Barcelona has become notorious for overtourism. It is a beautiful city to visit but it is usually extremely crowded. One of the best ways to avoid crowds is to visit a wonderful sea side botanical garden that is situated north of the city and is easily accessible by train.
Every time I am staying in Barcelona for a longer period, I visit the Jardi Botanique Marimurta in Blanes. On each visit I am impressed by this unique and spectacular garden. The garden is a harmonic combination of beautiful trees, plans, flowers and is accompanied by a wonderful view of the Mediterranean sea, the beaches and the impressive rock formations that separate the garden from the sea.
In this series of blogs, Henk Schrama explains how to avoid crowds by visiting botanical gardens around the world.
About Jardi Botanique Marimurta in Blanes
The Jardi Botanique Marimurtra was founded in 1921 by a German scientist and trader named Karl Faust who lived from 1874 to 1952. During the century after the foundation of the garden, the collection grew to an impressive 4,000 special plants from five different continents. It is one of the most attractive gardens of the Mediterranean Sea.
The garden boosts a large diversity of plants but I am most impressed by the large number of cacti and succulents. Over the 100 years since it was founded, the garden became an important biological institute in the Mediterranean sea. The garden is focused on preservation and education. During your visit you can see how the garden’s keepers are smartly using insect hotels for preservation. The garden is also focused on preserving plants that are native to the area as well as those plants that are endangered or on the verge of extinction.
The garden itself is privately owned and is operated by the Carl Faust Foundation. The foundation has a website with lots of useful information. While the garden is quiet in the morning it can get crowded as about 300,000 visitors find their way through the park’s entrance each year. Most of these visitors get to the park in the afternoon. I believe that spring is the best time to visit Jardin Botanic Marimutra as most flowers are blooming during this period where it also not too warm.
During your visit to the park you can sit down and rest on benches that are spread throughout these parks. What makes your rest more comfortable is that most of these benches are placed strategically in the shade as well as viewing points. I always enjoy siting on these benches for a while and take in the environment. Here you can quietly experience the smells, colors and views that the park has to offer. One of the most special experiences in the park is the Linnaeus Temple where you can soak in the atmosphere of the green park which is surrounded by the azure blue sea.
How to get there?
From Barcelona you can reach the coastal town of Blanes within an hour by a regular train service. You can find information about the train services through rodalies.gencat.cat. Once you have reached the town of Blanes you can reach the entrance of the park by foot. If you don’t want to hike up a hill for 15 minutes you can also take a small train from Blanes’ city center. For 5 euros the train takes you to the entrance within a few minutes. The garden is open throughout the year. The entrance fee is 7 euros.
During the research for this article I also found out that Blanes has a second botanical garden I haven’t visited yet. This second beautiful garden is named Jardin Botanique Pinya de Rosa and is on top of my list for my next visit to Barcelona.
Images Wiki CreativeCommons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blanes_botanical_garden.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blanes_Botanischer_Garten_3.JPG#/media/File:Blanes_Botanischer_Garten_3.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blanes_Botanischer_Garten_2.JPG#/media/File:Blanes_Botanischer_Garten_2.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CarlFaustMariMurtra.jpg#/media/File:CarlFaustMariMurtra.jpg
