Visiting The Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh

calendarFeb 24, 2021 · 5 min read · edinburgh gardens Scotland UK  ·
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Overview

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is one of the finest botanic gardens in the world. Whether nature lover, wanderer, or a shutterbug, this garden has a lot to offer to everyone. The Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh is a must-visit place, popular among locals, and travellers alike.

Table of Contents

Are you nature and garden lover? If yes, then this post will tell you about one of the most beautiful gardens in the UK and how we discovered this jewel in the magnificent city of Edinburgh. Last year, just before the pandemic, we planned our Edinburgh, Scotland trip. We never knew that this was going to be our last trip of the year 2020. Fortunately, our trip was wonderful in spite of the chilly and rainy Scottish weather. We were able to cover all the famous places in the city. Today I will share our experience of visiting the Royal Botanic garden in Edinburgh.

Due to the bad weather, we were about to cancel the garden visit. Then I thought we might not get a chance to visit this city again and so we went ahead with the plan. In hindsight, I am glad that we visited this beautiful garden - highly recommended and one should not miss the opportunity to visit the Royal Botanic garden while in Edinburgh.

About the Royal Botanic Garden

Photo ©The Blissful Aura

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is one of the finest botanic gardens in the world. Established in 1670, this is the second oldest botanic garden in Britain, followed by the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. It has moved location four times but has remained at the current, 70-acre site since 1820. The Garden allows you to explore over 13,000 different plant species in the most beautifully landscaped and manicured grounds you’re ever likely to see. It also offers fantastic views of the capital’s skyline, featuring Edinburgh Castle, one of the famous tourist attraction of Scotland. Also, the best part of this garden is that it is located relatively close to the Edinburgh city centre.

Main attractions of the garden

Edinburgh Botanic Garden includes an extensive plant collection, which is free for the public to see except for the glasshouse. There are some main attractions in this garden that one should really cover:

Glasshouse

I think the Glasshouse was the highlight of our visit to the Royal Botanic Garden. Each of the garden’s ten magnificent Glasshouses features a different climate zone, from steamy tropics to arid desert. This glasshouse is home to 3,000 exotic plants from around the world including a 200-year-old palm tree.

Although the other parts of the garden are free to enter it’s worth paying the entrance fee to visit the glasshouses.

Chinese hillside

Photo ©The Blissful Aura

Chinese Hillside, The Royal Botanic Garden

If you want to witness a little bit of China in Scotland, then Chinese Hillside is a must-visit. This hillside area has been providing locals and travellers alike with endless resources and education. Once you reach this area you will experience the views towards the Castle, the tiny traditional pavilion, magical gushing waterfall, mysterious pond and meandering pathways. Broad-leaved trees are found at the lowest altitudes of this hillside, leading through to coniferous woodland, Rhododendron forest and finally alpines and meadow plants in the highest areas.

Rock garden

This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful rock gardens I have ever seen. It is a very well-maintained rock garden with some fascinating rocks and a mesmerising waterfall. You can spend hours just sitting there and appreciating its beauty. A perfect place to click a postcard picture.

Other highlights of this garden include a woodland garden, a tree collection, a Rhododendron collection, alpine houses and a botanic cottage, which is used for education and community sessions.

Our visit to the Garden

As I have already mentioned we were about to cancel our garden visit. And I am glad that we did not. Due to the bad weather, we started late for the garden and we arrived at the garden around 2 pm in the afternoon. With less than three hours in our hand, we decided to visit the main attractions only. We quickly grabbed the map, which is a must, if you want to make the best of time. We headed straight to the glasshouse. Along the way to the glasshouse, we cherished old trees, duck pond and had some ‘kodak moments’ as well. During our glasshouse tour, we did not realise how time flew away. We spent around 2 hours there exploring a variety of plants, trees, and flowers. After that, we only had one more hour left to explore other parts of the garden. So without further delay, we quickly covered the Chinese hillside, rock garden, alpine houses, and the art gallery.

Generally, winter is not a very good season to visit a garden in England. But Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has a lot to offer in any season. The glasshouse itself contains some of the oldest and exotic plants. We took a fascinating walk of the glasshouse while appreciating and taking pictures of these exotic plants and flowers which have been sourced from all over the world.

Conclusion

Whether nature lover, wanderer, or a shutterbug, this garden has a lot to offer to everyone. The Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh is a must-visit place, popular among locals, and travellers alike. A walk around this garden feels like a never-ending adventure of natural discovery.

For opening times and more information Visit: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh official website

Let me know

Do you love visiting botanic gardens? What is your favourite garden in the world? Tell me about it in the comments section below.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla, and generously SPONSORED BY Bugshield Clothing – Don’t Be Bugged!

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