Flamingo Gardens

When it feels cold in Florida, visiting Flamingo Gardens is the perfect way to fill your day. From beautiful gardens to exotic animals, it’s perfect for kids and adults alike.

During the kids winter break, we took a little family vacation and visited Flamingo Gardens. I’d never heard of it until this year, but it’s beautiful. After visiting Niagara Falls and going on a Disney cruise, it was wonderful to visit a place with so many beautiful birds, animals, and exotic trees and plants.

Flamingo Gardens is one of the oldest botanical gardens in South Florida. It was built in 1933, and was originally the weekend residence of Floyd and Jane Wray. You hear a lot about the original owners at the gardens, from the plaques to tours, and their original residence is still on the property.

Flamingo Gardens is more than just a gardens. There are aviaries filled with colorful parrots, amazing peacocks, and of course flamingos. Plus, since it was over the holidays, the gardens were filled with bright Christmas light displays.

We started our day exploring the gardens and the parrots. Each was so colorful and talkative. My youngest daughter kept chatting with each of the birds. And when they responded it made her laugh and love them even more. Just look at how beautiful they are – these birds are easy to love.

Next, we saw all of the holidays lights throughout the gardens. They were everywhere. We saw them during the daytime, but they must be even more amazing at night.

While we were walking to the Flamingo Pond, we saw some beautiful peacocks. They just wandered around the grounds. Many times they were just relaxing on the grass, but other time I saw them in a tree. Or walking around and interacting with the guests. I even saw one posing for pictures with a family.

Finally, we saw the flamingos. They were all relaxing and feeding in their flamingo pond, which is surrounded by a tropical vegetation and a small waterfall.

We just stood there and watched them. My kids were fascinated by the fact that the flamingos were many different shades of pink. Some were that classic bright pink, while others were a pale light pink.

After that, we decided to see the 50 acres of tropical rainforest and wetland. It is accessible by a narrated tram tour.

The tram takes you through all of these different areas of the property that are literally off the map that they give you when you arrive. You drive through areas of exotic trees and plants, banyan trees, fruit trees, a cactus garden, and around a duck filled pond.