Day Trips from Cape Town – Explore local: Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens (with kids)

Location:

This beautiful Botanical Gardens is located in Betty’s Bay which is about 93 km from central Cape Town.

What to Expect: 

Expect to see a beautiful garden that is pram friendly and immaculately maintained with a small stream. Serenity and bliss are two words that come to mind when describing our experience here. Despite arriving at 11 a.m the gardens were not crowded. There were a few families walking around and having picnics. We thoroughly enjoyed our walks exploring the various pathways at the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden. 

The sound of the gushing water as you walk along the pathway was rejuvenating. All the pathways that we walked were easy and no hiking experience would be needed to do these walks. There were a few dirt roads along the trails which would make it a little difficult to push a pram on (but not impossible, I know this because before we got our hiking carrier we used to push our small Mclaren pram in Newlands forest and those pathways are steep). And if you feel it’s too tiring you can turn back at any point and go back to the main area to chill and enjoy a picnic.  

Advice: 

Go early as there is not a lot of shade. We would have most probably spent a longer duration of time here if we had arrived earlier. Also if you want to do the Leopard trail hike (which we wanted to do) you will need to pay a deposit and get a key. And they only allow a limited amount of keys. So when we arrived at 11 am there were no keys at the entrance. There is an entrance fee to be paid before entering the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens.

Have you been here before? And have you done any of the hikes?

Near the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens is the Stony Point Penguin Colony. It is just a 9 minute drive away(5.5km). Click here to read about our experience with the penguins in Betty’s Bay.

Explore the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens on your next trip to Cape Town with Globe Travel & Tours.