Cypress Gardens

Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner, SC is one of the most visually extraordinary natural destinations in the entire southeastern United States — a freshwater cypress swamp with ancient trees, mirror-still black water, Spanish moss, and regularly visible alligators that creates a landscape children and adults describe as looking like a dream.

The gardens' signature experience is the flatboat tour: narrow, flat-bottomed boats that glide silently through the cypress swamp at water level, surrounded by trees that rise dramatically from the water and draped with Spanish moss that filters the light into something magical. Seeing a cypress swamp from inside it, at eye level with the water, surrounded by sounds of birds and frogs, is a formative natural experience that most children never forget.

The facility offers additional attractions: a butterfly house with hundreds of tropical species, a small reptile exhibit with native snakes and turtles, and an aquarium with local freshwater fish. These add educational layers without reducing the centrality of the swamp experience. Alligators are routinely visible from the walking paths and from the flatboats — a thrilling, safely viewed presence that adds genuine wildlife excitement.

Winter and early spring bring peak azalea bloom season, when hundreds of azalea bushes surrounding the swamp reflect their pink and white flowers in the still water. The photographs from this season circulate widely and represent the garden at its most spectacular. Summer visits are also beautiful but hotter and more insect-active.

At approximately 1.5-2 hours from Hilton Head Island (near Moncks Corner), Cypress Gardens works as a day trip stop between HHI and Charleston. Admission is remarkably affordable for the quality of the experience.