Olbrich Botanical Gardens Review

I loved all the different exotic plants! I felt like I was on some tropical island on a cold Wisconsin day!

Lots to see, minimal expense, family friendly. Will definitely be back.

A wonderful outdoor garden when the weather is warmer. During the winter, the indoor portion is a good change of pace. Also a great place to go to test your botanical knowledge of plants (family, genus, and species).

This place has both indoor conservatory and outdoor gardens. The indoor conservatory has many different type of tropical plants and even some birds flying/walking around! The outdoor gardens should also be beautiful in the summer, but in the winter, it s less lively. The Thai building was a highlight! Sitting there for a while is just simply peaceful.

Beautiful place. Great place to walk in spring and summer.

Beautiful place and very worth the visit. Map cost an quarter. The outside garden is free admission, the glass dome is free before noon. That was on the last Wednesday of June when I visited. You may want to call or check their website for more information.

Really cool place in Madison, just wish it was a little bigger with more to see.

Great place for families or just to be by yourself.

It's nice and cozy the internal garden but we visited during winter time and I would not recommend the external garden everything was dead. Although the Thai statue is worth seeing.

The Barefoot Hawaian brought everyone to the Island of Hawaii. Jan.24, 2020

Its a nice little botanical garden. Maybe you should go for a walk instead of just getting sloppy at the beer garden for once.

Beautiful gardens. Many winding walkways. Peaceful. Guaranteed to have an enjoyable walk.

Olbrich is a very beautiful and gorgeous garden in Madison! Everything is absolutely charming from the entrance to the pathways, landscape, plants and then to the conservatory. There are lots of butterflies, birds, quail in the conservatory. I can also see the Thai Sala, it is lovely and wonderful, everyone should not miss this spot! I really enjoy my time here and I would highly recommend this place to especially to anyone who loves natures and gardens!

Stunning orchids. Lovely garden walks. Gift shop worth the look...I bought a hat for a reasonable 24$. Loved the place. Pati from Maine

Such a beautiful place! Very nice to walk around and relax. The Thai garden was stunning! The only negative was figuring out how to get into the outdoor gardens. You have to go in to the main building, but the signage wasn t very clear on that. We walked around for a bit outside trying to figure out how to get in. It looked like there were entrances by the after-hours exit, but there weren t.

Excellent!! Great quiet relaxing beautiful so many words to describe.

A wonderful place to visit! The dome is fun to go through, see the exotic plants. The real adventure is in the gardens outside. There are so many of them, different themes, plenty of water features.

A great place for toddlers to roam around and enjoy nature!

This garden is simply spectacular!! I've been to it many times... This time (mid-July) it was in peak form.

Lovely area to explore. Family friendly or great for an event.

It is by far my favorite Botanical Garden I have ever been to.
It's an intimate garden, with lot's of small sections.

Amazing and beautiful they even clean the paths thru the winter!!

My favorite little oasis in Madison. There are so many little spots to stop and read or walk around with friends. Fantastic gardens, great water features and it's perfect during the spring bloom!

Take some time and check it out! Totally worth it... nice for a first date.

I love olbrich, they're evening shows are my favorite, but it's lovely any time of the day. Good for couples or familes with children. Lovely

Love it!! Beautiful and great place to take the family

I was shocked that the botanical gardens are free. There is a $2 entry fee to the conservatory, but it is well worth it. You could easily spend half a day looking at all of the plants. I was also pleased that the gardens weren't overcrowded.

Nice place to stretch the legs while on a road trip with the family. We planned to stop here as I know my wife loves gardens and seeing the various plants/flowers. It was free to park and enter. We did pay $0.25 for a map although the lady said we'd probably not really need one (I guess the trails kind of loop around so you'll find you're way back). We didn't spend a whole lot of time here, but did snap a few pics prior to heading out again - and just in time as rain was starting to move into the area.

They have a section where a Thai sturcture (temple I think) was erected. It was a gift to the University - I believe given as appreciation for the University for hosting some students from Thailand.

A gem in Madison. The outdoor gardens are free to the public.

Beautiful gardens! A little more description on some of the plants would make it 5 stars.

The indoor garden is amazing and they had light show which was more like an artistic light show- It was different, unique experience

If you're a nature lover, I highly recommend visiting Olbrich. You'll definitely want to go back after you do. They have a large variety of plants and flowers. You will also spot a lot of butterflies and bees. My friend had her wedding ceremony here. So incredibly gorgeous!

beautiful, ever changing and expanding. Great place to unwind, study, enjoy nature, or die if you have allergies.

Great experience!
The tropical area is amazing and very well maintained.

Beautiful and relaxing. Everybody should visit this place at least once.

This place is such a great asset for the city. The indoor garden is probably my favorite aspect. It really feels like some kind of paradise in there with all of the beautiful and exotic plants. A fantastic place to relax when the cold winds come blowing. The outdoor garden and paths are also great. I've wandered through so many times and I still feel like I find new things to look at fairly often.

Very beautiful and large, with great variety of plants. Admission to the main area is free, although the $2 admission fee to the rainforest area is well worth it. Very nice and helpful staff also. We will deffinetly be back!

Very clean and orderly with the new Covid19 guidelines

Awesome gardens for the whole family to enjoy. Incredible how gorgeous the area really is. Highly recommend anyone come take a visit!

Lots of spring peeper frogs, also turtles sunning themselves. Early spring flowers in for a surprise tomorrow, below freezing and snow. Some construction going on...new greenhouse, etc.

I've lived in Madison for my whole life and have been visiting Olbrich for as long as I can remember. The gardens are absolutely stunning and I love walking around. However, my low review is because of my experience taking photos at the gardens with friends this May.
Two of my friends and I were planning on dressing up in costumes that we made, and one of our friends is an amateur photographer. We read all the photography guidelines online and paid our $30 fee ahead of time. We arrived early, as they have you schedule a time to do your shoot. Upon our arrival, the woman at the desk told us that we had to wait for the "photoshoot coordinator" arrived. This was confusing to me because we had scheduled our time in advance, so they should have known that we would be there. We ended up waiting around for this person to arrive, cutting into our one hour time frame that we were allotted, only to have the person tell us that we could have started right when our shoot time began.
After beginning, we took a few pictures in the different gardens, and then headed back to the Thai pavilion. Our shoot time was coming to a close at this point, and we knew that. As we were taking pictures, the woman at the desk from earlier had tracked us down to tell us that we had 5 minutes left. We wrapped up and started walking out. Again as we were leaving, she made sure that we were not taking any pictures and followed us inside the building with a suspicious and moody attitude. I'm not sure if she had something against us because of our large costumes, but she treated us like we were doing something wrong even though we were not at all
Overall, Olbrich is a really lovely place to visit. However, I would not recommend doing photo shoots here due to the service we received and for the time we lost due to a rude employee that told us we couldn't start.

The Olbrich Botanical Garden is beautiful beyond words. Definitely my favorite spot in Madison, WI! I could walk through here all day. The grounds are well kept and the presentation is phenomenal.

Great place to visit. Flowers in the conservatory are beautiful. Outside flowers weren't blooming yet bull I'll come back in the summer when they are.

We go for the butterfly exhibit every year. Great place!

Beautiful grounds and conservatory. Art light shows in evening, intertwining the plant life and lighting. Thai pavilion is a colorful red and gold accent among the jungle plants.

Great place, even while part of it is under construction. Inspired to have landscaping like this at home!

Conservatory isn't very large but still really cool. Outdoor garden is beautiful after a fresh snowfall

nice indoor observatory. it is free only on Wed and Saturday selected time. but the ticket is only two dollars

It's a nice place to spend a little while walking around through a beautiful garden and they only ask for a small donation if possible

It is a wonderful place for all ages. Great people who work there.

Its beautiful! I can only imagine going through this garden with a great camera. I honestly believe in good weather defiently can't be too hot, but you could spend hours here enjoying the art, reading about the plants, and exploring their different garden themes.

I cant get enough of this place. All seasons are beautiful here. There are wildlife, all kinds of flora and even a few water features. Please consider donating when you come to visit. Entry to the gardens is free, but maintaining them is not :)

This is a piece of heaven right in the middle of Madison!

So many paths, lovely little sitting spots, and Pokestops! New favorite place, for certain!

Beautiful place to spend an afternoon! Plenty of space to roam around--every time I go I find something new! Only thing to be careful of depending on the season are swooping birds, there's signs posted around trees etc to warn you though to not mess with the trees

A very beautiful place that with its size,beauty is free for all to enjoy. They programs, music, area for ceremonies ,fantastic!!
We took our 5 year old grandson to the butterfly exhibit. Thousands of butterflies everywhere in the exhibit. My grandson us had great time. Good memories were made for all of us.

My favorite thing I've done in Madison. I'm here for less than a week and I've already been twice (and considering a third trip). There's something for everyone- beautiful plants, excellent design, curated sculptures. The first day my wife and I mostly wandered around to look at everything, except for a few periods to wait out rain, sit in the Serenity garden, and read a book under a grape arbor.

Walked around the outdoor area early in the season.

Beautiful landscape. Wonderful scenery. I went in the fall, would like to visit in early summer.

A small, but well curated botanical garden, the Olbrich is a nice place to visit during down time in Madison. Free of cost, the outdoor garden area has many beautiful plants and structures for taking beautiful photographs no matter what the season is. Our favorite area is the sunken garden where there are beautiful water lilies are grown. Otherwise, probably the most popular area for most is the Rose Garden where the big stone tower is located.