This large park housing the botanical and zoological gardens is 15 km south of the centre at Água Funda.
The Jardim Botânico has a vast garden esplanade surrounded by magnificent stone porches, with lakes and trees and places for picnics, and a very fine orchid farm worth seeing during the flowering season (November to December). More than 19,000 different kinds of orchids are cultivated. There are orchid exhibitions in April and November. The astronomical observatory nearby is open to the public on Thursday afternoons. Howler monkeys, guans and toco toucans can be seen here towards the end of the day.
