The Royal Botanic Garden

Spanning a site of around 70 acres the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is one of the city’s most popular locations. The history of the garden dates back over 350 years and whether you are interested in plants, looking for a peaceful walk surrounded by the amazing plants the garden has to offer, or would like to attend a workshop or course or just meeting a friend for coffee and a cake, the garden has something for everyone.

Situated between Arboretum Place to the West and Inverleith Road to the East, the garden is just a mile from the centre of town and well served by buses. On street and disabled parking is available in Arboretum Place (with a controlled zone in operation from Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm). A popular destination for primary school excursions, RGBE is committed to lifelong learning, and they offer a range of formal and informal education programmes for all ages.

The Garden is home to more than 13,500 species of living plants gathered from all around the world, the RBGE offers a tranquil space to explore the different zones from the Chinese Hill to the Rock Garden. As a global leader in botanical science, RBGE is also a centre of research with different teams looking into Tropical Diversity, Genetics and Conservation, Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi and Major Floras.

Most recently the world has come to RBGE as a leader in research into climate change and biodiversity loss with programmes investigating global food security and the preservation of plant DNA.

Further botanical collections can be found at: Benmore, Logan and Dawyck.