San Diego Botanic Garden Admissions

Note: This listing covers admission to the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, including access to all garden areas including Hamilton Children's Garden. For a full description of the experience, see the main San Diego Botanic Garden listing.

Purchasing admission to the San Diego Botanic Garden gives your family access to 37 acres of curated plant collections — and more importantly for families with young children, full access to Hamilton Children's Garden, a dedicated children's nature play area within the broader garden.

Hamilton Children's Garden is the reason families with kids under 10 make the trip to Encinitas specifically for this garden. The area has a hobbit house built into the hillside (a structure that kids reliably want to climb through multiple times), treehouses accessible via ramps and rope bridges, giant seed pod slides, and a sensory garden where kids are encouraged to touch plants with different textures and smells. A bamboo grove at the back of the children's area creates a dense, shaded tunnel that kids treat as a running course.

Beyond the children's zone, the 37 acres of gardens cover ecosystems from multiple global regions. Spring visits benefit most from the bloom cycle — demonstration gardens fill with flowering plants that create vivid color contrast. Even kids who normally resist plant-focused activities tend to engage with the children's garden section regardless of season.

The garden is entirely outdoors and weather-dependent. A cloudy or drizzly day significantly reduces the experience quality. Bring sunscreen, hats, and water for any sunny-day visit; the garden provides minimal shade outside the bamboo grove and covered structures.