Garden tours of Scandinavia

Love strolling or biking through gardens during your tours? Our guide to visiting Botantical Gardens in Scandinavia and Moscow.

Scandinavian and Russian cities have many formal gardens, historic homesteads and Botanical Gardens to inspire you during your Scandinavian tour. Summer in our region bursts with colour and locals love to picnic in their public gardens & care for their own gardens. Enjoy our short guide to some of the lovely gardens that you can combine into your Scandinavian holiday. Many of these attractions are free to enter.

Copenhagen Garden Visits:

The Botanical Garden and Museum is in the heart of Copenhagen and easily accessible. Free entry and open from 8.30am until 6pm during summer. It has a magnificent glasshouse (similar to Kew Gardens) and a great cafe/flower shop. This garden is a 25-minute walk from our Director’s choice hotel or 7 mins by taxi/13 mins by local bus.

Details:
The Copenhagen Botanical Garden & Museum
Garden office: Øster Farimagsgade 2 B, 1353 Copenhagen K
Museum: Gothersgade 130, 1353 Copenhagen K
Main entrance to the garden: Gothersgade 128
Entrance to the museum: from the garden or from Gothersgade

In the afternoon, visit the Roseborg Castle and King's Garden, which is open from 7am until 10pm. This garden is also a 20-minute walk from the hotel.

Details:
Rosenborg Slot - Rosenborg Castle
The Royal Danish Collections
(Crown Jewellery & Treasury)
Øster Voldgade 4
1350 Copenhagen K

Another transport alternative for all these gardens is to bike: bike rental is easily organised in Copenhagen.

Bergen Garden Visits:

A lovely Garden to visit outside of Bergen is the Arboretet Bergen på Milde, Hjellestad. It is open all year and has free entry. However, it is 22 kilometres out of town with limited public transport. It is 30 mins by taxi or the hotel can give you details for the public bus. Bike rental is possible for the day and will enable you to head out of town independently.
If you just want to head out into the forest and get some fresh air, be sure to head up to the top of the Funicular cable car and then enjoy the easy paved walk down (approx. 20 mins).

Oslo Garden Visits:

There is a botanical garden in Oslo with a large herb garden, several greenhouses and also a 'great-granny's garden'. It is part of the Natural History Museum in the University of Oslo. This museum/garden is centrally located and easily accessible by public transport - free entry into the garden & approx. $10 into the museum. There are many options for enjoying gardens and parks in Oslo, stroll around the Palace district and Frogner Park is a must.

A new option is visiting the Ekeberg sculpture garden. 63 acres of installations by international artists, this new garden is inspired by similar international facilities, such as Louisiana outside Copenhagen, Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, and Storm King Sculpture Park ouside New York.

For hiking and biking options around Oslo, you can easily head to the hills close by. Viking Biking Oslo has many short bike tours on offer and also bike rental and good maps to pick up. There are many walking options in Oslo that don’t need a guide: walking around the Bygdøy Island, walking around Sognsvann or catching a ferry out to smaller islands in the Oslo Fjords. These three places are all easily accessible by public transport and can be done without maps. Many locals will be doing the same thing.

Stockholm Garden Visits:

A visit to Rosendal Gardens is strongly recommended, with a fabulous cosy café and bike hire available. Take lunch in the greenhouse cafe. This garden is more of a typical open garden, it’s main purpose is to present biodynamic garden cultivation to the general public. There are lots of vegetables, greenhouses and local community involvement. Rosendal Gardens are open from 11am until 5pm, and easily accessible by public transport.

Visit the Bergius Botanical Gardens, managed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Stockholm University with a lovely old Victoria House to explore.

You can access this garden by public bus or train; alternatively you can bicycle out to the park. Open from 11am until 4 – 5pm - $10 entry to Conservatory and $5 entry to the Victoria House.

Helsinki Garden Visits:

Helsinki has many gardens and allotments scattered around the city. There is a Walking Route around Helsinki that is called ‘Relax in the green heart of the city” which covers all the major parks, botanical gardens and gardens. We can send you a brochure of this walking tour before you leave.

There is also the Helsinki Winter Garden which has a Rose Garden included. Located 2 kilometres from our Director’s choice hotel, it is a pleasant walk or an easy taxi ride.

St.Petersburg Garden Visits:

There are many gardens to visit whilst in St. Petersburg, most of the significant gardens are attached to the attractions already included on our Russian tours. Catherine’s Garden, in Catherine’s Palace and Peterhof Grand Summer Palace & Park, Michael Garden beside the Museum are all included.

There is also a large Botanical Garden in St. Petersburg to visit. For a concise list of other gardens to consider visiting, check this St. Petersburg Garden tours website.

Bikes can be hired in St. Petersburg or there are bike tours available. A great option would be to do the White nights Bike Tour in the evening. You can enjoy the riverside views, the vibe of the city and the never-ending sunset.

Main image: Frederiksborg Slot, Denmark. Credit: Visit Denmark. Anna Hållams, Visit Sweden.