Great green oasis in the middle of Havana if you love flowers, trees, and animals. Ticket includes guided tour which was great. We saw humming birds, lizards etc. Well worth a visit!

First, I have to say that as an English-speaking family with limited Spanish, the gardens did provide a guide who spoke reasonable English. We didn’t have the option of just wandering in without a guide. He took us through the three glass houses, at quite a pace, so we didn’t have much chance to look at anything. We were then told we had to wait for the tractor ride up to the Japanese garden. On the way the guide pointed out various different types of palm trees. There are 300 species in the garden, of which 98 are endemic to Cuba or maybe nearby. Despite the fact the Japanese garden has been redone recently, it was very disappointing. It consists of a pond, some rocks, a couple of ornaments, two bridges and a wooden gazebo over part of the pond. The plants that there were in this area were certainly not typical Japanese plants, and indeed the beds were badly in need of weeding. We were told we had 20 minutes before the tractor back to the main entrance. When we said we wanted to eat at the restaurant there, we were told that they didn’t take CUCs, only local pesos, and that there might not be another train down, so we would have to walk the 3km back to the main entrance (with no map). We dutifully route marched round the Japanese garden before getting the train back down. Neither of the kiosks selling food and drinks near the entrance took CUCs, and with no map of the gardens, it was not obvious if there was anywhere else to go, as all the reviews I had read suggested the greenhouses and the Japanese garden were the highlights. Very few of the plants were labelled, just some of the plants in the glass houses We left very hungry and disappointed. However, in the city the next day, we happened to come across the old botanic garden in the Quinta de los molinos. This was altogether a much nicer area, though small, including its own Japanese garden with a pond and quite a few bonsai trees, with the added bonus of being free. It’s clearly not well visited, as the guard assumed we were lost and looking for the exit!