Nature & Gardens in Los Angeles, CA
Looking for nature & gardens in Los Angeles? Here are 13 of them, with the details parents check first: price, opening hours and the right age range.
Sorted by distance from the middle of Los Angeles, nearest first. Those are straight-line miles, so every drive is longer than the number on the card.
A 150-acre botanical garden in La Cañada Flintridge with cultivated gardens, woodlands, and native flowers spread across natural terrain. Families can walk the…
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LA Arboretum & Botanic Garden is a 127-acre botanical garden and historical site in Arcadia, set on the grounds of the former Rancho Santa Anita. Families can…
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A sprawling 87-acre botanic garden in Palos Verdes with over 2,500 plant species spread across its grounds. Families can walk the various trails, explore different…
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A seven-and-a-half-acre historic ranch in Long Beach with an adobe house built in the 1790s, four acres of heritage gardens dating from the late 1800s and early…
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A botanic garden in Claremont dedicated entirely to plants native to California. The 86-acre site holds more than 22,000 specimens, including rare and endangered…
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A 33-acre botanic garden in Thousand Oaks with plant collections from California, Australia, Chile, the Mediterranean region, and South Africa arranged across…
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A botanical garden spread across 38 acres on Catalina Island, near Avalon, displaying native plants alongside views of the surrounding canyons. Families can walk…
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A historic Spanish-style mansion and cultural center in San Clemente, with museum galleries, working artist studios, and botanical gardens overlooking the ocean…
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A 107-acre botanical garden in Ventura with over 120,000 plants representing five Mediterranean climate zones. Walking paths lead through themed gardens including…
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A Spanish Colonial Revival house in Montecito from the 1920s and 1930s, now open as a museum. Families can tour the restored rooms and see a collection of…
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A 78-acre garden in Mission Canyon displaying plants native to California. Families walk or hike the network of trails, which wind through different plant habitats…
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San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas features 37 acres with 29 gardens showcasing 5,300+ plant species representing 15 regions of the world. Families can explore…
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Where a card says no price or no hours listed, the venue does not publish it. We would rather leave the gap than fill it with a guess. Prices come from each venue's own website, and we publish one only when the figure appears on the page we took it from. Tell us if we are missing one you know.
Which one, by age
Two children three years apart do not have to be a compromise. The age line on every card shows what that venue serves.
Descanso Gardens
Best here for under 2, 10 miles out, listed ages 0–12 and admission $8.
Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens
Best here for two to five, 56 miles out, listed ages 3–9 and admission $8.
Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens
Best here for six to nine, 21 miles out, listed ages 3–12 and admission $5.
Catalina Island Conservancy – Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden
Best here for ten and up, 51 miles out, listed ages 3–12 and admission $11.41.
By town
Most of these are not in Los Angeles proper, and the town is usually what decides whether a place is worth the trip.
Nature & Gardens in Long Beach
3 of them: Rancho Los Cerritos, Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden and Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens, the closest 15 miles from the middle of Los Angeles and 2 with a published admission price.
Planning a visit
These run from 10 to 89 miles out from the middle of Los Angeles. Hours move with the season and with school holidays, so check the listing before you set off. If you run one of the places on this page, you can claim it for free and keep its hours and prices right.
Before you go
Grip socks. Almost every venue requires them for children and several require them for adults. Most sell them at the door for a few dollars. Bringing your own is cheaper and means you are not buying a fourth pair.
Check whether adults pay. It runs from free to full price and it changes the cost of a visit by a lot when there are two of you.
Weekday mornings are the toddler rush. If you want space, aim for after two on a school day. Weekend mornings are the busiest hours of the week almost everywhere.
Ninety minutes is the realistic ceiling for most children under five. There is rarely a gradual wind down. Leaving with time left on the clock is not wasted money, it is a better afternoon.
Call ahead in school holidays. Several of these venues run camps and private events that close open play with no notice on the website.
Looking somewhere else in the metro? Browse every kid-friendly place in Los Angeles.
Other things to do in Los Angeles
Nature & Gardens in nearby cities
Common questions about nature & gardens in Los Angeles
How many nature & gardens are there in Los Angeles?
We list 13 nature & gardens within 90 miles of Los Angeles, CA. Every one is a published listing with an address we checked.
Which nature & gardens in Los Angeles publish their prices?
10 of the 13 here do, and each price was checked word for word against the venue's own page before we published it. The rest do not publish one, so their card says no price listed rather than carrying a guess.
Which nature & gardens in Los Angeles suit a toddler?
5 of them list an age range starting at two or under. Check the age line on each card, because a place that suits a six-year-old does not always suit a two-year-old.
How did Mini Navigators choose these nature & gardens?
We list every one we have within 90 miles of the center of Los Angeles. Each is a published place with an address we geocoded and checked, and the business can claim its listing to keep the hours and prices current.
Do adults have to pay?
It varies more than you would expect, from free to full price, and it changes the cost of a visit by a lot when there are two of you. The price on each card is what it costs to get a child in. Where a venue publishes an adult price it is on the listing, and where it does not we have left it out rather than assume.
Do I need to book ahead?
Usually not for open play, but several venues cap capacity at weekends and during school holidays, and some close open play entirely for private events. Where a venue has its own booking page, the listing links straight to it.
What should I bring?
Grip socks, a water bottle, a change of clothes for anyone under four, and a plan for leaving before the meltdown rather than after it.
What else is there to do with kids in Los Angeles?
Los Angeles has 14 categories of kid-friendly places on Mini Navigators, from playgrounds and museums to splash pads and zoos. The Los Angeles hub lists all of them.
Listings last checked August 21, 2026.