Went here the other day and it was a clean and well maintained area. I will definitely be checking…read moreback in the spring when the weather is warmer and better

I have lived literally 2 miles away for 10 years and never knew this place existed. I joined a…read morekickball league and went last night for my first game, and was surprised, excited, and shocked all at the same time. This park is massive, and there are amazing views of the city of Hartford. There is plenty of on-street parking, several fields for games, and just wide, open spaces. I'm looking forward to coming here weekly for my games, and also just to explore, have a picnic, or just to play!

This is a great community swim and tennis club. A yearly membership is required. If you compare…read morecosts of going to the beach or parks like six flags or other Connecticut outdoor events the SWAT is well worth it. The staff is great. The pool is covered well with the lifeguard staff! You can bring your food or buy from the mobile snack shack.

Great pool. Good family fun. Includes a kiddie pool, Olympic size pool, mini golf, art shack, and…read moretennis.

The Farmington River Watershed Association was founded in 1953 to protect the Farmington River and…read moreits coastline. It covers an impressive area of 600+ square miles in CT and MA that includes 33 towns and seven recreational areas. All those square miles can accumulate quite a bit of unwanted trash, so once a year the Association holds an Annual River Clean-Up for volunteers to clean up what our thoughtless neighbors have tossed aside. Today, we were part of a massive 250 person swarm of those volunteers from across the Farmington Valley. We signed in at the Association office and were offered breakfast; fresh bagels and cream cheese (courtesy of Brookside Bagels) and coffee (courtesy of Starbucks). We chatted with some of the other volunteers and noticed a group of 8 kids who were there for a birthday party. The birthday girl was 9 years old today. How cool is that? We received our work gloves and trash bags and set off for our destination. Some of the places that were targeted for clean-up were the Tariffville Gorge, Curtis Park, and Iron Horse Rails to Trails. We headed over to Curtis Park, and walked the soccer fields, brush and shoreline. Scraps of paper, cigarette boxes, soda and beer bottles and cans, Dunkin Donuts cups and bags all found a home in our trash bags. One thing that didn't make its way into our bag (hell, we couldn't even lift it!) was a humongous truck tire and rim that some considerate litterer dumped near the shoreline so nature lovers wouldn't back into it while parking their vehicles. Curtis Park wasn't too bad for litter, so we headed over to the Tariffville Gorge where we found a more generous bounty of trash. While the litterers at Curtis Park mostly seemed to be beer drinkers, the litterers at the Gorge seemed to prefer hard liquor because we found a bonanza of nip bottles and pint bottles. We also found an old rusted fender and a hunk of a car muffler. Some of the other things we found were drink boxes, a plastic quart of motor oil, and quite a few supplies for the do-it yourself smoker. We filled our bags and headed back to the Association office for a very nice lunch donated by Simsbury businesses, Little City pizza donated ten pizzas, Antonio's Restaurant chipped in with fifty grinders, and Fitzgerald's Supermarket provided a huge amount of cookies for dessert. What a great day we had. We chatted with dozens of civic minded community service minded folks, we met two very dedicated leaders of the Association, we observed great support by the business community, we saw some spectacular scenery, and we picked up a lot of nasty trash that will never find its way into the river to harm the fishes and pollute the watershed. That's a pretty good day in my book.

Ended up at this park by accident and we can't wait to go back and explore a bit more…read more At first this park seems like an open field and parking lot but if you walk over the bridge and pond, it opens up to the rest of the grounds and the Connecticut tobacco museum. They have a few farm animals like horses, cows, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, and more. The barn includes information about all of the animals and the nature center has more information about Connecticut's nature scene. There's also a trail that seems to lead pretty far out. We'll check it out next time.

Wonderful hidden gem especially for families with small children. They have trails a barn with…read moreanimals and the playground which our children loved.

Ray was amazing. He set up the room quickly and we had such a good time. Music was great breakables…read morewere great staff was great will def be back next time I'm having a bad day

I wish I took a picture before we started because I am not sure if all that I paid for was in there…read moresince we ran out of items fairly quickly..BUT we did have fun. I like that you are able to switch weapons if you would like. Very nice of the employee to allow us to continue after our time ended to get bang for our buck!

I'm amazed by the beauty of this place!…read more MDC operates the water treatment plants located at this reservoir. This is a privately owned area and not a public park. There was MDC Police that patrolled the area when I was there. Parking was plentiful when we went on a beautiful spring weekday. There were clean porta potties onsite. There were trails in the woods and out in the open; the trails were paved and gravel. It is opened daily from sunrise to sunset and closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. There were two trails; 3.4-mile loop red trail and 2.0-mile loop yellow trail. We started off with the gravel yellow trail that has a slight incline. Then we got onto part of the red loop which was near the bridge overlooking the water. We saw a couple of deer in the woods, geese, and turtles in the water. This is where we walked on pavement. Some of the trees were marked by type. The trail was busy with walkers and bikers. Overall, I really enjoyed the hike/walk and can't wait to go back.

The WH Reservoir has been my peaceful playground and refuge since the '70's…read more Hard to believe that State Connecticut had a planned to construct ring highway through the hills beside the Reservoir. Following public protest and legal battle(s) the project was shelved indefinitely back in the 70's. This was also about the time, vehicle traffic was barred on many of the back MDC roadways. What was left, beautiful network of paved and foot beaten paths. Everyday day of the week, the public are welcome to walk, jog, saunter, bicycle these mapped trails. Mountain biking has been throttled down significantly due to excessive wear and tear on the wooded areas. Biking still remains popular long designated routes and in a one-way pattern (for everyones safety). Pedestrians: Please mind the painted walking path, eyes on drifting into the bike path - that way ALL will enjoy. Kilkenny rock has been one of my favorite destinations (refer to an MDC map) this is a nice overlook of the Hartford sky scape. Trails also connect from the Farmington Avenue entrance across to Route 44 passing over Avon Mountain. GPS and one of my favorite apps "All Trails" are helpful even to a season chap like me.

As someone born and raised in Hartford, I can say this is one of the nicer parks we have. They have…read morean indoor and outdoor pool; separate hours for adults and kids; a gym and basketball court; plenty of outdoor open space to play; walking paths, and ample parking. Additionally, the staff are super sweet and friendly. I'm kinda bummed I haven't made the effort to come here in years past. I only recently started coming because hubby wanted somewhere to swim once it got cold that didn't cost too much. We found free! I will admit that the outside park can sometimes be a little dirty with litter. The city only does but so much. However, I think it's still a worthwhile place to spend time in Hartford!

For a small park, Pope Park has a lot to offer for locals…read more Despite the media painting it as a haven of thugs and bad guys, it really ain't that bad. In either March or April, there has been a carnival taking place for a number of years. And in the springtime volunteers from non-profit environmental groups in Hartford come out in force for an annual spring cleaning. Must we not forget the the number of amenities that the park offers as well: indoor/outdoor pools, a basketball court, little league baseball field and soccer field. There are picnic tables strewn about and also a playscape for the little ones. During the summer there are also musical performances too!

I love hiking trails and my brother in law recommended a stop at this trail. My wife has some…read moremobility issues and the trails we walked were hard packed and not much of an incline for her so it was perfect. Beautiful fall foliage as well. The tunnel was cool to see how it was built into the rocks . Nice parking area as well with a porta potty if needed.

Great rail trail, for hiking and bicycling. Plenty to see...brooks, hills, tunnels, bridges, plant…read morelife, and a little wildlife.

It was very peaceful place to walk as well as very friendly people the little mini beach with the…read moresand is very cool

The playground fits into the park perfectly...a tree house and more…read more... Provided by Premier Park & Play from Newton, MA

Stunning park! I've always heard such great things about this area and it was nice to finally check…read moreit out for myself. I went for a picnic and sat for a bit in the grass near Lot E. I would say this was the most peaceful part of the park as it seemed most people didn't really come out that far or if they did it was just to turn around. After we took a nice stroll through the Irish, English, and Oriental gardens. My favorite parts had to be the tree maze and hydrangea garden. I also got the chance to touch lamb ears for the first time... What an interesting experience! Can't wait to return to this park to explore more of the gardens and finally see the view of Hartford that everyone is always talking about.

I thought this would be a great place for a date, and it is beautiful, however some areas are not…read morevery well kept. The museum/nature center was very dirty, dead bugs in most of the exhibits. The gardens were beautiful, however three of the main ones I wanted to see were reserved on the day we went. I wish it was advertised somewhere which gardens are available on which day, I assume they get reserved weeks or months in advance, so it was disappointing when we assumed they were open to the public right up until we almost walked in on someone's party. Some of the other areas are very worn and need work. In addition the birds are kept is very small cages, and it broke my heart :/