Between San Francisco And Stockton Is NorCal's Quirky Family-Friendly Park With Unique Play Areas

If you're looking for an easy, family-friendly getaway from San Francisco, there are several great options all scattered around the Bay Area suburbs. You might head to the under-the-radar city of Richmond for museums and trails on the waterfront, then make your way southeast to Danville, an underrated California town with exceptional eats and specialty shops. Visitors to Danville will find numerous parks that will delight children, but a local favorite is Diablo Vista Park. It's nicknamed "Snake Park," as it features a quirky concrete snake coiling up its hilly terrain for kids to climb on. Meanwhile, the park's official name gestures at another one of its attractive features: its views of Mount Diablo in the distance.

Diablo Vista Park's 20 acres encompass a picnic area, a playground, and a multitude of amenities geared towards sports lovers. Among them are a sand volleyball court, tennis courts, soccer fields, and a baseball diamond. The playground has a sandy area, bucket swings, and an assortment of small play structures that cater to toddlers and younger children. But the snake is beloved by all, with fountains shooting from its back and a panoramic view of the park when you stand at its highest point on the hill. Reviewers have praised the park's cleanliness and maintenance, with one Google reviewer writing, "The play area is great for younger children under eight ... It's very clean and has [a] basketball area, and [a] baseball field for older kids." As of this writing, the park is undergoing renovation, which will also add a skate park.

Travelers arriving from the San Francisco International Airport can reach Danville in about an hour's drive. Coming from Stockton, it's about an hour and 30 minutes. Diablo Vista Park is located on an easily accessible road outside of the town center, there's free parking, and it's open from sunrise to sunset. The park's bathrooms are kept well cleaned, according to reviewers. Generally, the park is pretty quiet and crowd-free, though it can get busier when there's a sports game taking place.

Walking paths around Diablo Vista Park link to the Diablo Vista Trail, which leads to a point with impeccable views of Mount Diablo and its foothills. It's a fairly easy hike that goes for about 2.5 miles, starting from the park and then steadily sloping uphill through mostly grassy fields. 

If the view makes you want to summit the 3,849-foot-tall Mount Diablo itself, you can reach it by car in about 45 minutes from the park, following a twisting road up to the visitor's center. Go there in early fall, and you might arrive during "tarantula season," just one of Mount Diablo State Park's unique draws. Another activity to add to your family's day itinerary is the Blackhawk Museum, and you could even walk there in under 20 minutes from Diablo Vista Park. The most well-known exhibit of the museum is its collection of antique and rare cars, but it also has galleries showcasing art and cultural objects from around the world that you could spend hours wandering through.