Kelly park or Japanese Friendship park is one of San Jose city favorite among its residents and overall people who get the privilege to visit. Unfortunately during my visit I was sad to see that the ponds that for years were filled with water and Koi fish were empty. Almost like an abandoned feeling. According to some of the signs, the city of San Jose is working hard to restore this area after a tragic flood years ago that contaminated the waters of the Koi fish ponds. This park is kept very clean, all their landscaping seems healthy and well taken care of. There is still a small pond with some Koi fish, but no food available for the public to feed the fish. This park does charge a fee of 6 dollars per parking ticket. The city of San Jose is accepting donations to help restore this beautiful family park, amazing memories for years in the hearts of many and so devastating to see what it looks like now.

A fantastic free Disc Golf park! I love coming here and having a relaxed game of Disc Golf on the free 21 hole course. It’s a really nice break away from the hustle and bustle of San Jose and great to let some steam off and launch some Discs! The course is volunteer run, and is kept in great condition, and the holes vary from time to time. There are multiple nets/hole for different skill levels, and also a long and short tee point. If you get 2 or 3 discs you will be good to go - a long range, mid range and a putter. Definitely worth a trip! There is a lot of ground squirrels around the site, which are really fun to watch - but just be careful you don’t turn your ankle stepping into a hole!

Nestled in the heart of San Jose, this park is a sun-soaked haven for nature enthusiasts and walkers alike. Its sprawling landscapes provide ample opportunities to bask in sunlight while strolling along well-maintained paths. The serene atmosphere offers an escape from city bustle, inviting visitors to unwind and reconnect with nature. Towering trees provide shade for leisurely rests, and the scenic views add to the park's allure. Whether it's a brisk morning walk or a leisurely afternoon stroll, this park's sunny charm and inviting paths make it an ideal destination for those seeking tranquility and outdoor activity.
Dog-friendliness
Plenty of dog friendly amenities.

Kelley Park is a large park with tons of picnic areas, a zoo, a disc golf course, a museum and more. Ita very close to downtown San Jose so very convenient. Parking is usually pretty good at any of their various lots, although its $6. The park itself is pretty clean, but there are a few homeless wandering around, however they do not bother you from what I've seen. Water fountains for the most part don't work, and the bathrooms were in ok condition. If you plan on hosting a big group, reserve a spot ahead of time but be weary of the rules to post the permit by 8am and have someone stand there from 10am up to your event or someone can steal your spot.

We had a wonderful time. I remember coming here over 30 years ago. Some things had changed not too much. It was really nice to see the puppet shows, Danny the Dragon train ride. I think it's a perfect place to take kids 12 years and younger in my opinion, cause they would enjoy it more for the type of rides. It's clean. The staff operating the rides were patient with the kids and friendly. We didn't see the Peting Zoo (they use to had a bunch of Billy goats that you could feed by hand) that was a bit disappointing so I'm hoping their just remodeling or moving them. I loved feeding the goats. Enjoy your visit Have fun

Kelley Park is huge compared to most parks in my home area (Sacramento). I was attending a Geocaching event at the park. We had over 500 people there with plenty of room for everyone. There were plenty of picnic benches for lunch, and we even had a taco truck available for lunch. Lots of big trees provide plenty of shade. The only negative thing was the annoying trolley car that had terribly loud squealing metal wheels whenever it rode by (which seemed to be every five minutes) the picnic area.
Picnic area
Both wooden and cement tables available.

Kelly Park, AKA Japanese Garden, is located in San Jose and well known for KOI fish. Picnic, birthday parties and wedding ceremonies are often hosted here. Some of the KOI ponds are now under restoration and so the park is kinda empty but in return it’s free parking at this time. You can visit this park to take pictures and chill in the surroundings of nature. A portion if this park is dedicated to a Vietnamese museum, which there are refugee boats are displayed in the front. The rating may have been higher once the restoration is complete.

Kelley park is an okay park. Not amazing but not bad. It's very close toy house so having a place to walk to is great. There are some parts of the park that look not well maintained and dog poop on the walk way (people, pick up after your dogs please!). Other parts are good, decent shade. It's close to the Zoo, Japanese Friendship Garden and History Park. Has a bathroom for men and women. Pretty clean for a park. Park rangers that passed by seem to be very friendly.

This 21 hole disc golf course got a facelift! Long and short tee pads as well as alternating long and short basket options keep things spicy and offers challenging yet attainable goals for novices and experts alike. New maps have been added to make navigating the course a breeze. The athletes that frequent this course are also extremely welcoming and helpful. I've learned a ton from the friendly faces here. Thank you Silicon Valley Disc Golf Club!

Very nice location to hold a picnic. Has outdoor grills available and picnic tables nested under trees so you get the warmth of sun but still some shade under trees. The only thing I would caution is when eating be careful the blossoms from trees don't fall into your plate and hair. Open grass areas to play games. Public bathrooms are available free of charge. Must pay for parking, though. Overall, a really nice day had with friends.

This park is beautifully built. During the covid there was a period need not parking fees and after April 2021 it needs $6 for parking. It is Japanese style garden I have not visited before but nowadays most of the garden does not have water in the pool, that is somewhat disappointing not sure the reason but consider to the drout in California it is acceptable. The garden is amazing during fall times the colors are awesome

Attended the oblong sunset walk and the guide was awesome. Learned new things. Lots of mosquitos at sunset so use repellant. It wasn't very cultural based. The entire Japanese garden is dried up! Apparently the rain caused ponds to overflow and flood through the park and the fish- well they swam away into the creek!?! Everything is now dry and they are just starting to collect koi in a the very back corner.

Nice historical place with many buildings to wander around and see. Nothing was open the weekday I went, even though I specifically came and spent on parking because the website said the Vietnamese Museum was open... there was even an open sign on the door, but it was locked. Glad there were some very interesting outside exhibits. Was hoping to come back for upcoming events, but not possible.

It’s been about 15 years since I had been here and came last week to bring my grand baby. There weren’t as many animals as I remember back in the day. A lot of the areas said “Future home of…” and was empty for now. The rides were “down for maintenance” except for a couple. The playground was fun and the little one enjoyed it a lot. Still a nice outing, just not as memorable as I recalled.

Such a wonderful place to have in the middle of city. Lots of grass to picnic or play on. Chickens and peacocks roam the grounds. There are lots of fun places you can rent for an event. Farm animals, cows, pigs, and goats can be seen. In one area if you have quarters you can get food to feed animals. My favorite part was the section of labeled fruit trees.

I wanted to visit Happy Hollow zoo and eventually went through this Kelley Park. The zoo was closed. But the park was open for public A calm and a quiet place with vehicle parking facilities. There was an entrance through Kelley Park to Japanese Friendship Park. Better place to read books without disturbance or a place to be with small kids.

I first visited Kelley Park when I was a child, and I have fond memories of spending time there with my family. We would often go to the baby zoo to see the animals, and we would also enjoy exploring the history museum. The Japanese garden is also a beautiful place to visit, and it is a great place to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

This is a big park. Happy hollow park is great for young children. Very updated n fresh. Visit Friendship park when here too. Koi pond is worth the walk… The primary pond is closed so it’s a bit disappointing to see it drained. Koi are up top in a small pond temporarily (2023?). Some parts of the park are rundown n feels unused.

The general admission fee of $18 was more than I was expecting to spend but it was fun for the kids. They loved the playground area. The small metal orbs were also intriguing for the kids. The carousel rides were a highlight for my 3 yr old. Didn't get to see the koi pond but overall still great design to offer a zoo and park.

Kelley Park is always a good time. I go there for the disc golf course and sometimes BBQ and horseshoes. The disc golf course now has 21 holes with at least 2 to 3 baskets on each hole and an alternate teepad. About a two hour round with no waiting.
Picnic area
They do have bbq pits off of hole 3

So sad! I used to come here in the 70s and early 80s. It was well kept back then. Now, its fairly rundown. There are weeds all over, and half-dead trees. In the Japanese Friendship Garden, there is no water in either the brook or the Coi Ponds. The bridges and buildings need painting. What a shame....

There are some homeless people, there's an encampment down the street, but in general the park is nice. I don't think the homeless enter it much, I didn't notice any inside. Great place for just laying back and relaxing. Makes a great place for pictures too depending on what looks you're going for.

Beautiful park to go play disc golf in. Lots of squirrels, and a fat hawk flying around. Great par 3 disc course, not to hard, good for beginners and for veterans. Multiple tees depe depending on your skill set. This park has a great playground and next to the historical park. Nice place to visit.

Kelly Park has free Senior Safari once a month, seniors get in free from 9:00 to 10:00am. Great chance to see the two new baby Lemurs.
Playground
Three great play areas for all ages, including a maze.
Restrooms
Lots of them
Picnic area
Lot's of them that you can reserve.

A lovely park and delightful friendship garden area. Trees with fall foliage, reclusive walking paths, and koi fish and ducks playing together. 1 request though -- can the parks and rec person/committee fix the freakin' pump so the huge kou pond can, ya know, have koi in it. Thank You ...

Went for the Japanese garden. Parking was $10, and the garden was under construction? Tea House was closed, all the water was drained. There was just some trees to see and paths to walk on. Overall disappointing- wish they could have updated their google page to reflect changes.

Great park for toddlers! Older kids might be a bit bored. We went on the majority of the rides and got half off admission because we're family members of another museum. The parking machine didn't print out my ticket so the attendant marked my tire to show proof I paid..

Very nice park in the city. Lots of areas where you can hang out with friends. I saw a few get together parties while visiting the place.
Restrooms
Clean restrooms for both men and women
Picnic area
Lots of picnic tables in various places with bbq grills

Not a big disk eater. Had some bad throws but was able to find my disc without a search team. Some easy baskets, some not so easy. Short tees are fun, long tees are fun and a bit challenging. $6 Parking, free if you can park outside of the gate by the 21st tee.

Fun place for the kids, petting zoo goats are calm and friendly. Zoo entertains the kids and the food was better than I anticipated. Big jungle gym and slides were a fun place to let them burn off some energy. Cool local spot to spend an afternoon with the kids

Very nice day to visit Kelley Park only thing disappointing was no KOI FISH?guest they are doing some work in the fish area plus the walk way is being repair.so only thing left is to walk toward picnics area and Happy Hollow in the eastern part of the park

Japanese garden first time visiting this place enjoy the walk, the view water falls and coifish (I stopped by last weekend and notice no water no fish ) hopefully they be back soon
Restrooms
Out side the garden
Barbecue
Out side the garden

This is a beautiful park but I'm sad that on my last visit, there was no water in the pond and the koi fishes were gone. That's the main attraction of that park. Great place to take pictures for any occasion especially when the pond is full.

We absolutely adore Kelley Park! The History park is always fun and filled with wonderful volunteers willing to tell you about the history of each building. Sadly, there appears to be an arsonist in the area that have burned three separate

A little disappointed when I visited the Japanese Friendship garden. The koi ponds were empty. Apparently no money to fix the filtration pumps. Pumps have been broken since 2017. Common SJ, take some pride here, restore the ponds to what

It's rather a large park with few things to visit: couple museums, golf course, Japanese friendship garden, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo. The territory is well maintained and clean. Parking is paid which is ok since it is big enough.

Had a wonderful time.took my 23 Ford tt truck there .it was autos in history park.200 of the finest automobiles you will ever see. Great people great place to take the family. all around fun layed back place.its a must !

The park lacked maintenance, the Japanese Garden had no water in the pools except the Koi one, consequently lacked atmosphere, overall very jaded and not worth the visit - in short the park needs drastically revamping

When I watch my grandkids, ages 8 and 5, I try to take them on adventures. We went to Happy Hallow Zoo, and we had the best time. The dog show was an extra bonus. It's expensive to eat there, but all these place are.

Worth the $20 for the car to do the drive through lights . 45 mins going through lights and seeing the amazing decorated tress. And to top it off Santa was amazing . We will be coming back next year most definitely.

It's a nice and tranquil park to walk around and enjoy the green scenery along the tiny trail to have a peaceful talk with your significant other or just by yourself and see n feed some park Koi fish …

This was really a neat experience they were closed today but we were still able to still walk through we will definitely be back on Saturday or Sunday when we can actually walk inside the buildings

Review of History Park in Kelley park: Upon entering the area i had this overwhelming feeling i was walking into a ghost town, it was dead and if the cars on the highway couldn’t be heard it would

The Kelley park is so green and fresh after showering by the heavy rain. It’s good to do some outdoor exercises at park by walking, biking, or playing disk golf there. A green oasis in the town!

Not very impressive. Maintenance needs improvement. Restroom is dirty. Homeless people are wandering. Parking fee is a bummer. But after all, it is a okay open space and people can enjoy.

It is a beautiful and well distributed garden, unfortunately this time was all dry out. Maybe for maintenance, I don't know. But it's still a nice place to walk around and relax

It's a strange place imo. It has many cool houses from the old days. I love those houses' designs. In this park they also have Viet museum, definitely worth checking out.

It has nice walk path here but its so sad that they haven't fixed the ponds after the storm we had years ago, at least they have one area for the koi fish at the top

Park has abandonned and depressing look. This was one of my favorite park. So it was very sad to see all ponds empty, with almost no flowers, etc.

Was kept very clean and nice. I walk every day and enjoy tranquility and relaxing atmosphere. Has place for picnic with table/benches and barbecue

Christmas in the park start Friday 11/27.buy tickets at christmasinthepark.com. this a car tour in the evening g through the park. Lots of lights

The grounds are nice, but they still have not been restored to pre-flood days. Most of the ponds are dry except for one corner pond with koi.

Nice place to relax outdoors and enjoy nature, along with vintage architecture. Lots of shady spots and picnic tables. Not busy on weekdays.

Very nice park. Lots of rides for kids. My daughter enjoyed all rides. Must visit once if you have kids aged between 3-10 years old.

Hav'nt been there since the remodel, much nicer. Food coral has better food. Not all the attractions and animals open or there.

History of San Jose preserved here! Friendly docents share the past as you step through old buildings and museums.

Interesting spot! There is a lot going on here, but no interpreters or guides were to be found when I visited.

Would have given 5 stars if the koi ponds would have been up and running. Only one small pond is in operation.

"Rangers" close it a little early for my taste. But they probably just want to get home and live their lives.

My cousin got married here . A little hidden gem. I had no idea they had this place it was beautiful …

Greate place for spend time with kids and family. My little one was very happy to feed animals there.

Perfect for children all ages! Such a fun place! Workers were very pleasant and gentle with children.

Must be off season did not see many flowers while we walked the grounds over Thanksgiving weekend…

Great place to see SJ history. Train & trolley fans must visit
Restrooms
Plenty

Going in Early March was not the best time to visit but was still neat to see.

Would have been a five star but there wasn't any water for the all around lake

Really very nice park especially with kids enjoy a lot with. Zoo inside

There are so many different areas to explore and relax.

The right place at the right time. …

My daughter and I went to Kelly park