Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret, Research botanical garden in Cap d'Antibes, France.
The garden extends across 3.5 hectares featuring 2,500 trees and shrubs, including 1,600 exotic species from Mediterranean climates worldwide.
Established in 1857 by botanist Gustave Thuret, the garden became France's first privately funded research laboratory focused on plant acclimatization studies.
Novelist George Sand documented her visit to the gardens in her 1868 work 'Letters of a Traveller', describing its botanical collections.
The garden opens Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM in winter and 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM in summer, with free admission.
The garden introduces 50 to 100 new plant species annually, maintaining collections of cycads, conifers, palms, and Australian Myrtaceae specimens.
Location: Antibes
Inception: 2012
Address: 90 chemin Gustave Raymond Site de la Villa Thuret
GPS coordinates: 43.56389,7.12444
Latest update: June 23, 2025 09:49
These botanical gardens in France contain rare plant species, historic grounds and Mediterranean landscapes. Collections include the Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil in Paris with its 19th century greenhouses, the Parc Oriental de Maulévrier featuring Japanese garden design and the Jardin Botanique de la Villa Thuret in Antibes with Mediterranean and exotic plants. The Domaine du Rayol presents plants from climate zones around the Mediterranean Sea. The gardens represent different styles and periods. The Campo Santo in Orléans displays medieval monastery gardens while the Jardins de Marqueyssac in Vézac are known for their sculpted boxwood hedges. The Arboretum de Balaine ranks among France's oldest private arboretums. From the Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac in the Dordogne to the Parc Phœnix in Nice, these locations offer views into botanical collections and historic garden artistry.
Between the ramparts of the old town and the pines of Cap d'Antibes, this seaside resort on the French Riviera preserves an architectural heritage spanning eight centuries. Grimaldi Castle, a 12th-century fortress turned Picasso’s first museum in 1946, overlooks the seafront from Place du Safranier. Further south, Fort Carré stands with its four bastions on a 26-meter-high (85 ft) rocky promontory, built in 1565 to defend the border between France and the Duchy of Savoy. Cap d'Antibes features about twenty residences built from the late 19th century through the interwar period. Villa Eilenroc (1867) covers 27 acres with French-style gardens and a rose garden facing the sea. Château de la Croë (1927) once hosted the Duke of Windsor and is now a private estate. Notable visitors included Anatole France, who resided in Villa Soleil, and Karl Lagerfeld in the 1990s. Villa Thuret, established in 1857 by botanist Gustave Thuret, currently hosts a research garden of the INRAE with 2,500 plant species suited to Mediterranean conditions. Modernist architecture is represented by Villa Aujourd'hui (1938), a rare example of geometric design from the 1930s on the Côte d'Azur.
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