Botanic Gardens of Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom

The Botanic Gardens of Belfast opened in 1828 as the private Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens. It continued as a private park for many years, only opening to members of the public on Sundays prior to 1895. Then it became a public park in 1895 when the Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society.

Occupying 28 acres (110,000 m2) of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. The gardens' most notable feature is the Palm House conservatory. It was completed in 1840. It is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouses in the world. The Palm House consists of two wings, the cool wing and the tropical wing. Lanyon altered his original plans to increase the height of the latter wing's dome, allowing for much taller plants. In the past these have included an 11 metre tall globe spear lily. The lily, which is native to Australia, finally bloomed in 2005 after a 23-year wait. The Palm House also features a 400-year-old Xanthorrhoea.

References:

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User Reviews

Zohre Shamandi (7 months ago)
Lovely for a stroll when the weather is nice also a creepy fun fact about this place is that if the slightest sun ray hit the park in the summer out of nowhere an ice cream truck shows up and there will be a line up of people ready to buy ice cream! The speed at which this happens makes it creepy!

Philip (9 months ago)
Always worth a visit, rain or shine, if you are traveling to Belfast (south), please visit it , it's hard to miss if you are going to the Ulster Museum, which is free, and maybe a donation. I believe the Victorian gardens are closed on my fairly recent visit there, so be prepared for disappointment, always nice to be prepared alas..but Ulster Museum definitely open.

Flo Saint-poulof (10 months ago)
It was really nice to walk to the botanic gardens. There are plenty of cool shops leading to the gardens. It's a nice place, really relaxing. It's not crowded and the kids can run free. Due to covid a few exhibitions were closed but you can still enjoy the fresh air of the park. Loads of vendors selling ice cream, coffee and whatnot. Seriously you gotta check it out.

corey o reilly (10 months ago)
Excellent place to while away a few wee hours. Be it strolling with your significant other, connecting with nature or getting the kids out of the house there is something for everyone here. Only complaint is while there is an on-site coffee shop there was no seating inside or otherwise available yet this is no problem there is plenty of alternatives nearby. Really enjoyed would recommend to a friend.

Ramses Zenati (11 months ago)
I don't even think there is anything to not like about this place. Sure, i would have liked it open 24/7 but i can understand why it isn't. Great place overall.

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