Wuppertal is a green city, even more so than your typical nature-friendly German town. Over two-thirds of the total land area consists of nature.
There are meadows, forests and gardens in this “green belt” of Germany. So it is a safe bet that nature lovers will have no problem finding a park, promenade or garden here.
Here are my personal parks highlights of one of the country’s greenest places.
Wuppertal Zoo
This Wuppertal nature park is home to almost 5,000 animals from 450 species, representing all seven continents. The Wuppertal Zoo is 24 hectares and features beautiful recreated natural habitats for its animals. Of course, all the usual zoo favorites can be seen here. There are tigers and other big cats (including the rare Siberian tigers), elephants and monkeys.
But you can also see more unusual animals like the tapir. One of the highlights is a new penguin house that showcases King and Gentoo Penguins in an underwater tunnel. This zoo is one of only few to show King Penguins on display.
Botanical Garden
Wuppertal’s nature park, the Botanical Garden features some excellent and magnificent specimens of flora and fauna. There are over 4,000 species on display here. A large focus of this garden is on conserving rare and endangered plants. So you will be able to see some of these unusual species, like Gladiolus, Paeonia and Babiana.
This plant conservatory was begun in 1890 by the founders of Elberfeld town when they built a rose garden in the area. The hilltop locale is perfect for the flowers and plant life habitat.
Arboretum Burgholz
This tree sanctuary is spread over 250 hectares of land in the State Forest of Burgholz. The Arboretum’s beginnings go back to 1900 when it was a testing ground for the growth and sustainability of foreign trees.
Today you can see over 130 types of trees, which come from all over the world, particularly Asia, the Mediterranean and North America.