The Best Tropical Gardens
Tropical gardens occupy a special place in the global imagination: gardens of orchids, palms and giant water lilies, often with climates so consistent they have no off-season. The best mix scientific collection with landscape design at the highest level.
Singapore Botanic Gardens
UNESCO World Heritage, founded 1859, with the National Orchid Garden — over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids — and the new Forest Discovery Centre.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
Opened 2012, the Supertree Grove and the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome conservatories represent contemporary tropical garden design at its most ambitious.
Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Founded 1821, with 4,000 species across 60 hectares, including the world's largest cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis).
Bogor Botanical Gardens, Indonesia
Founded 1817 by the Dutch on Java, with the spectacular avenue of Canarium decumanum and the world's largest collection of the corpse flower.
Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, Rio de Janeiro
UNESCO World Heritage. Burle Marx's collection of around 3,500 tropical species in his own modernist landscape design.
Lyon Arboretum, Hawaii
On Oahu, with one of the world's most complete Hawaiian native flora collections in a true rainforest setting.
Selby Gardens, Sarasota, Florida
One of the world's leading research collections of epiphytes — particularly orchids and bromeliads.
Royal Botanic Garden Cairns, Australia
The Flecker Botanic Garden specialises in tropical rainforest species of north Queensland, in a city surrounded by World Heritage rainforest.
Limbe Botanic Garden, Cameroon
Founded 1892, one of Africa's oldest botanic gardens, with the Mount Cameroon flora and a strong palm collection.
Pamplemousses Botanical Garden, Mauritius
Founded 1735 — the oldest botanical garden in the southern hemisphere, with the giant Amazon water lily ponds and the talipot palm.
Explore on the map
All of the gardens mentioned in this article are pinned on the interactive map. Use it to plan a route, group nearby sites into a single trip, or compare gardens by style and season.