Đồi Vạn Hoa (World Garden), VinWonders Nha Trang greenhouses

Đồi Vạn Hoa, which the park calls World Garden in English, opened on 6 August 2017 at the top of the amusement park on Hòn Tre island, off Nha Trang. The park was then known as Vinpearl Land; it now trades as VinWonders Nha Trang, and more recent articles use the new name for the same garden. At its opening the Vietnamese press described it as the largest and most varied botanical park in the country, designed to gather plants from five continents on a single hill.

From the outset the scheme combined five greenhouses with three open-air gardens. The greenhouses were delivered with the French Marchegay group, although the sources do not give it quite the same role: VnExpress credits it with the design and supervision of the works, while PetroTimes, reporting on the opening, presents it mainly as the supplier of the climate-control equipment.

The garden showcases a few exceptional trees, among them a baobab said to be 250 years old and olive trees five centuries old. Reports by Dân trí in 2019 and VnExpress in 2023 describe a garden still open and organised around the same themes as in 2017: roses, orchids, African desert plants and temperate flora. None of the sources consulted mentions a closure or rebuilding since the opening; the garden has simply followed the park's change of name.

The complex covers about 35,000 m² on the highest ground of the park. It consists of five greenhouses of 1,000 to 2,000 m² each and three open-air gardens, linked by ponds and timber pavilions that give the site a varied relief. On OpenStreetMap two of the greenhouses are mapped by name, “Sắc màu mùa đông” (Winter Colours) and “Hoang mạc Châu Phi” (African Desert), on either side of a pond.

Indoor conditions are governed by a Priva sensor system that controls air temperature, humidity and soil moisture to suit each collection. In the temperate house the air is kept at around 20 °C; VnExpress notes that the cooling extends across the whole transparent glass dome, which admits natural daylight. The African house is reserved for cacti and succulents, while the roses and the orchids each have a volume of their own. The sources give neither the height of the domes nor the name of an architect or landscape designer.

Each greenhouse has its own theme. The rose house brings together nearly 10,000 rose bushes, including European and heritage varieties. The orchid house shows more than 500 species, whose origin varies with the source: Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam according to the opening report, Europe, the Americas and Africa according to VnExpress. The African section holds about 400 cactus species and more than 200 succulents, and the neighbouring savanna area more than 8,000 cacti. “Sắc màu mùa đông” gathers temperate and cold-hardy species.

The centrepieces are trees: a baobab of the species Adansonia gregorii said to be 250 years old, 500-year-old olive trees and Chorisia, known as bottle trees. Outside, the Vietnamese garden is laid out around lotus ponds and aquatic plants, the Japanese garden combines century-old pines, bonsai, torii gates, koi and red timber bridges, the European garden looks out to sea, and a “Sky Garden” displays seasonal temperate flowers.

Đồi Vạn Hoa lies within VinWonders Nha Trang on Hòn Tre island, which is linked to the city by the Vinpearl cable car and by boat services, so a visit fits into a day at the park. The garden occupies the upper part of the site, next to the King's Garden zoo enclosure and an aviary housed in a greenhouse. Allow at least an hour to walk through the five greenhouses and the three outdoor gardens. In the heat of the day the cooled temperate house offers a welcome break, and the sea view from the European garden rounds off the walk.