10 Things to know for your Garden visit

The Garden operates from 8am – 5pm from 1 March to 30 November and from 8am – 7pm from 1 December to 28 February each year.

Entry to the Garden is free and so is the parking, but we encourage visitors to head to the visitors centre where you can make a donation to help with the ongoing costs of the Garden, especially our research and conservation work.

Sorry, but no. The Garden is home to a diverse range of native wildlife, and we need to protect them. So domestic pets/animals are not allowed anywhere in the Garden.

Bringing domestic animals into the Garden can result in a fine.

You can, but it must be a gas BBQ. Also make sure that there is no total fire ban in place. If there is, please leave your BBQ at home.

No, but if you are planning a large gathering such as a party, sporting presentation or other function, we recommend you do. This allows us to help your guests find you, or if there are issues such as the Garden needing to close, we can let you know beforehand, so you can tell your guests of the change.

If you are only a small group coming in for a picnic, when you arrive, please make sure the shelter you are using isn’t booked (they have signs on them). If the shelter is free, you must share it with other members of the public. The only time you can have a shelter exclusively to yourself, is if you have booked it.

To book a shelter or site, head to our website.

The Garden has a number of designated parking areas across the site. We do not encourage people to park on our grassed areas and in fact you will be fined if you are found parking on grassed areas.

If the parking is full where you are trying to visit, please use the road verge and remember to take care of passing vehicles when parking on the verge.

If you are paying someone to take photos of you at the Garden, then yes, the photographer needs a permit. This can be obtained by heading to the photography section on our website.

You sure can, please contact our venue services team for information on celebrating your special day here at the Garden or visit our wedding section on our website.

The Garden is governed by a number of regulations and it’s important to know them, so you don’t incur a fine during your visit. To read the regulations, please head to our Regulations page on our website.

No, the Garden is definitely not a park. The Australian Botanic Garden was developed and opened by the NSW State Governments specifically to showcase and conserve Australian Native Flora (plants). So, the displays you see are living scientific collections. Think of us like a museum but with life things instead of dead ones on display!

If you’d like to learn about the scientific research and conservation work done at the Garden, you can go to our Visitor Centre to book in for one of our Australian PlantBank tours  or head to our Science pages on the website for more information.

The Garden will also be home to the NSW National Herbarium from 2021 making the Australian Botanic Garden one of the key scientific facilities in NSW.