Top 5 Botanical Gardens in the World

If you are a nature lover or an aspiring green thumb, exploring an astonishing variety of plants in a botanical garden is likely the perfect way to spend a day if you are looking to do something with a partner, family, or friends. Visiting botanical gardens may even offer inspiration and an escape for nature lovers. Therefore, I collected all the best five botanical gardens around the world for you to choose from, with the option of choosing distance versus preference, you can put your botanist hat on and get started on your floral exploration adventure.

Singapore Botanical Gardens, Singapore

This is a lush sanctuary in the heart of the city with four developed cores consisting of Tanglin, which is the heritage core retaining the old favourites and charms of the garden; Central, the tourist belt of the gardens; Bukit Timah, the educational and discovery zone; and Tyersall-Gallop, which was created with the opening of the Learning Forest in 2017 and is designed to integrate with the garden’s existing rainforest to form an enlarged forest habitat. Each core presents an exciting collection of attractions where everyone should take their time and stroll through to find the most amazing displays and wonderful sights!

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa

Kirstenbosch is one of the world’s most biodiverse gardens and the leader in conservation science; with incredible forms of flora and close to being endangered plants cultivated since early 1900s, you cannot leave the city without visiting the beautiful sculpture garden that includes a bust of Nelson Mandela and breath-taking Mambo sculptures, carved from opal stone.

Montreal Botanical Garden, Montreal, Canada

This botanical garden is based in the city’s spacious Maisonneuve Park and forms a large part of the Space For Life museum district. The garden itself contains multiple greenhouses, 30 thematic gardens, and is a place for all plant lovers and experts to come together and discover the giant plant sculptures shaped like animals.

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, England

More than 50,000 plants thrive in Kew Gardens here, including many that are not expected to be found in England, and for that, the climate-controlled conservatory is to thank; the glasshouse is carved into zones, one dedicated to carnivorous plants, one for dry tropical plants, and one for humid conditions where plants like the Victoria amazonica grow, the world’s largest water lilies.

Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro allows visitors to walk along the alleys or rent an electric car to see plants from all over the world by visiting greenhouses with orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and insectivorous plants; as well as seeing thematic collections, such as the Japanese Garden that was created in 1935 from the donation of 65 species of Japanese plants.

Finding the best place to go may be difficult if they are not nearby, but with the world going back to “normal” and attractions opening up again, it may not be such a bad idea as part of your trip abroad to schedule in fun activities such as visiting parks and botanical gardens!