UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Welcome to another Travel Tuesday! We’re back in northern California again this time around because I like to state-hop everywhere.

Last summer, shortly after I graduated from med school, I got to go home(!) to spend some time with my friends + family for a bit, and I happened to bump into one of my childhood church friends.

I hadn’t seen her in maybe….6(?!) years, so we made plans to hang out later in the week, and decided to start with lunch and then go hang out at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley.

…She unfortunately sprained her ankle whilst walking her new puppy 2 days before, but insisted that she’d be fine traipsing all over the gardens in crutches despite my numerous, “Are you sure’s?/We could do something else!”

I had a deep-dish pizza for the first time! :O

A photo posted by Farrah @ fairyburger (@fairyburger) on Jun 15, 2016 at 1:20pm PDT

UC Botanical Garden (Berkeley, CA)

Location: 200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA 94720-5045
Hours: 9 am – 5 pm daily (no entry after 4:30 pm) – It’s closed on the first Tuesday of every month, as well as on major US holidays.
Parking: Pay lot ($1/hour) available across from main entrance

The first Wednesday of each month is free. (It’s also free if you’re a UCB student/staff/faculty/UC Botanical Garden member/child under 5.)

Otherwise, adults pay $10, seniors (65+) and non-UCB students pay $8, teenagers pay $5, and children 5-12 pay $2!

The UC Botanical Garden is a gorgeous place! I’d recommend it to anyone unless you hate the outdoors, in which case…well, you’re missin’ out but to each their own. If you’re allergic to plant life/pollen, I suppose I couldn’t recommend that you come here either unless allergy meds usually provide you with some relief.

They have different exhibits throughout the year, as well as seasonal programs/workshops, summer camps, special events, summer concerts and tours!

The UC Botanical Garden is divided up by region and each region is subdivided, so checking out the map would probably be a good idea!

• Mediterranean
• South America
• Australasia
• Asia
• Southern Africa
• Deserts of the Americas
• Eastern North America
• Mexico/Central America
• California

The Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden was one of my personal favorites, since I’m really interested in traditional Chinese medicine and would love to learn more about the herbs + ingredients used in their medicines (as well as how to do acupuncture).

There are over 12,000 different types of plants here, so expect to spend at least 2 hours here! Brace yourselves…for lots of pictures of pretty flowers + trees! :D (Although I imagine you kinda figured this would be the case by now.)

If you get tired/sleepy, there are benches and grassy fields every here and there where you can sit and/or take a nap!

Two of my other favorite places were…the Garden of Old Roses (twas super pretty there!) and the Crops of the World Garden (because yay for food)!

Free docent tours are available to the public at 1:30 pm, Thursday-Sunday year-round! You can also check out the garden map beforehand to plan your visit!

A photo posted by Farrah @ fairyburger (@fairyburger) on Jun 15, 2016 at 3:36pm PDT

…and of course, we need a silly one to complete the day. :D

We finished off the day in the early evening since I had to get back to downtown Berkeley to do my CPR recert, but we had some extra time left, so we stopped by a Thai restaurant and got some Thai iced tea to cool off! :]

• Have you ever visited a botanical garden? What’s your favorite place to explore?
• Do you tend to pack all the events and activities ever into your days?