The Aquatic Park Trail travels along a hairpin-shaped route through Aquatic Park and around a small lake narrowly separated from the San Francisco Bay. The trail runs parallel to, and across Interstate 580 from, the growing San Francisco Bay Trail system, which is reachable via a trail bridge over the highway.
The Works Progress Administration built Aquatic Park in the mid-1930s as part of the Berkeley Waterfront Project. The lake conforms to international standards for model yacht racing. Aquatic Park includes many amenities: elaborate playground, rowing center and boating, disc golf and fitness course. The park is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Aquatic Park is located at 80 Bolivar Drive, at the foot of Bancroft Way between Ashby and University Avenues in southwest Berkeley. To reach Aquatic Park from I-80/I-580, head north or south and exit at University Avenue. Turn right on 6th Street, and then right on Addison Street. Take that street to its end, and turn left on Bolivar Drive. There is limited parking on the east side of the park.
I wasn’t in the mood for hills today and thought this would fit the bill. It was the perfect effort and distance. I didn’t love being so close to the freeway but there was a lot of nature and beauty to distract me.
Huge sections of the asphalt are completely broken down, would be a great trail if they fixed this!
It is awesome my sister and I play there all the time!! Great surrounded park area!!
Such a beautiful, well-kept park. Great place to walk with my dog.
Portions of this trail are not on smooth concrete. The trail splits off in various places and is fairly short if you're looking for a simple-to-skate trail. It's doable, but you'll have to roll over rough asphalt and turn around a few times to go back to your starting point and try the opposite direction.
Beautiful views but Poor pavement for skating.
We had a great time here with my kids, but I wouldn't recommend for in-line skating. The trail would go smooth for 50 feet, then go very rough for 30 feet, repeat. The rough sections were difficult for my kids to skate without falling.
Otherwise it's very pleasant place and my kids really enjoyed the playground.
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