The Solo Scale:

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If you’re lucky enough to be in the middle of a trip to San Francisco, you may be drawn to a stop in Golden Gate Park. You can find bison herds, the de Young museum, the Conservatory of Flowers, memorials, windmills and more.

If you’re a fan of the botanical, you have a couple of options, including the botanical gardens. Another option is to venture into the oldest Japanese Tea Gardens in the US, created in the 1800’s.

There are two options when you visit — self-guided or a 60-minute tour. When I’m going solo, I tend to go with the self-guided option. It allows me to balance more time with the places I want to stay and less in the ones that I’m done with.

I find often with guided tours, our interests don’t align, which means it’s not as balanced as I’d like. For self-guided, the ticket price is $16USD.

Once you enter, you’re free to explore! The gardens aren’t too big, so it won’t take that long to walk around. Some of the most notable sights are the moon bridge, the pagoda, the Buddha, the zen gardens, and the tea house.

In general during my visit to the Japanese Tea Gardens, I rarely ran into big pockets of people. I went during early July before the long weekend, so it was one of the busier times of year. Even with that, I still had places in the tea garden to reflect and admire the natural beauty. Even in the middle of a busy city, this was a peaceful respite.

Plus, it’s located right by so many other museums that you can make a whole day of spending time at Golden Gate Park. For that, it’s definitely worth the price and your time to visit.

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