Every once in a while, you crave walking through a curated garden with exotic flower arrangements and meticulously carved bushes (maybe just me). Today I was thinking about the time I went to the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco and reminisced on how relaxing an experience it was. Today, I set out to find some of the world’s coolest gardens- on Google. What I found were some very intriguing gardens in some very cool locals.
The first is called Lotusland in Montecito, California. The gardens are nothing short of impressive garnering over 3,000 different plants. If you are staying in the Santa Barbara area this is a perfect excursion: the gardens are by appointment only and fully worth it. Lotusland was part of Madame Ganna Walska’s life work who owned the estate from 1941 until 1984 when she passed. She aided in the intricate and unusual design of the sprawling gardens.
I think the photos speak for themselves: there are sculptures of animals, carved trees looking like towering mushrooms, and a forest of cacti. This is definitely an interesting place to get lost in.
The next garden is the Spring Gardens Keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands
This is the largest flower garden in the entire world, and arguably one of the most beautiful. The rainbow arrangements are reminiscent of the color palette at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
Every year, an astonishing 7 Million flowers planted. The flowers can be seen during the spring months between March and May. The garden is located in the small town of Lisse, which is just about 40 minutes away from Amsterdam.
The Garden of Versailles, Versailles, France
I wouldn’t feel right about making a garden list without mentioning the Garden of Versailles. I visited the Palace of Versailles on a tour when I went to Paris with my family. We packed into a long tour bus with many other tourists and were dropped off along with many more buses full of people at the gates of the palace. If you have the opportunity, the tour of the Palace is incredible: much of the palace has been restored with all of the original furniture intact. At a certain part of the tour, you get to see the Garden of Versailles, and it is somehow more stunning than a freaking palace.
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This garden is nothing short of….well, royal. It’s absolutely pristine and a wonder to gaze upon. It isn’t the kind of garden to lay in the grass with a picnic basket and a cheap bottle of wine: it’s more so the type of place that you tiptoe through and whisper as to not to disturb the manicured tiny trees.
Suan Nong Nooch Garden, Pattaya, Thailand
The next garden is in Thailand, a place that is definitely on my bucket list. Suan Nong Nooch is the largest botanical garden in South East Asia and is absolutely astonishing. The garden is extremely intricate and is accompanied by a gorgeous mountain backdrop. This is a great place to visit any time of year because of Thailand’s year-round tropical climate. Because of this climate, they are able to keep exotic flowers at all times, and even a pineapple garden. Get lost in the various parts of this tropical wonderland, and then stop by their center for a cultural show (I wasn’t able to find out more about what these “cultural shows” are, but if they are anywhere as impressive as their plentiful plant spread, it will be amazing).
Kew Gardens, London, England
Not only is the Kew Gardens just as gorgeous as the rest of the gardens on this list, but it is also internationally recognized for being important in botanical research. Not to mention, it houses the largest Victorian greenhouse in the world (I didn’t know what a Victorian greenhouse was before this, but it is gorgeous). The gardens house over 50,000 plants and is also known for its architecture.
London is already an awesome place to visit, but I would add this to your itinerary if I were you.
These are just 5 of the many beautiful gardens around the world, but I chose these because they are accompanied by fantastic locations for a great vacation. I hope that some of these have inspired you to plan your next whimsical trip. If it has, be sure to book with a Luxevo Vacations Travel Specialist which can be found on this Website, or HERE
