Stanley Park, Vancouver
Suggested by ID9032789
Recommended by user ID9032789, Vancouver’s Stanley Park was named top park in the world based on millions of reviews on TripAdvisor. Attracting 8 million visitors each year, it’s home to a water park, Canada’s largest aquarium, multiple beaches, tennis courts and five restaurants. Vancouver’s largest park is just under 1,000 acres in size, featuring roughly 500,000 cedar, fir and hemlock trees on a peninsula just off the city centre. The green space has been designated a national historic site of Canada.
Englischer Garten, Munich
Suggested by Vesalius
Named in homage to landscaped English parks, the Englischer Garten in Munich was suggested by user Vesalius. Created in 1789 by Brit Benjamin Thompson, the park was originally meant for recreational use by members of the military, but was opened to Munich’s 40,000 citizens in 1792. Now the park hosts a 7,000-seat beer garden, a Japanese teahouse built for the 1972 summer Olympics, and surfing facilities on an artificial stream running through the park. The park’s architectural attractions are also notable, with a stone monopteros and the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) being highlights.
Planten un Blomen, Hamburg
Suggested by CathyRozel
“Overlooked by many visitors, yet truly marvellous,” was user CathyRozel’s summary of this urban park in Hamburg. The name translates as “Plants and Flowers”; however, the park also offers water features, an ice rink and mini golf, as well as the Old Botanical Gardens and one of Europe’s largest Japanese landscape gardens. The park’s standing in plant-fancying circles is evidenced by it playing host to the International Horticulture Show twice, in 1953 and 1973.
Parc du Mont-Royal, Montreal
Suggested by Hugh Probyn
Included on Rowan Moore’s original list for Olmsted Parks in Buffalo, NY, Frederick Law Olmsted makes another appearance in our readers’ best parks lists as the designer of Montreal’s Parc du Mont-Royal, suggested by Hugh Probyn. However, the park was not finished to Olmsted’s full design, due to the economic depression which hit Montreal in the mid-1870s. Plans for a reservoir surrounded by a grand promenade and staggered levels of vegetation to give the illusion of height were abandoned, but in the 1930s, the park gained a lookout chalet and Beaver Lake, projects created to employ those left jobless by the Great Depression. Mount Royal also boasts two belvederes, the larger of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, an impressive semicircular plaza with a chalet offering expansive views of downtown Montreal.
Centennial Park, Sydney
Suggested by PeterFlynn
PeterFlynn brought the omission of Centennial Park to our attention, describing it as “big, bright, accessible and free”. Constructed on land previously under the custody of the Aboriginal Cadigal clan, in 1851 the park was the site of a duel between the first premier of New South Wales, Stuart Donaldson, and the state’s surveyor-general Thomas Mitchell. The park also hosted part of the marathon events in the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic games. Normally, however, the park is home to more sedate activities: with impressive wildlife including pelicans, black swans and flying foxes and architectural sites of interest such as Federation Pavilion, the park attracts huge numbers of visitors.
Central Park, New York City
Suggested by Lennie Araujo
The list’s omission of Central Park, the most visited urban park in the United States, as well as one of the most filmed locations in the world, prompted user Lennie Araujo to ask “Hello! NY’s Central Park!?”. Co-designed by, you guessed it, Frederick Law Olmsted, alongside Calvert Vaux, Central Park is a green oasis in the heart of bustling Manhattan. The site of numerous concerts, two famous restaurants, and expanses of open space in which to walk or relax, the park is one of New York’s most famed landmarks, immortalised by boundless inclusions in popular culture.
Jesmond Dene, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Suggested by boydy and Tasmaniangeordie
From one of the list’s most famous suggestions to one of its least known: Jesmond Dene is a public park nestled in a narrow valley through which a small stream known as the Ouseburn runs. First laid out in the 1860s by the owner of Jesmond Dene House William George Armstrong and his wife, the park is intended to reflect a rural landscape complete with pools, waterfalls and wild woodland. The park also features Armstrong Bridge, an iron bridge opened in 1878 and donated by William Armstong, to the people of Newcastle. Now closed to vehicles, it hosts arts and crafts fairs. Jesmond Dene is also the site of Newcastle’s oldest religious building, the now ruined St Mary’s Chapel.
Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow
Suggested by EricthePenguin
Originally known as West End Park, the Kelvingrove Park, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, sits in Glasgow’s cosmopolitan West End. The land, formerly part of the Kelvingrove and Woodlands estates, is now the site of the famous Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as well as a bandstand, skate park, bowling greens and various statues and monuments. It is a popular urban myth that following the completion of the Kelvingrove Museum, the project’s architect threw himself off one of its towers after realising that it had been built back-to-front. The park is on the River Kelvin and is populated by a wide range of wildlife.
Sefton Park, Liverpool
Suggested by ID138140 and BabylonRocker
“I walk through Sefton Park every day to go to work. It never fails to lift my mood,” said BabylonRocker, a sentiment echoed by user ID138140, who described Sefton Park as “a must-see”. A host to events varying from cricketing success for WG Grace to musical performances from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to Echo and the Bunnymen, the park was designed by Édouard André. The French landscape architect built the park around a man-made lake, into which two watercourses flow, and the green space was praised on its opening by Prince Arthur for its contribution to “the health and enjoyment of the townspeople”.
Coulée verte René-Dumont, Paris
Suggested by BoredInOxford, Effelumph, mrhodes, lagatta and PatLux
The most contemporary suggestion by readers was the Coulée verte René-Dumont in Paris. Often called “promenade plantée”, which translates as “tree-lined walkway”, this elevated park was noted by designer Amanda Burden as part of the inspiration for New York’s High Line, mentioned on Rowan Moore’s original list. Stretching a total of three miles, the park was designed to reinvent the old Vincennes railway line including the addition of boutique shops and enclosed green areas between modern buildings. User PatLux used one word to describe this park woven into Paris: “splendid”.
