03/27/2026
With love, from the Lowcountry 🫶🏼🐊🪷
Cyprus Garden was such a hidden gem! We had no idea what to expect… but it turned out to be the best part of our trip. The park only cost $16, and came with various activities.
Here’s everything you can do at Cyprus Garden (ranked best to worst)
🛶Boat Ride- This was the entire reason we wanted to visit Cyprus Garden. You an your party can completely immerse yourselves into nature with this 45 minute boat trip. You paddle yourself so no need to rush. It was fairly cold out and we still saw so much wildlife. The iconic scene from the Notebook was filmed here. I will warn you, the wait times for the boats can get crazy long. It’s crucial that you arrive early to the park and get on the list ASAP. By the time our boat was called, other visitors were joining a waitlist of over 2 hours.
🚶🏻♀️Walking Trails - While waiting for our boat, we explore three different trails. There a several trails of various length. Each trail shows you different features of the park. My favorite was definitely the trail leading to the wedding pavilion.
🦋 Butterfly Garden - This was more garden than butterfly… We didn’t see many butterflies. It definitely was not like the butterfly garden I’m used to, but the flowers were pretty. It’s best used a way to escape the weather and wait out the time.
🐊Swampquarium - This was so so disappointing. It’s supposed to be an aquarium but for swamp/lowcountry creatures. I’m a huge lover of reptiles creatures of all kinds. You start out by walking over a bridge with two alligators in the (what appears to be a drain ditch) water. It didn’t appear that they had much freedom to do anything except lay on the concrete (ick). Once inside, I was immediately disturbed by the lack of tank space and enrichment for the animals. I completely understand the park is funded by the county. It just appeared pretty unethical. We actually almost left after seeing it 😵💫. So yea… maybe avoid this part.
Overall, I would probably do it again. I hope they fix the swampquarium… but if you can get over that, then you’ll love it.
