FDR Park

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park — universally known as FDR Park — is the kind of city park that makes living in Philadelphia feel like a genuine privilege. At 348 acres in South Philly, it's one of the largest parks in the city's park system, and it has the room to offer things that smaller neighborhood parks simply can't.

The centerpiece is the lake, which is home to a boathouse that rents paddle boats. Renting a paddle boat and navigating the lake with your kids is the quintessential FDR Park experience — it's affordable, requires no experience, and the combination of open water and wildlife (ducks, geese, and herons are regulars) creates the kind of natural discovery that's increasingly rare in urban settings. Kids ages 5 and up can help paddle; younger ones are happy spectators.

The paved paths circumnavigating the lake and throughout the park are exceptional for bikes, scooters, and rollerblades. They're flat, well-maintained, and wide enough for families riding together. Bringing your own wheels is the move here — you skip rental fees and get more flexibility about where you roam.

Several playground areas serve different age groups. The main playground has equipment for toddlers through grade-school age. The surrounding park has open meadows for picnics, sports fields, basketball courts, and wide open lawns where teenagers can organize their own games.

FDR Park is also the site of major Philadelphia events including Made in America and the Roots Picnic, held in late summer. These events bring crowd energy but also traffic complications — check the calendar before planning a normal park day during late August/September.

Admission to the park is free. Parking in the main lot off Broad Street is also free and usually plentiful, which is a meaningful advantage over Center City parks. The adjacent Sports Complex can complicate parking and traffic on game days, but otherwise FDR Park is one of the most accessible large green spaces in the entire city.