they did it during the summer season as well, being able to enjoy all that when it's warmer and not 48°F out would draw me back for sure (but armed with a can of mosquito deterrent).

I spent Thanksgiving Day at the San Francisco Botanical Garden and loved every minute of it—free admission was a nice bonus! What struck me most was how natural the whole place feels. The designers clearly aimed for minimal impact, and the result is a landscape that feels wild but welcoming. With plants from all over the world arranged by region, the garden feels like a peaceful trip across continents. I’ll definitely be coming back!

​We really enjoyed our leisurely visit. A great tip: admission is free daily from 7:30–9 am, or check for the free 2nd Tuesday of the month. ​The garden is huge, with so many diverse plants to see from different places. It was wonderful to take our time and explore. We loved seeing the fish and were even lucky enough to spot a couple of beautiful red-tailed hawks!