Image credit: GettyImages/Balate Dorin
There’s so much to discover about a culture or a country within its gardens, as they’re full of drama, history and intrigue – no wonder gardens are listed among the world’s top attractions.
So we’ve created the essential bucket list for garden-loving travellers to explore beyond these shores, with input from experts, historians, designers and other visitors, that will set you on the road to discovery.
A monument to love and loss
Perhaps the most famous building in the world, this 17th-century marble memorial to Emperor Shah Jahan’s cherished late wife, Mumtaz, is the focal point of an impressive garden in the Mughal style.
Laid out in the classic four-square pattern, with the temple at its heart, it was created as a representation of heaven on earth – a richly planted paradise garden full of symbolism.
The British rulers of the Raj couldn’t help tinkering with the layout in the early 20th century, introducing the lawns of home around its iconic pool of reflective water fronting the temple, but the more neglected rear of the garden is closer in style to the Shah’s original intentions, and worth exploring – not least to escape the crowds jostling for the perfect selfie.
Opening 30 minutes before sunrise, visit as early in the morning as you can bear, for some tranquillity.
VISIT: Open daily except Friday, it’s a short taxi ride from central Agra.
Creation of power and glory
This Renaissance masterpiece is all about invention and ambition, created for the son of the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este.
Overlooked in a papal election, he became Tivoli’s governor and created the garden as a power-play and symbol of his family’s status, with lavish water features and playful devices (now defunct!) that squirted water at hapless, awe-struck visitors.
You may not be drenched, but the thunderous cascades, intricate grottoes and extraordinary hydraulics that create music from the flowing fountains are joyous.
Combine your visit with a trip to nearby Villa Adriana.
VISIT: Open daily except Monday mornings, free first Sunday of the month. Tivoli is around 1hr east of Rome by car.
The original Jurassic park
A product of colonial times on land once owned by Cecil Rhodes, yet this extraordinary, 100-acre botanic garden, with its sweeping Table Mountain backdrop, is entirely modern in focussing solely on native plants.
Dedicated to the riches of South African flora, amongst the most diverse on the planet, Kirstenbosch is home to 7,000-plus species, from familiar pelargoniums and salvias, through exotic bird of paradise and cushion-like protea flowers, to spiky, primeval cycads, little evolved from Jurassic times.
Free guided tours and its breathtaking treetop walkway are how to make sense of this huge garden’s scale and features – don’t rush the day, or you’ll be overwhelmed.
VISIT: Open daily from 8am. The gardens are around 40mins south of central Cape Town by car or sightseeing bus.
Taming nature the Samurai way
In a country full of remarkable gardens, this is one of Japan’s Big Three, a landscape garden precisely designed for taking the visitor on a pre-set journey through the six essentials of their singular garden style. Nothing is there by chance, and every feature has meaning to be read as well as beauty, while a small army of skilled gardeners preserve this 17thC garden as if time had stood still.
Visiting Kenroku-En is a complete immersion into Japanese garden culture, from design to the art of niwaki – pruning plants as if sculpture. Fascinating (and open) all year round, the spring hanami blossom season is magical.
VISIT: Open daily, it’s a 20-minute bus ride from Kanazawa bus station.
Dive into the blue
Photos don’t prepare your senses for the colour that floods over you, when stepping through the heavy doors off an unremarkable suburban street, into Majorelle’s world.
The garden’s fame emerged in the 1980s when designer Yves St Laurent saved it from neglect, making it his home and restoring the garden until his death in 2009 – and where his ashes were scattered.
But the Jardin Majorelle was the life work of French artist Jacques Majorelle, who started it in 1924, and used his signature hue of deep cobalt blue for the art deco home at its heart, and as a motif throughout the X-acre garden.
The colour is heightened by a palette of lemon yellow on architectural detailing and outsize pots, pink of bougainvillea and intense greens from the luxuriant planting.
While tiled pools and the sounds of water cool the air, ever-present crowds break the peace so aim to visit as the gardens open, at 8am, to experience rare calm in this fast-paced city.
While in Marrakech, don’t miss the Jardin Secret within the city walls, created a decade ago by Tom Stuart-Smith.
VISIT: Open daily from 8.30am, it’s a 5-minute taxi ride north-west of the medina.
Horticultural show time
Big and bold in all it does, with 200 acres of mixed gardens, 10,000 plant species, a dozen different glasshouses, fantastical fountains, cutting-edge science plus packed music and learning programmes, Longwood is a botanic garden on steroids.
Yet it started humbly as a Quaker farmstead that evolved into a tree collection. Ambitions rocketed when the super-wealthy Pierre S. du Pont bought the estate, bringing together showmanship and horticulture – leading to today’s spectacle, that attracts over a million visitors a year.
The ambition is unstoppable, with a £250m investment in reimagining 17 acres of glasshouses and landscape unveiled in November 2024 – go now, while it’s box-fresh and at the top of its game.
VISIT: Open daily except Tuesdays, the gardens lie 30 miles west of Philadelphia.
A living canvas
Two passions drove Monet through his life – painting and gardening. The latter was an early inspiration from his aunt, and came to be fully realised from the 1880s when he moved his family to the sleepy village of Giverny, to a low, pink house with green shutters – a palette that remains today. He gardened with energy, fascinated by new plants and methods, and this fuelled his painting, from water lilies to dahlias.
Experiencing his garden on a visit puts you directly into the mind of an artist, where colour combinations came to life while shadows on water translated to some of his greatest works.
Monet revealed later in life that his garden was perhaps his greatest work of art, and if your visit sparks a need to see his canvases make sure you buy the joint garden/art pass that also give you entry to the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, where his breathtaking waterlilies series are on display.
VISIT: Open daily, March to November. A shuttle bus runs to Giverny from Vernon-Giverny railway station, around 1hr from Paris St-Lazare.
Surreal dream in the jungle
Eccentricity and ambition have driven many garden creations but perhaps none is as bizarre and beguiling as this jungle sculpture garden. Conceived in the 1950s as an Eden on earth by British surrealist poet and painter Edward James, its 28 idiosyncratic structures and buildings were built haltingly and haphazardly over 30 years, finally opening in the 1990s, some time after James's death.
Committed locals picked up the mantle, fighting humidity and encroaching jungle, to keep James’ vision alive deep in the rainforest. Is it a garden? Suspend judgement and feel the spirit that drove James’ efforts, so far from home. Pay extra and join a guided tour to make sense of the 9-acre space.
VISIT: Open Wednesdays to Mondays, 7am–3pm. Xilitla is around 8hrs north of Mexico City.
Colour by the coast
Most gardens build slowly over time, organically changing as tastes evolve and obstacles are overcome. But the creator of Ayrlies, Beverley McConnell, came to this coastal plot – just farmland and marsh back in the 1960s – with a fully developed plan for a three acre garden around the house.
She thought big and made it happen, creating a garden that Monty Don describes as ‘a masterpiece’.
There’s an astonishing variety of plants, both native and classically ornamental, at play here but it’s Beverley’s clever use of colour and texture that makes the huge space (now around 12 acres, after 50 years of development) a cohesive tour de force.
Rated as a Garden of International Significance, there’s much to see at every time of year – aided by the local climate that is perfect for gardeners.
VISIT: Open Monday to Friday, 9am–4pm, closed over Christmas & New Year and bank holidays. The garden lies 30 minutes drive east of Auckland city centre.
A blueprint for city living
Singapore should be on every gardener’s (and town planner’s) bucket list, due to its drive from the 1970s to green their concrete jungle. Aiming to immerse the city in a garden, acres of parkland, verge-side planting and community gardens were created to soften the hard edges of high-rise living.
The latest development by the bay, opened in 2012, showcases cutting-edge architecture and horticulture to create massive glasshouses and towering structures that display the plant kingdoms of the world.
The scheme’s iconic Supertrees are the eye-popping towers of vertical planting that are underpinned by cutting-edge technology that harvests and stores water and sunlight, and regulates air temperatures. Exciting or dystopian – you decide. But as our planet grows ever warmer, Gardens by the Bay are a template for a new approach to city living.
VISIT: Open daily, closed a day every month for maintenance. It’s around 20 minutes from the city centre by taxi or bus.
By Michael Marriott, rosarian @michaelrosarian
Fisherman’s Bay is completely magical. Right on the tip of the Akaroa peninsula, on the easternmost side of South Island, its great sweeping borders are filled with a superb mix of perennials and shrubs able to withstand the very strong winds they often experience.
The added bonus of the setting, right above the rugged Pacific coastline, takes it into another league.
VISIT: Open daily except Weds, Suns. It lies around 2hrs drive south of Christchurch.
By Michael Perry, horticulturist, author and podcaster @mrplantgeek
Barakura English Garden is a perfect cottage garden in the mountains of Japan. It’s such a surprise to discover it here, but it’s been a favourite of mine for many years, with gorgeous lawns, beds stuffed with dahlias, baskets of begonias, and even an Alice in Wonderland garden.
VISIT: Open year-round, check website for details. The garden is 20mins by bus from Chino station, or 2hrs drive south of Nagano.
By Ruth Chivers, garden designer, author of A Garden A Day
Visiting Bloedel Reserve is a real joy – an immersive experience in nature without the distraction of cafés. As much nature reserve as garden, getting there involves either a short ferry ride from Seattle or drive across the Agate Pass Bridge, while entry to its near 150 acres is by timed ticket. So, a visit feels like you are entering a spacious private world.
Strolling along a 2-mile looping path reveals native woodlands, meadows and a selection of more landscaped areas including a fine Japanese Garden.
Created by Prentice and Virginia Bloedel around their private home, it reflects their early adoption of environmentalist principles and was gifted to the community in 1988. Several renowned landscape designers were commissioned to design the more formal areas, lightness of touch means these do not jar with the surroundings.
VISIT: Open Tuesdays to Sundays, from 10am (pre-booking required). The island is a 35-minute ferry ride from Seattle, with onward buses from the ferry terminal.
By Manoj Malde, garden designer, author @manoj_malde
My favourite place is Therissos Gorge, that’s so unlike any Cretan landscape you would think you are walking through a forest in Germany. The road is flanked on either side by huge rock faces that helps create coolness, shade and tranquillity. Every once in a while, you hear the sound of water coursing its way through the boulders.
It’s the plants that always take my breath away. Cyclamen graecum and Cyclamen hederifolium tucked into crevices, Dracunculis vulgaris growing in the wild, rock faces draped with Cistus creticas and the stunning pewter purple shade of species delphiniums dotted along the sides of the road turn this landscape into a living, wild garden. Just go, spring or autumn.
VISIT: Therissos Gorge is around 30 minutes drive south of Chania.
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