Sacramento Family Fun: Southside Park
One of my goals for this summer is to get out and explore the Sacramento area with my kids. It’s the whole reason I created the #SummerFunSac challenge on Instagram, to encourage others to do the same (and to commit myself publicly, so I’d follow through!) I’m happy to share with you today one of our great discoveries – Southside Park in downtown, beloved to Sacramento residents for many years and a new favorite for us. If you are looking for Sacramento family fun, you won’t want to miss it!
Sacramento Family Fun: Southside Park
Be sure to check out all of our Sacramento adventures, plus follow along on Instagram!
Features
The biggest attraction for my kids was the adventure playground! We loved the outer space theme and how the playground equipment itself had different features than what we typically see in neighborhood parks. And I always appreciate it when there is separate equipment for younger and older children, plus accessible ramps and handrails.
There was so much to climb on and connecting walkways that it reminded me of the Ewok village from Star Wars – kids can spend so much time playing without their feet ever touching the ground!
But by far my kids’ favorite part was the GINORMOUS sand pit! This is wonderful for open ended play for kids of all ages. My five year old and eight year old spent just as much time in here (perhaps more) than my two year old.
There is so much to do at the playground that we could easily come every day for a week without anyone getting bored!
While they were focused on the playground, however, I was enjoying all the big, shady trees and the view of the lake – you can even go fishing!
There are also a swimming and wading pool and a jogging trail, plus an amphitheater (though no alcohol is permitted).
Parking
One thing I was curious about and had trouble finding a definitive answer for ahead of time was about parking. Since Southside Park is in downtown Sacramento, I wanted to know if I needed to have quarters with me for the meters. In the end, I took them, but it turns out that you don’t necessarily need them. While much of the parking around the park is metered (and at least the ones we saw didn’t take cards), there is free parking right in front of the playground area. So in most cases you do not need to worry about having change with you, though I’m sure that on busy weekends you may still have to use metered parking.
Find out more about Southside Park on the City of Sacramento website. Do you have a favorite park for Sacramento family fun?
