Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Yerba Buena Gardens is a landscaped urban park and cultural complex in the SoMa district of San Francisco, set a short walk south of Market Street. It gives the busy downtown a green space with lawns, a memorial waterfall, museums and an arts centre, and it carries the old Spanish name of the settlement that became San Francisco.

The story behind it

Yerba Buena was the name of the small settlement on this stretch of coast before it was renamed San Francisco in 1847. The words mean "good herb" in Spanish and refer to a fragrant wild plant that grew in the area. The park borrows that name as a nod to the city's earliest days.

The gardens themselves are a product of late twentieth century redevelopment in SoMa. The district was once crowded with older housing and small businesses, and the plans to rebuild it were fiercely debated for years. The result was a mix of the Moscone Convention Center, museums, and public open space. The main esplanade of the gardens sits on top of part of the convention center, so you are walking on a rooftop without really noticing it.

What to look for

• The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, a tall waterfall that you can walk behind, with glass panels carrying his words.
• The wide central lawn, where office workers, families and festival crowds share the same open space in the middle of the city.
• The cultural buildings around the edges, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which give the park a distinctly modern look.
• The skyline view from the esplanade, where glass towers and older brick buildings stand close together and show how fast SoMa has changed.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 30 to 60 minutes for a relaxed stroll, longer if you plan to visit a museum or the arts centre.
• The gardens are open public space, but individual attractions have their own rules, so check current opening hours before you go.
• Late morning or lunchtime is lively, while early morning is quieter for photos of the waterfall.
• Several major museums and Market Street transit lines are within easy walking distance, so the park fits well into a wider day in SoMa.

See it on a quest

Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in SoMa, San Francisco is a good way to see this part of town. You walk to the gardens on foot as one stop of a longer route through SoMa, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. It suits anyone who likes a murder mystery theme with their sightseeing. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no set departure time.