Tea and Tranquility in the Japanese Tea Garden

I had a wonderful walk through the Japanese Tea Garden. I spoke with a gardener, and really enjoyed their knowledge and friendly nature. The grounds were gorgeous! Some of the garden was closed, but you could still see everything, even if you couldn't walk every path. The zen garden was so peaceful. I enjoyed staying there a while. I loved the stone walkways across the pond and I challenged myself with climbing their incredible bridge. The gift shop was small and packed with lovely ceramic goodies! I bought the garden pass for $28 and it granted admission to the Tea Garden, the Botanical Garden and the Conservatory of flowers. It was good for three days! I'd highly suggest purchasing entry that way, especially if you like garden walks. I spent two hours here, even though it isn't a huge garden. If you are only here for 5 minutes you didn't appreciate your visit, and that's on you.

The Japanese Tea Garden is located inside the Golden Gate Park area. This is a Japanese-style garden that makes you feel serenity, tranquility and harmony. There are typical architectural elements of the traditional Japanese culture like an arched drum bridge and pagodas. Nothing more to say. Actually the garden is pretty small and non resident fees are quite high. I don't recommend to visit if your stay in San Francisco is short.

If the entrance was free for everyone (free entrance for locals, $14 for foreign adults), I could have given it 5 stars. But it would be nice to warn tourists before charging them, that the tour takes less than 5 minutes and that several places are closed for renovation and therefore not accessible. For $14 we did the whole tour in 5 minutes. Unless you extend your visit by hanging around in the souvenir store or staying for lunch, the tour is over very quickly. The garden is certainly very beautiful, zen-like and well-maintained, but you really don't expect to do the whole tour in such a short time, so much so that we went round in circles for a while to make sure we hadn't missed anything.

Gorgeous atmosphere, very family friendly, and kid interactive. It's small but very much worth the visit! Lush greenery everywhere, not very many flowers at this time of the year but beautiful red leafed trees. Military & San Francisco residents enter free. Would definitely go back in the spring to see what it looks like then.

A really small garden with different types of Japanese bonsai on display. It is very well maintained and also has a small tea shop at the entrance. They also have restrooms near the entrance. For non-SF residents they charge $16 (including taxes) for tickets which can be purchased at the entrance. You will be in and out of the garden in about 15-20 minutes.