5 reasons to visit the Vallarta Botanical Gardens

vallarta-botanical-gardens

The Vallarta Botanical Gardens is now in its 19th year and has a terrific lineup of events planned for the year, offering something each month to entice those who really appreciate nature, plants, and flowers. They even have an annual Chocolate and Vanilla Festival which will well worth attending.

Here are my Top 5 reasons to visit the Vallarta Botanical Gardens:

  1. The lily pond at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens blooms year-round with colourful lilies surrounding a towering water-friendly tree in the centre of the pond!
  2. There are great on-site facilities, including a restaurant where you can enjoy an interesting selection of culinary specialties and a gift shop where you can purchase handcrafts, locally-made organic chocolate, and books about plants and chocolate. (Yes, volume I of Chocolatour have been sold there, and you will soon find copies of volume II of Chocolatour: A Quest for the World’s Best Chocolate Adventures there.)
  3. The VBG are rated among the Top 10 Gardens to Visit in North America, with no less than 50 different varieties of Mexican orchids to enjoy as well as a terrific collection of plants and trees that thrive in the Tropical Dry Semi-Deciduous Forest found in this part of Mexico.
  4. The VBG offers a free downloadable monthly magazine that will blow you away with colourful photography and introduce you to a new bird and orchid each month to enhance your on-site visit.
  5. Visiting the VBG takes you out of the busy city of Puerto Vallarta and into a quiet oasis where you can be at peace with nature and help a good cause. (The VBG are funded via your entrance fees, donations, and memberships.)
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You’ll find many comfortable places to contemplate the beauty of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

If you missed my previous post on the VBG, please check it out for some additional photos. Have you visited the Vallarta Botanical Gardens? If so, what impressed you most about it? Have you visited any of the other gardens listed in the Top 10? (The full list is on page 10 of the November newsletter.)

Doreen Pendgracs

Known throughout the Web as the "Wizard of Words", I've been a freelance writer since 1993. I researched and wrote Volume I of Chocolatour that won a Readers' favourite Award in 2014. Always enjoy experiencing new destinations and flavours.

47 Responses

  1. Thank you for sharing this with us. I love going to botanical gardens, each one has unique plants, and the insect life attracted to them is interesting too.
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  2. Looks like a nice place to visit.
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  3. Love the cozy chair to sit in and enjoy the garden. Love even more that your book is on hand, Doreen. That’s fantastic. I have friends who love to travel to Mexico, so this has been tweeted, tumblr’d and Facebook!
    Rose M Griffith recently posted…Wine and I Have a Unique RelationshipMy Profile

  4. Sanket D. says:

    Oh that little couch looks so comfy, I could easily pass out for a few days right there! HA
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  5. Phoenicia says:

    What a beautiful flower!

    I love, love, love the cosy chair situated right beside the breathtaking view. I could do with being there right now with a good book.
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  6. oh wow! The gardens are beautiful. Looks very relaxing. Thanks for sharing x

  7. Doreen — How beautiful the gardens are. Was that the view from your room and your divan to lie on and enjoy the scenery. I’ve been to Longwood Gardens, which are also spectacular. Not for a long time, though, and I’d love to return.
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  8. Jeri says:

    Fifty variety of orchids is reason enough for me to go. My fascination with orchids has been growing over the years, though I love the water lilies too.
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  9. Lovely. I still need to get to Vancouver’s Botanical Gardens which I hear are a dream! Not sure if there are organic chocolates there though!
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  10. Ken Dowell says:

    The New York Botanical Gardens recently had an exhibit based on Frida Kahlo in which they tried to recreate the gardens around Frida’s Casa Azul. Looks like they might have borrowed a thing or two from Vallarta.

    • Thx for the tip about the NY Botanical Gardens, Ken. New York is on my list of places to visit for Chocolatour in 2016, so if I’m there in nice weather, I will check out the botanical gardens.

  11. Lenie says:

    Doreen, I love gardens of any kind. Since I’m not much of a traveler I really just visit those gardens close to home but i always find so much peace in those places.
    I’m rather envious of you for having visited this lovely garden and the Butchart one – the second one being one I’ve read about and admired how it came to be.
    It would be lovely for you to be able to launch your second book at the Vallarta Botanical Garden – wow. Hope that happens.
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    • Thanks so much for your comment, Lenie. Yes, gardens possess a special ability to touch us, no matter where they are located.

      The interesting thing about visiting gardens in different places is that they reflect the flora, fauna, and character of the specific area in which they are located. And the special thing about the Vallarta Gardens is that they have cacao trees! It would indeed be the perfect place to launch the second volume of Chocolatour. I hope I can work that out!
      Doreen Pendgracs recently posted…5 reasons to visit the Vallarta Botanical GardensMy Profile

  12. Himanshu says:

    Thanks for introducing me to this naturally beautiful garden. Look forward to more.
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  13. All good reasons. I love to visit Botanical Gardens when I travel. I have been to 2 gardens on the list – Butchart Gardens and Desert Botanical Gardens (both of which I have visited several times).. Hope to add Vallarta to my list some day.
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    • Thx to all for continuing the conversation. I, too, have visited Butchart Gardens and the Desert Botanical Gardens, Donna. Each is so very different. Butchart is much more groomed and manicured, like an English garden. The Desert Garden is dry and sparse by comparison. The Vallarta Gardens are kind of halfway between the two.

  14. Stunning images and looks like a lovely place to visit. Not sure when or if I’ll get back to PV but you’ve certainly provided some tempting reasons to give it a try!
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  15. You had me at “relax”. Thank you for the wonderful post!
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  16. Wow, Doreen! Jalisco!!! Do you have a post about their plant collections? I heard from a friend they are exotic!
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    • Hi Trisha. No, I haven’t done a post about the collections at the garden as there is just too much to say! If you spend some time reading their online newsletters, you will see more about the specialities that the Vallarta Botanical Gardens is best known for. It’s constantly expansing and adding to what they have.

  17. nice! Something pretty and relaxing about seeing flowers and gardens. And that water lily!
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  18. Neil Gerlowski says:

    Thank you so much for such wonderful words about the Vallarta Botanical Garden!

  19. Such a fabulous place to have botanical garden. The water lily photo is gorgeous:-)
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  20. Jessica says:

    Glad I found your site. A chocolate lover here from the Philippines. 🙂 And oh, your reasons to visit Vallarta Botanical Garden are all iniviting! 🙂 Direct and so genuine. 🙂
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  21. I’d love to sit on that seat with a good book! I try to visit the Botanical Gardens in every place I visit.

  22. Catarina says:

    Honestly didn’t know Vallarta had a botanical garden. If I ever go there I will visit it because it looks and sounds good.
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  23. Wow — this place sounds wonderful! It opened since I was last in Puerto Vallarta; clearly it’s time for me to go back.

  24. This sound like a really cool and relaxing place to visit. Thanks for sharing!
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  25. Lux says:

    Reasons good enough for me. I must check out this place.
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  26. Their monthly magazine is beautiful. I can just imagine how stunning the Vallarta Botanical Gardens is in person. It must feel wonderful to see your book on the shelves in the gift shop. Pretty awesome!
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    • Hi Susan. Yes, I’m really proud to be a supporter of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens. It’s a truly beautiful facility. And it does feel great to have my book in Mexico. The list of countries is growing!

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