Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center

Very beautiful Gardens. Well kept & clean. Butterfly greenhouse was wonderful. Nice friendly staff & volunteers. Huge wooden bug art exhibit! Great for kids & field trips.

I moved to this area from central Tx. I thought that I had seen the best botanical gardens until I entered Shangri la!
The staff is amazing, it’s community oriented, kid friendly, but most importantly it’s STUNNING!
I was floored by the artistic design, the gorgeous paths, lakes, bird watching spots galore! This place is a gardens lovers heaven!
We love it so much that we have a membership! My son asks to go all the time, and has become interested in gardening. That’s how inspiring and impressive Shangri la is!

Boy was it hot today in the gardens, but the staff was energetic, friendly, and willing to share information on this great place. Thanks guys! We’ll be back when it’s cooler for the boat ride.

Amazing place! Highly recommend the boat ride that is about an hour long. The gardens are so well designed and taken care of. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, especially the volunteers. I have been to a lot of famous botanical gardens and this place is definitely one of the best.

This is a little slice of heaven. This is what Orange would look like hundreds of years ago.

What a surprise. Waaayyyyy more than I expected from Orange, Tx. Grew up in the area & haven’t been back for many years. This place is one of the nicer botanical gardens i’ve ever been too! Blows away anything in Dallas-​Ft worth area.
Not very big but very professionally maintained and designed. Skip the typical high dollar gift shop and café (grab a chili cheese dog from Weinerschnitzel instead!). And stick with visiting in October or November when it’s cooler, not during the summer. $ 6 adult fee includes an 8 minute educational movie. Didn’t do the boat ride (marsh tour) for another $ 6. Worth a stop for some peace & quiet. Not very kid friendly. Check it out!

Well worth going to. Part of the «Stark» empire in Orange. Boat trip, manned by seniors, is fun and informative. Gardens are still rather young, but I am sure would be especially lovely in spring when the irises are in bloom. Highlight was seeing the egrets nesting, an unexpected bonus of leaving the gardens to themselves for 50 years after Lutcher Stark gave up on them after an ice storm killed all his planting.

Wow, what a beautiful place. Where to start. First off, it’s accessible to all. The paths are stone or hard gravel, there are ramps, you can even go on the boat trip in a wheelchair. Hint: take the first boat tour in the morning at 10:30 a.m. That’s when you’ll see the most wildlife. You have to park across the street, so you may want to drop your party off at the entrance and go park your car in the free lot. There are combo entrance fees where you can get ShangriLa, the boat ride, the Stark House, and the Stark Museum for greatly reduced fees. The gardens are beautiful, with scent gardens, orchard, greenhouses, ponds, etc. There are tactile things for children, a short movie. The café is excellent, with outdoor and indoor seating. There is a spray of live orchids in a vase on each table! Offerings are lunch-​type fare: sandwiches, wraps, soup. The prices are reasonable. $ 6 for two large spinach wraps with a dill pickle spear. The patio is lovely, but I wish they would install overhead fans for those Texas summers that go on and on! The boat ride was great. Be sure to bring your hat, sun glasses, bug spray, and fillable water bottle. The gift shop has lots of interesting things. This place is so lovingly cared for by an army of volunteers and staff. Do go, see for yourself.

All the old ladies that work here are so sweet, and the gardens themselves can’t be beat!
Don’t go when it’s 94 degrees outside though, pick a cooler month like October.

Shangri La Gardens is walkable (at least in the spring — I don’t know what it’s like in a Gulf Coast mid-​summer!) and superbly laid out. It’s imaginative and clever and in parts stunningly beautiful. I particularly liked the central pool and the structures in it, the blind for looking at the egret-​filled swamp, the fountain wall along the back and the water-​gardens near the greenhouses. Highly recommended, and quite cheap, also.

I was in Beaumont last weekend and decided to make a quick trip over to Orange to check out Shangri La, a place that had been on my to-​see list for some time. Luckily, the weekend was gorgeous — 70 degrees and clear blue skies. Unfortunately, we missed the boat tour and did the gardens, exhibit hall and film only. Admission for adults is $ 6 for the gardens and $ 10 for the gardens + boat tour. We enjoyed exploring the gardens and natural area — it was a nice mix of formal and wild. The cypress swamp is beautiful and we spent a good amount of time in the bird blind watching the many birds that nest in the area. The guide at the entrance said the most birds are there late February to early August.

Beautiful in Fall and spring!

While visiting my father-​in-​law who is working temporarily in Port Arthur, we decided to take the family to Shangri-​La specifically for the boat trip. When we arrived, we learned that our son who is 3 years 11 months, was a month too young to be allowed on the boat. So, my sainted mother-​in-​law volunteered to stay behind with him so that the rest of us could enjoy the boat trip. At 12:20 we bought out tickets for the 12:30 boat and proceeded to the waiting area. At 12:35 I asked the lady there when we were going to leave. She said «12:30. They have a schedule to keep» I then mentioned that it was already 12:35, but she didn’t seem concerned.
About 12:50 the guide showed up and told us we could wait in an air conditioned area until the boat leaves at 1:30. Wait!?! Did she say 1:30??? We showed her the ticket that said 12:30, and she reaffirmed that the correct time was 1:30. By that time we were already hot, tired, and covered in insect repellant. We had left my son behind with Grandma crying for his mommy and didn’t feel right having them wait for 2 full hours, so we decided to ask for our money back and leave.
We proceeded to the ticket desk where we explained the issue to the gentleman at the counter who apologized and told us that it was all his fault for the mistake in times. So we asked for a refund and he replied «we only give rain checks.» We explained that we were from Colorado and would not be returning there another day, so could they please refund our money. The ticket person said he would need to discuss it with his manager. A few minutes later the manager comes out to offer us a free park pass. We again explained that we needed a refund since we would not be able to come back another time. She refused to refund our money saying that it was against policy. At which point I totally lost my cool and had to walk away.
In my opinion, we had a legitimate reason for deserving a refund and Shangri-​La chose to be unreasonable with their adherence to policy. I understand that they can’t give out refunds to everyone, but, given the circumstances (their mistake on the schedule), they should have bent the rules in the name of good customer service.

Great family place! My son Loved it there and the sandwich at the café was phenomenal and delisious. We will definitely be back to visit more often with the many activities or adventure days they have planned in the months to come.

Just a quick update. I was looking at my original review that begins, «I guess I’m one of those people, who lives next door to a place…» When I wrote that, I lived about 25 miles away. Now, I am within 100 yards. It’s like foreshadowing. Call me Nostradamus!
Anyway, «The La,» as we call it, is still a wonderful 5-​star place, as is their Star and Crescent Moon Café. It’s just that The Café is no longer operated by David Claybar of Old Orange Café, which is a tasty eatery downtown. They still have great food at gardens, though.

Shangri-​La was closed to the public for many years. In the last few years it has been open to the public it has weathered hurricanes and freezes and has become a famous garden right in my little hometown of Orange, TX. (so proud!)
This place is really amazing, it was started by a conservationist in the 40s and now is a haven for some of the most beautiful plants and wildlife Texas has to offer. I also learned that the gardens have won several green and sustainable building awards.
Highlights: the Egret sanctuary, the guided boat tour, the gorgeous botanical gardens. It can get very hot in the summer and it is always humid so I recommend going early in the morning so you have time to see everything before you melt into a giant puddle. There is a little café if you want a bite to eat and a gift shop for souvenirs.
The children’s garden is adorable, it has a bottle tree, a bee hive so kids can watch bees make honey and gardens with different activities for kids to learn about plants and native animals.
I highly recommend Shangri-​La to any nature lover, it is a gem!

An awesome place to visit, and beautiful as well. Well designed, and LEEDS certified. A great way to re-​connect with the natural world and experience a professionally maintained operation.
The original gardens were opened years ago by the Stark Family, who established a foundation that operates the Lutcher Theatre, The Stark Museum and Shangri La. Visits to the Stark Museum can be included with Shangri La, the Lutcher has world class programs/​shows/​plays that should not be missed. Orange is incredibly fortunate to have these three gems.

We wanted an interesting place to go for the day — a day trip from Houston. We found this place featured in the Houston Chronicle. We’re so glad that we made this trip! It was easy to find and the parking is easy and free. They have plenty of handicapped parking.
Shangri-​La Botanical Gardens are AWESOME. It is inexpensive (adults $ 6, kids $ 4 for the gardens and only adults $ 10 and kids $ 6 for the gardens plus the boat outpost tour). There is plenty to do for the better part of a day.
In the front area (where you walk in) there is a short movie about the history of the park, it was very enlightening. I’d suggest doing it before you walk through the gardens. There is also a snack bar (there is no real café), a small gift store, bathrooms (one set here and another in the garden area), and some front offices. As you venture into the park there are some green houses, kids area, gardens with different themes, a bird blind at the far end of the park where you can see all types of egrets and herons, and a 75 minute boat ride through the swamp. We did all of these things except for the boat ride because of our schedule. Everything is handicapped accessible and we were able to push a wheelchair almost everywhere.
A few tips: Don’t plan to eat at the ‘café’ because it’s literally some drinks and microwaved food. There are a lot of areas where there is absolutely no shade, so don’t go on a super sunny day without a hat and/​or lots of sunscreen. Also, don’t go on a rainy day because of the lack of shelter. Bring a camera, there are lots of great photo opportunities. Do the boat ride even though we didn’t, we heard it was great!
While in Orange, check out the beautiful WH Stark House (just don’t get the tour, it takes forever and it’s really quite boring).

If you want to escape, this is the place. Beautiful gardens, just opened in April. Take a boat ride to appreciate nature on the bayou, or just stroll through the gardens and relax while taking in the beauty offered. Gift shop is available along with a café where you can just sit back and take it easy. There are ongoing educational programs offered as well. Check them out online and then come for a visit.