Exotic Garden (Jardin Exotique)

The Exotic Garden of Monaco (Jardin Exotique) is an extraordinary botanical garden planted on a cliffside in Monaco. Opened in 1933, the Jardin Exotique has a rich collection of over a thousand species of succulent plants, especially cacti that bloom superbly on the mountainside.

At the foot of the cliff, 60 metres underground there is a large natural underground cave with prehistoric caverns revealing many stalagmites and stalactites, formed over millennia. The caves were opened to the public in 1950, and can only be visited with a guide, and there is a museum of Prehistoric Anthropology within the Exotic Garden displaying the evidence of prehistoric human inhabitants found in the caves.

The garden offers information and tips for growing succulent plants, with a cactus expo in April and celebration of exceptional Bonsai in June. The “exotic” plant species in the garden originated in several distant arid zones: the cacti and agaves from Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America; other succulent plants from southern and eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Plants are in bloom almost any time of year depending on the origin of each species: Aloes and African Crassula bloom in winter, and most cacti bloom in spring and summer.