Sun Vista Park

Sun Vista is a nice little park.
As long as you don’t go when the middle school is getting out for the day, it is usually empty or not very crowded at all.
Good sized play structure, with sport court underneath, most of it, sand at the base of the slides. Sand area for digging, with a little hand operated digger, a couple spinning things, swings.
Big planter around the perimeter is a nice place to sit and there are several tables and benches right next to the play area, under a gazebo that provides good shade.
Large grass area for running or kicking soccer balls.
Cons: no bathrooms, parking is just on the street, which usually isn’t a problem since it is rarely busy.

The city of Encinitas government has always been anti-​dog. For a city with so many dog lovers, it’s a shame that the only dog parks offer limited hours and days. The city also cracked down like the Gestapo on off-​leash activities at Scotts Valley park. Thus, we started taking our pups to Sun Vista. On one hand, it’s nice to have an off-​leash park within 5 minutes of our pad. On the other hand, Sun Vista is not ideally located for a dog park. Pushed up against Rancho Santa Fe Road, there are no real fences separating the dogs from the busy street, creating an endless amount of angst and nervousness. The dogs that come here are great, and there is ample grassy area for the dogs to run around. Unfortunately, poor city maintenance has led to broken sprinklers that continually run and create huge mud bogs, making it a great time for all driving their muddy dogs home. The dog park also is next to a creek that breeds swarms of mosquitos around sundown, coincidentally the window of time that the city has allotted oh so graciously to dog owners to use the park off leash. A mixed bag, but you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It will lead me to run for city council someday to correct these injustices.

Glad we checked out this hidden gem. Our small pack lived checking out all the cool plants

This park has doggy poop bags provided so there’s no reason to leave your litter. Also, no fence so make sure you can tame your baby!

This is our favorite local dog park — basically one large grassy lawn that’s kept clean and mowed. It’s off-​leash 6−9am & 3−8pm M, W, F, Sun. If you’re looking for dogs to socialize with, the best time to show up is around 5PM weekdays.
There are no solid fences between the park and the street, so be sure your dog is controllable; there’s also a wet mucky area to the west that your dog may want to play in — it REALLY stinks!
Owners and dogs tend to be friendly. There’s no water, so bring enough for your dog to share.