Reykjavik Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Garden in Laugardalur, Reykjavik is one of the city's hidden treasures. It's a beautiful outdoor area with blossoming flowers, trees, ponds, birdlife and foreign plant species that are collected, conserved and registered. The garden currently contains over 5,000 plant species, variations and breeds, and is divided into nine collections: Iceland's flora; perennial foreign plants; heath roses; a rose collection; forest floor plants; a tree collection; a gazebo; a rock garden and a gourmet garden. Every plant is labelled with the Icelandic and Latin species and genus names, and their origins are indicated.

The Botanical Garden was founded on August 18th 1961 on the 175th anniversary of the city. Ever since there it's been a peaceful place where you can study nature and explore the enormous diversity of vegetation in the northern temperate zone. Education is one of the garden's main purposes. Every year students from Reykjavik's kindergartens and elementary schools get to visit the garden as part of their school program, and guided tours are offered to groups of tourists in the summer.

During the summer months, the coffee house- and restaurant Cafe Flora is operated inside the Botanical Garden's gazebo. The restaurant is inspired by the location, and a lot of the ingredients used at Cafe Flora are grown organically in the garden such as vegetables, spices and herbs. That way the guests of the garden can learn about the plants and then taste them too! The menu focuses mainly on light and simple Scandinavian dishes, along with coffee and baked goods.

The Botanical Garden is open throughout the year, summer opening hours for the gazebo are 10 am-10 pm (April-September), during the winter they are: 10 am- 5 pm (October-March).