As the botanical gardens are some of the best places to visit in spring, offering visitors front seats to the fantastic show of the seasons’ colors, local Clubulcopiilor.ro has compiled a list of the best such destinations to see in Romania. 

Using reviews submitted on Google Maps (roughly 75,000 in total), the platform put together a ranking of the highest-rated botanical gardens and dendrological parks in the country. It considered the locations that have accumulated at least 100 reviews over the years and obtained the highest average review ratings.

According to this study, the highest-rated botanical gardens and dendrological parks are located in Iași, Craiova, Hunedoara, Carei, and Chitila - a suburb of Bucharest. All five have achieved an excellent rating of 4.7 out of a maximum of 5. 

The Anastasie Fătu Botanical Garden in Iași took the top spot with a rating of 4.7 from 12,354 reviews, followed by the Alexandru Buia Botanical Garden in Craiova (rating 4.7 from 8,024 reviews), Giardini di Zoe in Banpotoc-Hunedoara (4.7 rating from 6,900 reviews), the Carei Dendrological Park (4.7 rating from 2,258 reviews), and Arboretum Chitila (4.7 rating from 1,893 reviews).

Next in the top 10 are Cluj-Napoca’s Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden, the Vasile Fati Botanical Garden in Jibou, Simeria Arboretum Park, the Răsvan Angheluță Botanical Garden in Galați, and the Csíky Gheorgheni Garden.

Botanical gardens from Bacău, Alba Iulia, Târgu Mureș, Bucharest, or Timișoara have also made it to the list. The complete ranking is available here. 

As part of the same study, Cubulcopiilor.ro team also found that the botanical gardens in major cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, and Iași are the most visited in Romania. The botanical garden in Iași had over 330,000 visitors in 2023, with the busiest months being April, May, and June.

According to the same source, the Anastasie Fătu Botanical Garden in Iași is both the largest and the oldest botanical garden in Romania. Established in 1856, it is the first Romanian university botanical garden. It covers approximately 100 hectares.

Meanwhile, the Vasile Fati Botanical Garden in Jibou, founded in 1968 by Professor Vasile Fati, is the newest in Romania.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Clubulcopiilor.ro)