Parks and Gardens near The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe
Some swoony Southern California beauty-scapes await you within easy reach of The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. In fact, you’ll be immersed in one here at our resort, courtesy of our expansive grounds’ gorgeous landscaping and gardens (the perfect backdrop for tying the knot, incidentally). Today at the blog, though, we’re going to spotlight some of the parks, gardens, and preserves in our greater neighborhood: far from an exhaustive list, but we think a nicely representative one.
Read on for some day-tripping inspiration, and then book your San Diego County getaway at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe!
Our region’s mild Mediterranean climate means plants from all over the world can prosper here on a healthy diet of Southern California sunshine. The San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas serves as a celebration of global plant life as well as a wonderfully tranquil space for leisurely strolling amid some fabulous and varied greenery. Some 4,000 species of plants call this place home, from rainforest orchids to desert dwellers; you’ll also get an appreciation for California’s own native flora, some of the most diverse on the planet.
Be sure to check out the monthly list of what’s blooming in the garden: Our balmy geography means the flower show at the San Diego Botanic Garden is a year-round affair!
Balboa Park
Balboa Park includes some of San Diego’s most famous attractions, including the San Diego Zoo and a spread of historic architecture dating from the Panama-California Exposition of 1916-1916. It’s also renowned for its gardens: a full 16 of them.
Mosey among more than 2,000 rosebushes in the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, linger beside the Koi and Lily Pond outside the Botanical Building (home to a bevy of tropical floral wonders), descend into the magical sunken luxuriance of Zoro Garden, admire the stone lanterns and waterways of the Japanese Friendship Garden, and get acquainted with some of our state’s unique and diverse vegetation in the California Native Plant Garden—to name a few possibilities!
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Park
An important stretch of protected San Diego County coastline, Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Park is an absolute must-see less than 10 miles from The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. The sedimentary bluffs here support woodlands of one of the naturally rarest pines in the world: the Torrey pine, of course, which grows only here and on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands.
Trails weave through those pine stands as well as coastal chaparral, salt marsh, and other native habitats. Drop down through the cliffs, meanwhile, and you’ve got one of the best beachfronts in the region to wander.