IllustrationCome to Rostock’s botanical garden to see how plants live on a Baltic dune, beside a spring-fed pond and high in the mountains, all within one city garden.
Come to Rostock’s botanical garden to see how plants live on a Baltic dune, beside a spring-fed pond and high in the mountains, all within one city garden. Enter at Hamburger Straße/Holbeinplatz, pick up the garden leaflet and choose a couple of habitats before trying to see everything. The 7.8-hectare grounds combine labelled collections with patches of woodland, wet ground and open planting, so there is plenty to notice at a child’s pace.
The coastal dune display is especially worth your time in this part of Germany. Its different sections recreate conditions from pale, shifting dune sand to older dunes and damp hollows. Sea holly, the garden’s emblem, grows here, along with Scots pine. In another corner, the bog collection shows small plants that cope with wet, nutrient-poor ground. It takes careful gardening to keep this miniature habitat alive; it is a cultivated display rather than an intact wild peatland.
The Alpinum gives you a different kind of plant puzzle. Its half-hectare rock garden separates plants of limestone from those of silicate rocks, then groups them by mountain region. Look for low cushions and small plants carrying surprisingly conspicuous flowers. The arboretum spreads through much of the garden, while the Japanese garden brings East Asian shrubs and trees together around a thatched building. That building is a local North German design, now used for teaching.
If the Loki-Schmidt-Gewächshäuser are open, the tropical house adds humid air, plants growing on other plants, aquatic displays and carnivorous plants. Keep this as a separately timed part of the outing. The Mediterranean-climate collection is housed in a working greenhouse closed to visitors, and the purpose-built succulent house remains a planned project. The outdoor garden alone provides a satisfying visit. Wondering what that bird or insect is? Find out on your visit using the Snappit nature app.
The university’s plant collections reach back to 1568, when medicinal plants helped train doctors. Several moves and an interruption followed; the present grounds opened in 1939. Restructuring from the 1990s eventually brought the older Doberaner Straße collections into the Hamburger Straße site. The first part of the Loki-Schmidt greenhouses opened in 2009. Conservation, ecological cultivation and teaching remain central to the place.
For a first visit, take 45–60 minutes to look at the coastal dune and a pond, then return to the same public gate. Ask children to compare plants growing in dry sand with those at the water’s edge. Keep the game simple: choose one plant from each habitat to photograph with its label.
With 90–150 minutes, add the Alpinum, some of the arboretum and the Japanese garden, fitting in the bog display if everyone still enjoys looking closely. These are suggested combinations of sights, not signed walking circuits; use the garden’s signs and retrace paths whenever that makes the return easier. A greenhouse-and-garden visit can take 2–3 hours, including the walk back to Hamburger Straße/Holbeinplatz. Start indoors while the house is open, then choose your outdoor stops.
The teaching collections offer another good family challenge: find a plant connected with food, a material and medicine in the useful-plant beds, then read what people use it for. Looking is enough; plants here must not be picked or tasted.
The outdoor grounds open daily: March–October, 07:00–19:00 on weekdays and 09:00–19:00 on weekends and public holidays; November–February, 09:00–16:00. For the Loki-Schmidt greenhouses, plan a confirmed weekday visit between 10:00 and 15:00; check Friday admission and any lunchtime closure directly with the garden. They are normally closed on weekends and public holidays, apart from specifically advertised guided access. Check the official visitor page before travel.
Path restoration around the Alpinum and upper two ponds introduced water-bound mineral surfaces rather than asphalt. This does not establish a step-free route through every collection. If you need wheelchair access or are bringing a pushchair, ask the garden about a suitable entrance-to-entrance route, current surface condition and greenhouse thresholds. Public toilets are available; step-free toilet provision is not confirmed. Keep small children close beside ponds and wet habitats.
Baltic coastal dune planting with sea holly, the garden’s emblem
A half-hectare Alpinum organised by rock type and mountain region
Spring woodland, a managed bog display and three spring-fed ponds
East Asian planting around the Japanese garden’s North German thatched house
From the public entrance, visit the coastal dune display and a pond, spending time comparing the two habitats. Return to the entrance on public paths; there is no need to cross planting to make a loop.
Ask which pond approach currently suits your mobility needs; this plan is not a certified accessible circuit.
Start at the public gate and choose a sequence taking in the Alpinum, arboretum, dune and ponds, then the Japanese garden. Add the bog display if time allows. Finish at the same gate; this is a list of visits to combine, not turn-by-turn navigation.
Previous path improvements do not guarantee access to every bed or side path. A shorter out-and-back visit may suit your group better.
Enter at Hamburger Straße/Holbeinplatz, visit the tropical house during its confirmed opening, then choose two or three outdoor areas such as the Alpinum, Japanese garden and a pond. Return to the same public gate. The estimate includes indoor viewing, outdoor stops and the return.
Ask staff about greenhouse access and a manageable outdoor return before setting out.
In spring, put the beech woodland early in your outing. In autumn, give the Japanese garden more time. Keep one last stop optional, so there is still energy for a comfortable return to Holbeinplatz.
At the dune and a pond, ask everyone to choose one plant whose shape seems suited to the place. Take a plant photograph and a label photograph. Compare the pair later; there is no need to name every plant during the walk.
Use a label to find the scientific name and geographic origin. In the Alpinum, connect that origin with the mountain grouping and rock type. Let children choose the next region to investigate.
If the tropical house is open, spend more of your visit looking at epiphytes, aquatic plants and carnivorous plants, then take only a brief outdoor walk. The cold-house collection is closed to visitors and the future succulent-house project is not an extra indoor building to count on. In high winds, snow or ice, choose another day for the outdoor garden.
Look for sea holly in the dune display and compare it with the garden’s emblem. Its blue colouring and spiky outline can suggest a thistle, but it belongs to the carrot family. Photograph from the path; its appearance changes through the season.
The dune planting includes Scots pine, a useful reminder that coastal habitats can support woody plants as well as grasses. Use its label to identify it and include the surrounding dune planting in your photograph.
Find the labelled dawn redwood among the tree collections. It sheds its foliage, so a winter photograph looks very different from a leafy-season one. A wider shot helps show its place among the garden’s other trees.
Look at the beech woodland as a whole: the trees shape how much light reaches the plants below. Compare a view beneath the canopy with an open bed elsewhere in the garden, staying on the public paths.
Ramsons gives part of the beech woodland its spring display. Try a photograph showing the plants beneath the trees, then look for the label rather than picking a leaf. This is a seasonal target, not something to expect throughout the year.
Bog cranberry grows among the peat-moss hummocks in the managed bog collection. Slow down and look for the small labelled plant from the edge; do not step onto the moss or reach in for a closer view.
Cattail is one of the plants forming the ponds’ emergent vegetation. Look for a labelled clump from a public pond-side path and compare it with the floating-leaved plants farther out. Never wade in or collect a stem.
Winged euonymus is a rewarding autumn subject in the Japanese garden. Its colour changes with the season, while the corky wings on its branches provide another detail to look for. Photograph without bending or breaking a twig.
During restoration from 2013, the older grey-dune sand was reused and the white-dune section was topped up with sand from the accretion area off Warnemünde. This ties the display closely to Rostock’s own coast.
The Kayenmühlengraben runs through the garden and once powered the Kayenmühle in the area now called Werftdreieck. Springs along its course help supply the three ponds and make the wetland displays possible.
A spring woodland visit, a summer habitat comparison and an autumn tree-and-shrub visit reveal different parts of the collection. The same small group of stops is enough for a return outing; compare photographs instead of trying to cover the whole garden each time.
A garden leaflet is available at the entrance and public toilets are provided. The Japanhaus is used for lessons and seminars; do not rely on being able to enter it. Bring what you need for a short outdoor visit.
Use the stop S Holbeinplatz and walk to the public gate on Hamburger Straße. The garden lists S-Bahn S1, S2 and S3, trams 1, 2 and 5, and bus 28; check a current journey planner for changes. Parking possibilities are listed around Hans-Sachs-Allee and Tschaikowskistraße, with no space guaranteed. Return through the same gate for your onward journey.
A 2023 path-renewal project improved the Alpinum and upper-pond area using water-bound surfacing. That report described further work still to come, so ask about present conditions, steps, gradients, toilets and greenhouse access rather than assuming the whole garden is barrier-free. The garden office can be reached on +49 381 498 6250.
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Start with the big picture, then zoom in to explore individual wildlife observations around this place.
Find the public gate
Use Hamburger Straße/Holbeinplatz. Hans-Sachs-Allee 49 is the service entrance; Schwaansche Straße is the postal address.
Arrive by public transport
Use S Holbeinplatz, served by S-Bahn, tram and bus. Check your connection before leaving.
Entry is free
Guided visits follow a separate programme, with donations welcomed. Book school visits through the garden.
Leave bikes and dogs outside
Bicycle stands are at the entrance; bicycles may not be brought into the grounds. Dogs are not admitted.
Respect the planting
Stay out of unmown meadows. Red labels often flag poisonous or allergenic plants; yellow labels mark conservation collections. Do not pick plants or feed animals.
Keep children accompanied
Children aged 14 and under must visit with an adult. For a family activity, try the garden’s Actionbound rally for children and teenagers.
Recent snaps will appear here as new observations are added.
Maryland, US
You might spot White-Tailed Deer and Eastern Gray Squirrel.
View guide →
District of Columbia, US
You might spot Eastern Gray Squirrel, Duck, and House Sparrow.
View guide →
Illinois, US
You might spot American Robin, Canada Goose, and House Sparrow.
View guide →
Virginia, US
You might spot Spotted Lanternfly and Northern Cardinal.
View guide →
Take the discovery with you
Identify the wildlife you spot, learn as you go, and keep a collection of the adventure.
