This park is absolutely delightful. It sits in the city of Piedmont, which is a bit of unusual city…read moregeographically because it is completely encapsulated by Oakland. It's somewhat of an oasis in Oakland. And this park is an oasis within that. The park isn't huge, but it does the job. Love the trails, great with the dog, and every once in a while, they'll have the food trucks. Parking nearby is easy.

Piedmont park is approx. 15 acres. It is located in downtown, next to the Community Hall, Piedmont…read moreHigh School and Veteran's building. It has many walking paths that take you to different sections of the park - some make you feel you are in a dense forest. It' well maintained and manicured. Many people are sitting on benches or on the grass; park is full of life - vibrant. There is a children's playground, a Japanese Tea Garden, large lawn areas, a football field, and dog runs.

What a nice park; filled with greenery and trails galore…read more Park near the ranger station. Be sure to walk over to the nursery garden area too. The Sunset trail is a winner; get a brochure to view your route. Enjoy.

Beautiful park in Oakland. Lots of nice trails and there are dedicated off leash dog areas and dog…read morepark. Plenty of parking is available as well. There is a playground for children and steps for those that want to use stairs for their exercise routine.

Great park! First time there and my 4.5 yr old daughter loves it. Clean and big playground. Has a…read moretrail to walk around and if you have your doggy, great trail to walk around. Downside to this park, small parking lot!

Never disappointed with a visit to Jean Sweeney Park. Our daughter enjoys the various play areas as…read moreshe navigates between the different areas, existing in some spaces longer than others. After parking, if you can find a spot, the first play area includes a trampoline, climbing structure, a wide metal slide and an oversized musical chime. To the right, a spacious mesh swing spins with kids constantly filling and spinning it. Directly in front is an ample sand area with a brick barrier surrounding it. To the left are three picnic tables. In front of the sand area is the smaller kids play area which is directly next to the restrooms and water fountain. To the left of the little play area is the zip line. When you go further in to the park, there is a covered area with lots of picnic tables and seating grouped together, more benches and lots of grass to play and explore further. There are paths to ride bikes, scooters, roller blades and skateboards. During warmer weather this park is packed. When we visited, following a prior event, there were already lots of kids on a gray, windy, overcast day. This park is spacious on the interior but parking on the exterior is limited. The parking lot is minimal for the amount of space to explore, which is awesome but makes it difficult to navigate up close parking. Street parking is not really existent unless you enter on the opposite end of the park.

Nice, clean park. Enjoyed the picnic tables. Worth the $5 parking fee. It was a group event. Trash…read morewas not an issue.

The Lake Temescal loop is a beautiful easy-medium short walk that's a little over a mile…read more As you walk the only partially paved trail you'll see a ton of wildlife (ducks and fish) and quite a few dogs being walked as well as a waterfall water feature. The views are picturesque and it's quite serene for how busy it is. The second half of the trail (after you loop around near the fallen tree) isn't paved and in poor weather would be likely too muddy to be particularly safe, so I would probably walk elsewhere after a good rain or while it's drizzling. All in all, we had nevr been to this lake before and it was gorgeous so we fully intend to return!

Very pretty, shady park that's beautifully maintained. The lower section is a playground that's…read moreaccessible at the end of Artuna Ave. You can walk up a trail to the upper section, or access from Dracena Ave. Dogs are allowed off-leash on the trails, but not the grassy lawn or playground area. It's a nice park and good for dogs who like to trot along the path with you. But if you have a rambunctious dog (like I do) who wants to tangle with other dogs or launch off the edge of the trails, this is probably not the best fit. If you've got little kids, or just want to go for a walk, Dracena Quarry Park is a good bet.

Beautiful park, cool trails also good way to get a work out in with elevation climb. I think there…read moremight be an old sulfer spot ? Really cool

Fantastic beach for younger kids, and a great option for East Bay residents who aren't up for the…read moretrek into the city or the even longer drive to Santa Cruz. The beach is clean and has useful amenities, including outdoor showers, picnic tables, and restrooms. I haven't actually used the restrooms, so I can't speak to their condition, but I can say I've never noticed trash on the beach, even on busy days. The crowd is generally respectful, which goes a long way. The downside is that the water isn't exactly pristine by appearance, smell, or feel...but you can't have everything. My favorite thing about this beach, aside from the fact that the water isn't freezing, is how shallow it stays. I can wade out with my kid what feels like half a mile and still not feel like we're anywhere close to being too far from shore. P.S. Do NOT forget to pay for parking if you're in the lot. It's yellow, located at the far end, the fee is 5 dollars and it's easy to miss. Also, they don't accept Discover debit.

In The Teen and I's new Friday ritual of water watching before we head home, we stopped by Crown…read moreMemorial before heading through the tunnel to let traffic die down a bit.. This was definitely the place to be back in the day! Parking was a snap and we found a bench to sit on starting the water watching. The view was awesome and the sun was shining just like Bob Marley said. There were people, young and old playing in the sand, lots of bike riders, and of course, those dog walkers. The Teen put the phone down and ventured out and some sand, touching and driftwood drifting.. Definitely, we will be back when it gets warmer with hopes of finding front row parking again!

Notable is the skyline views of San Francisco. Very new park near the brewery and 'spirit alley' -…read moreis that what they call it where Almanac is located? Come here for the views. Very pleasant in the evening when the sun is going down. Lots of new apartments in the area - and I suppose that is who this park is mostly for. This area used to be the old Navel Air station. It is slowly getting transformed one park and residence at a time. There is a lot of hidden areas here in the general area that most people probably don't know about. Scolaries food truck I think is one of the bigger highlights.

A great new park in Alameda!!…read more This park sprung up as a result of the Naval Base being shut down, as did all the nearby apartments.. This area is now called Alameda Point. This is a good park, located near the water. It's long, flat, and straight, seems like a good place for skateboarding or the like!! The art structure stands out here. Lots of places to sit here also. A very good addition to this area!!

Good for a nostalgic stroll…read more Lake Merritt is the center point of Oakland. A place I've been flocking to since I was still riding on training wheels. More recently, I've been paying closer attention to the structures and architecture that hug the Lake. It feels like walking through a time capsule. Spanish Revival, Brutalist, Mid-Century Modern influences, all speckled with reminders that we're definitely in the 21st century. I love that can see so many of Oakland's layers here. And it's also a place to get fed physically and spiritually, especially on a Friday. Sidenote: Seems like I'm seeing fewer geese nowadays? Hmm...

Very nice lake to walk around. Lots of activities to see. Best time is between 10 am to 3pm.read more

This park is fantastic. The first time we visited was back in 2018 and honestly we can't remember…read morewhere we parked or which trails we hiked. But I know we enjoyed ourselves. Fast forward to yesterday. We had a restaurant in Albany that we wanted to check out so of course we had to hike first to get our appetites whet. I found a loop I wanted us to try on AllTrails. It's called the Dunn Trail--Monteiro Trail Loop. We parked at the Richard C. Trudeau Conference Center on Skyline Blvd. It was the perfect spot to start. Free parking. Public restrooms (even flush toilets!). If you have a dog, most of this trail is off-leash which I have never seen before. Every dog we saw were well behaved and having a great time. We don't have dogs of our own but I am a big dog person. This particular loop was exactly what I was looking for. It had several different biomes. Despite what AllTrails said, it is not all shaded but it was a beautiful, sunny, windy day. We saw lots of wildflowers blooming. We found there to be a difference between AllTrails and our measurements. AllTrails said it was roughly 500+ ft elevation gain but ours said 1000. That's a huge difference! But I would believe ours over theirs. There were a lot of inclines. Also, their's said it was 3.5 miles but ours said a mile longer. The trails were all very well maintained. We saw gorgeous views, small waterfalls/creeks, redwoods, butterflies--just lovely. It was less busy than I anticipated but we arrived before 9 a.m. We finished by 11. This is a big park and lots to explore. Highly recommend!

I went hiking at the Reinhardt Regional Redwood Park for the first time and loved it!…read more Plenty of street parking at the Redwood Bowl lot and we had no issues with vehicle break ins, luckily, although there were a few warning signs up to remind you to put your valuables away. There are bathrooms by the Redwood Bowl but we couldn't find any helpful maps so just used our phones to navigate. The trail we ended up taking was around 4 miles and took 2 hours. Most of it was shaded and among redwood trees so I really enjoyed that this could work as an afternoon hike. It's a moderate difficulty level with some steep areas. There's also a popular picnic area with grills and an archery range. You could even walk to the nearby swimming pool or visit the Chabot. We only did one half of the hiking loop so will be back to check out the other side.

A true hot girl walk…read more A sweet coastline beginner friendly trail. I love that there are paved and dirt path options that make me feel like a real adventurer (without the rigor). There's not a lot of shade here, so I come when I want to sunbathe with my walk. There's a small community feel. Folks tend to be friendly, often smiling or stopping for a chat. Watch out for the baby squirrels during the spring! I think it takes a while for their instincts to kick in...

Shoreline park is a beautiful walking path and a green belt on Harbor Bay Isle. It's about 6 miles…read morelong and runs into the Harbor Bay ferry. There is a gravel path and cement path for cyclists. On any giving day you can find people walking their dogs, relaxing and watching the beautiful bay and enjoying sunsets. There are several benches throughout the path and they also have restrooms and plenty of trash receptacles. In some sections, they even have picnic tables and barbecue pits. One area also has an outlook and sandbox for children to play in. While out enjoying the path, you can guarantee you will find some beautiful wildlife, and a lot of pictures are taken by photographers and people just blown away by the beautiful view of San Francisco. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a clean, beautiful and romantic path.