Brooklyn Botanic Garden

"Joining the top of the list, rounding out the top 10." - Travel + Leisure Editors

"The annual spring Cherry Blossom Festival is the prime time to visit this 52-acre botanic garden. Admission is free from 10am-12pm on Saturdays and all day on Tuesdays (otherwise it's $12). But come early, because the crowds are crazy during peak season. Fun fact: this spot used to be an ash dump in the late 1800s, but now it's a lush garden!" - Erin Mercurio & Jak Horner

"As you enjoy a leisurely walk through the beautiful Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, you may notice the intoxicating smell. You’ll try to put your finger on it… Is it rotting meat, or perhaps a petting zoo gone horribly wrong? All you know is that it’s a bad smell. In fact, that is the Titan Arum, poisoning the air with its rare blooming smell. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has had the Arum for quite some time, with a recent bloom in 2006. So lucky visitors who come at the right time may just get to smell one of the worst natural smells on earth, naturally emanating from the giant stalk of a flower. Besides the Titan Arum’s stink, many more plants and gardens will delight you. The garden has one of the largest Japanese-style gardens in America, complete with cherry blossoms in spring, a lake, and a handsome (and eye-catching) red gate. Interesting gardens abound at the BBG. There’s a Shakespeare Garden planted with the very plants that the Bard mentioned in his plays; a Rose Garden planned to have more than 1,000 varieties of the flower; and 100 different types of aquatic plants, including many waterlilies, grace the terrace’s pools. There are many other gardens, such as Daffodil Hill, the Rock Garden, the Herb Garden, and the formal Osborne Garden. The BBG also has a substantial collection of bonsai plants, many of them centuries old. The oldest, which is 300 years old, was collected from a mountainside in Japan a century ago. The Desert Pavilion houses many rare and unusual plants collected from deserts located around the world, including lithops and the very thorny Euphorbia milii." - ATLAS_OBSCURA

"The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens are covered in acres of gorgeous plants and flowers. From the Japanese Tea Garden to the Lily-Pad exhibit, this is a great place to stroll or spend a day with the kids (there are lots of pit-stops for snacks throughout). Hours change seasonally, so check the site just in case. "

"The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens are covered in acres of gorgeous plants and flowers. From the Japanese Tea Garden to the Lily-Pad exhibit, this is a great place to stroll or spend a day with the kids (there are lots of pit-stops for snacks throughout). Hours change seasonally, so check the site just in case. "