Curitiba Botanical Garden

The garden opened in 1991 on the site of an old landfill and quarry, part of the planning programme that gave Curitiba its reputation for urban environmental policy, and its greenhouse is a deliberate quotation of the nineteenth-century English palm house - a three-section structure of glass on a white iron frame, holding tropical species inside. In front of it are formal parterres in the French manner, laid out with clipped hedging and seasonal planting and stepping down toward the entrance, which is where the photographs are taken. Behind, trails run through native Atlantic forest and araucaria with a botanical museum holding a large herbarium of Parana flora. Winter mornings here can be frosty.

What you actually see

• A Victorian-style palm house - glass on white iron, built in 1991.
• French formal parterres - clipped beds stepping down from the greenhouse.
• Native forest trails - araucaria and Atlantic forest behind the formal garden.
• A herbarium museum - the Parana flora collection on site.

When to go

All year; spring for the beds at their best. Two hours.

Honest expectations

The greenhouse is small and takes minutes; the setting is the attraction. Weekends bring crowds and queues for the standard photograph. Curitiba is one of the coldest and wettest Brazilian cities - bring a layer and expect grey days.

Nearby

The Oscar Niemeyer museum is north; the Curitiba historic centre is west.