This dream-place is hidden right in the city center. The botanic garden stays out of view as it is surrounded by the Foreign Art Gallery, the Journalist Faculty of Sofia University, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the main boulevard Vasil Levski and the entrance is trough a small flower shop.

Onse you go trough the flower shop you will appear in the halls of the garden. The Botanic Garden has an open garden and a glasshouse filled with palms and cacti, a rose garden and various trees and flowers labelled in Bulgarian and Latin. Entering the framed areas really feels like being in a jungle. All green and alive is not a common view in the everyday life of the urban city.

The mission of the University Botanical Garden is to provide comprehensive information about the flora and work for the conservation of rare and endangered plant species. The rich collection of the garden includes about 1500 species some of which are ferns, palms, orchids, peonies, clematises, roses. There is also a botanical shop outside in which you can buy saplings from the venerable oak or seeds from the ginkgo and exotic plants.

The University Botanical Garden was established by Stefan Georgiev (the first Bulgarian professor of Botanics) in 1892. On the inauguration, an oak tree has been planted and Tsar Ferdinand put a golden coin in its roots. At the present day, the tree is more than 100 years old and you can see it from every point of the garden.

By visiting the Sofia University Botanical Garden, take some time to see the venerable ginkgo tree that represents the vegetation from the Palaeozoic Era, many tropical plants, the impressive orchids as well as some unique species from Asia, many cacti and two meta-sequoias. . The ginkgo tree is a holy tree in its country of origin China, and in the autumn at the Botanical Garden Sofia it is especialy beautiful when its leafs are coloured in bright yellow.

There a few lovely benches that offers you a nice rest in the shadow. You could take a book and enjoy the day there. The place is magical compared to the world outside of it. The fragrance and colour of the area makes you want to stay in the garden forever.

Address: 49 Moskovska Str., Sofia

Phone: +359 2 988 1797

Work time:Monday – Saturday 08:30 – 21:30 Sunday 08:30 – 19:00