About Botanical Garden :

The Royal Botanical Gardens, which are just a short walk around the water's edge from the Sydney Opera House, is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful settings one will see anywhere, with the gardens filling an area of land between the harbour and the eastern part of the central business district.

It boasts a superb collection of about 8,000 species and cultivars and a long and colourful history as Australia’s oldest scientific institution and the site of Australia’s first European farm.

There are large trees with a wonderful shade canvas and this makes the best spot imaginable to stop and have lunch - sitting on the grass and taking in the harbour views.

Green Guides :

In anticipation of expanded tourist numbers, leading up to the Olympics in the year 2000 and other millenium events, the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney has recently established a team of volunteer ‘green guides’.

Green Guides are being trained to provide directions, general orientation, on-site interpretation and to assist with hospitality matters. They join our long standing Volunteer Guides who are horticulturally and scientifically trained to take the general public and specialist groups on tours of the gardens.

Volunteer Guides offer free guided walks seven days a week, as well as paid walks for special interest groups, and have been doing so since 1978.

A walkway skirts around the harbourfront at the lower part of the gardens and is popular for lunchtime walks or jogs. The gardens have more than one million specimens and there is even a hop-on hop-off "train" for the less energetic.

The gardens are an excellent place to escape the noise of the city and are situated quite close to some of the major city hotels around Hyde Park.

They open daily at 6.30am and close at sunset. Entry to the gardens is free.

Details :

Location - Eastern edge of the CBD & bounded by Macquarie Street, the Cahill Expressway & Mrs Macquarie Road. Telephone:+61 2 9231 8111 [Weekends +61 3 9231 8125]

Opening Hours : Nov - Feb 07:00 to 20:00 Mar & Oct 07:00 to 18:30 Apr & Sep 07:00 to 18:00 May & Aug 07:00 to 17:30 Jun & Jul 07:00 to 17:00.

Amendities - Toilets, Shop, Visitor Information Centre & Restaurant & Café.

Services - Free Guided Walks, Education Service, Friends of the Gardens, Trackless Train Tour & Wheelchair Hire.

Special Features - Sydney Tropical Centre Cadi Jam Ora Sydney Fernery Herb Garden Rose Garden Rose Garden. Hongkong Bank Oriental Garden Palm Grove Palm House Government House Grounds, Rare & Threatened Plants Gardens The Wollemi Pine Website:Royal Botanic Gardens.

How to reach :

Getting there take a train to Circular Quay and walk there from the Sydney Opera House. Alternatively, Sydney Explorer Buses stop there.