The 24 best parks and gardens in Abilene

We stopped while on a road trip passing through. It was the perfect place to stretch our legs. My 2.5 year old had a blast looking at the statues and running around. I can't wait to make this a regular pit stop!

I loved the amazing thoughtful, and intricate artistic work that was put into this. My kids really enjoyed it. I also loved the interactive app to help you search for more of these statues around the area.

Beautiful little park with so many sculptures from new and old children’s stories. Definitely worth a stop and many are under the shade of trees. Bring the children’s books with you! At the front you can also pick up a brochure with more info on each. Lots of fun activities for kids.

Had a great time taking pics with my girl, as we passed thru Abilene! Great park! ❤️

The Book quotes on the large sitting stones along the pathway were my favorite part of the park. Of course my younger kids enjoyed the story book statues the best. The location was clean, safe, and well landscaped/designed. A must see in the city!

This garden was an enchanting step into the storybook of childhood. Goes to prove Abilene is the storybook capitol.

What a sweet place! It's so cute and well done, though I wish they would clear out what I assume are the added christmas "extras" of added skirts and scarves. I'm told at night it looks totally different. I bet Charlotte's Web over Wilbur looks best at night - it's a little hard to see in the daytime. Also, don't do what I did - I parked a block away. Park in the copious convention center parking right next to it.

Play grounds are clean. Grass always maintained. A safe park a d is wheelchair accessible in some areas. Quite a few things to do in the area. The outdoor gym is cool!

This is one of my favorite places in Abilene. The playground is a big hit with the kids. I always enjoy visiting the prairie dogs. If you haven’t had a chance to see them, I highly recommend it.

Great park to let the kids play. There is a nice big climbing area, and they even have a walking/biking/running walkway around the whole park. There is also a splash pad that looks like it's for the younger children. Not very big, but looks like a great time! We also saw some Prarie dogs! Will definitely visit this park again.

Paved path measures 1.6 miles from the entry parking area around the full loop. Beware--no shade on 95% of it, so you will feel the sun the whole time. Nice peaceful park, plenty of people walking, walking dogs, playing at the playground. Prairie dogs love this park too!

Very nice park in Abilene with a big walking trail and it’s right next to the YMCA. I don’t recommend staying after sunset since it’s not well illuminated. Once a saw a big all white male group gathered/huddled for what looked like a meeting at this particular park. I honestly didn’t feel safe walking passed this all big white male group although I was accompanied by a friend who has been living in the immediate area of the park for several years. I can only hope that it was not a hater or neo supremacist group meeting. I truly hope that isn’t the case because it would a negative representation of not only of Red Bud park, but the surrounding neighborhoods to include the community, and city as a whole. It’s a nice day time walking park. I see ppl walking the big trail along the perimeter of the park with family, friends, and pets all the time. It would be great if they had better lighting during the dark hours. Love, Light, Peace, Blessings, Community No weapon formed against me shall prosper

Just wanted somewhere I could take my dog for a nice walk. Even though it was in town, this was open space. I took her off-leash. Let her run as well as on leash walking around the periphery of the park. There were doggy bags with trash cans.

I went there for a school field trip. This park was ok. There is some not so good things about this park. First of all the bathrooms had only 1 tiny toilet in it for the women's bathroom. It was a clean bathroom tho. There was i believe 4 swings, but 1 swing was out of commission... they need to fix that swing. The trash cans were missing the trash bags. Unless city of abilene said no to bags. It is understandable. Would I go back to this park for a family outing? No i would not. I do see they keep it clean. I like that about this park.

This park was cute. Definitely suitable for pretty much all ages of kids. Big covered tables for gatherings and plenty for shade over the playground itself. The lake is right next door and you can walk to it from the park through the designated trail(s). Only reason I did not give this place 5 stars is I did not see and bathroom anywhere.

I was nervous because another poster said "small" but it's not. The nature trail is short (75 feet?) But the park is pretty substantial with lots of spread out areas.

Cute little park and playground area. Nice trail! Great for the Littles to run off some steam!

If your into fishing it's come a long way. But still takes Patience like anything else. But you can tell they are trying to make it nicer and more things to do for those who don't fish 🐟🐠...👍😉

Went fishing here. Place is super dirty. The fish were clean considering the trash all over the place.

Great smaller playground and sandbox between ball fields. Follow the nature trail across the road, and it will lead you to Lake Kirby, wonderful for birdwatching and fishing.

There's some walking trails and a great playground definitely would recommend for getting outdoorsy.

I love this park. Abilene did a good job improving and adding play ground and new pavilions. I am very relaxing whenever I am at this park.

The beach was extremely disappointing, not maintained, horrible algae over growth and garbage everywhere. Maybe it’s a bad time of year, but I would never return and never recommend.

How do I take my one star rating back!! I wouldn't even post a photo of the bathrooms and along the edge of the water is a paper like deposit I've seen around leaking septic tanks it would be really nice if they cleaned it up has a nice park but we didn't stay it just didn't feel sanitary

We love this lake and come every other weekend when my husband is off work . My reason for giving them 3 stars is because there restrooms and playground. They’re absolutely horrible there crawling with lots of spiders . My children can’t even play on the playground because it’s covered in spiderwebs everywhere. There’s lots of dangerous spiders like black widows and brown recluse . I understand we are outdoors but it wouldn’t hurt for them to treat and spray these areas to make them more safe and suitable for families . Other than those 2 issues the lake is well taken care of and clean . I recommend bringing your own sort of portable toilet and bikes for your children.

My family and I have been coming to Johnson Park for over 20 year's. It's always a fun affordable place for family to get together and have some fun!

Fantastic park with grills.

Safe family friendly park close to the city of Abilene and great family fun. Security is helpful and there is not a bunch of drinking here. Very pretty and best area in the area to visit.

Took the kiddos for a last minute picnic to get them out the house and off their devices.Grabbed pizza dessert and drinks. Had a great time ending up using a 40 pack of water in a water fight. Should of taken pics we had a blast!!!

Had a good time, my family enjoyed themselves, plenty of space for the Easter egg hunt!

Very beautiful! The playground looks nice and lots of disk golfing available. However I have been advised by APD to not be here after dark.

Really fun, family friendly park! It has a smaller playground for ages 3-5 (although I had a 15 month old and 2 year old playing on it) and a larger playground. Two sets of swings, with baby swings. The only thing I disliked were the super poor quality bathrooms. The women’s bathroom had one stall. It was dirty and old, with no soap, towels, or dryers. Would recommend using a restroom elsewhere. Overall, great place to bring the kids.

Great park. Great course. Watch out for the water on a windy day!

Great park needs more shaded areas and also a canopy over the playground for the children. But it is very clean spacious and peaceful.

The playground was dirty, trash lying around, dog poop in the middle of the big playground, and it smelled like sewage. The smaller slide in the big kid section was extremely uncomfortable and hurt my son's booty. It does seem popular for disc golf.

Nice park Trail for good walk playground area, shelter area for bbq and birthday parties clean bathrooms I like that it has a dog park attached and there a sign there saying don’t feed the duckies this keeps poop away and the park clean you can see a view of the zoo as well

Beautiful park, quiet and clean. Has an outdoor bathroom, walking trail and fishing areas if you want to catch some catfish.

The new Splash Pad at Nelson Park is awesome! It's a great way to cool off after a hot journey around the Abilene Zoo.

This the perfect place to have a family day in one spot! The zoo is walking distance. There is enough Room to set up canopies and a BBQ pit. There is are 2 parks and a splash pad and a large pond for fishing. Public restrooms are kept up with. Definitely recommend 👌

Very nice and clean park. It also have 2 dog parks for either large and small dogs. Water park for the kids. Close proximity to the Abilene zoo and a softball field.. fishing is a popular pastime.

This is such a lovely park close to two dog parks (one for big dogs and one for small dogs) and the Zoo. It has a playground and splash place. Evening walks or bike rides here can be lovely. Gorgeous sunsets. There are also plenty of places for fishing. One of my favorite places in Abilene. Great for families.

Love it!! Peddalboats, feeding giraffes, feeding the fish, or watching the monkeys it's just fun. Husband and I went to the zoo on a date and had a blast. Clean and friendly people.

I really enjoy this park. The playground is a good one, and there's a disc golf course (which I enjoy). There's two pavilions in different parts and restrooms to use in season.

Intermediate to advanced level Disc Golf. The course is diverse and has a few hazard challenges to cross over or through that reward you with smiles if you successfully pass through them. I look forward to returning.

The facilities were very well maintained for our little family get together. The space was adequate for the 25 or so people whom attended. That you for working restrooms and a small kitchen area to complete our serving preparations. A bit more luring would be nice over the parking lot area. As it got dark quickly this time of year.

So much childhood memories here. Climbing pecan trees, crawling in the drainage holes, playing in the super hot slide and catching crawdads.

Cute little park bathrooms places to sit even a trail with a bridge. My little one cant walk yet so the baby swings are just perfect. Will be back again

First time in ten years I got to spend time with my son and we did it here playing basketball. He whooped up on me but it was a great experience plenty of trees to shade under and a working water fountain for when you get thirsty

Could be a cute little playground if it was maintained. Lots of work zones in the area and the rest rooms were locked. My kid really like the rock climbing walls though and had covered seating.

Great place to stop and sleep. The lake is s bit dirty but If you're just sleeping it's pretty good and free. Watch out though it seems to be a place for kids to go to and hang out for short periods. Had an issue with a couple that were shinning their lights into my camper and flashing them inside.

Really pretty area! The website says it's free but there's a little tiny qr code and sign at the entrance that says u gotta pay 22$ a night. There's also no ground fires and only 1 BBQ pit.

SeeBee has always been one of my favorite parts of ft phantom, this Sunday August 19th there will be an rc air competition going on starting at 8am to 12 pm. These planes are super cool! It’s definitely a thrill to watch what these guys can do !

It's a nice little spot me and my buddy loves to fish and we fish all the time at Kirby and Phantom I don't know if I would recommend it as a spot to finish I would go a bit further down to the actual Lake but it is a really nice and beautiful place to sit for a few hours with a group of friends and just chill and talk after a long day together

When Lake Fort Phantom is full (December 2017) this is a great place to launch a canoe or other boat. There is a concrete launch ramp at the far end (east) of the park. Plenty of wildlife, especially around dusk. Great place to walk dogs.

Only stopped to let the dogs run around for a few minutes. We have camped here twice on previous trips. Limited spots so don't count on it.

Shhh! This is my favorite FREE camping site. It is beautiful and not crowded. Pretty basic. Other than a bathroom in the picnic area, there are no amenities: no shower, no electricity, no dump station, etc. I've been there three times, and saw police patrols each time.

The place was awful. The greenery in the photo is sticker weeds. We could not hook-up our RV without getting a sticker stuck somewhere on us. Too many sticker weeds for flip-flops. The pavilion was all trashed out. No shade available at the RV sites. Two houses gutted out nearby as scenery. Would not recommend to anyone.

I arrived after dark for primitive tent camping and the owner was very helpful. The tenting area is a bit hard to find in the dark (you might need to ask), but it was exactly what I was looking for, a quiet spot to set up for the night on late notice, on the edge of a very pretty lake.

Over the years since I was a child in Little League in the 60's-70's, the park has only improved. We hope to see it keep flourishing for all our children and community. A new Recreation Building, the great ball Fields here are a big Plus in Abilene. Great Job to the City!

Very nice, clean and cared for city park. Complete with open spaces, playscapes, ball fields, an amazing splash pad, and plenty of parking. Easy to access location. A nice gem for the people of Abilene.

Went here recently to visit the splash pad with our child, and was incredibly disappointed. There was trash and food all over the ground surrounding the splash pad area. Younger children were actually playing with ripped up plastic cups and other pieces of waste in the water. Despite there being a trash can within feet of the tables it seems like either the guests didn't care to pick up after themselves or the city needs to go clean the park up.

awesome splash pad for kids in the summers. they have slides and a section for toddlers.

This place is very cool for cooling off and kids having a good time

In construction process at the moment but always a great gathering place!

Beautiful place to sit and enjoy the outdoors at the park.

I love this park but there are way to many weirdos walking around

Really nice. The playground equipment was nice and felt new. It's a really big park. Lots of people were playing frisbee golf. Nice big trees. Fishing. Only thing that keeps it from 5 stars is the bathrooms were horrible. Pro tip. Make sure you make the kids go before you get there.

We had fun fishing but it was very difficult for my daughter who's in a power chair- there was only one ramp to get near the water and it was on the opposite side of the area. Now we know where to park to access it.

Clean. Plenty of spots to fish along the bank. Best to use live bait. Clean bathrooms and even a disk golf course

Nice park, with lots of things to do. Disc golf (18 holes), fishing, playground, roller hockey, geocaching and a pavilion. There are amenities, but the bathrooms could use some improvements.

Really fun park for the kiddos! Great nature view of water, ducks and pelicans were present during our visit. My kids had a blast! Bathrooms have no doors on the stalls so if you have kids beware, and go in there with them. Recommend taking your own sanitation supplies as they have no soap dispensers.

This is one of my favorite park. I can fish or canoe here and it has great disk golf course.

Disc Golf was marked well. Wind and red ants make for a good Ole WesrTexas experience .

Nice big park. Good sized playground for various ages.

Nice clean outdoors place to enjoy walking, running or entertaining children. The park has YMCA and hosts baseball and water park events in the summer. Safe place for families. Usually has a great breeze too. Well maintained/ clean by the city of Abilene....good job Abilene. Thanks.

Many kids throughout abilene enjoy coming to this park, it's nice and quiet, peaceful. To bad there's always somebody out there to destroy with their own Graffiti.

Great park! The skate park could use some clean and repairing but overall its a good park.

Adventure Cove is a great place to take the whole family. They have a refreshment stand, 3 big slides, Lazy River and kids area thats shallow on 1 end and 4 ft on opposite end. Plenty of chairs, huge umbrellas to keep you in the shade. Not allowed to bring food or drinks in. Adult price is 7.00 which is great, don't have to go broke to take the kids for a fun day.

A good park with plenty of open space. There is a playground and a skate park here as well. A creek does run through the West side of the park. So, it's something to be aware of with kids. There is also an outdoor amphitheatre near the playground and tennis courts on the East side of the property. There is a lot to do here and worth the visit.

Visited this park while in town. Large park with nice play area and a paid water park.

Decent park. Has been here for years. Limited parking, no paved walkway down the hill. Would not recommend for wheelchair etc. Floods if lots of rain.

Nice little park. Very clean. We stopped and ate lunch here and let the kids play for a bit.

Nice playground, not much parking.

Great park.. Especially when you need a break from the hospital..

Nice little park seemed very clean and landscape. Only potential problem I noticed is that it was night time and the lighting was pretty much out of commission it was dark!!

Abilene has some pretty nice parks. The city has spent lots of money updating most of them. I like C.W.Gill because usually there aren't a whole lot of people there. My 2 son's have their choice of what to play on. Also it is in a pretty quite area.

Good little park, plenty of shade, newer equipment, and never too busy.

This place is great for little kid's parties. It isn't very big but big enough for small parties. It has one large room where all the inflatables are and then a party room to eat and do presents in. There is also a bathroom and an office. There are five inflatables. Four of the five have slides, three have large jumping areas, and one is an obstacle course. At the time of this post it costs $219 for a two hour rental during the week and $229 for a two hour rental on the weekend. The reason I only gave this four stars is because the air-conditioning was terrible. It's early Spring on a cool cloudy day and it was very warm inside with children running around. If they get the AC fixed this place would deserve five stars. Overall, this was a good experience.

Very fun place! Kinda small, can use some more work done on the floors to make it look nicer!

At noon on the day of the party, I was told that there was no power at PowerUp Inflatable. I was given the options: ···"New Management/Owners" will get enough generators to power the inflatables & light the banquet room & restroom. -No AC ··· Reschedule - Son's birthday was 3/27. Party scheduled for April 2nd. Saturdays are ALL BOOKED UP UNTIL MAY 2. Reschedule on the day of the party? Ugh. Yeah, let's not. ··· Refund Luckily it wasn't that warm. They stated they knew about what was going on for a few days now but gave me super short notice. Imagine trying to contact everyone & breaking the news to the birthday boy. I had to make that party happen. They gave me a small $20 discount for my next party. The party I booked was $199. Booking online is fairly easy. They did provide a few plastic ware and plates like the package states although we didn't get the juices.

We had a great time. Everything was easy and fun. The kids all had a great time and the adults were all able to visit and enjoy everything as well.

My kids have had their bday parties here 2 years in a row! It's a fun place to go! They always have the most fun there! Its a great place to have parties. They provided plates, bowls, utensils, and drinks with 4 long tables! We will definitely be back.

The party room is tiny, not a ton of room to run around, but the place seems clean and the kids had fun. No separate section for littles. There are some folding chairs for watching kids play. Two pay massage chairs for adults. Would recommend overall and would love to see this place expand!

So glad to have found this place. Owner is very friendly (handed out free bottles of water to parents and kids!) and the whole place is very clean, safe and well organized. My 2-year-old had a blast jumping around on all the different bounce houses! Great, inexpensive way to spend an hour or two with a toddler.

It's a very nice park .

Playground was a greater success than the water/splashpad. At least my son and my good friends kiddos believe that it could be a good thing to add some features to the festival garden as well as the splash pad and playground.

Another great turnout for the Abilene Rhythm & Blues Festival this year. I have provided armed security for this event 3 years in a row and its better each year with great bands, great food and great people coming together to enjoy themselves with live music. There is alcohol sold here but you cant leave with any and it is a 51% law which means no weapons of any kind unless your a Law Enforcement Officer or licensed to carry a hand gun under the Department of Public Safety so please leave any weapons especially any firearms in your vehicle please for this event, the well trained members of our armed security detail have your protection covered so that everyone may enjoy a carefree fun filled evening of live entertainment at its best.

This park is also amazing you can see the Zoo park and the lake nixe also for biking walking.

Tons of space for little ones, went for the 4th of july fireworks and was not disappointed

Relaxing fun outdoor area/park

Pretty big , enough people, check it out!

Fun chill Lil park my kids love it

Nice place