Lisbon Botanical Garden

The Jardim Botânico de Lisboa was created in the 1870s for the Polytechnic School and it drops down a steep slope from Príncipe Real towards the Avenida, four hectares of dense planting on terraces with a formal avenue of towering Washingtonia palms as its spine. Because Lisbon's climate is mild and the walls hold heat, the collection runs heavily to subtropical species that would not survive elsewhere in Europe: cycads, dragon trees, Australian and South African trees, an enormous Ficus macrophylla with buttressed roots, bamboo groves. It is a working scientific garden attached to the university and the natural history museum, with a butterfly house in season. It is walled and entered from an unremarkable street door, so most people walking past have no idea it is there - which is why it stays quiet.

Highlights

• The palm avenue - a spine of tall Washingtonia running down the slope.
• The subtropical collection - cycads, dragon trees and southern-hemisphere species.
• The great fig - a Ficus macrophylla with heavy buttressed roots.
• The concealment - four hectares behind walls on an ordinary street.

When to go

Year-round; spring for flowering and autumn for colour. One to two hours. Combined ticket with the natural history museum next door.

Good to know

Steep paths throughout - not easy for anyone with limited mobility. Sections have been under restoration for years and are fenced. Labels are inconsistent. Ticketed, and the price has risen.

Nearby

Príncipe Real square is above; the Avenida da Liberdade is below the slope.