Explore County Parks

Discover the natural beauty of the San Francisco Peninsula with free access to San Mateo County Parks, opens a new window. All 13 of our libraries are now offering San Mateo County Parks passes for checkout with our County Parks Packs!

In partnership with San Mateo County Parks Foundation, opens a new window, we are delighted to help increase access to local parks. Borrow one of our fanny packs complete with a pass and map of the 23 County Parks, opens a new window, and start exploring.

“Offering County Parks passes will encourage our community members to explore what’s right in our own backyard,” San Mateo County Libraries Director Anne-Marie Despain said. “One of my favorite activities is hiking the beautiful trails around the Bay. We hope these passes inspire more people to discover and enjoy our County Parks.”

Where Can I Get a Pass?

Passes will be available at our libraries on a first come, first served basis for three-week checkout. Stop by your local San Mateo County Libraries location to see if we have a County Park pass available to borrow for you today!

How Does the Pass Work?

A County Park pass waives the vehicle entry fee, allowing you and a carful of friends and family into the park at no additional charge with your pass.

Borrow the pass and visit any County Park, any day at any open time!

Which Parks Are County Parks?

There are 23 beautiful San Mateo County Parks up and down the peninsula, with sights as varied as the California landscape.

Earlier in 2022, we launched our Explore Our Parks Packs allowing you to visit California State Parks for free. This new offering now allows you to visit even more parks near you!

Why Head to San Mateo County Parks?

Discover the tide pools at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, opens a new window or the forested slopes of Huddart Park, opens a new window. San Mateo County Parks offer iconic scenes of towering old-growth redwood trees, rugged Pacific Ocean bluffs, silhouettes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and grasslands that showcase amazing wildflower blooms each spring. You can also find play structures for kids, trails for hiking and biking and access to fishing and sailing, depending on the activities, opens a new window you’re looking to explore.

With these passes for checkout, our goal is to encourage community members to visit and appreciate County Parks and the land we live on.

San Mateo County Parks also recognizes that parks are on the ancestral homeland of the Ohlone peoples in its land acknowledgement, opens a new window:

San Mateo County Parks acknowledges that our lands are located on the ancestral homeland of the Ohlone peoples, and that, as the original stewards of this land, the Ohlone understood the interconnectedness of all things and maintained harmony with nature for millennia. Indigenous communities have lived in and moved through this place over hundreds of generations, and indigenous peoples from many nations live and work in this region today. Please join us in acknowledging and honoring their ancestors, their elders, and their communities.

Visit our libraries to see if we have a County Parks pass or California State Parks pass ready for you to check out today.