Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair ranks seventh in USA Today’s 2025 list of top public playgrounds.
SAN ANTONIO — Already treasured by San Antonio families, Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair is now getting recognition at a national level.
The park was ranked number seven on the list of Top 10 Best Public Playgrounds in the nation in USA Today’s 2025 10 Best Readers’s Choice Awards.
Yanaguana Garden was the only park in Texas to reach the top 20 after weeks of voting.
“This honor reafirms that we are on track to reaching our aspirational goal of creating one of the world’s great public places,” said Melissa Robinson, Hemisfair Interim CEO. “Yanaguana Garden is more than a playground—it’s where San Antonio meets—where people of all ages and abilities come together to play, make memories, and celebrate the spirit of our community and having that displayed on a national platform is amazing for our city.”
What is Yanaguana Garden?
Yanaguana Garden was opened to the public in 2015. It one of the first phases of the Hemisfair Master Plan, which was conceived in 2012.
It’s named after Yanaguana, a Payaya Indian village located on the San Antonio River, which is what the area was once called. It incorporates interactive elements and art installations, including sculptures that tell the Payaya creation story, according to Landscape Performance Series. In later generations, a diverse neighborhood occupied that area until 1968 when it was demolished to make way for the World’s Fair.
The whole park is designed for all ages, “from pre-k to grey.” It also has shade structures, such as the trellis-covered promenade and a large tree canopy to keep the temperature cooler in the park during the winter months.
It includes a splash pad, sand box, climbing structures, swings, slides, public art and much more!
