Huntington Park is the small, formal green square that crowns Nob Hill, laid out on the site of the railroad baron Collis Huntington's mansion, which — like every other great house on the hill — burned in 1906. His widow donated the land to the city as a park. Today it is an immaculate patch of lawns, clipped hedges, and a replica of Rome's Tartarughe (tortoise) fountain at its centre, ringed by some of the city's grandest addresses.
It makes a civilised pause at the top of the climb, directly opposite Grace Cathedral and a block from the Fairmont and the Mark Hopkins. There is a popular children's playground at one end. Catch your breath on a bench here, admire the cathedral and the surrounding apartment houses, then walk the labyrinth across the street.