Pretoria Botanical Garden Parkrun

Come early to ensure you get a good spot to park and to line up. Friendly and encouraging volunteers. One or two steep hills along the route. Entire route is along a paved pathway allowing you to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the park. Stroller friendly but no dogs allowed.

This was an awesome way to greet our children on their way to the Netherlands. Beautiful place for our family and to said goodbye. There are a lot of places to take pictures.

The busiest Parkrun that I know of, but well organised with many volunteers. We come here often, and can recommend the Parkrun to anyone who is not aiming for a personal best. Paved and pram friendly all along the route. Mostly fairly level or rolling topography, but with about 600m of steep slopes around the 3rd km and a long steep hill just around the 4km mark. Two water points along the route. Be careful of the water fountain that you find just after the madagascar and boabab trees - it's pressure is set way too high, offering a good sinus rinse to the unsuspecting water drinker. Toilets at the start are well kept, but could get busy. Typical winter attendance of about 700 to 800 people, but right after new year's resolutions it goes up to 2200 people. Lots of parking: early birds can park inside where the park has formal car guards, and there is a large field for overflow parking across the main entrance where informal car guards keep the watch. A nice Parkrun for a walker hitting the 50 to 70min pace. Runners tend to bottleneck and frustrate themselves in the first kilo, as the paved path as wide as a car needs to accommodate such a patge number of participants. The bonus of attending, is that you get free entry into the botanical gardens, so you could hang around in the gardens or grab a breakfast at the popular restaurant on site after your Parkrun.

Best parkrun we had. Loved every minute of it

This is a very diverse and accepting Parkrun. I am physically disabled and walk quite slowly but it was still very doable and there was no judgment on how fast I was walking. The botanical gardens are beautiful and there are a lot of shaded areas along the route.

New Years resolutions and a surprise. Lots of people turned out in early January 1792 to be exact, certainly the biggest group so far I have attended, and this was my 30 different park run. Yes, l am a tourist, and loving the exploring of different park runs. Parking was right out into the roads adjacent the gardens, so get there early. Gates close for free entrance at 8h05. Toilets just inside main gate to the right, again get there early or prepare to queue. It's a slow start, unless your had rocket fuel for breakfast. Be prepared to shuffle at a snails pace up the first small hill, but the congestion definitely eases after that. The walk is around the outer edge of the gardens, past various different plant sections, one of interest being the Madagascar ??, and then into a flat open section. But wait... the surprise….hill. It's a lung buster of note. Without a spirit level I would have thought 45 degrees, but rest assured there is an incredibly enthusiastic volunteer who will talk you up the hill even if you think you cannot walk up. But do keep left, as there are, believe it or not, fast runners going up that hill. There’s a well used water point about half way up. Then relief as the walk flattens out along the top section and you may appreciate the fynbos section on the right. As you pass the start area you are then into the second round of the same. By now you should have got a second breath, so you are more likely to appreciate the surroundings. Until you get to ’surprise hill’ and its over to you and your heart rate - which may well reach more than 80% of you max heart rate. After that you are into the home straight and after clocking in you can catch your breath and chill under some magnificent shady trees. Certainly not to be missed, and a must do, even if only once. A better option would be to do it in Winter.

Beautiful green trees and good refreshments. Well organized walk through old and new trees. Good place to visit for relaxation.

Took part in Revolution Trails' sunset run. I think today the route was on yet another undiscovered part of the gardens. Hot, but enjoyable.

Started with a brisk walk as part of the pensioner's day free entry. Had a lovely breakfast with good friends.

Very beautiful place to have a picnic with the family, will definitely recommend it. It’s also very clean..