A good park to visit but you have to remember a few key things.The water fountain is now temporarily closed, the water quality of the lake is very worse. Dumped contaminants are everywhere in the lake. The park is dirty. The most attractive entrance of the lake is full of dirts. The park has a good city view.

Its a pretty green space. Theres a nice, newer playground for older children. However, its not intended for toddlers. It didnt even have a swing set.

The park is nice looking unfortunately the fountains where not workings and to be honest it’s the main attraction of the park. So sad and disappointed we couldn’t see the fountains working. At least I got some nice pictures from the skyline.

Its such a beautiful park. But the homeless crisis has to be managed. I miss Finlay park.

The water features still broken which is a real big bummer. the new playground area is nice. Way more homeless people than I remember from when I was a kid.

The park is a bit run down, dirty, lots of sleeping homeless. However, this park offers some of the best views of the city, and the playground/field is nice and no one bothers you there. I run through the park several times a week, never been bothered.

Not kept up like it use to be. Fountains not working, trash everywhere. Would not feel safe going by myself or taking my kids.

My husband and I were here @ Finlay Park one Sunday when whooa we discover that Eddie Money is doing a free concert! We saw Eddie up close and personal. RIP Eddie Money 2019. The park is beautiful, I like the fallsAddendum: I remember when: this area was a huge, deep empty gully/hole. U understand why I like Finlay Park!

As many of the other reviews stated, this park is a site for sore eyes. Major disappointment especially since previously posted pics show a beautiful park. I cannot believe that the city has allowed what used to be a nice place to go down. Especially in the part of town that it is in. I dont live here in SC & was merely Googling different attractions. This place is very sketchy. There are homeless men surrounded all around this park with their bags. I even drove around to the other side where the playground area to see if it was better so that my son could play. Too many sketchy men hanging out around the park. No children at the playground at all!!! My 11 year old took 1 look & was like no thats okay, LETS GO! Major disappointment.

Finlay Park could be even more amazing if it was policed better. Dont get all knotted up Im just saying.

Went to feed the homeless on a Saturday morning. Gave out food bags and masks. Everyone was appreciative. Didnt know the fountain wasnt working. The city needs to do something about this.

The park is will maintain. Downside is theres a lot of homeless unfortunate individuals living there. And the parking lot is full of drug dealers and users. I do not encourage the use of the park

Complete disappointment. Too many homeless people everywhere. Fountains are off- it’s September already. Would be nice to turn them back on. A complete dump now. Very sad.

Homeless people EVERYWHERE, but they didnt bother anyone so it was cool. The park is nice and relaxing and peaceful

Nice ground and park but full of homeless people

Beautiful park, amazing playground & pond. The only downfall is the homeless constantly roaming around that park. Also the fact that there are barely anymore park benches due to the homeless sleeping on them

Dont feel safe alone of the times we go there.

A beautiful oasis of nature in the middle of Columbia. It has a nice pond and fountain with walking paths and a playground. The playground is great for able bodied children but not for those with special needs. The park hosts numerous events and concerts throughout the year. Parking is limited and you could end up walking a couple blocks to get here.

2 stars for layout and the potential viewNo stars because there is sooo many homeless. I was approached by 3 guys asking to use my phone to find out where his brother is. Um no, not going to happen. There was packs of homeless people all over.There is no fountain / waterfall, there is trash everywhere needs TLC on paths and steps (dangerous)You dont see homeless ones in my pictures because I tried to hide the Debbie downer points.

This has to be the most beautiful public park Ive ever seen. Absolutely breathtaking and it sits in Downtown Columbia, SC

Its beautifully maintained, but I wish the homeless had a place to reside instead of sleeping there.

Homeless and trash everywhere and fountains have not been working for a long time. Landscaping neglected, what a shame.

Clean and relatively quiet for being in the middle of the city. Parking is not free, to prevent loitering. I was not bothered when I payed to park to eat my breakfast.

If you dont like seeing homeless folks, fight for affordable housing.

Sad that this beautiful park has been reduced to such trash. I doubt Ill be back unless some major renovation is done.

The community leaves the space underused in its neglect, but its truly a wonderful park. The playground is perhaps the most intricate and entertaining in the city. Grass is maintained and wide open. The only thing missing are events to keep people coming in the evening.

This is a great downtown park that has undergone many changes throughout the years. There used to be a beautiful waterfall but that area is overgrown and shut down. Once that area is clean back up this will definitely be a five-star Park but in the meantime it only gets 3 stars. The playground is amazing and a wonderful place to spend at least an hour or two.

Pretty rundown place. Half of it is unused and just empty. The rest of the park is full of people, usually homeless people as far as I could tell without asking them. Lovely playground though, not as cookie cutter as other parks.

Pretty park, but downtown so go with a group just to use a buddy system, no known problems at this time.

Sadly it’s not maintained. Fountains not working. Many homeless in park and lots of trash

Needs work, no concerts in a long time. Really dead, waste of taxpayers money!!!

Nowhere near its once glory... Its almost sad to see. Other than the new childrens area this park is a bust now.

Beautiful park with nice views, walking and sitting areas. Unfortunately a little sketchy and wouldnt say safe to be there alone.

Nice park for the kids just too many homeless people around

I havent seenbthe water yet. My nice sitting area.

Its not what it once was. When I was a child, it was a favorite. Its since definitely gone downhill. The playground is nice but they need to get the fountain back up and running...clean the water. I also dont feel safe there anymore. I miss the days when it had families, bike riders, people playing frisbee. Those were the days.

Loved the fact that they have an outdoor concert area out in the open in the middle of the lake.

Nice park, but it hasnt been kept up. Trash everywhere. Rusted railings. To bad it could be nice.

Playground equipment gone, fountains are totally trashed and park was overrun with homeless. Found this place using google trip planner and was really disappointed. Might be nice for walking I guess, they trail was still in useable shape. Really surprised considering its like two blocks from the state house.

Need to be clean and clear of the homeless people use to be a great place to go sit with family and friends,

Trashy, dirty, and has a lot of homeless people there during the day. The fountain does not work and I wouldnt trust being there by myself.

Basically skid row. Charolette, N.C has the beautiful Freedom Park, Columbia, S.C has this.

It was sad homeless people.and children not kept.up at all and smelled terrible

I grew up visiting this park and absolutely loving it. When I moved back here I took my son to show him how great this place is and i was highly disappointed. It was horrible to look at. Im surprised it has been allowed to get this bad. Either fix it or tear it down but it was such an amazing park. Sad to see

Love visiting. Park is usually clean and the view of downtown is breathe taking. I spent a lot of lunch breaks here when I lived in the area. There can be a lot of homeless people there but they dont usually bother you. Great place to workout and talk a walk. Nice for picnicking and hosting events.

Its a nice place but it lacks the maintenance...the structure its awesome but the park its in a deplorable state. The fountains are damaged, theres a lot of homeless people just sleeping in the grass. The kids park its nice it looks almost new

My experience: the place is nice to rest a little and relax, as long as you do not stay near the stairs, since it is very lonely there are always homeless people and some are not very nice (keep in mind that), there is a parking lot with parking meter.

Love this little park, blooms all coming out and smelling fantastic!!

Sad park lost its value

It would be a beautiful park if it wasnt over run with vagrants...maybe they are just modeling mugatus derelicts line....but Im pretty sure they arent... over run...

Went down to take blankets and bookbags to the homeless. It was awesome and they really appreciated the items. Will be going back to take more items and food. It was good for my daughters to see that there are people that live like that.

Very nice walk around the pond.

I have been going to Finlay park for months now. Its a huge park that is pet-friendly. There is a lot of homeless that hang around there but they stick to themselves so its not a big deal. It is a safe place to have a good time. They have kids park but thats about it.

The park is spacious and clean with little waterfall and the pond. Plenty of things for kids playground

Nice Romantic Spot In The Center Of The City

Just a park full of homeless people... sad

Not like it used to be. A lot of unwanted suspect activity during the day. Was a great place to take your kids, enjoy movies, and concerts.

This place used to be pretty neat with the water fall/fountain and way less trash.

Its a great Park

Beautiful landscape!

Not a safe place! My fiance and I were visiting from out of town. We were at the park for maybe 5 minutes when a homeless guy started to harass us, we started walking off and realized he was following us so we quickly turned in the other direction and he just stood there staring at us. Not sure what he was up to but it definitely couldnt be anything good. As we were walking away to the other area of the park we realized that basically everyone there was homeless and a lot of them were staring making us feel uncomfortable like we were tresspassing on their property. It is a shame because the park itself is not terrible and it would have been nice to stay longer. I will definitely be looking at reviews the next time we decide to check out a new park!!

It is very beautiful and always clean.

I stopped so my toddler could have a little time in the playground. The playground is great but the park is packed with homeless people. One of them seemed to try to follow me to the bathroom, so I changed my mind and we just left. I think I would have been mugged otherwise. What a waste of a space with such a nice playground just because authorities would not keep it safe!

This was my first time at this park. The park itself was nice, but there was a lot trash in the park. And I was surprised by the number of homeless people that was there also.

Do something about the homeless who insist on trasking the park.

Waterfalls all dried up.. just a meeting ground for the homeless really. Not worth visiting at all.

Took the kids here on Saturday for the afternoon and they had fun. Right in the heart of Down town so it was easy to find and easy to get to with no traffic. We had no issues with parking and finding the place. Kids loved the playground of course. They played on that thing for an hour straight and had fun the whole time. Amazing Views of the park and the city from all angles. Large grass field to fly kites or play with the family. Bring a blanket and have a picnic or just bring the food and use one of the many tables around the park at your convienance. Well be back.

Over all nice place to go to, yes there are homeless people, but they never said anything out of the way or ask for money. Park could use a little cleaning, see a review posted from Neil Neilli, said it was very dangerous because of the homeless people, it is sad theyre homeless but it could happen to anyone, we never know what might happen in our lifetime. Didnt see any homeless people walking around with guns in their hands or pulling knives on people. I dont see them to be dangerous but down on their luck, these people are human and has a heart and feelings too. If you visit this city I would recommend visiting the park if you have the time.

It is nice to go relax and enjoy. If you want to take your date somewhere you can talk and just enjoy nature then this is the place to go.

My husband and I like to come here and eat lunch and observe the scenery.

It was ok wish there was more things to do there.

First and last time there. VERY VERY uncomfortable being here with my family. Went during the day with our dog, a lot of homeless there and experience one of them being foul mouthed going off on someone, not caring how long she was or who was watching. Didnt like being stared down by others and remarks too my dog as if something was going to happen. This park needs to be cleaned up. Not family friendly. Definitely, keep an eye on your young ones or whomever youre there with.

Nice park although the waterfall is not working and the park is looking run down and shabby. Homeless people were begging for money. This park is not what I expected, although since i recently moved to town i would volunteer to help clean it up.

Pretty decent day and our church member Nancy wanted 4 her 8th BornDay 2 go to the park and pass out sandwiches & bottled waters!!! Gods Grace Is Sooooooooooooooo Amazing!!!

A beautiful park, but I didn’t feel very comfortable there with my kid. Too many homeless people walking and laying around. Very dangerous! Will not be returning.

So many homeless people and trash everywhere. Foundations dont work and they took all the swings up. Could be a nice place but it isnt!!!

It needs better

The park staff work hard to keep the facilities nice. Our transient brothers and sisters there are always in need of some bottled water on hot days, so go on down and show them some love!

I remember over 20 yrs ago, Finley Park was beautiful! Now its only a shell of what it used to be, hell not even a shell. The park thats in the middle of the city, downtown.

Park is trash now, its not maintained, they removed both parks for the kids and waterfall is always off. Park looks trashy. Loved this park when it was new.

Awesome park. The homeless have no where else to go but all in all they dont bother you. Unless you smoke... Lol

So many hobos walking around and asleep on the park. Seen a Caucasian male starring at my 3yrs daughter until k confronted him on the spot. Be safe.

I go every Sunday

I would only go in large groups to this park. Its beautiful but the surrounding area is not so much.

Seems like theyd take better care of such a beautiful place

BECAUSE I ENJOYED HANDING OUT STUFF TO THE HOMELESS

The park during the day is a nice place. Specially during events like this where the event staff take over the whole park. I just dont know if theyve done anything about the homeless that use it as a sleeping area after dark. Itd be great if they could fix the water sculpture, but I get why they havent up to now.

No waterfalls and homeless people everywhere. And you dont see them till after you pay to park at the parking meter. Do not recommend going there

Its a very pretty park unfortunately now it a large homeless population who there most days...if only some more places that these could rest and feel comfortable..

Soooo many homeless people! I wish I had something I could do for them or warm meals to hand out....care bags ....something! Other than that its a nice place for family

Its beautiful, went to pass out stuff to the homeless

The pictures online were very misleading. There were a lot of homeless people sleeping all over the park. I went on a Saturday and there were no families or children at the park. It was just weird. I felt very unsafe here. Definitely would not recommend visiting this park. It’s a disgrace to the State capital.

Looks like the homeless have taken over this park ...a man died in the river right in the middle of the park the day I visited. It has potential for growth but just need to be cleaned up a bit

This park could use a little love, but its still a great place to walk around. Lots to see

The playground was amazing! There was drug activity in other parts. Very scary.

Awesome playground for kids? yes. i found very few homeless folks but not as bad as what other reviews had mentioned

Came to this park from Miami while visiting family. Very disappointed, the playground is nice and modern. But everything else needs serious TLC. Big fountain looked abandoned and neglected, viewpoints were covered in garbage, lake in the middle was green and had pieces of trash floating in it, port-o-potty smelled and placed out of all places next to a kids playground!? Why!!??. Park needs to seriously be revamped and spruced up, shame that this is the capitol of South Carolina and this is how they treat their parks, especially it being one of the cities main attractions.

The homeless totally ruined the park but doing drugs, sleeping and drinking every day its really not safe like it was back in the 80s..I used to love going there and seeing the waterfall and be able to sit on the swings and relax you cant do that now!!

The park is as beautiful as the people on it

It is so sad looking. When I was a kid this place was beautiful.