If you don’t know what to visit this summer, we recommend you ten of the most popular parks in the world. If you want to relax and to escape from the city, it is a perfect place, with green spaces and people smiling.
10. Central Park, New York, USA
Central Park is a public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City. The park initially opened in 1857, on 778 acres (315 ha) of city-owned land (it is 840 acres today). In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year, continued during the American Civil War, and was completed in 1873. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States.
9. Park Guell, Barcelona, Spain
Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of El Carmel in the Gràciadistrict of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the Catalanarchitect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It has an extension of 17.18 ha (0.1718 km²), which makes it one of the largest architectural works in south Europe. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Works of Antoni Gaudí”.
8. Namba Parks, Osaka, Japan
Namba Parks is an office and shopping complex located inNamba-naka Nichome, Naniwa-ku, Osaka, Japan, the south of Namba Station on Nankai Railway. It consists of a high office building called Parks Tower and a 120-tenant shopping mall with rooftop garden. Namba Parks was developed by Jon Jerde of The Jerde Partnership in the footprint of the since closed Osaka Stadium.
Various kinds of restaurants (Japanese, Korean, Italian, etc.) are located on the 6th floor, and shops are located on the 2nd to 5th floors. There is also an amphitheater for live shows, as well as space for small personal vegetable gardens and wagon shops.
7. Ibirapuera Park, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Ibirapuera Park is a major urban park in São Paulo, Brazil. It has a large area for leisure, jogging and walking, as well as a convention center. Its importance to São Paulo is comparable to that of the Central Park to New York City. The Ibirapuera is one of Latin America largest city parks, together with Chapultepec Park, in Mexico City and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogota.
6. Balboa Park, San Diego, USA
Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) urban cultural park in San Diego, California. In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation green belts, gardens and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. There are also many recreational facilities and several gift shops and restaurants. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park’s site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. Today, Balboa Park is managed and maintained by the stewardship of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.
5. Lumpini Park, Bangkok, Thailand
Lumpini Park is a 360-rai (57.6-hectare (142-acre)) park in Bangkok, Thailand. This park offers rare open public space, trees and playgrounds in the Thai capital and contains an artificial lake where visitors can rent a variety of boats. Paths around the park totalling approximately 2.5 km in length are a popular area for evening joggers. Officially, cycling is only permitted during the day between the times of 10am to 3pm. There is a smoking ban throughout the park, and dogs are not allowed.
4. Hyde Park, London, England
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers’ Corner.
The park was the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851, for which the Crystal Palacewas designed by Joseph Paxton. The park has become a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the Suffragettes and the Stop The War Coalition have all held protests in the park. Many protesters on the Liberty and Livelihood March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park. On 20 July 1982 in the Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings, two bombs linked to theProvisional Irish Republican Army caused the death of eight members of theHousehold Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets and seven horses.
3. Royal National City Park, Stockholm, Sweden
The Royal National City Park (Swedish: Kungliga nationalstadsparken) is the world’s first National City Park, established in 1995 in the municipalities ofStockholm, Solna and Lidingö in Sweden.
2. Beihai Park, Beijing, China
Beihai Park is an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing. First built in the 10th century, it is amongst the largest of Chinese gardens, and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces and temples. Since 1925, the place has been open to the public as a park. It is also connected at its northern end to the Shichahai.
1. Vondelpark, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Vondelpark is a public urban park of 47 hectares (120 acres) in Amsterdam,Netherlands. It is located in the stadsdeel Amsterdam Oud-Zuid, west from theLeidseplein and the Museumplein. The park was opened in 1865 and originally named the “Nieuwe Park”, but later renamed to “Vondelpark”, after the 17th century author Joost van den Vondel. Yearly, the park has around 10 million visitors. In the park is an open air theatre, a playground and several horeca facilities.
