Located to the east of Stow Lake in the heart of Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden is an ideal spot to wander, refresh yourself after your busy days spent seeing the sights of San Francisco, and to enjoy a fine cup of Asian tea. Decked out with pagodas and stone lanterns, you can admire the cherry blossom trees and the stone ponds and lose yourself in an oriental paradise.
Spanning 2 acres of grounds, you can explore the stunning scene at leisure by ambling down its walkways and stopping off to take a seat on a bench and admire the plants and trees in all their abundant natural glory.
The garden was founded well over a century ago, back in 1894 when it was intended as a temporary fixture of San Francisco's World's Fair. Designed and developed by landscape gardener Baron Makoto Hagiwara, it was made larger and became a permanent feature of the park when the fair left town, and it was subsequently maintained by his descendants until the beginning of World War II in the States.
Look out for some of the best-loved highlights, among which you'll find the stunning Zen Garden, the water features, and of course the 4,000 kilo bronze Lantern of Peace, which was brought over as a gift to symbolise the spirit of reconciliation after World War II.
In the heart of the garden, you can pay a visit to the Tea House, where Hagiwara first brought the fortune cookie to visitors in the United States a tradition that has since spread afar. If you visit on a Wednesday or Friday morning between March and January, you'll be able to see staff dressed in kimonos performing demonstrations of their age-old rituals to make powdered green tea known as matcha.
Whatever time of year you visit, you're sure to appreciate the captivating beauty of the garden. However, if you come here in the spring, you'll be rewarded with the truly beautiful sight of the thousands of cherry blossom trees coming into bloom. In the autumn meanwhile, the colours of the changing leaves make another spectacular display.
