Parks and Leisure

The City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities is home to more than 169 parks, open spaces, athletic fields, playgrounds, and tot lots.  The Department oversees at least 20 community centers while providing a full spectrum of recreational services and programs for all of Richmond's citizens. Included in the park system is the James River Parks System which has been rated as the top municipal park in the United States. The Department has in its inventory monuments/statues/memorials, decorative fountains, Dogwood Dell, the Carillon, and seven cemeteries.

Some of the larger, best-known parks in the City of Richmond are: 

James River Park System Richmond's largest, most unique, and best-known park is actually a system of parks along both sides of the James River as it passes through the city, making Richmond the only urban city in the country with Class IV white water rapids in the middle of downtown.   The park's wilderness shoreline amid woods, islands, meadows, and rocks offers opportunities for canoeing, kayaking, tubing, walking, jogging, hiking, rock-climbing, biking, fishing, boating, swimming, sunning, bird-watching, and nature study  
Bryan Park is a Richmond historic park on the north side of the City. The Audubon Society hosts bird walks periodically. The park offers a home to athletic events, festivals, and a disc golf course. 
Forest Hill Park features a lake, walkways, two picnic shelters, a tot lot, tennis courts, restrooms, and a meeting house.   Mountain bikers and hikers appreciate the park's hilly trails.  Forest Hill features a Farmer's market on Saturdays May through October.
Byrd Park features 3 lakes, tennis courts, ball fields, walking trails, Dogwood Dell Amphitheater, Ha'Penny stage, and the Carilion, a World War I Memorial.

To find a park or community center, exercise trail, or playground, visit the website.