Vallarta Botanical Gardens

Location: Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Type: Botanical Garden
Altitude: 400 m (1,300 ft)

🌎 Overview

Year Founded: 2005
Approximate Area: 120 hectares (8 hectares of curated Gardens open to the public and 112 hectares of protected forestlands)

Vallarta Botanical Gardens is a tropical botanical garden and conservation center in the Sierra Madre foothills, 40 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Protecting nearly 300 acres of native forest, it cultivates over 1,200 plant species and hybrids, including 64 orchid genera. Its micropropagation laboratory produces more than 10,000 orchids annually from seed.

🌸 Collections & Biodiversity

• Number of orchid species and hybrids in cultivation: over 100 in almost 70 genera, including 23 species of native Mexican orchids and 34 hybrids of the Cattleya group (Laeliocattleya and Rhyncholaeliocattleya).

• Approximate number of specimens found wild throughout the reserve: Tens of thousands

• Twenty batches of orchids were successfully cultivated in 2025 from the lab into the greenhouse, including endangered species of the genus Encyclia, as well as threatened species of Laelia superbiens, Stanhopea oculata, and Lophiaris straminea.

🧭 Visiting Information

• Access: Purchase your entry tickets online or at the gate
• Days: Tuesday–Sunday; also open Mondays from December through March
• Hours: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

🏡 Facilities & Amenities

• Conservatories, outdoor gardens, and extensive orchid and specialty plant collections
• Micropropagation laboratory and greenhouse for orchid and native plant conservation
• Botanist-led guided tours and birdwatching
• Hiking trails and river swimming
• Art and sculptures throughout the Gardens
• Restaurant, gift shop, and plant shop

🔬 Projects & Research

We cultivate 64 orchid genera in our micropropagation lab — producing thousands of plants each year for conservation, research, and reintroduction into the wild.

In 2024, in partnership with Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Leon Levy Foundation, we successfully propagated four threatened native orchid species from the river valley surrounding the Gardens: Encyclia adenocaula, E. cordigera, E. huertae and E. trachycarpa.

With a new state-of-the-art greenhouse added in 2024 and expanded laboratory capacity, we are now growing 250 plant species under controlled conditions — and returning endangered orchids to the wild, where they belong.

⚠️ Challenges

• Protecting sensitive habitats from tourism-driven development
• Preventing overexploitation of the Los Horcones River and its watershed
• Reducing deforestation from cattle ranching and agave cultivation
• Combating forest fires through prevention and community education
• Preventing hunting, poaching, orchid theft, and other biodiversity losses linked to climate change

🌱 Future

• Expand the Conservation in Action habitat protection program and acquire more threatened land
• Certify more land as Natural Protected Areas
• Legally protect the entire Los Horcones River basin at the federal level
• Bring the orchid micropropagation lab to full capacity

“The river basin surrounding the Vallarta Botanical Gardens is home to over 50 native orchid species alone — and as the only conservation organization in the Cabo Corrientes region, we are the sole guardian of this irreplaceable natural heritage.”

– Bob Price, Founder and Curator