Best Parks For a Picnic

Beautiful state, regional, and community parks are located in Sonoma County’s most scenic spots where locals and visitors come to spend a pleasant day. These parks welcome you with picnic tables, barbecues, and restrooms, in addition to gorgeous views, playgrounds, trails, and other recreation.

Here are a few diverse parks in Sonoma Wine Country where you and your crew can enjoy a perfect picnic.

Revel in Redwoods

When you picnic at the 805-acre Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in the town of Guerneville, it feels like dining in an open-air cathedral. As the world’s tallest living things, these giants soar skyward around you, and sunlight filters like a stained glass window through the canopy some 300 feet above.

After lunch, stroll one of the gentle trails to take in famous trees, such as 1,400-year-old Colonel Armstrong and 310-foot Parson Jones. 

This picnic area contains 78 individual sites, plus there’s also a group picnic area that holds up to 150 people and can be reserved up to a year in advance.

Experience the Wild North Coast

Situated where the Gualala River enters the Pacific Ocean, the stunning Gualala Point Regional Park in the town of Gualala offers great picnic areas with breathtaking views. Take in the waves crashing on craggy bluffs, the expanse of white beach and rolling dunes, and a natural sandspit that forms at the mouth of the river in summer.

There’s more to do here than just picnic — you can hike the bluffs, construct driftwood castles, explore the sand dunes, find shells, or try your hand at fishing if the season is right. 

Enjoy a Family Beach Outing

Doran Regional Park in the town of Bodega Bay is the perfect destination for a family get-together. At this beautiful, two-mile stretch of golden sand, which rests between Bodega Harbor and the open ocean, you’ll not only picnic in an awesome seaside setting, but you can also get busy flying kites, building sand castles, searching for shells or — in warm weather — splashing in the water as Doran’s waters rank among the county’s safest for swimming.

You can also launch a kayak or a speedboat from the jetty at the harbor’s mouth or take a lovely walk on dozens of nearby trails like the popular Bird Walk Coastal Access Trail.

Spend an Old-Fashioned Day in the Park

Tucked on the edge of Santa Rosa, the 350-acre Spring Lake Regional Park is protected by rising hills and generously endowed with a lake, ponds, oak woodlands, grasslands, and meadows. In spring, it’s ablaze with wildflowers.

In warm weather, you can boat, paddle, windsurf, and swim in the three-acre swimming lagoon, which has lifeguards plus an inflatable water playground!

There’s also fishing, hiking, cycling, and an amazing Environmental Discovery Center for kids. Best of all, Spring Lake is perfect for picnics, offering 200 tables with barbecues and five separate group picnic areas. 

Hang Out on the River

Situated along Sonoma County’s beautiful Russian River in Healdsburg, Riverfront Regional Park includes 305 serene and peaceful acres — making this an ideal place to relax in the beauty of nature.

Two small man-made lakes don’t allow swimming but provide great views and excellent large-mouth bass fishing. An accessible two-mile trail circles one of the picturesque lakes, and in summer, paddle boards can be rented. 

Here, the lake-view picnic tables and barbecue pits are found in two areas: Choose between a shady redwood grove and a sunny meadow. There’s also a group picnic area that can be reserved for 25 to 150 people.

A Russian River tradition for more than a century, Johnson’s Beach is another popular spot on the Russian River in summer. This Guerneville hot spot offers everything you need for an incredible day, including rentals of canoes, kayaks, inner tubes, beach chairs, and umbrellas, plus a kiddie pond and snack bar with beer and wine.

Discover more fun things to do or great places to stay in Sonoma County.

Together, we can protect and preserve the beauty and natural resources of Sonoma County for generations to come. Check out our page on Sustainable Travel, and look over the Leave No Trace Seven Principles.