The Jardin des Plantes is a botanical garden and park in France, set in a city-centre location and offering a mix of plants, animals and natural history collections in one place. It is described as the main botanical garden in the country, which makes it a natural stop for anyone interested in plants and the wider natural world.
What you will find
- A botanical garden with a broad collection of plants, laid out for walking and quiet looking.
- The Natural History Museum, which sits within the grounds and gives the visit a scientific side.
- The Ménagerie, a zoo that brings animals into the same setting as the gardens.
- Greenhouses for seeing plants that would be hard to grow outdoors in the local climate.
What kind of visit it makes
This is a place for a relaxed half-day or longer. Families, students and those who enjoy slow walks will find it easy to fill an afternoon, moving between the open gardens, the greenhouses, the museum and the zoo as the mood takes them. Because the museum, zoo and gardens share one site, it works well as a single outing rather than several separate trips.
The address given for the attraction is 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France. Visitors planning a trip should check the current arrangements for each part of the site before going, as the garden, museum, greenhouses and zoo may have separate conditions of access.
Around it
Its setting in the city means it can be combined with a walk through surrounding streets, cafés and other sights nearby, making it a comfortable point of focus for a day of exploring.