Lavender Garden – More Than A Popular Tourist Spot?
Lavender Garden is a familiar name for many locals who frequently visit Cameron Highlands.
This attraction is one of the longest serving here. But with so many new and similar attractions popping up, can this place keep up with expectations?
Here’s what we think based on our most recent visit here.
Highlights
1. Lavender
You might be expecting to see a field or rows of lavender since the park is named Lavender Garden.
But this is far from the case.
There are two sections where they grow lavender at this park. The first is close to the entrance and you cannot enter the garden to take photos up close with the lavender.
Instead, there is a paid photo stop at the best vantage point further inside the park.
From other angles, you may just see barren soil and struggling lavender shrubs. But this does depend on when you visit too.
On the upper floors of the park, there is another section with larger lavender bushes. These can look nice when in full bloom.
Lavender aside, they do have other purple flowers within the park that make for a nice photo backdrop if that’s what you’re looking for.
2. On-Site Café
Just before you get to the big lavender bushes upstairs, there is a small on-site café.
There are no great views from the café unfortunately as you can only see the car park below and the plastic sheets of many vegetable farms around.
They sell some cakes at the counter. But despite coming to this places a few times throughout the years, we’ve never actually wanted to sit down in this café and have something to eat or drink.
3. Murals
In addition to 3D wall murals, a wishing tree, swings, and seats that resemble toadstool mushrooms and other fairytale like scenes, they have large purple castle setup at the back of the park.
To us, it is all quite tacky, but it provides the perfect excuse for cheesy photos, if that’s your cup of tea.
4. Other Flowers
Not all parts of the park are well maintained. There’s one vine tunnel leading to the upper section of the park that is in a sorry state.
But the newest section of the park that extends to the back is the most attractive part in our opinion.
We find the older sections of the park to be very outdated and not as appealing. There are too many random elements that are supposed to be decorative.
5. Lavender Ice Cream
There’s a stall on the lower ground of the park (not far from the entrance) where you can buy lavender ice cream for RM8 per cone. Besides this flavor, there is strawberry.
If that’s not open, the on-site café sells this soft serve ice cream too.
Honestly, we think it tastes a bit like soap but if you’re up for the experience you can give it a try.
6. Strawberries
This is the section that we enjoyed the most here.
The fact that they have the strawberries growing in the highest part of the park adds some excitement to self-picking strawberries.
You can pluck about 200g for RM12.
A fair warning, you can see through the metal scaffolding to the gardens below so if you’re wary of heights, this might not be an activity you’ll like.
Furthermore, anyone walking below can easily look up your skirt if while you’re picking strawberries.
On the plus side, the strawberries here get to grow much larger since there are fewer willing visitors to pick them.
Entrance Fees
It costs RM20 per adult to enter Lavender Garden. This is not the steepest entry fee we’ve seen but we feel that it’s a lot for what you can get out of this park.
Facilities
Toilets are prayer rooms are available in the park. The park is wholly covered so rain is not an issue if you choose to come here.
You can push a stroller here, but it will be an uphill battle for most of the way.
Those with mobility issues will find it tiresome to explore the whole park.
The exit of the park forces you to go through their large souvenir store which is divided into a strawberry and lavender theme. It’s cute but we suspect that a lot of the products are not locally made and can easily be found online.
After their main gift shop, there are other smaller shops outside that are independently run by their respective shopkeepers. They sell fresh produce, toys, snacks, and keychains.
Getting To Lavender Garden
It is not difficult to find Lavender Garden. The tricky part is securing parking when it’s peak season. Buses may park in front of the attraction too.
You may end up having to park further along the curve of the main road and having to cross said busy road to get over to the park.
For those that don’t fancy driving or don’t have their own car, you can consider Explore Camerons tour service.
Our tours are private and are a comfortable way for the whole family to go sightseeing in Cameron Highlands. We start our day trips from Ipoh.
WhatsApp us for more information.
Conclusion
We prefer to visit other attractions in Cameron Highlands than Lavender Garden. To us, the entry fees are not worth it when other places are free to visit or have more to offer.
If this is going to be your first time visiting the highlands, there are better ways to spend your money and time.
