If we are going to talk about wonders of the Cuban capital, it is important to mention the National Botanical Garden (JBN), belonging to the University of Havana, located about 25 kilometers to the south of the city, with approximately 550 hectares of magical landscapes, some with plants brought from the tropics and different parts of the world.
What were once livestock farms are today part of a great collective dream that became reality thanks to the effort and dedication of many. The formation of one of the greatest botanical gardens in the world and the most important in the country was commissioned by commander Fidel Castro to the German professor Dr. Johannes Bisse, who since 1966 had served as advisor and Botanics professor at the School of Biology of the University of Havana.Starting in 1968, the idea of this garden began to take shape. It took almost 20 years until, finally, it opened its doors to the public on March 24, 1984. Currently it has a collection of approximately 3,000 plant species, the largest assortment of trees in Cuba and a good part of its lands are destined for exhibition of outdoor plants, demarcated, geographically, by region and with a rigorous scientific planning and landscape design.
Many plants were brought from expeditions throughout Cuba, speckled, in cuttings or by seeds. To achieve this, several collection trips were made to the island and countries in the region, and most of the exotic were received as seeds through exchange with like minded institutions and people from all over the world.
Because the JBN is national in scope, Cuban phytogeography has enormous weight and is of institutions with the most interesting collections for the public. In this area, the coverage is reproduced in typical trees of Cuban forests and scrublands, pine forests, dry and semi-deciduous forests, humid forests, coastal mogotes and bushes, jucaro and palm savannahs until reaching one of the best artificial representations of native vegetation, the famous JBN is praised by international specialists and horticulturists.
According to official figures, 128 species of birds coexist in the JBN, more than 50% of them, butterflies that exist in Cuba and other representatives of the animal kingdom. The JBN also has multiple attractions for the whole family such as cultural and recreational activities , gastronomic offers in restaurants and cafes, guided tours and also the only Japanese garden in Cuba.
You can finally enjoy something highly demanded by everyone: the canopy, the first in the capital, with a total flight of 1,500 meters. All these offers, together with the beauty of its surroundings, allow visitors, especially those who love direct contact with nature, to enjoy a unique summer walk that you will surely repeat again and again.