- Not disability friendly, if you require any sort of aid walking, skip it. Cane users are going to find it grueling, literally cannot use it with a walker or wheelchair. It's terraced, and the "ramps" are very steep, and laid with rocky sand, hard to walk in, and even harder to navigate with an aid. But in over half of the terraces, stairs are your only option. If you have asthma or a heart condition it's probably not a great option either. - The friendliest "workers" there were at the check in desk. everyone else looked sour, judgmental and 100% like they were being forced to interact with unwashed masses. - 95% guests were over the age of 65 - and acted like you would expect. - As a person with a degree in ornamental horticulture, ag business, and art - you would think this place was right up my alley. But as a botanical garden it was a flop for me. Nothing was labeled, cheap filler plants everywhere (pansies and yarrow). You'd think with it being a "tulip" garden that they'd be proud to point out rare and beautiful types, and emphasize the history. But the garden is simply a place to oooh over the pretty and feel superior that they've got the money to spend to make everything aesthetic. My ag business degree pointed out that 15$-20$ tickets, crowded with elderly people with money, expensive building materials, and the hoity toity airs, that's it's a money draw for rich people to feel like they are in "nature" and to feel superior. So as a business it's doing as intended. I wouldn't visit if you are expecting a botanical garden or for it to be "medatative". - As a place for picture opportunities, it's a flop unless you want sour boomers making faces at you for trying to stay in one place long enough to catch a moment with no one in the background. It's so crowded you can't avoid them. I say this as a 50+ year old. - DEFINITELY you WILL be judged if you are wearing anything that could be construed as "immodest" ie: tank tops, cleavage, shorts, or skirts above knees. Oh, and nice, but expensive, jeans are too dressed down as well. The silent disapproval of medatative rich boomers glaring at your disgusting shoulders and knees is an unpleasant background experience we didn't expect. Having dressed normally for a warm day in perfectly decent clothes for any other "botanical garden". -NOT child or baby friendly, teens will hate it and the vibe. Overall, do not recommend, I regret wasting money on tickets, and I only don't regret the drive because we love hwy 49s beauty. As someone with a huge interest in plants and plant businesses, I delight in visiting these kinds of places, but this particular "hermitage" was a 3/10 and it's only rating that high because they did have some really beautiful tulips and water features. read more

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Great flowers. Interesting Hindu grounds with thousands and thousands of beautifully, arranged, tulips, and beautiful views of a Yuba River Valley. Well worth the $15 ticket. Everybody was super nice, parking was easy, bathrooms were great. We even found a cool nearby yurt on Airbnb we liked (not associated with the Hermitage). read more

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Absolutely amazing beauty every where even the ride getting there was astonishing! This hidden gem is pure beauty with a radiance of pure zen ‍ I loved every moment I was there, my eyes were on beauty overload! read more

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The tulip display is definitely worth the visit! It's an amazing garden and meditation place. read more

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A Must See! Such beautiful, breathtaking and peaceful gardens! Got lucky and there were not many people at all at 3pm on March 28th. read more

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Wow! We loved our visit! We came Friday, March 27th and the tulips were putting on a show!! We talked with a woman who has been before, and she said everything bloomed a little early this year. Mother Nature is on her own time. We traveled from Sacramento and it was worth the day trip. We went at 3pm and there weren't too many people. Just loved it! Would visit again. read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens - Community Gardens Near Me - Nevada City, California

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The gardens are breathtaking! I love tulips and was impressed by the vast number in the garden, the abundance of different colors and how tall they were. I enjoyed strolling around, there were a few different levels and some other structures that are part of the compound like a chapel, gift shop, pool, and meditation room. In addition to tulips the garden included many other flowers like Camellias, Wisteria, and pink Dogwood. While the gardens were 5-star I thought there are some logistics to be aware of to manage expectations. It can get very crowded. When I went, I felt I didn't get the Zen experience I was looking for because there were so many people. It was hard to get photos of the overall gardens without other people in the shot though close-ups for the tulips were more manageable. I didn't anticipate this to happen since I went on a weekday and essentially Crystal Hermitage is in the middle of nowhere. But people know about this place, and it seemed there were many organized outings from retirement groups/homes. So, if you want something quieter, I wouldn't recommend visiting in the mornings. When booking you can even see the slots and if you are near anything that is sold out (when I went I picked a slot that was between 2 sold outs) I'd stay away until a later hour. They are open until 4pm and the time slots after 2pm aren't as busy. It's a trek to get out here, almost 2 hours from Sacramento so essentially, it's a road trip. I think this is ideal for a romantic date, a road trip with a garden, and maybe some shopping in Nevada City or a stop and hike at the Old Highway 49 bridge. But be prepared because not everyone is into driving long distances for a garden (mostly kids and people that easily get car sick) Ananda Village has lunch at 12:30, meditation at 1:30, and yoga at 4:30 so there are many other things to do after viewing the garden. read more

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My adventure to this paradise was on April 24th 2025 at 9.00am, at the peak of the Tulip and Cherry bloom season. As if wafted from heaven this garden was a gift of divine providence The show of flowers were absolutely spectacular and stunning! Talk about flower power! The high altitude crisp air and light really manifest the incredible expression of energy in the flowers. Enjoy, if you are able to come within the peak bloom window. Look on their website to see when the blooms peak. And by the way the photos are real and are not generated by Ai as insinuated by some of my "friends." read more

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As many of you who follow my reviews know, I rarely deviate from food establishment reviews unless I come across something special. Or, particularly awful as a warning. This is one of those special ones. The gardens at this retreat/meditation/yoga center are truly amazing, as is the setting high in the hills outside Nevada City. There's a series of terraced garden areas that are beautifully manicured and curated in a magnificent display of color, mostly tulips. Which means you have to time it just right for a visit for the full effect. And, there's no set time, although sometime in April is probably a good bet, depending on weather conditions. You do not in any way need to participate or be a part of the retreat aspect of the place. A visit is just fine unless you seek spiritual enlightening, which wasn't my purpose of the visit. Although this is easily a five-star rating, I removed one as parking can be difficult, and depending on the location, you might have a long and arduous walk, steep slopes, lots of stairs. Plus, it gets very crowded in prime time, so the experience could diminish. I found it perfectly delightful regardless of those aspects, and the gardens are truly worth a visit. It's a bit remote out of Nevada City but a very beautiful drive. read more

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A beautiful place, peaceful, and those that are living/working There are very friendly. I went during the tulip season. I'm not sure what they do the rest of the year. Definitely worth checking out. read more

Worth visiting once if you are nearby. The grounds are well maintained. Lots of tulips and water features. Many photo opportunities of plants and flowers. It gets really crowded as the visiting season is very short. For some reason, I thought it would be bigger and cover more territory like Filoli in Woodside but this was much smaller than I anticipated. However, the garden was well designed and they really did a good job of utilizing the space they had. Staff are friendly and they really thought about the heat and thirst affecting guests. Kudos for at least providing water stations. Garden was stunning. read more

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Beautiful, peaceful place. The tulips are stunning and the design compliments the landscape. Highly recommend

It's tough for us world travelers to review this place. We have been to the largest gardens in the world in Lisse Netherlands called Keukenof so this place doesn't compare. But if you haven't been there then this place would be five stars. You do need a ticket so purchase that first online before traveling here. Wifey in fact did that five hours before traveling here! We luckily found parking close as we were here before they first open. Also print the directions that's provided online bc they don't have internet outside of Nevada City. Yup! Don't even use those Google map directions bc it will take you on a road to nowhere! Plus no internet happens quite often when you travel to obscure & out of town places like to lighthouses for example especially in Oregon! The gift shop here was tiny by the way. We came on a cloudy & lightly sprinkling day so the tulip colors popped. They did offer a light lunch but we were here for only thirty minutes so we didn't even want to stay longer. It did take us over ninety minutes to get here & we had to make a pit stop. I think you have to buy tickets online for the lunch so one must plan ahead. They do have various parking areas & a bus to bring you closer to the entrance as parking can fill up quickly. Saw out houses there but at least there was a single restroom on site. One really must plan ahead bc for instance there were a couple places you needed to remove your shoes if you were to enter these two buildings. It may be like a place of worship? We decided not to do that but it would be more convenient if you had shoes that can slip on & off. Bc it was a damp day & certain areas were hilly it was best to wear comfy tennis or athletic shoes. No heels or your heels will dig deep into the soil. We observed that this was a place can be spiritual. Funny how it was somewhat foggy too that gave that particular feeling like as if you were in Sedona. Other info: Wifey saw these particular gardens on Instagram via a local traveling guy & a video from the local channel 31 Goodday show. The floral lady Nancy who planted all of these flowers said that they are open until Mother's Day 2022. Maybe a nice drive for your Mom for Mother's Day especially if it's not raining! Enjoy if you decide to take that lengthy drive outside of Sacramento! read more

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We drove 1+ hours to visit (a few days after the Spring Tulip season ended). The gardens were alot more shaded than we expected, which was nice because the sun was hot & high 70s temp. Though probably only 1/2 the tulips plants were blooming than when the season started, it was still very impressive. They had "dead headed" the old tulip flowers, so everything looked fresh.Though signage declared otherwise; it did not seem wheelchair, stroller or recommended for those who have trouble walking.(Speaking from experience!) Also, though there is a playground outside the market, I wouldn't bring small children (unless they are Extremely obedient & can handle just looking & not running around as going off path ,touching flowers, etc is against the rules. We had the place pretty much to ourselves-maybe saw 6 people in the gardens while we were there. A docent was roaming around-available for questions. The gift shop is eastern mystical spiritual themed. The market had a variety of "healthy" brand name packaged food, cold case things like cheeses, drinks as well as onsite made heat upables (microwave in store). There were picnic tables under trees out side. That is the only area for picnics though! The whole place was very serene pastural with grassy knolls & geese nesting in the small nearby ponds. The retreat areas had old run down looking cabins-very summer camp vibe. overall, it's a photographer's delight & a great place to just sit & soak up being in nature. For the best experience, avoid crowds ! read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens s a magical, wonderful place to see tulips in bloom in the spring. I see that some visitors were disappointed to miss out on the blooms. Tip for future visitors-they post on their website during the months of March, April and May to provide updates on the expected bloom. This year, the rainy, snowy winter of 2023 so much so, that not only were the tulips a few weeks behind, they were in bloom longer than usual-well in to May. There is a handy "tulip watch" section of their website which is how I landed on a visit the first weekend in May. Tickets need to be purchased online and in advance, The $10 fee per person transports you to a lovely hillside with Mountain View's, rows and rows of tulips, water features and other flowering trees and plants. The gardens are located in the Anada village, a spiritual retreat area and are way out in the outskirts of Nevada City. Plan in advance if you're coming from far away and give yourself plenty of time to drive the winding roads along the Yuba River to get here. Because they do timed entry it doesn't feel overly crowded. It's truly a special place. read more

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You can't change into a different outfit made the experience lame. They market it like a beautiful garden to go to, but once you get there, it's more of a religious or meditation retreat. read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens - Rules - Community Gardens Near Me - Nevada City, California

The annual tulip festival in April was amazing! We were with an RV traveling group and this was the highlight of our trip. Was well worth the trip and time spent. Great for photo taking too. read more

We went to the tulip event and was not disappointed in any way! It was stunning. The tulips were showing off their beautiful angles and the location itself is wonderful. Nestled in the hills amongst the natural trees using the natural hillside landscape. This place is like something out of a fairy tale. The tiny church and the stunning looking pool all add to the ambiance here. I would definitely recommend to visit here and I will be back. read more

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I came out to take pictures today and it was peak season and absolutely beautiful! Everything was in bloom! Today is April 27 and a great time to visit for peak season!!! read more

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The tulips were magnificent despite the misty weather. Beautiful drive. Very kind docents.

Not as advertised. I expected more and didn't meet my expectation. Small garden with pools with rude staff.

These gardens were beautiful- beyond expectation! First time visitor. Highly recommend! read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens - Community Gardens Near Me - Nevada City, California

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Extremely disappointed and frustrated. As of April 14, there is not one single Tulip blooming. Our family paid the $10.00 per person fee at the entrance, but we were not told there was not anything blooming. Few planted Daffodils. read more

This is a lovely garden and worth the trip. Each year, they hand-plant over 17,000 tulip bulbs and hundreds of other sequential plantings. Different from week to week...If you are coming from out of the area, allow time to explore the Yuba River, Grass Valley and Nevada City. Excited to return in April 2022 after being closed during COVID. Note: Be sure to get your ticket in advance--no on-site tickets. read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens - Community Gardens Near Me - Nevada City, California

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My first time visiting this place and it was amazingly beautiful. I love the meditation room. The view was breathtaking and it was so clam and peaceful. read more

A spectacular array of tulips and gardens. Opted for the vegetarian lunch served for a little bit more money and it was delicious. I'm not a vegetarian and it was one of the tastiest I've encountered. The garden is not huge but it's spectacular. read more

The flowers are amazing:purple, yellows and reds...The paths allowed for the little child to run while there were benches here and there for me to rest. The stroller was helpful when the toddler tired, though many paths are gravel rather than paved. read more

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The Crystal Hermitage Gardens are breathtaking! I wasn't prepared for the stunning beauty of the 20,000 tulips, consciously and newly planned for 6 months each year. Everywhere you look, your eyes can feast on the richest wealth of nature in its flowers. No space is wasted in these few compact acres. I learned that about 70% of all visitors make yearly trips there - and now I'll be one of them. And check out the gift shop with its unusual and inspiring items! Even the parking attendants are great - super-friendly and helpful. During regular visiting hours, they'll direct you to the perfect parking spot. In my opinion, CHG cannot be highly enough praised. The tulips await you - so what are you waiting for? read more

The is a hidden gem located within the Ananda Village, about a half hour from downtown Nevada City. April is the "Tulip Season" over 160 varieties of tulips and over 16,000 flowers (of various types) are in bloom. This is a place of beauty, peace and tranquillity. It's a deal at only $6 (per person), but I opted for the 2018 Season membership for only $12. This allows me an unlimited amount of returns all thru the month of April/early May. It's a short, easy walk; limited stairs and spectacular scenery. read more

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We made a same-day booking for the garden and it did not disappoint! Perfect day beautiful views and wonderful timing for tulip blooms. It was my husband's first time visiting and he was duly impressed! Will definitely plan to return next year! read more

Crystal Hermitage Gardens - Community Gardens Near Me - Nevada City, California

This has to be one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever been to. Very well laid out, gradual paths. Spectacular scenery, gorgeous views! read more

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This was an incredibly beautiful garden. The tulips were abundant. The views were extraordinary and the grounds were expansive. However, the market on the grounds served food in single use styrofoam containers and there were no recycling bins available for the plastic cups which were used for water. This was unacceptable for a community garden and meditation ground. read more

Ananda Hermitage is one of my favorite spiritual highlights that I experience each year as I walk the grounds. Such beauty and peace can uplift and transform ones consciousness and soul. read more

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Awesome !!! Beautiful !! Gorgeous tulips .. I took a group there to visit the tulips on a rainy day in April and it still took our breath away. The nicest people there also, they gave us a ride to the tulips and answered all our questions. You have to see this place !! I plan on returning next year .. and hopefully, it will be a sunny day. read more

Went to this beautiful place in the summer and had the most amazing experience in my life. Beauty is everywhere and the great energy fills your heart with so much love and appreciation. It is a very special place, I highly recommend it! read more

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My family and I went here for Mother's Day. We really enjoyed our time there. We took tons of pictures! If you love flowers this is the place to visit! read more

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Crystal Hermitage is a place of peace and upliftment. Every time I visit I enjoy seeing the canyon and the Middle Fork of the Yuba River below, the flowers in bloom (as it seems like something is always blooming), and I stop in the chapel for some quiet moments (and my son was married there - an amazing place for a wedding!). I also really love the special Mandir on site for deep inspiration when it is open. I recommend visiting each year in April during "Springtime at Ananda" when around 12,000+ tulip blooms of all types and colors are up. AMAZING! Plus there are cherry trees in bloom and other delights gracing the Hermitage garden. I just can't say enough about this remarkable place. I highly recommend. read more

Absolutely gorgeous! Went when the tulips were in full bloom...breath-taking! I will try to post a pic or two. Took 82 yr old mom and she wants to go back this year and bring friends. Plenty of places to sit along the way. Handicap parking and a little shuttle bus to boot. Staff very knowledgeable and friendly. read more

Most incredible place to visit. Serene gardens and lovely people. Beautifully manicured gardens and the tulip festival is stunning

If you're looking for a little peace of mind, Crystal Hermitage is a haven away from the noise and busyness of daily life. The quiet and peace emanating from the grounds and the surrounding forest gently lifts my spirits every time I visit. I'm grateful that such a place exists so close to home. read more