The Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden sits at Menglun, in Mengla county, on a bend of the Luosuo River about an hour from Jinghong. It was founded in 1959 by the botanist Cai Xitao and is run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. With around 1,125 hectares and more than thirteen thousand species of plants, it is the largest botanical garden in China and one of the most important tropical collections in Asia.
What to see
The garden is organised into themed areas rather than a single route, and the best approach is to use the internal shuttle to cover the distance and then walk within each section. Highlights include a large palm collection, a tropical rainforest section with mature canopy and buttressed trees, a garden of medicinal plants and another of economic crops such as rubber, coffee, cocoa and pepper, a bamboo collection, and an aquatic area with giant water lilies. A canopy walkway takes you up into the treetops, which is the fastest way to understand how layered a rainforest is.
Why it is worth a full day
Yunnan has more plant species than any other province in China, and this garden shows why: it sits at the junction of tropical and temperate zones and holds plants from both. The labelling is bilingual in the main areas, so a visitor without a guide can still learn a great deal, and the scale means it never feels crowded even when the car park is full.
Practical information
The garden is in Mengla county, reached by road from Jinghong in about an hour, usually by taxi, private car or a shuttle service. Admission is charged and the internal shuttle costs extra; the site is large and walking the whole garden is not realistic in one visit. Most of the paths are shaded, but the heat and humidity in the middle of the day are severe from March to October, so start early and carry water. There are a few guesthouses in Menglun and Jinghong is a comfortable base.
Best season
The dry season from November to April is the most comfortable. The rainy season brings intense afternoon downpours but also the fullest vegetation and the fewest visitors, and the rainforest is arguably at its most impressive then.
