“Pavel Covaci” University Botanical Garden, Macea

About “Pavel Covaci” University Botanical Garden, Macea

At a glance: Parks and gardens in Macea, Arad County. Opening hours: Monday–Friday 08:00 – 16:00, Saturday–Sunday 09:00 – 19:00. Open from 1 March to 30 November. Ticket: 6 lei. The visit takes 1½ – 2 hours. Information verified on 11 October 2026.

The Macea Botanical Garden, about 25 km from Arad, covers 21.5 hectares around the Csernovics Castle and belongs to the “Vasile Goldiș” Western University of Arad. The park began as the garden of the noble Csernovics family in the 18th century, and in the 19th century it was extended by the Karolyi family, after Petru Csernovics brought back exotic species such as ginkgo from a journey to the Orient in 1845. According to Wikipedia, it was made a dendrological park in 1968, passed to the university in 1990 and has run as a botanical garden since 1994. Since 2010 it has carried the name of Professor Pavel Covaci (1913–2006), its founder. The garden's website speaks of more than 3,800 taxa; the university's page gives more than 2,000 species of trees and shrubs.

The garden is split into three zones: about 10 hectares laid out for the public, 3.5 hectares of dendrological collection and about 8 hectares of forest vegetation, with oaks, black locusts and maples. The dendrological collection, founded in 1969, can be entered only in a group, with a guide.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: Macea is about 25 km from Arad, in the Crișuri Plain, between the Mureș and the Crișul Alb. The garden is in the centre of the commune, around the Csernovics Castle; in your GPS look for “Grădina Botanică Macea” or “Castelul Cernovici”.

Public transport: the official website gives no information on public transport; check the Arad–Macea connections before you set off.

Fees & discounts

Adult ticket: 6 lei. Reduced ticket: 3 lei, for preschoolers over 3, pupils, students of other universities and pensioners. Free entry for UVVG students and staff, FVG staff, children under 3 and people with disabilities. Guiding for groups costs 50 lei an hour, professional photography (albums, weddings, christenings) 150 lei per session; filming costs 150 lei an hour. The rates are those on the official website, on an undated page; It is not stated whether the museums are paid separately.

Rules

The dendrological collection can be visited only in a group, with a guide. In botanical parks you keep to the paths, do not break plants and do not pick flowers, fruit or seeds; professional photography and filming are charged, according to the official rates. The garden's rules are not published on its website, so check at the entrance what is allowed (pets, bicycles, picnics).

Facilities

laid-out paths · main entrance accessible by wheelchair (according to OpenStreetMap) · Botanical Museum, seed collection, Herbarium, Ethnographic Museum and Hunting Museum in the former hunting lodge · caricature museum in the castle · covered wooden tables near the castle · no information on a café, restaurant or toilets