Tilden

Tilden is great, although it suffers from the usual Berkeley scourge of being very crowded. You can shuffle down south a little to some of the parks in the Oakland hills which are equally beautiful and are a little more sparsely used.

A wonderful park, 5 minutes from a wonderful city.

Not only does Tilden have great hiking with views overlooking both a clear blue reservoir and the San Francisco bay, but there are many biking trails and a set of smallish steam trains on which you (and any kids you happen to have with you) can ride.