Botanical gardenFrance · FR
The Bamboo Cevennes
Set at the gateway to the Cévennes near Anduze and Alès, La Bambouseraie en Cévennes is one of France's great exotic gardens and a must for any nature lover travelling through southern France. Across a 34-hectare estate—14 hectares open to the public—it gathers hundreds of bamboo species together with giant sequoias, Chinese palms, ginkgos, Japanese maples and camellias, so that a stroll here feels less like a botanical garden and more like stepping onto another continent. The garden was planted in 1856 by Eugène Mazel, a Cévennes-born botanist who used a fortune made in the spice trade to acclimatise exotic specimens brought from Japan, the Himalaya and North America. Four generations of one family have tended and expanded his work since, and today the Bambouseraie counts among the most beautiful gardens in France, holding the Jardin remarquable label and a historic-monuments listing. A visit takes roughly two hours along shaded, gently rolling paths that are easy to walk with a stroller or wheelchair. Highlights follow one another: the cathedral-like allée of 40-metre sequoias at the entrance, a towering forest of giant bamboo, a faithfully rebuilt Laotian village, the zen Vallon du Dragon with its red pavilion and torii gate, tranquil reflecting ponds, a bamboo labyrinth and an aerial canopy walk through the treetops.