Visiting the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh | Tour Details & Highlights
Retreat from the city buzz for a peaceful stroll at the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.
Read on for all the information you need before visiting Edinburgh’s botanic gardens — including the best way to get there!
About the Royal Botanic Gardens
Founded as a medicinal plants garden in 1670, the Botanics (as it is locally known) has grown to span over 70 acres of land. Drawing over a million visitors yearly, the garden serves as a space for conservation, education and discovery and is one of the most popular gardens in Scotland.
Situated merely a mile north of the city centre, this garden is perfect for the whole family. Whether on a quiet walk or a guided tour, visitors can admire and learn about unique global flora.
Along with its regional gardens in Benmore, Argyll and Logan, it is home to one of the richest plant collections on earth – with over 13,500 species from around the world!
This includes impressive trees like the Catacol whitebeam, endemic to the Isle of Arran, and the giant redwood native to California. Other intriguing plants include Himalayan blue poppies, South African Phygelius capensis and the pineapple broom from Morocco.
Visiting Details
The Botanics is free to enter and open daily to members of the public – with the exception of 25 December and 1 January. The garden may also close during extreme weather conditions for visitors’ safety.
Opening hours are as follows:
- November to January: 10 AM – 4 PM
- October and February: 10 AM – 5 PM
- March to September: 10 AM – 6 PM
Guided Tours
The Royal Botanic Gardens offers a range of guided garden tours. Between 1 April and 31 October, visitors can join the Daily Garden Walks, which kick off at 11 AM and 2 PM.
Each tour is guided by a knowledgeable and passionate tour guide and covers the garden’s history, hidden treasures and plenty of interesting facts about the vast plant collection. These tours are £10 per person. Children under 15 years enter free. No booking is required.
To make the gardens more accessible, the Botanics also hosts British Sign Language seasonal guided tours. These tours last no more than 90 minutes and need to be booked in advance.
There are also guided group tours and private cream tea tours, perfect for a group outing or a special treat.
Highlights
There’s much to see and do at the Botanics, including the Glasshouses and regular exhibitions and events.
If you’d like to plan your visit and prioritise getting to specific attractions, consider some of these highlights.
Chinese Hillside
The dreamy Chinese Hillside is home to one of the most diverse collections of Chinese plants outside of China. The hillside and its roughly 1,600 different flora have been designed in a way that mimics the experience of climbing a hillside in southwest China.
You can expect to see beautiful rhododendrons, Chinese Lace, cotoneaster and more growing in a natural flow along the hillside.
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden features a beautiful river stream running through it and over 5,000 plants sourced from the world’s mountainous areas. This includes plants from Europe, Japan, South Africa, Chile and China, among others.
The garden has been carefully planted to bloom throughout the seasons, creating a colourful tapestry year-round. So, depending on the time of year you visit, you may see flowers from different global regions. For example, early summer blooms include alpines like the European Pulsatilla to the North American Penstemon. In autumn, Colchicum and cotoneaster plants colour the landscape.
Woodland Gardens
The Upper and Lower Woodland Garden is a wondrous collection of trees and micro habitats. It features towering coast redwoods native to the Pacific Coast of North America, as well as rowan and birch trees.
Micro habitats in the Lower Woodland Garden have been created with oak logs, peat, and pine root plates. This serves as the perfect environment for various dwarf shrubs and species from the Himalayas.
Accessibility
In their mission to make the gardens more accessible, the Botanics offer the following:
- Free Blue Badge parking located on Arboretum Place to the left of the West Gate entrance
- Hearing loops in place at welcome points
- Paper, pens and magnifying glasses available at welcome points
- Water available for assistance animals
- Wheelchairs and mobility scooters are available to hire for free
- Accessible bathrooms
- Seasonal garden tours provided in British Sign Language (BSL)
In addition, paths throughout the garden are wide, with 140 benches placed at regular intervals for rest. All signage is placed at ground or low level so that children and wheelchair users can view them easily.
Bright Bus Tours: The Brightest Way To Visit the Botanics
Bright Bus Tours offers the brightest and most affordable way to see the city, including Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden! Our Bright Bus Britannia Tour takes you directly to the Botanics at Inverleith Park, as well as 13 additional royal stops throughout the city centre. These include Edinburgh Castle, Waterloo Place and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
With tickets starting at only £16 for adults, our Britannia Tour allows you to see as much of Edinburgh without paying hefty fees for transport. Our buses run every hour, giving you plenty of time to explore the beautiful garden, its cafés and Inverleith House gallery before hopping aboard to your next destination.
Enjoy the brightest way to see Edinburgh with Bright Bus Tours. Book your Britannia Tour tickets today and discover the Royal Botanic Gardens and more from the best seat in the city.