View Park - Washington Park Arboretum - Reviews

-This park is located about 3 miles northeast of downtown Seattle, between downtown and the University of Washington
-We arrived just after 5 pm on a Friday in August and were disappointed to find that the main building and any information we could get on the park, which includes an arboretum and trails, was closed.
-We drove part way into the park, and started walking several trails, which included beautiful blue hydrangeas, and many identified tree species organized in clusters by types of trees, with many different tree types within the park. The trails were interesting
-There were not a lot of people in the park during the time we were there—about 5 pm to almost 8 pm
-Driving around about 6:30 pm, we found an area with picnic tables where we could cook out. Rest rooms were also near by, for convenience
-We had a nice picnic dinner/cookout at about 7 pm—restful and not crowded
-This is a nice urban park/arboretum to relax and unwind, also to get exercise if you like to walk or jog

Washington Park ratings (on scale of 1 to 5, with 5 the best)

-Upkeep = 4 (trails, roads, arboretum all seemed to be well maintained)
-Beauty = 4 (hydrangeas were a real nice find, trees and shrubs—even those not in full bloom—were all in a beautiful landscape)
-Peaceful = 4 (for an urban park, this one wasn’t busy for an early Friday evening in August
Trails = 4 (upkeep, beauty all looked good, low hazards)
Informative = 2 (needed brochures, maps or some other guides available at the main entrance even after hours—5 pm; the score would have been as low as 1 but for the excellent job of labeling plants/trees)