San Francisco Botanical Garden (solo trip)

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 even...

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 ...

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 contin...

​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!

Unless you are a resident of San Francisco and thereby get free admission, this botanical garden is unfortunately not worth the price. If you are a plant lover, I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit UC Berkeley’s botanical garden, which puts this one to shame! We visited from out of town and paid $35 to enter, only to find that about half the garden was closed, including the sections we were mo...