The Singapore Botanic Gardens

The Singapore Botanic Gardens, one of the best botanical gardens in the world, is a 163-year-old tropical garden on the outskirts of Singapore's Orchard Road commercial district. It is one of three gardens to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the only tropical garden. Since 2013, the Botanic Gardens has been named Asia's top park attraction by TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards. In 2012, it was called the inaugural Garden of the Year by the International Garden Tourism Awards.

The Agri-horticultural Society established the Botanic Gardens at their current location in 1859. When its first scientific director, Henry Nicholas Ridley, led research into the plant's cultivation in the early twentieth century, it played a vital role in the region's rubber trade boom. The National Orchid Garden, located within the central gardens, is at the forefront of orchid research and hybridization, complimenting the country's role as a major exporter of cut orchids. It has the world's largest orchid collection, with 1,200 species and 2,000 hybrids, because of the equatorial environment.

Early in the nation's independence, Singapore Botanic Gardens' expertise helped transform the island into a tropical Garden City, an image and moniker for which the nation is well recognized. Vanda Miss Joaquim, a hybrid climbing orchid, was named the country's national flower in 1981. Except for the National Orchid Garden, the Gardens are open every day from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. and are free to enter. More than 10,000 flora species are dispersed across its 82 hectares (200 acres) of vertically stretched space; the longest distance between the northern and southern ends is 2.5 km (1.6 mi). The Botanic Gardens receives approximately 4.5 million visitors per year.

Date opened: in 1859
Location: Tanglin, Central Region, Singapore
Area: 82 hectares (202.63 acres)