Empress Botanical Garden

Thirty-nine acres near the Race Course, laid out in the British period as the Soldier's Garden and later renamed for Queen Victoria; the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India took over its management in 1892 and has run it ever since. Old-growth trees, avenues of palm and bamboo, a nursery and seasonal beds make this one of the few places in Pune where you walk genuinely under a canopy. The big annual flower show lands around Republic Day week in late January. Entry costs a nominal amount, and mornings are the coolest hours to be here.

Pune's oldest trees and a horticultural tradition running since 1892