Someone has to be the best — or the biggest, as the case may be. You may be familiar with statistics on some of these massive public open spaces, but others might be a complete surprise — take a look below and see how many ring a bell. Perhaps the impressive records we’ve highlighted here will inspire you to pay a visit to one or more of these remarkable spots, whether they’re up the street or on the other side of the globe. Or, if travel isn’t in the cards, make do with a trip to your local park and take time to appreciate the great green spots closer to home.
6.1 million acres: Size of Adirondack State Park, the largest state park and the largest National Historic Landmark in America.
12: Number of fully operational 18-hole courses in the world’s largest public golf facility, located at Mission Hills Golf Club in China.
16,000 acres: Size of the largest city park in America, South Mountain Park in Phoenix.
70 acres: Size of Noah’s Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin, the largest public waterpark in America.
4 million gallons: Constant amount of water running through Noah’s Ark Waterpark.
18: Number of indoor waterparks in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, the “Waterpark Capital of the World.”
9,200 acres: Size of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — the largest landscaped urban park in the world with 63 different sections.
6,800 miles: Distance comprising the longest trail in America, the American Discovery Trail.
112 miles: Length of the Paul Bunyan Trail in Minnesota, America’s longest paved trail.
125 kilometers: Length of unbroken beach on Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, the world’s longest public natural sandy sea beach.
25,000 square feet: Area taken up by the Guinness World Record-holding largest indoor soft playground, located in Saudi Arabia.
200: Number of parks in Denver, Colorado’s municipal park system, the largest in the United States.
2.5 million: Gallons of water contained in “The Big Pool” located in Garden City, Kansas, the largest outdoor municipal swimming pool in America.
40 million: Number of visitors in 2013 to Central Park in New York, New York, making it 2013’s most-visited urban park in America.
Information gathered from Wikipedia and the Guinness Book of World Records.