This is an image showing a sign for the garden of Claude Monet.
Claude Monet's House and Gardens, Giverny, France
This is the enchantingly beautiful garden of the painter Claude Monet. The garden is split into two sections: Clos Normand in front of his lovely pink home and a Japanese garden around the corner. Clos Normand is distinctive for its roses and nasturtiums, flower beds, and metal arches set along orderly paths. The Japanese-inspired garden features a pond with lilies and the distinctive green Japanese bridge. These are painted in Monet’s Water Lilies Paintings. As a standalone, the garden is straight out of a painting, literally and figuratively. If in Paris, taking a day trip to Giverny is a must. While not the largest, there is something so enchanting about this place.
Tips: Make sure to visit Musée de l'Orangerie to see the beautiful paintings of this garden and appreciate life translated into art. In Giverny, Église Sainte-Radegonde de Giverny is a short walk past the garden area, and it is where Monet was buried. We stopped here and got to enjoy a piano concert, which was the cherry on top of a fantastic visit.
84 Rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny, France
Booking online is highly recommended
+33232512821
Mon - Sun, 10 am - 6 pm
Rows of freshly planted tulips in full bloom with trees making up the background of the image.
Keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands
This dreamy tulip garden is a whopping 80 acres with 7 million spring-flowering bulbs that come to life over 8 weeks in the spring. Along the pathways, tulips are planted in boxes that can be swapped out so there are always flowers in bloom. These extensive gardens include tree-lined avenues, ponds, sculptures, and a shocking area of styles and colors of tulips. With lines of tulips cutting like a river through grass lawns, this area is perfect for anyone to come and see. This was a bucket list item for me, and it surpassed my expectations!
Tips: We used their wheelchair service, which was super easy and located right by the entrance. With the majority of paths paved, this was a painless way for everyone in our group to enjoy this experience. Also, we visited during the last week the gardens were open to beautiful blooms. Even at the end of the season, Keukenhof is well worth a visit.
Stationsweg 166A, 2161 AM Lisse, Netherlands
Keukenhof | Where spring starts | Keukenhof - make reservations online
Open March 18th - May 9th, 8 am - 7 pm
A winding path with blooming azaleas of different colors, bushes, and grass growing beneath trees reaching for the sky.
Bodnant Garden, Tal-y-Cafn, Wales
This stunningly beautiful garden sprawls over 80 acres, nestled into the Welsh greenery just off the coast. The garden offers wheelchairs and an accessible route through the grounds, which we took advantage of to ensure my grandmother could enjoy this space. The gardens are massive, with a variety of gardens: wooded hills, Italian terraces, and, when we visited, paths blooming with azaleas and rhododendrons. This masterpiece was founded in 1874 and has been developed over the past five generations. One can spend hours exploring the winding routes, varying garden styles, and a variety of views of Bodnant Hall. If you are in the area, spending several hours here is a must. This was truly a highlight of our whole trip in the United Kingdom. These gardens are great for people of all ages and multi-generational travel.
Bodnant Rd, Tal-y-cafn, Colwyn Bay LL28 5RE, United Kingdom
Bodnant Garden | Conwy | Wales | National Trust
+44 1492 650460
Sun - Tues, 10 am - 4 pm, Wed - Sat, 9:30 am - 5 pm
Schönbrunn Palace Gardens, Vienna, Austria
The garden shown above is part of the Great Parterre. This garden was designed in a formal French style. Throughout the palace gardens, fountains and sculptures are often present. The Gloriette rises on the hill beyond this lower garden, and the Neptune Fountain can be viewed at the base of the Gloriette Hill. This area, surrounded by tree groves and sculptures, marks the most interesting area of the gardens. At the Gloriette, there is even a cafe and rooftop terrace you can visit. This garden is also home to a Roman Ruin (built for the garden), Desert and Palm Houses, and a Japanese Garden, among other styles of gardens. With the palace backing these 4400 acres of parkland and the historic value of this imperial residence, it is no wonder that the Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn have been inscribed by UNESCO since 1996.
Schönbrunner Schloßstraße 47, 1130 Wien, Austria
All Tickets & Tours | Schönbrunn Palace
+43 1 811130
Mon - Sun, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
This is an image of Butchart Gardens in full bloom, taken by Vladvictoria downloaded via Pixabay.
Butchart Gardens, Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada
Butchart Gardens is a gem of British Columbia. The gardens began in 1904 and have continued to develop into a national site. These gardens occupy a 55-acre stretch of land and include a variety of gardens, including a rose garden, which is my favorite, a Japanese garden, and an Italian garden. While the spring and summer months show a shocking array of colors and lushness, my favorite time to visit is in the dead of winter. From December through the beginning of January, these gardens are covered in lights. Not an inch is left untouched. While the colorful flowers are gone, the lights lighting up the bushes and trees are truly a wonder to see. I have many fond memories of being a little girl in awe of the colorful lights, sipping a hot drink, all bundled up against the crisp night air. This garden is beautiful in so many seasons and certainly one worth visiting.
The Orangery with the Palace of Versailles standing prominently in the background.
Gardens of Versailles, Versailles, France
The world-famous Gardens of Versailles are never-ending. The gardens were designed in the 1600s by the famous French landscape architect André Le Nôtre. He was the principal landscape architect who designed for King Louis XIV. e. These grounds cover over 2000 acres of land, so the scale is immense. These gardens are a great example of classic French style. The garden is a never-ending maze of elegantly planned paths and carefully curated greenery. This area includes a variety of wooded groves with different types of trees, roses, the Orangerie, and the King’s Way, a long lawn leading to fountains.
Tip: It becomes unbearably hot in the summer, so make sure to bring water, a fan, and stay to shaded areas when possible. You can also rent golf carts, bikes, or rowing boats at Versailles. In the summer, the golf carts are perfect for seeing the immense grounds.
Place d'Armes, 78000 Versailles, France
Palace of Versailles Spectacles - official ticket office
+33 1 30 83 78 00
Mon - Tues, 8 am - 6 pm, Wed - Fri, 7 am - 8:30 pm, Sat - Sun, 7 am - 7 pm
This image shows garlic ‘floating’ on a pond at Meijer Gardens. This is part of a temporary Chihuly art exhibit that has been on display since May 2026.
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is located in Grand Rapids, MI, USA. The gardens include a sculpture park and art museum, and span over 158 acres. From Japanese garden to a children’s garden, this park is far from devoid of variety. Throughout the gardens, a key feature is the many sculptures dotting the landscape. The most famous is the colossal sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse that stands 24 ft in height. This garden is fantastic to see for people of all ages.
Tip: Currently, there is a Chihuly exhibit at Meijer Gardens running through November 1st, 2026, so go quickly if you want to catch this exhibit.
1000 E Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525
Welcome To Meijer Gardens » Meijer Gardens | Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
+1 (616) 957-1580
Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat, 9 am - 5 pm, Tues, 9 am - 9 pm, Thurs, 9 am - 7 pm, Sun, 11 am - 5 pm
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Flor og Fjaere (image 1) rests upon the island of Sør-Hidle in Norway, and it is a man-made garden protected from the colder Norwegian climate by trees ringing the property. The garden draws in guests from Stavanger who arrive to tour the main areas of the island garden and who enjoy a meal in the greenhouses on the property. The food is excellent, and the different garden areas are all lovely.
Eikando Zenrin-ji (image 2) is a Temple located in Kyoto. The surrounding garden is serene with an island shrine set within the garden’s pond. Unlike many of the other gardens on this list, this location is quite small in comparison, but the beautiful maple foliage, serene nature, and the lovely architecture make this one of my favorite places to visit.
Generalife and Alhambra Gardens, located in Granada, Spain, are a great example of landscaping joining with architecture to tie religion and political power into one complex. In areas such as the Court of Lions, the fountain of twelve lions is said to represent the heavenly garden of Islam. Under the base of the fountain, there are four water channels that symbolize the four rivers of paradise. Additionally, many of the plants grown in the garden are noted for their association with the Islamic Gardens of Paradise. The architecture here is stunning, but the garden areas and complex hydraulic systems truly complete the space.
