Menton's gardens, from a tropical botanic garden to the princes' citrus grove

«Ma ville est un jardin», says Menton’s tourist office, and it isn’t far off. What the town has is a set of gardens with strong personalities, each with its historic owner and botanical obsession, and they’re visited in very different ways. Some are walk-in, some are guided only and a couple are free. Here’s which I’d see, in what order and which day to avoid for each.

Why does Menton have so many gardens?

The climate and the British. Menton was a historic place to spend the winter, and from the 18th century the botanists who came with that fashion, many of them British, brought tropical and subtropical species that adapted with ease. What they planted is still there, on estates you can now visit. The tourist office bills Maria Serena as the mildest garden in France, a marketing line that tells you what’s at stake here. The temperature figures, with their source, are in Menton weather.

Val Rahmeh, the one I’d see first

If I only had time for one, it would be this. It’s the Val Rahmeh-Menton botanic garden of France’s National Museum of Natural History, 1.5 hectares holding 1,700 identified taxa, ponds with lotus and water lilies, and rare or vanished species. Sir Percy Radcliffe, a British Army general, introduced tropical fruit trees inspired by his wife, Rahmeh, and later May Campbell added daturas and other nightshades.

Every day but Tuesday it opens at 10:00, closing at 18:00 until 31 October 2026 and at 17:00 through the winter. Entry is €8, concessions €6 (ages 3 to 25, among others), and there’s a €24 family ticket for two adults and two young people. Get there by train to Menton-Garavan or on bus line 1, and dogs are welcome on a lead.

Serre de la Madone, half a day well spent

It’s the most ambitious, which is why I save it for those with time. Major Lawrence Johnston planted it between 1924 and 1939 in the Gorbio valley, in terraces, with plants brought from all over the world. It’s now owned by the Conservatoire du littoral, a historic monument and a «Jardin remarquable», and holds three national collections, of the ivy, pittosporum and protea families.

It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 18:00 between April and October and 10:00 to 17:00 from January to March, and closes in November and December. In 2026 it also shuts from 6 to 10 May. Entry is €10, or €7 for ages 6 to 18. It’s on the west side, between Roquebrune and the Palais Carnolès, so I’d pair it with the citrus garden.

The ones you can only see with a guide

Fontana Rosa intrigues me most. In 1922 the Valencian novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez bought this estate in Garavan and turned it into a slice of his native Valencia, with tiles, pergolas, pools and ceramic benches dedicated to Cervantes, Dickens, Shakespeare and Balzac. It’s a historic monument and can only be seen on the town heritage service’s tour, on Mondays from 10:00 to 11:30, for €8.

Maria Serena, hard against Italy in the spot known as «la petite Afrique», is an 1886 villa bought in 1922 by the British banker Henry Konig, who left it to the town in 1947. Its garden of palms, a dragon tree and cycads is shown on guided visits on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 11:30. Les Colombières, Ferdinand Bac’s garden, opens by booking only, and the Clos du Peyronnet is listed as temporarily closed.

The free ones in town

The citrus garden of the Palais de Carnolès surrounds the former summer residence of the princes of Monaco. It covers a hectare with 137 citrus varieties, including 24 sweet orange trees and 6 lemon trees, and the Princes’ vegetable garden sits inside. The tourist office calls it the largest citrus collection in Europe, it’s free every day and it ties in with everything I say about the lemon in things to do in Menton.

The Biovès gardens, opposite the tourist office, are the town-centre stroll of bitter orange trees, fountains and sculptures that fills up with Lemon Festival displays in February. I wouldn’t build a garden day around them, but you’ll pass through anyway.

How I’d plan it

Any morning except Tuesday, train to Menton-Garavan and Val Rahmeh at 10:00, and on a Monday I’d swap the order and start with Fontana Rosa. In the afternoon, head west for the Carnolès citrus and, with energy left, Serre de la Madone. In high summer I’d slot the Cocteau museum into the hottest hours. And if gardens are your thing, Monaco’s Exotic Garden is a train ride away.