Who isn’t excited by the arrival of spring? This year we’ve been (in Europe) holding onto our winter clothes a bit too long but finally the warmer weather is approaching. With trees and plants blossoming everywhere some people opt to visit Hollands for the Tulips while others fly over to Catalunya for the breathtaking Temps de Flors. Nonetheless, our recent visit to the gorgeous Botanical Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle left us beautifully amazed.
The Botanical Gardens, ranked among the most beautiful gardens in Italy, are built to always welcome visitors with blossoming plants, no matter when you visit. If you love outdoors, nature and especially gardens don’t give this place a miss!!!
Entrance to the botanical gardens
Garden Worlds
The variety of plants residing in Trauttmansdorff – from pretty flowers to cactuses and on to carnivore plants – is pretty astounding. The complex contains twenty themed gardens for a total of eighty garden landscapes unique in their own way. Just think that on our first visit, we were assured that every week you will see new plants blossoming in each of the four garden worlds. Pretty crazy, uh? Check the full map
Map of the gardens
Sun Gardens – Collection of plants all related to warm and exotic climates as well as the Mediterranean. Anything from olive trees to oaks, cypresses, grapes, sunflowers and much more. Read more
Forests of the World – Collection of plants from North/South American and East Asia, overall focusing on leafy woods areas. Anything from rice paddies to ferns surrounded by deciduous & coniferous woods. Plenty of waterfalls and streams too. Read more
NOTE: Here you can also visit a terrarium with insects, reptiles and amphibians
Water & Terraced Gardens – Mainly based around elements of European landscape architecture especially on Italian Renaissance & English Perennial gardens. Anything from a lily pond to roses, palms and a great deal of flowering plants. Read more
Landscapes of South Tyrol – Focusing on plants native to the area such as alluvial forests and meadow orchards. Anything from reeds to apple/pear varieties, willows, alders and also vineyards. Read more
Paths & Exhibitions
The amazing variety of the botanical gardens can only be outmatched by its wide network of paths. Currently, the site features several trails of changing difficulty winding through the whole area of the complex. There are flat trails at the base of the castle, medium steep trails and very steep trails that can get you to the other highlight of the gardens.
Following the steep paths to the top will get you to the panoramic trails. Here is where to enjoy the best views over Trauttmansdorff and its surroundings whilst experiencing spring at its fullest.
views of trauttmansdorff and snow-capped Alps
In addition, should you wish to take a break from outdoors, there’s also the possibility to visit an indoor plant exhibition (check current exhibition here), a crypt and a chapel, all located inside the castle.
Getting here
The botanical gardens of Trauttmansdorff are located just outside the city of Merano in the province of Bolzano (South Tyrol). There are three different ways to get from the city to the Botanical Gardens and here’s the list:
By Car: If you’re travelling with your own car you just need to go toward the highway exit of South Merano (Meran Süd) and the simply follow directions for the garden from there. It won’t take you longer than 10min to reach the gardens. On-site there are several parking lots which cost 4€/day for a car.
By Local Bus: From Merano Train Station or center, you can take the bus lines 1 or 4 and then simply get to the gardens in about 15min. The bus ticket costs 1.5€ and you can check timings (as well as prices) on the official website (https://www.sii.bz.it/en/siitimetablesquery).
By Foot: From downtown Merano there’s the famous Sissi’s path (more to it here) that connects the city to the Trauttmansdorff Botanical Gardens. The path is 3km long but it only takes around 45min to walk reach the gardens. Check out the map of the trail!
Opening Times, Visit time & Entrance Fee
Entrance fee: Adults 14€, discounts for juniors, seniors and families (full details here https://www.trauttmansdorff.it/en/plan-your-visit/general-visitor-information/opening-times-and-entrance-fees.html)
Opening times: The park can be visited during the period of April 1st to November 15th but opening times vary depending on the month; Apr-15th Oct. open 9am-7.00pm, 16th-31st Oct. open 9am-6pm and 1st-15th Nov. open 9am-5pm. Last entry is one hour and a half before closing times (full details here).
Visit time: The gardens are a great half-day activity which can take you anything from 2 to 6 hours to visit depending on your pace. Everything taken into consideration, we’d say 3 hours is the right amount of time to fully enjoy the place and not rush it.
Guided tours: It’s also possible to take guided tours inside the gardens even though most of the people opt for self-guided walks. The daily guided tours cost and additional 6.50€ on top of the ticket price and a salty 65€ if you decide to go on a private tour.
The dryland patch has amazing pattern
Extra experiences
The gardens are also a pretty famous venue that host musicians and artists from all over the globe during the sumertime. In those cases, the park remains open until nightfall and people can enjoy a beautiful display of lights at the sound of music.
There’s no after hour ticket for the gardens but if you plan on visiting on one of those special nights you’ll have to buy the ticket for the event, usually ranging around 35-40€ per person. You can read more about the concerts & events coming up on the official website.
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