Rancho San Rafael Park & Wilbur D. May Center
Rancho San Rafael Regional Park
Reno's largest city park, with a botanical garden and the Wilbur D. May Museum. The hot air balloon festival takes off here in September.
Rancho San Rafael Regional Park covers about 230 hectares of lawns and sagebrush hills, with trails across the slopes. A huge "N" on the hillside lets you climb up for a view of the city. The Wilbur D. May Center includes a museum that displays the global treasures collected by the traveler Wilbur May, a free botanical garden and a children's dinosaur playground. In early September each year, the Reno Balloon Races are held here, and at dawn more than a hundred hot air balloons rise together. Viewing is free. The park is about 3 km from downtown and can be reached by car or bus.
Opening hours
Park open all day; museum closed Mondays and Tuesdays
Nearby sights
- Fleischmann Planetarium & Science Center
- Reno Arch & Downtown Casinos
- Truckee River Walk & Wingfield Park
- National Automobile Museum (Harrah Collection)
- Nevada Museum of Art
- Galena Creek Regional Park
- Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe
- Animal Ark Wildlife Sanctuary