A morning in the Adelaide Botanic Garden
Glasshouses old and new, a museum of useful plants and a lake at the heart of it. A practical route through the Botanic Garden for a slow morning.
Updated 2 min read
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The Adelaide Botanic Garden fills around fifty hectares at the eastern end of North Terrace, and it has been open to the public since the 1850s. It is free to enter, a short walk or tram ride from the city centre, and at its best in the cool of the morning.
Getting in
The main North Terrace entrance is the easiest if you are coming from the city on foot or by tram — the North Terrace tram branch stops close by. There is also an entrance on Hackney Road, on the eastern side. Opening times vary by day and season, with closing times moving earlier in winter, so check the current hours before you set out.
The heritage core
Start with the Palm House, a glasshouse from 1877 whose iron and glass frame was made in Germany and shipped out in pieces. Close by is the Museum of Economic Botany, a nineteenth-century building devoted to the plants people eat, wear, build with and use as medicine. It is small, quiet and one of the most unusual interiors in the city. The formal beds and old trees around both give a good sense of what the garden looked like in its early decades.
The lake and the conservatory
From there, wander past the Main Lake and its lawns before heading towards the eastern side of the garden. The Bicentennial Conservatory, opened in 1989, is a vast curved glasshouse for tropical rainforest plants — step inside on a cold morning and the humidity is immediate. Nearby, the Amazon Waterlily Pavilion holds the giant waterlilies, and the Rose Garden is at its best in spring and again in autumn.
Practical things
The paths are mostly flat and suit prams and wheelchairs. There are cafés and toilets inside the garden, and plenty of shade in summer. The garden is on Kaurna land, and interpretive signs through the grounds note plants and places of significance to the Kaurna people.
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Comments (3)
Fiona A.
Took my mother, who uses a walking frame. The main paths and the Bicentennial Conservatory were all manageable — good to know for anyone wondering.
Sanjay K.
Botanic Park next door is busier than the article suggests on weekends, but the garden paths themselves are quiet enough.
Margot D.
The early start is the right call in summer. The paths along First Creek were shady and almost empty before nine.
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