Naples Botanical Garden Is Better Than It Sounds

People skip the Naples Botanical Garden because the name sounds like a formality. It is one of the best things in the city. The site runs to about 170 acres off Bayshore Drive, south of downtown, and it is organised into cultivated gardens plus a large restored natural area of pine flatwoods and coastal habitat.

What is there

• Brazilian Garden — the most photographed corner, with a tiled water feature and dense tropical planting
• Asian Garden — a Thai pavilion, water and orchids
• Caribbean Garden — palms, colour and a strong sense of place
• Florida Garden — natives, and the most useful section if you want to know what actually grows here
• Children's Garden — a butterfly house, a treehouse, water play; genuinely well designed
• Lake Tupke and the natural area — boardwalks and trails, good birding

When to go

Early. The garden opens in the morning and the first two hours are the only comfortable ones from May to October — by 11am in summer the humidity in a tropical garden is a genuine physical experience. In winter, anytime works, but morning light is better for photographs and the birds are more active.

Allow two to three hours. People routinely budget one and end up rushing the natural area, which is the part with the wildlife.

Wildlife

The garden is on the eBird radar for a reason. Expect wading birds on the lake, painted buntings at the feeders in winter, swallow-tailed kites in spring, and a resident population of gopher tortoises and the occasional alligator in the water features. Butterflies are everywhere from March onward.

Events

The garden runs a full programme — a night-lights event in the winter holidays, plant sales, morning yoga, concerts on the lawn. In high season there is usually something on, and the evening events are the best way to see the place, because tropical gardens are transformed by low light.

Nearby

Bayshore Drive is the up-and-coming corridor of Naples — a brewery scene, a couple of good casual restaurants, and the Naples Botanical Garden anchoring it. It is also a five-minute drive from the Bayview Park boat ramp, which is where the water side of Naples begins.