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Padua Botanical Garden

The world's oldest academic botanical garden still on its original site, laid out in a circle in 1545.

  • Padua
  • Garden
Plan your visit
Where
Padua
Best for
World's oldest academic garden
Allow
1 hr 30 min
Tickets
From €15
Checked September 2026

Padua's Orto Botanico was founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic so that medical students could learn to tell real medicinal plants from dangerous look-alikes, and it has stayed in the same place ever since, making it the oldest academic botanical garden in the world still at its original site.

Its layout is the point: a square inscribed in a circle 84 meters across, cut into four beds by paths to the cardinal directions, designed by the Venetian nobleman Daniele Barbaro. The oldest plant, Goethe's palm, a dwarf palm planted in 1585, grows in its own greenhouse; Goethe cited it in his essay on the metamorphosis of plants. UNESCO inscribed the garden in 1997, and today it grows some six thousand kinds of plants.

Four things worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

  1. Goethe’s Palm

    A dwarf palm planted in 1585 that inspired Goethe’s ideas on plant metamorphosis.In its own greenhouse

  2. The circular Hortus SphaericusDaniele Barbaro, 1545

    A square inside a circle cut into four beds, the original layout, unchanged.The original garden

  3. The oriental plane tree

    Planted in 1680, hollowed by lightning and still living.In the garden

  4. The Garden of Biodiversity

    A large greenhouse with tropical, desert and Mediterranean climates, a contrast with the historic hortus.Newer section beside the old garden

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Tickets
From €15
Booking
No booking needed
Time needed
1 hr 30 min
Best time
Spring, when the widest range of the collection is in flower
Getting there
The garden is in Padua's historic center beside the Basilica of Saint Anthony, a walk from the railway station across the old town or a short tram ride. The center is a limited-traffic zone, so park outside it.
Accessibility
Visitors with disabilities and a companion enter free; contact the garden for details of the accessible routes through the beds and the historic greenhouses.

Reduced €10 for over-65s, teachers and residents of the province of Padua; €6 for ages 6 to 25; family ticket €30 (two adults, up to three under-18s). Free for under-6s, visitors with disabilities and a companion, and University of Padua students and staff. A free audio guide is included. Last updated September 2026. Prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Find Goethe's palm first: everything else in the garden is easy to admire on sight, but this plant's interest is the story, and the greenhouse is the quietest corner of the garden.

Official website
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Good to know

How long should you spend at the Padua Botanical Garden?

About an hour and a half: the historic hortus, the old trees and the modern greenhouse. It is compact, so you can do it in an hour.

Is the Padua Botanical Garden worth visiting?

Yes, if you like gardens or history. It is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden and a quiet break from the city.

Can you see the botanical garden and the Scrovegni Chapel in one day?

Yes. Padua’s center is compact, so the garden, the Scrovegni Chapel with Giotto’s frescoes and the Basilica of Saint Anthony fit into one day.

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