We tried to visit the Buddha Eden returning from Figueira da Foz, but as we arrived late in the afternoon on a busy Sunday, we thought it best to leave it for the next day. Read more about the trip to Figueira da Foz here.

On Monday, August 16, 2021, we woke up in Natural Crane Valley, a very nice place to stay next to the garden, and around 10am we were already checking in without having to wait in line. Yay!

Buddha Eden Values

We pay 5 euros per person to explore the garden on foot, but there was also the option of paying an extra 4 euros per person to use the little train. As a friend had gone with her 3-year-old children without buying the train and said it had been easy, we opted to do everything on foot.

See the updated details always on official website.

The story

When the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 2001, Portuguese millionaire art collector José Berardo wanted to create a sculpture park to compensate for the cultural loss. He founded this 35-hectare park with immense and numerous sculptures and impeccable gardens inside his winery, which is today one of the most interesting attractions in the central region of the country and the largest oriental garden in Europe!

Garden map

You can find the Buddha Eden map on their official website and also when walking around the garden in a few places. Unfortunately, they didn't hand out any information papers about the garden, so we had to access the website a few times to locate ourselves better. Oh, and one more thing: the map is out of date. This is the direct link to the map.

We ended up doing the route below in red, but we missed some things, okay?

Our tour of Buddha Eden

We parked the car in the giant parking lot that was empty, we bought the tickets at the ticket office without a queue and when we entered, we already liked what we saw. In times of pandemic, seeing empty outdoor places with super wide paths is great!!!

We started by walking through the bamboo groves until the Palm Lake. Everything is beautiful, super well taken care of, so peaceful…

We saw many sculptures of naked bodies in Modern Art Garden and some crazy stuff too…

Then we went through the African Sculpture Garden, which I particularly loved because I saw several sculptures of mothers and children and I'm in a phase where I'm only dedicated to mine, so I felt honored! 🙂

Soon the animal sculptures began and Patrick was very excited (I confess I was too!).

We crossed the river over a red bridge and arrived at the back of giant statues that are not on the map. We went down the stairs and tick tick, more photos! From up there you can have a beautiful view of the park:

We passed by the Xian Warriors, which are beautiful, and we continued walking to the Amphitheater.

We stopped at a snack bar with tables and umbrellas overlooking the garden, which was essential for the little one to be able to walk further. We stopped to have a snack and chat for about an hour and then, with our energy recharged, we returned to the tour.

After snack

We went to visit the famous statues of Giant Buddha and others, and we were impressed by how people climb the statues with the utmost nerve to do “that top photo for instagram“! So much competition for the best angle… it tires me out… lol.

We then passed by the Pagoda Towers and then by the Lakes of Tranquility, which are very relaxing indeed and are in the middle of a cork oak plantation (cork trees). We crossed the lake with the Pagoda in the middle and the view from there is incredible with everything colorful around.

By the end, we were already dead tired from the farofa and didn't even have the energy to taste the wines at the store. Who knows, maybe one day we'll go back and do it, right?

Then we left Buddha Eden straight to the Dino Park, because we had arranged to meet my father-in-law and his wife there at 2pm. I told everything in this post here.

In short: a huge garden with many sculptures made of different materials, few places to rest, some ups and downs, very dry air, dirt paths, few bathrooms and a lot of variety of plants. I found everything very well looked after and I recommend spending at least 3 hours to stroll around there calmly. must see in Portugal!