Botanical Gardens and Conservatory

Geneva's lovely Botanical Gardens is must visit place for families with kids, for couples on a romantic walks or anyone who needs to rest his busy mind and enjoy the tranqulity of beautiful nature, while not leaving Geneva.

Garden

The garden is home to over 16,000 different species of plants (rockery, medicinal, horticultural…), trees and shrubs blooming at different seasons to ensure the all-year round feast for the eyes. This large catalogue of greenery is spread out through different sectors such as the Greenhouses, Rockery, Arboretum and Winter Garden. If you would only have time for one of those, we strongly recommend the Winter Garden, built in 1913 and moved to its current location in 1935, it beholds a wide variety of tropical plants and fruits. The greenhouses of Pregny, once owned by the Baron Rotschild, is another true treasure of green abundance and diversity.

Interesting fact, each plant are given a registration number to track their evolution through the stages of planting, transplanting and introduction to a collection. If it finally makes it to a collection, the plant receives a label.

Herbarium

The Botanical Gardens Herbarium contains one of the world's largest collections of plants and fungi with around 6,000,000 specimens. You can research a great number of them on the Botanical Garden website.

Following a tradition of botany, which dates back to 18th Century Geneva, the Herbarium holds plants from the Mediterranean region, Far East and South America. Unfortunately the Herbarium is generally not open to the public but group visits are made possible a few times a year during their open house days.

Collections

Collections of the Botanical Garden and Conservatory include The Animal Park, The Garden of Smell and Touch, The Historic Rose Garden, the Path of Evolution and many more. For further information, please visit official website or a Geneva tourist information centre.

Current exhibitions

Plantes & Spiritualités (Plants and Spirituality), 13th May – 18th October 2015

Admission

Botanical Garden and Conservatory Price - Free entry

The Botanical Shop

A shop opened Tuesday to Sunday selling everything from nature books to educative games for children, herbal teas, t-shirts and eco—friendly items.

Facilities

The Enchanted Forest playground for Children, including sandpit
The Carrousel of Fairy Tales
The Botanical Shop
Library (currently in works)
Cafe & Restaurant
Adapted for disabled guests except for limited parts of the Greenhouses.
Drinking water tap
12 free WIFI hotspots
Free toilets

Points of interest:

Water fountain
Wooden animal statues
Ball games allowed in the very east part, behind the birds section.
Bees
Goats and sheeps eating grass behind the fence.

Surroundings

By leaving the park at it's north-west corner walking along Avenue de la Paix, you'll get to the Gare Secheron (train station), UN Offices and Place des Nations.

The garden border's with Geneva's Lake from the east and is directly connected by beautiful parks at Geneva's right bank (Quai Wilson lake promenade).

Parking: Blue parking for 1 hour possible at adjacent street Avenue de la Paix (south).
Closest parking garage: P+R Secheron. Enter via: Rue Kazem-Radjavi. 2CHF/hour during weekdays, 1CHF per hour during weekends and holidays.

Plan of Botanical Gardens

Is to be found at every entry and at several places inside the park.

The Carrousel of Fairy Tales

Is a faboulous 2 stories tall Merry-go-round, perfect for the children.
Open daily from 10:30am until closure of the park.
Entry:

1 ride - 3CHF
4 rides - 10CHF
10 rides - 20CHF

Location of Geneva's Botanical Gardens

There are at least 5 different ways to access the Botanical Gardens and Conservatory though the main entrance is Place Albert Thomas, on the Rue de Lausanne. Buses number 1, 11, 25 and 28 will take you there as well as tram 15, stop at Jardin Botanique. You can also take a train to Genève-Sécheron and reach the Botanical Gardens in 5 minutes.

Other entrances include Avenue de la Paix, Chemin de l'Impératrice and Rive Droite (lakeside right bank).

Map of Botanical Garden:

Enlarge Map
Address:
Chemin de l'Impératrice 1
Genève, Switzerland
Entrances: several; from Rue de Lausanne and Avenue de la Paix.
Main Entrance: Place Albert Thomas, at the intersection of Rue de Lausanne and Avenue de la Paix.
Entry also from the Geneva's right bank (the small part of botanical gardens lies there).

History of Geneva's botanical gardens
Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle is the founder of Botanical Garden. It's history started in Bastions Park. In the 1818 it was marshy and unused area and Augustin planted a wide range of rare, exotic plants there. As it grew bigger, in 1904 the arboretum was moved to larger area above the Rue de Lausanne, where it is today, while former conservatory in Bastions Park was transformed into the restaurant.