Walking through a dazzling garden that bursts with color and character is undoubtedly always a lovely idea. Immersing yourself in the beauty of nature adds joy, brings calmness to your life, as well as benefits your health. No wonder that for centuries, humans have been cultivating beautiful gardens not just for aesthetic use but also for practicality.
However, a beautiful garden isn’t just about growing plants. The idea is to bring together several elements, making perfect use of careful landscape planning and design. It even changes the landscape by way of how the greenery is arranged. Gardens of each country differ from each other by nature and culture of its nationality. So don’t you think while travelling gardens are the must visit places of each country.
We’ve researched the most IG-worthy and impressive gardens across the globe. From creatively curated landscape design to breathtaking unique vegetation—here are the top 10 most beautiful gardens in the world that are worth traveling to.
1. Keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands
With more than seven million flowering plants, the flower garden of Keukenhof is the largest in the world. The garden covers an area of 32 hectares or nearly 80 acres. It is situated in Lisse, Western Netherlands.
Dubbed as “the garden of Europe”—it houses millions of tulips, plenty of lilies, as well as bluebells, narcissi, hyacinths, and daffodils. The garden has different themes every year. It also has 15 km long walking paths and tourists can opt to view another perspective of the place on a 45-minute boat ride. However, it is only open between late March to May.
2. Gardens of Versailles, Versailles, France
Another bewitching and grandest in the world is the gardens of Versailles. The gardens of Versailles have the same importance as the Château of Versailles palace, and are both a UNESCO heritage site. The gardens were commissioned by King Louis XIV in 1661 but were only completed forty years after.
The garden covers 800 hectares of land with the current landscape designed by gardener André Le Nôtre. The gardens of Versailles is the best example of the formal French garden design. It contains hundreds of acres of flower beds, 300 hectares of forest, 35 km of canals, 373 statues, and 600 fountains.
3. Garden of Château de Villandry, Indre-et-Loire, France
Situated in Indre-et-Loire of France is the garden of Château de Villandry. It’s divided into several terraces: the Sun garden, the water garden, the ornamental garden, and the herb garden.
The Sun garden is in the upper terrace which features meadow plants, lime trees, and Sun-shaped ornamental pond in the garden’s center. On the other hand, the water garden has landed spaces, fountains, and an ornamental pond.
While divided into salons of greenery—is the ornamental garden, boasting a center design known as Maltese Cross. And lastly, the herb (kitchen) garden contains various aromatic medicinal plants.
4. Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden, Pattaya City, Thailand
A picturesque tourist spot in Pattaya city, the Nong Nooch botanical garden is truly a must-see in Thailand. The 600-acre botanical garden was originally purchased as a fruit plantation. However, the owners Pisit and Nongnooch Tansacha decided to dedicate the land to conserve wildlife.
The garden has a huge display of tropical flowers as well as plants. It has more than 670 native plant species. There are sections in the garden to separately distribute bonsai, palms, ferns, orchids, succulents, and cactuses. It has a symmetrical design and tourists can walk in the 1.1 km walkway.
5. Butchart Gardens, British Columbia, Canada
To be found in Brentwood bay of British Columbia, the Butchart Gardens is a popular garden as well as a national historic site. Once a quarry site, it has been turned into a vibrant garden filled with colorful flowers and lush greenery. It was designed by the owner Robert Pim Butchart together with his wife.
The 55-acre land has 26 greenhouses and has over 700 types of plants, including exotic flowering plants. Moreover, it is home to thousands of butterflies and many species of birds. The star pond also nourishes several ducks.
6. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
This historic and a world heritage site is made by and for the royals. Originally designed by the Mother of King George III—Princess Augusta together with Lord Bute (a botanist) and William Aiton (gardener) built this garden in 1759. This impressive royal botanic garden is situated in 3.6 hectares of land at Richmond in the Kew district of London.
This botanic garden has more than 50,000 species of vegetation. Several greenhouses can also be found here which features 10 climate zones that are electronically controlled. Thus, you can find carnivorous plants, desert plants, and various types of orchids in their conservatory. Moreover, a treetop walkway standing at 59 feet offers a view of the surrounding places.
7. Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto, Piedmont, Italy
To be found in the Piedmont region in Northwest Italy, Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto is spread across 16 hectares of land. The impressive botanical garden of Villa Taranto surprisingly doesn’t have an entrance fee. This free tourist attraction has 4.3-mile walkways.
This botanical garden has over 20,000 varieties of thousands of different species of plants. It has a large collection of tropical plants, lotus, tulips, dahlias, magnolias, camellias, and heathers. Aside from that Italian style statues, terraces, waterfalls, ponds, and fountains can also be found in Giardini Botanici.
8. Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, US
Longwood gardens located in Pennsylvania showcases 40 breathtaking gardens. Spreading across 436 hectares, with about 4.5 acres dedicated to greenhouses. And with a walking trail stretching over 3 miles.
This enormous garden has 11,000 types of plants and trees. It has water resources, and home to many animals such as beavers, deer, and species of birds. Its large conservatory protects over 5,500 various types of plants including ferns, roses, bonsai, bromeliads, and cacti.
9. Claude Monet’s Garden, Giverny, France
The dreamy garden of Claude Monet is located on his home in Giverny commune of Northern France. The awe-inspiring garden was designed by the French impressionist painter who loves life in a calm and beautiful place. Monet’s garden is famous for its beautiful pond garden with a Japanese bridge.
Visitors are allowed to visit year-round to enjoy this iconic garden. It has a vibrant flower garden and a delightful water garden. It houses different species of flowers and trees. Willows, wisterias and climbing roses are other main attractions here.
10. Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, US
The city of Phoenix, Arizona is home to the amazing 56-hectare desert botanical garden. It has an enormous collection of stunning arid-land plants. The garden also has more than 21,000 desert plants coming from 139 various species.
The desert botanical garden of Phoenix is renowned for its 169 rare species of desert plants. It’s also home to over 1,350 types of cactus plants.
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Emily from Cacti Landscape is a marketing specialist, having her main focus on developing and implementing various ideas both for online and offline marketing. She is currently being specialized also in content writing, having her main focus on home improvement, maintenance, and real estate issues.
Any such list would be contentious, of course. However, this one doesn’t contain a single garden in Africa and this, in my opinion, is a serious omission. The Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh and the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town would be obvious contenders. There are also many more fantastic gardens in Asia – e.g. the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
I think that’s one of the problems with so much travel journalism: Top-Tenism, the urge to line things up in order and crown a winner. That means, often, directing attention away from wonderful things that ‘didn’t make the list.’ I’d much rather see lists of ‘Ten wonderful gardens you might enjoy’ or ‘ten restaurants I’ve enjoyed.’
As for gardens: Some are quite formal, others either informal or with the goal of showing nature rather than decor. Some are large, others small. Some are encyclopedic, others focus on the flora of a particular region. Enjoy them all!
Excellent article and glorious photography!!