Visit: General Information

Welcome to the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. We hope you enjoy your visit! Make your time at the Garden more relaxing by taking full advantage of our Garden Tours, Café and Gift Shop.

Contact Our Visitor Services Department Here

Directions

The State Botanical Garden, located approx­i­mately 70 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia, is a short drive from down­town Athens. Park­ing at the Garden is free. Click the above map for a detailed view of our grounds and park­ing areas, or click the but­ton on the right to get driv­ing direc­tions from Goo­gle.

Hours

The Garden is open every day of the week with the excep­tion of offi­cial Uni­ver­sity of Georgia holi­days. Be sure to check the announce­ment sec­tion of our front page for sche­d­uled and unsche­d­uled clos­ings.

What's the Cost?

The Garden is a gift to vis­i­tors and resi­dents of the state of Georgia. There are no fees for park­ing and no charge for admit­tance. If you enjoy the Garden, please con­sider mak­ing a small dona­tion at the vis­i­tors' desk or look­ing online for ways that you can sup­port the Garden.

Garden Gift Shop

The gift shop is a desti­na­tion for all things gar­den­ing. Through the win­dows one can see botan­i­cally-inspired local art­works. Inside, the space is filled with prod­ucts by local arti­sans, includ­ing hand-crafted soaps, wax can­dles and hon­eys. Shelves of books con­tain­ing gar­den­ing tips, nat­u­ral his­tory les­sons and sto­ries of local inter­est line the walls. The Garden Grower’s sec­tion even fea­tures items made by our very own vol­un­teers, and the sale of these items ben­e­fits the Garden. Plants cul­ti­vated by the Garden staff are also sold in the gift shop. Purchas­ing these plants helps sup­port our research and hor­ti­cul­ture depart­ments. Don’t for­get that chil­dren like to Garden also! The chil­dren's sec­tion has games, books and child-sized tools to spark their cre­a­tiv­ity. Whether you’re look­ing for a book about local his­tory or nature inspired jew­elry, you’ll be sure to find the per­fect gift at our friendly, cozy store.

Garden Tours

The State Botanical Garden (SBG) is home to so many amaz­ing areas, one can eas­ily over­look a mul­ti­tude of hid­den gems. A guided tour is the best way to ensure that, dur­ing your visit, noth­ing slips you by. Tours are led by our expe­ri­enced and knowl­edge­able vol­un­teers. Our tours pre­sent a fas­ci­nat­ing overview of the vari­ous gar­dens and col­lec­tions, spot­light­ing areas that are cur­rently in bloom. Plan­n­ing a first time visit? The Garden Sam­pler Tour, an excel­lent intro­duc­tion to SBG, takes vis­i­tors around three of our largest attrac­tions: the Main Conser­va­tory, the Her­i­tage Garden and the col­lec­tions of the Inter­na­tio­nal Garden.

Dondero's Cafe

Don­deros’ Kitchen is a locally owned busi­ness that serves inter­na­tio­nal foods pre­pared from scratch every day. The café, located in the ups­tairs of the main Conser­va­tory, offers vis­i­tors a place to stop, relax and enjoy mocha lat­tés near the Trop­i­cal Col­lec­tion's cof­fee and cocoa plants. The menu fea­tures baked goods, sand­wiches, hot bev­er­ages and ice cold drinks. Be sure to ask about bor­row­ing the pic­nic bas­ket so you can savor lunch sur­rounded by the beauty of the Garden. Plan­n­ing a wed­d­ing recep­tion? Don­deros’ Kitchen also caters.

A Few Rules

While enjoy­ing the Garden, please keep the fol­low­ing in mind: No dogs are allowed on Garden prop­erty. Don't pick the flow­ers. Please don't lit­ter. No skate­boards or bicy­cles on Garden paths.