50 Most Beautiful Botanical Gardens in the World for Nature Lovers

There are over 9000 plant species in Kirstenbosch, around 6200 of which are endemic and not found anywhere else. The gardens have areas that focus on South African vegetation and animal life, and if you are lucky, you will spot the beautiful birds and butterflies that call Kirstenbosch their home.

A 130-meter Canopy Walkway allows you to enter the treetops and view the gardens from a different perspective. An exciting addition to the beautiful gardens is a sculpture trail of African art.

Recommended Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens Tours

Kirstenbosch Gardens, Bo-Kaap Penguins and Cape Peninsula Tour.

Private Tour Of World Of Birds, Kirstenbosch Gardens And Constantia.

Skeleton Gorge And Kirstenbosch Gardens Hike.

Pamplemousse Botanical Garden - Mauritius

The Pamplemousse Botanical Garden was founded in 1735 by the French Governor of the island. It was named the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanic Garden after the First Prime Minister of Mauritius.

The first sight of the gardens gives a glimpse of its changes in the last 250+ years, with memorials and spots dedicated to various international dignitaries who have visited and appreciated this place.

Spread over 37 acres, it features more than 650 varieties, including Baobabs, the Bottle Palm, Giant Water Lilies, and a diverse array of medicinal plants, including a dedicated section of the spice garden. One of the unique features is the presence of 85 varieties of Palm Trees curated from across the globe. These varieties include the Talipot Palm, which blooms just once every 50 years.

This garden also boasts rich flora & fauna, offering delight to bird watchers.

Visitors can also get close to the world's largest Aldabra tortoises that roam around in the garden, making it one of Mauritius's most popular tourist attractions.

Majorelle Gardens - Morocco

Although not officially a botanical garden, the Majorelle Gardens in Morocco are so beautiful that I felt they had to appear on this list of the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world.

The house and gardens, created in 1886 by the painter Jacques Majorelle, were a work of art. They comprised beautiful mixtures of plants, meandering pathways, fountains, and gentle streams, offering an oasis from the dusty streets of Marrakesh.

After Majorelle's death, the gardens became the property of the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner. They restored them to their former glory, and now tourists can visit a tranquil paradise.

Plantings in the Majorelle Gardens are from five continents, juxtaposed against the famous blue Art Deco house and sculptures throughout the area. 

Majorelle was particularly interested in cacti, and he planted 30 different varieties around the property. Visitors can also visit the on-site Berber museum for an insight into Berber culture, as well as the Yves Saint Laurent museum located next to the garden.

It is advisable to book tickets for Jardin Majorelle online before visiting, as it is extremely popular, and tickets often sell out on the day.

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13 Most Beautiful Botanical Gardens in Europe

Botanical Gardens in North America

Canada

Butchart Gardens - Victoria

I visited Victoria, BC, a few years ago, and the top item on my list, aside from high tea, was to see the world-renowned Butchart Gardens.

Even as someone who admittedly isn't particularly a fan of plants, the garden is drop-dead gorgeous. I mean, over a million people from all over the globe visit every year!

The history of the Butchart Gardens begins with Robert Butchart, a pioneer in the cement industry who decided to open a vast quarry. He planned to service the high demand for cement from Vancouver Island (where Victoria is) down to San Francisco. His beautiful and intelligent wife, Jennie Butchart, was hired as the company's chemist.

Like many of the beautiful natural resources the Americas had before colonisation, the limestone deposits grew scarce. That's when Jennie Butchart decided to transform the abandoned quarry into a garden.

The Butchart Gardens have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada and are divided into different sections: the Chinese Garden, the Italian Garden, and the Japanese Garden. However, the site is most known for its extensive Rose Garden section.

My favourite part of the gardens is the short boat ride across a serene lake, and I also appreciated that the gardens were very wheelchair accessible. During holidays, there are fireworks and craft items from local artisans.

For sustainability enthusiasts, the park is also committed to its green initiatives, featuring a self-sufficient water and irrigation system, as well as the recycling of parking lot water runoff. 

Recommended Butchart Garden Tours

City Highlights And Butchart Gardens Tour.

Victoria: Butchart Gardens Express Shuttle.

From Vancouver: Seaplane Day Trip To Victoria And Butchart Gardens.

The United States of America

Huntington Botanical Gardens - California

The Huntington Library and Gardens are in San Marino, California, 12 miles from Downtown Los Angeles. It's a great, affordable place to visit in Los Angeles.

It costs $29 (adult) to get in, but there are special free days each month. This 120-acre property features a vast research library, art collections, and exquisite botanical gardens, founded by Henry and Arabella Huntington in 1919.

The Huntington offers 16 themed gardens, perfect for taking a stroll or spending a relaxing day.

From desert-themed gardens to a playful children’s park, the Huntington Library has a garden for everyone. The gardens are spectacular and beautiful, with something different to see each season.

Spring is an excellent time to visit, as many of the gardens are in full bloom. I also like that they have a variety of programs throughout the year. 

The Japanese and the Chinese Gardens are my favourite gardens to visit.

The Chinese Garden was recently remodelled and now features gorgeous pavilions, a stunning lake, and numerous rock formations.

The highlight of the Japanese Garden is the Zen Garden and bonsai collection. I love how peaceful and relaxing the Zen Garden is. Inside the Japanese Garden is a Japanese teahouse where you can observe a tea ceremony at selected times.

Huntington is one of the most incredible botanical gardens in the United States. 

Boothbay Harbour Botanical Gardens - Maine

One of the world's best botanical gardens is located in Boothbay Harbour, Maine, known as the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. It is one of Maine’s top attractions, as it is the perfect place for people of all ages to come and explore meaningful connections to plants and nature at their own pace.

The idea for this garden originated in 1991, when a small group of MidCoast residents envisioned building a world-class public garden on vast acres of land that would one day serve as both an economic engine and a cultural anchor for the region. After 16 years of planning, the gardens opened to the public in the summer of 2007.

This garden is unique because it is the most extensive in New England. It spans 295 acres and features 17 gardens showcasing native plants and species from Maine, as well as other suitable plants for northern coastal conditions.

The best part about this garden is that you may encounter various flowers and plants in full bloom, whichever season you visit. For instance, in April, you’ll see Early Spring Bulbs and Spring Ephemerals blooming most spectacularly.

Read more here if you want to visit some other beautiful places in New England in Autumn.

Dow Botanical Gardens - Michigan

Dow Gardens, located in Midland, Michigan, is one of Michigan's most spectacular botanical gardens. Visitors will marvel at the forest of stark black and white birch trees flanking the walkway from the visitor centre. The paved pathway continues to meander through large boulders and tall pine trees until it reaches a fork in the path.  

My favourite route is to turn left and walk past the gorgeous, rushing waterfall and the sparkling river that flows alongside the pathway. You will enjoy seasonal flowers, flowering trees, and rolling grassy hills along the way. 

Dow Gardens is a photographer’s paradise. The well-kept gardens and scenic vistas provide hours of photographic opportunities.

The iconic red bridges will catch your eye as you explore the gardens, providing a fantastic backdrop for memorable family photos. The red bridge at the back of the gardens is my favourite go-to spot as it is less travelled and spans a beautiful pond.  

Many people also visit the Children’s Garden. The tunnels, bubble-making stations, and climbing opportunities delight children of all ages.

Several vegetable gardens are planted each year to teach young people how food is grown visually. Take your time and enjoy all the sights, sounds and smells of Dow Gardens!

New York Botanical Garden

The New York Botanical Garden is in the Bronx in the northern part of New York City. The gardens are incredible. There are more than one million plants spread out over 250 acres. There is even a ‘train’ to drive you around, as the distances are too large to walk.

There are multiple gardens and landscapes, meaning there is something to see regardless of the season you visit. Some gardens are devoted to specific flowers, including a stunning lilac collection, a rose garden, and gardens filled with peonies, daylilies, daffodils, and azaleas. Other areas are devoted to particular kinds of landscapes rather than specific flowers.

You can wander through a native plant garden, a rock garden and a perennial garden, stroll along a wetland trail, take a seasonal walk, and enjoy the children’s adventure garden.

There are hundreds of trees, and specific arboretums are devoted to ornamental conifers, magnolias, crabapples, cherries, tree peonies, and a stunning maple collection, as well as a forest.

My favourite area, however, is the conservatory. This beautiful domed glasshouse features a series of interconnected galleries, showcasing a desert landscape, a tropical rainforest, a palmerie, and a bonsai collection.

What is there to do in the New York Gardens?

It also hosts its annual Orchard Show in the spring, and seeing the Holiday Train Show is one of the best things to do at Christmas in New York. Outside the conservatory are ponds filled with stunning water lilies and lotuses, which bloom from early summer through fall. 

The gardens are considered a “living museum.” There is also an enormous library that you can visit, as well as classes in gardening, art, design, and the environment.

I live in New York and love visiting the gardens several times a year to see nature put on a different show each season. Visitors can pre-book tickets to visit the New York Botanical Garden here.

San Francisco Botanical Garden - California

One of the most beautiful gardens to explore in the USA is the San Francisco Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park. The garden was established in 1926 when Helene Strybing, the widow of a prosperous San Francisco merchant, bequeathed funds to develop it, allowing people to interact with nature. 

The botanical garden is expansive and fun to explore. It specialises in 8,000 plant species worldwide and rare species from California. Different zones throughout the 55-hectare garden showcase the South African, New Zealand, Latin American, Australian, California, and other major Mediterranean regions in a stunning botanical setting. 

Walking through the botanical gardens is a fun experience. Other areas of interest include a Japanese garden, a biblical garden, an Asian-inspired garden, and even a prehistoric garden with large and unusual plantings.

The botanical gardens at Golden Gate Park are amazing, but there are even more inspiring places to visit nearby. Check out my post on exploring the gardens of Golden Gate Park for inspiration on the top attractions and places to visit around the park.

United States Botanical Garden - Washington, D.C

With all the politics and government buildings everywhere in Washington, D.C., it is lovely to find an oasis of fragrant flowers right at the foot of Capitol Hill. Established in 1820, the United States Botanical Garden is the country's oldest continuously operating botanical garden.

Over 65,000 plants and flowers are here, including roses, cacti, and even two currently blooming endangered Corpse Flowers.

My favourite flowers are in the impressive collection of over 5,000 rare and unusual orchids. The explosion of pink, fuchsia, white, purple, red, orange and yellow colours balances well with the delicate, subtle fragrance wafting toward you as you walk through the tall plants lining the pathways.

The Conservatory showcases various ecological zones, including the desert, medicinal plants, the Mediterranean, Hawaiian plants, a Jurassic landscape featuring ancient plants and ferns, and a tropical rainforest. You can view the rainforest from the 24-foot catwalk above in the Tropics.

The newest addition is the three-acre National Garden, which showcases plants and flowers native to the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Rose, Butterfly, and First Ladies Water Gardens are specialised gardens in the National Garden. The Conservatory and the National Garden are open to visitors at no cost. When visiting the U.S. Botanical Garden, you are guaranteed to see plants and flowers in bloom.

Botanical Gardens in South America

Botanical Garden Carlos Thays - Argentina

Spanning 18 acres in the busy Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, the Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays is an ideal respite from city life.

Founded in 1898 by the renowned French landscape designer Carlos Thays, the garden features nearly 6,000 species, several greenhouses, sculpture gardens, and more. The impressive winter house imported from France in 1900 is one of the few examples of the Beaux-Arts style still in use worldwide.

I was most impressed with the variety of plants and unique gardens featured at the Jardín Botánico, such as the cactus and butterfly gardens, especially the collection of trees and flowering plants native to Argentina and the Americas.

The garden's accessibility took me aback—despite its enviable collection of flora, it still feels like a neighbourhood park, with friends and families catching up on benches amidst sculptures and flowering trees for an inviting atmosphere.

Take advantage of the free guided tours on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to explore all that this garden has to offer.

I accompanied my trip to the Jardín Botánico with a visit to the nearby El Rosedal, which is accessible from the Jardín Botánico through a series of connected parks spanning several city blocks.

El Rosedal resembles a European rose garden, featuring over 18,000 roses in bloom from more than 93 unique varieties. It is another garden not to be missed.

Botanical Garden Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Strolling around the well-maintained paths of the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro is hands down one of Rio's best things to do. Birds perched on the trees, the fresh smell of nature purifying your body, and the Christ the Redeemer statue watching over the city are some things you can experience in this oasis.

Surrounded by buzzing streets, these gardens are a place to disconnect, unwind, and have a more profound contact with nature. No trip to Brazil would be complete without seeing the country's diverse flora and fauna.

In this botanical garden, you can spot sloths, turtles and many species of birds and monkeys. These animals are cute, but restrain yourself from petting or feeding them. After all, these are wild animals and need to feel safe.

Beyond that, my biggest tip for visiting this attraction in Rio would be to apply a good repellent with picaridin to avoid mosquito bites. You will want to use it to explore the entire city. 

Rio de Janeiro is a coastal town with many parks and green areas, so decent repellent, a hat, and sunscreen are essential.

It's also a fantastic spot for Instagrammable shots of yourself. Remember to charge your camera, as you'll want to capture the botanical garden's well-maintained green halls and beautiful plants. After all, why not? You're in the middle of an oasis.

Recommended Rio de Janeiro Garden Tours

Botanical Garden Guided Tour And Parque Lage.

4-Hour Botanical Garden And Tijuca Forest Tour.

Jeep Tour To Botanical Garden And Tijuca Forest.

Botanical Garden Medellin - Colombia

The Botanical Garden of Medellín is a great place to visit in Medellín. It is located at the crossing of two busy roads, a half-hour walk from the city centre, and is close to the university and an events space with the beautiful name ‘Park of the Wishes’.

When we walked into the 14-hectare area, we immediately forgot the heavy traffic we had left behind and dived into an oasis of nature. The entrance is free, and many locals come here to relax or picnic in the grassy areas, study or cuddle on the benches, or have a walk alone or with their family.

The garden showcases several types of Colombian landscapes, featuring typical vegetation such as deserts, palm lands, and tropical forests.

It also includes a butterfly house and a greenhouse with many species of orchids.

My favourite part of the garden was the little lagoon, which provides a home to lovely turtles and intriguing iguanas. During our visit, a completely unconcerned iguana checked us out on the lakeshore, which was quite an attraction.

Medellín is one of the must-see destinations in Colombia, and I recommend exploring the botanical garden. It is a great way to experience Colombia's incredibly diverse landscapes and a perfect place to immerse yourself in the local life.

Vallarta Botanical Gardens - Mexico

Among the fantastic things you can do in Puerto Vallarta, I strongly recommend visiting the Botanical Garden. You don’t need to be a flower enthusiast to appreciate this beautiful place fully; being a nature lover is enough to want to spend an entire day there. Besides, it’s a great way to take a break from the beach. 

Walking from the parking lot, you feel like you are entering a magical place. The property offers fantastic hiking trails and short walks throughout the garden, which features flowers, tropical plants, greenhouses, and dedicated areas for cultivating various flowers. You can also join guided tours to have a complete experience.

A great restaurant offers local dishes on its terrace, from where you can watch various birds coming for their supper.

The gardeners install a table of fruits for the birds to come and feed on the sweet nectar. The Vallarta Botanical Garden is considered one of the most extensive gardens in Mexico. It includes flower species from all parts of the country, including the most visited public orchid collection in the entire region. 

Located one hour from Puerto Vallarta, it can be reached by bus or taxi if you don’t have a car.

Take a bus for TUITO from the corner between Carranza and Aguacate in the Zona Romantica in Puerto Vallarta.

The Puerto Vallarta Botanical Garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Botanic Gardens in Australia

Mount Lofty Botanical Gardens - Adelaide

The Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens are in the Adelaide Hills, about half an hour from the city. These beautiful gardens feature a diverse array of global plant varieties and are situated on a hillside surrounded by native Australian bush vegetation. With kangaroos, koalas, and kookaburras present in European and Asian garden settings, this setting gives it a unique feel.

The garden has two main features. At the bottom of the hill is a lake framed by deciduous trees. In the Fall, thousands of people visit and walk around the lake to take in the red, yellow, and orange foliage. Watching children walk through deep carpets of leaves and see the colourful reflections of leaves in the lake is lovely.

The other feature of the garden is several themed gullies running up the hillside. There is the Rhododendron Gully, Fern Gully and South American Gully, to name but a few. Our favourite is the Magnolia Gully. We go there in early spring to see the magnolia trees from around the world blossom; some of the flowers are enormous!

Another thing we love about the gardens is that they vary significantly across the seasons. Little streams trickle down the hillside in winter, and the conifers smell amazing.

We love spending time there in summer because it is usually much more temperate than down on the plains. Visiting the gardens is an easy day trip from Adelaide and a must-do activity when visiting the Adelaide Hills.

Mount Coo-tha Botanical Gardens - Brisbane

Located just a short ten-minute drive from central Brisbane is the glorious Mount Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, recognised as one of the best subtropical gardens in Queensland, Australia.

Covering an impressive 52 hectares (130 acres), the Mount Coo-tha Botanic Gardens are relatively new, having been established in 1970 after floods washed away many plants from the original riverside city botanic gardens.

With a diverse range of plants on display, the Mount Coo-tha Botanical Gardens feature a fern house, a bonsai collection, a Japanese garden, a children’s hide-and-seek trail, a tropical dome, and a kitchen garden and an arid region full of cactuses and desert flora.

However, Mount Coo-tha Gardens are most famous for their vast collection of native Australian plants, attracting many Australian native birds and animals.

My favourite sections are the Melaleuca wetlands set around a picturesque lake and the Australian Native Flower Garden, with its riot of colour flowing down a little hillside. Although there is plenty to explore at the gardens, don’t miss a walk through the Bunya forest to discover incredible city views from the Bougainvillaea-surrounded lookout.

Aside from its pleasant, manicured lawns (perfect for picnicking), the gardens have become quite creative, offering programs ranging from free guided discovery walks and Pilates in the park to kitchen garden classes, artist-in-residence workshops, and performances.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens - Canberra

In the early 20th century, Canberra, Australia’s capital, was carved out of sheep grazing land. In the 1930s, officials decided the city needed a national botanical garden. Information was gathered from around the world, and following World War II, work began on the lower slopes of Black Mountain.

From those early beginnings, with significant development in the 1960s, the Australian National Botanic Gardens has grown to have the world’s most comprehensive display of living Australian native plants, featuring 75,000 plants and various areas that focus on the country's different regions.

My earliest memories are of being thrilled and fascinated by the rainforest gully, which reproduces the environment of Australian rainforests, and picnicking with family on the eucalyptus lawn. The entire garden is crosscut with wandering tracks and has an extensive water feature, areas of native bushland, and an Aboriginal trail.

I’ve seen kangaroos, wallabies, water dragons, echidnas, and various colourful native birds. Go quietly up to the higher part of the garden to see kangaroos grazing at the foot of Black Mountain, or wander the perimeter of the water feature and river to see a variety of water dragons, from tiny to over a metre long.

I’ve seen a whole new family of Australian wood ducks waddling across a lawn and an echidna shuffling across an open space and back into the cover of the bush. It’s probably the best place in any city to see wildlife in the wild.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria - Melbourne

Located in South Yarra, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne is an excellent place to escape the city's hustle and bustle, just a 5-10 minute walk from the CBD. 

This little oasis is home to 8,500 plant species and several zen lakes. It’s an excellent opportunity to discover native Australian flora and other species from around the world. 

The best thing to do is to go on a 4 km walk around the gardens. It’s straightforward and will take you through the lush forests, along the Fern Gully stream, and to the Ornamental Lake. 

Although visiting the botanical gardens is popular in the city, it always feels like you are alone, away from the crowds. It’s very relaxing! 

Make sure to take the boardwalk to the rainforest section. It’s incredible and often overlooked by visitors. It feels like you are in Queensland, and you completely forget that you are in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Another exciting activity is participating in one of the workshops or taking a walking tour organised by the staff. You will learn plenty about plants and birds.

The entrance is free, so visiting the botanical gardens is a must, even if you only spend a day in Melbourne.

The Western Australian Botanic Garden - Perth

The Western Australian Botanic Garden in Kings Park is one of the world's most spectacularly sited Botanic Gardens.

Located in the middle of Perth, the Kings Park Botanic Garden overlooks the majestic Swan River and the city skyline. It is part of the world’s biggest inner-city park and showcases the best of Western Australian flora.   

The Kings Park area was first set aside for public purposes around 1830, soon after the European settlement of Western Australia. The Western Australian Botanic Garden was established in the 1960s.  

The state of Western Australia is massive - I think all of Western Europe can fit inside it - and, as such, has a vast diversity of flora. I love these Botanic Gardens because you can travel around Western Australia within the gardens, and many regional gardens showcase a variety of plants.

The best time of year to visit is September, which coincides with Australian springtime and the Kings Park Festival, dubbed the largest flower show on earth.

I have two favourite parts of the gardens: walking down to the Indigenous Garden and the Water Pavilion Garden.

In summary, what makes the Kings Park Botanic Garden so special is its spectacular location and views, as well as the incredible diversity of colourful flora it offers! 

The Royal Botanic Garden - Sydney

To say that the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney are sprawling is a slight understatement; they seem to go on forever! These extensive public parklands, situated next to Sydney Harbour, are among the most popular attractions in Sydney.

Opened in 1816, these are the oldest botanical gardens in Australia and one of the world's most important botanical institutions. They are also the second-oldest botanical gardens in the Southern Hemisphere, after those in Rio de Janeiro.

I walked from Mrs Macquerie's Chair (a viewing point of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) to the Sydney Opera House. I loved that palm trees were all around - not something I am used to in the UK.

Not so alluring were the black and yellow spiders clinging to their webs within the trees! I was also delighted by the abundance of white cockatoos, colourful parrots, and ibis birds walking and flying around the gardens.

The gardens are divided into sections showcasing native Australian flora and international varieties, and free guided walks are available on weekends. There is so much to see and do at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, that you may want to pre-plan your visit to ensure you don't miss anything.

Finish your visit off at Terrace on the Domain cafe, and if you sit outside, you may get to see the native kookaburras who are just waiting to steal a crumb or two from your plate!

Mount Tomah Botanical Garden - Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah is tucked away in a UNESCO-listed National Park.

Located on the Bells Line of Road, approximately 90 minutes drive from the centre of Sydney, it’s not easily accessible by public transport, so you’ll need to bring your car. At 1000 metres above sea level, be prepared for a different climate from the one you leave behind in Sydney. 

Entry to the garden is free. There are 28 hectares open to the public, divided into several habitats, including southern and northern hemisphere woodlands, conifers, meadows, rainforest, and the Wollemi Pine, one of the oldest and rarest plants in the world.

Extensive research is being conducted to protect the Wollemi Pine, and as I walked by these trees at Mount Tomah, I noticed that the pinecones are bagged to catch any seeds that are released.  

I love visiting Mount Tomah with my camera, strolling through the grounds, and observing how the gardens and colours change with the seasons.

They also have an impressive collection of the Protea plant, which is commonly mistaken for an Australian native but is actually from South Africa. The park is a popular spot for weekend picnics, with numerous grassy areas throughout the gardens to spread out a blanket with the family or relax on a bench under the shade of a tree.

If you are looking for more things to do in the Blue Mountains, you will want to read my post: Three Sisters Blue Mountains: All You Need To Know.

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens - Hobart

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Tasmania were established in the early 19th century, making them Australia’s second-oldest botanical garden. They were launched just two years after the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The gardens are very close to the city centre of Hobart, and if you want to go for a walk, it will only take 20 minutes to get there.

The 14-hectare site boasts a beautiful natural environment, featuring numerous trees and plants that date back to the 1800s. Tranquil pathways meander alongside ponds and water cascades, and strategically placed seating areas allow visitors to immerse themselves in this oasis of calm.

There are numerous areas to explore, from the French Explorers' Garden to the lily pond and from the native plant and fernery collection to the floral clock, to name a few.

My favourite part was the beautiful Japanese garden with its red bridge, pagoda, and trickling waterfall. The area felt very Feng Shui, with bonsai and bamboo plants, and koi carp swimming in the pond. I completely fell in love with it.

Another area that stood out was the Sub-Antarctic Plant House. As you step into the building, you encounter icy fog, which mimics the environments of sub-Antarctic islands in the high southern latitudes.

Here, you can view plant species from the Antarctic regions, making this collection the only one of its kind in the world. Make sure to wear a jumper; it's cold in there!

Garden tours run daily at 11 am and give insight into creating and maintaining one of Australia’s most beautiful Botanical Gardens.

If you are wondering what else to do in Hobart, please read my post: The Best Things to Do in Hobart Two-Day Trip Planner.

Botanical Gardens in New Zealand

Auckland Botanical Gardens

The Auckland Botanic Gardens is a great place to relax, take a walk, or have a picnic. It's 20 minutes from the city centre and easily reached by car or bus.

Although it was busy during the Spring weekend I visited, it was easy to find peaceful sections amongst the many trails, leaving me feeling rejuvenated from my Auckland temp job. Allow at least one to two hours to enjoy the gardens, which cover 64 hectares of land. There is plenty to see here, with a range of plants native to New Zealand and internationally inspired sections.

On a fine day, you can also go for a long walk, up to 2 hours long, through the forested areas.

Due to the need to protect New Zealand's endemic flora and fauna, the gardens have reproduced habitats to enhance the country's rich biodiversity.

The large bush area is an accurate way to experience the Kiwi bush without leaving the city. It is intended to be a precise representation of the native forest. The entire trail here is 4km, and it was my favourite section of the garden.

Elsewhere, romantic rose gardens, colourful conifers, camellias, and pretty perennials thrive.

The African Plants Garden is also worth visiting, and I was lucky enough to see the cherry blossoms in bloom when I visited as well. Walking around the Auckland Botanic Gardens is a lovely way to experience the vibrant colours of the South Pacific and find a calming contrast to city life beyond the walls. 

Hamilton Botanical Gardens

Hamilton's award-winning gardens were born of humble beginnings, yet today, they're one of the best places to visit in New Zealand.

The site, to the south of the central city, was once used as a rifle range and a rubbish dump before the gardens' development began in 1980. Since then, they have blossomed, and growth hasn't stalled, making them one of Hamilton's top attractions.

There are now five collections of gardens, each housing several themed gardens within it.

The paradise collection is my preferred area, and I love this internationally acclaimed garden! This collection features gardens from around the world, including an Indian Char Bagh Garden, an Italian Renaissance Garden (my favourite - it feels like you've been transported across the globe), a Japanese Garden of Contemplation, and an English Flower Garden, among others.

The Productive collection centres around food production and sustainable gardening techniques. The Fantasy collection encompasses a tropical garden, a perfumed garden, a Tudor garden, and a surrealist garden. The Landscape collection is more about appreciating the natural habitat, while the Cultivar collection focuses on flowers.

You can easily spend the entire day there, enjoying the many gardens, refreshments at the cafe, and the grounds. And if you're visiting with kids, they'll adore the adventure playground too!

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