Days Out NI
Country Estate Belfast

Botanic Gardens & Palm House

Two Victorian glasshouses, 28 acres of park, and not a penny to get in.

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Open to walkPark gates open daily from 7:30am, closin…
FreeTo get in
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FreeTo get in

Botanic Gardens & Palm House — Two Victorian glasshouses, 28 acres of park, and not a penny to get in.

  • What you’ll see: There is no mansion here — the headline buildings are the two glasshouses. Both are open to walk through, free, with free guided tours on set days (book via Belfast City Council).
  • Getting in: Free, no ticket or booking. Walk in through Botanic Avenue, University Road or Stranmillis Embankment. The glasshouses are free to enter too.
  • Opening: Park gates open daily from 7:30am, closing times vary by season. Palm House 10am to 3:30pm (last entry 3:15pm). Tropical Ravine 10am to 4pm (last entry 3:45pm).
  • Food: No café inside the gardens, but you are in the heart of the Botanic and university quarter — cafés, bars and restaurants line Botanic Avenue and Stranmillis a short walk away.
  • Dogs: Dogs are welcome in the park on a lead. They cannot go inside the glasshouses.
  • Accessibility: The glasshouses are wheelchair accessible with lift access to the Ravine balconies and an accessible toilet, though some doors are not automatic. Park paths are mostly flat.
Plan your visit

Walk inside a glasshouse older than Kew's

Belfast's Palm House came first. Built in 1840, it predates the great curvilinear glasshouses at Kew and Glasnevin, both raised by the same ironmaster who built this one. You step inside to heat and a soaring dome, with a 400-year-old plant among the collection. The Tropical Ravine next door is the rarer treat. A head gardener carved a sunken glen into the hillside in 1889, and you view it from a balcony above the canopy, looking down on the green rather than up at it.

1840 cast-iron Palm House The sunken Tropical Ravine 28-acre city park Rose garden & long borders Free guided tours Free, open daily
Good to know before you go:

Botanic Gardens is one of Belfast's great event spaces, hosting outdoor concerts, festivals and city celebrations across the year, while the council runs free guided tours of the Palm House and Tropical Ravine on set days. Check what's on before you go.

Before you set off

What to bring

  • 👟Comfy walking shoesThere are grounds, gardens or a working mill to explore on foot.
  • 🧥A layer for the weatherMuch of the day is outdoors, and old rooms can be cool.
  • 💷Money for entry or the caféFor admission where it’s charged, and tea and a treat afterwards.
  • 📸A cameraThe houses, gardens and machinery all photograph beautifully.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Getting in
Free, no ticket or booking. Walk in through Botanic Avenue, University Road or Stranmillis Embankment. The glasshouses are free to enter too.
Opening hours
Park gates open daily from 7:30am, closing times vary by season. Palm House 10am to 3:30pm (last entry 3:15pm). Tropical Ravine 10am to 4pm (last entry 3:45pm).
The house
There is no mansion here — the headline buildings are the two glasshouses. Both are open to walk through, free, with free guided tours on set days (book via Belfast City Council).
Food
No café inside the gardens, but you are in the heart of the Botanic and university quarter — cafés, bars and restaurants line Botanic Avenue and Stranmillis a short walk away.
Dogs
Dogs are welcome in the park on a lead. They cannot go inside the glasshouses.
Parking
No car park in the gardens, and street parking nearby is restricted. Best reached on foot, by Metro bus routes 7 or 8, or by train to Botanic station.
Accessibility
The glasshouses are wheelchair accessible with lift access to the Ravine balconies and an accessible toilet, though some doors are not automatic. Park paths are mostly flat.
How long to allow
An hour for the two glasshouses, half a day if you add the park, the borders and a coffee on Botanic Avenue.
Address
Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT7 1LP
Questions

Before you go

How do I get in and how much is it?
Free, no ticket or booking. Walk in through Botanic Avenue, University Road or Stranmillis Embankment. The glasshouses are free to enter too.
When is it open?
Park gates open daily from 7:30am, closing times vary by season. Palm House 10am to 3:30pm (last entry 3:15pm). Tropical Ravine 10am to 4pm (last entry 3:45pm).
Is there anywhere to eat?
No café inside the gardens, but you are in the heart of the Botanic and university quarter — cafés, bars and restaurants line Botanic Avenue and Stranmillis a short walk away.
Are dogs allowed?
Dogs are welcome in the park on a lead. They cannot go inside the glasshouses.
Is it accessible?
The glasshouses are wheelchair accessible with lift access to the Ravine balconies and an accessible toilet, though some doors are not automatic. Park paths are mostly flat.
Getting there

Botanic Gardens & Palm House is at Botanic Gardens, Belfast BT7 1LP. No car park in the gardens, and street parking nearby is restricted. Best reached on foot, by Metro bus routes 7 or 8, or by train to Botanic station. Tap below for directions.

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Nearby

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The story

The story of Botanic Gardens

It began as a private members' club for plants. In 1828 the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society laid out the Royal Belfast Botanical Gardens, and for most of the 1800s the public could only enter on Sundays. The grounds were a place for subscribers and their guests, not the city at large.

The Palm House came next. The Marquess of Donegall laid the foundation stone in 1839, and the leading ironmaster Richard Turner completed the building in 1840, with the central dome added in 1852. It is one of the earliest curvilinear cast-iron glasshouses in the world, and Turner went on to build the larger glasshouses at Kew and at Glasnevin in Dublin using the lessons he learned in Belfast.

In 1889 the head gardener Charles McKimm built the Tropical Ravine, sinking a glen into the hillside so visitors could look down into a tropical world from above. At its Victorian peak the gardens drew more than 10,000 people on a busy day, a symbol of the city's industrial wealth and confidence.

Belfast Corporation bought the gardens from the society in 1895 and opened them to everyone, free, as a public park. They added the rose garden in 1932. The Tropical Ravine was restored in a £3.8m project and reopened in 2018, with a Global Medicine Garden planted alongside it in 2019. Today the 28 acres are owned by Belfast City Council and remain free to all.