Green View Garden is one of the first attractions on the way up to Cameron Highlands from Ipoh. Assuming you’re taking the new route.
What are the highlights of stopping here? How much are then entrance fees? What activities are there for kids?
We’ve been here a few times, and this is what we can say about this place!
Entrance Fees
For now, there are no entrance fees imposed on any visitors. The mini zoo is free too.
But the paddle boats cost RM10 to rent. And the toilets have an honesty box where the expected charge is RM0.20 per person.
Available Facilities
At this place, there is a visitor center, café, restaurant, mini zoo, and a garden.
What’s nice is that they have a visitor car park in front. This is spacious and free of charge but not sheltered from the rain.
The visitor center has an attractive A-frame arch right over the entrance. As well as a wheelchair ramp.
If the chocolate shop (Avant Chocolate Cameron Highlands) next door is closed, this visitor center is the only way to enter the building (and gardens behind).
Attractions
All of the attractions are past their visitor center. And thus, the only way to access them is through the visitor center.
There is an archway on the right-hand side of the counter. And it leads into the outdoor café that opens out to the toilets, garden, and the rest of the park.
Watch this video of the scenery:
1. Flowers
You can see many different flowers here. Not fields of them, but well-tended areas. Including some lavender bushes.
There’s also a trellis covered in orange flowers that the birds go crazy for. And clock vines that hang from the trellis to the side of the café.
We saw some grapes hanging near the central rabbit enclosure.
There are some beautiful ferns at the seating area of the Japanese cafe too. The front of this cafe has a neat little rock garden too.
If you’re hoping to see cacti, massive monstera, or exotic carnivorous plants though, you won’t see these here.
2. Birds
There is a sizeable brick bird house on the side of the Japanese cafe. The enclosure has large glass panes that allow visitors to look in on the many budgerigars inside.
The bird enclosure looks well maintained. And they had many roosting places and some space to fly around too.
Recently, they’ve expanded this area so that visitors can go in and feed the birds (at extra cost). We didn’t see anyone partaking in this activity during our last visit though. The aviary is not as attractive as the one over in Agro Market.
3. Paddle Boats
Not far from the open-air café is the raised pond where all the paddle boats are docked.
It costs RM10 to use one of these boats. The size of the plastic boats suits children a lot better than adults.
Note: No lifejackets are given.
4. Photo Set Ups
There is no lack of photo backdrops in the gardens. You can pose in front of the stylish Japanese cafe. At the back of the gardens, are some colorful beach shacks (you can’t go in them, they’re just for posing in front of).
Other photo set ups include a colorful stationary train made of concrete tunnels. As well as a jeep in pastel hues, a fountain, and a red windmill.
Besides these, there is another tunnel made of tilted squares in different colors. And a large dragon that you can climb up the back of.
Giant metal cartons at the side of the central rabbit enclosure offer another photo opportunity.
5. Mini Zoo
The mini zoo is further back. The rabbits have two spacious enclosures to themselves.
Their neighbours are some ducks and chickens.
The goats of many different ages, sizes and colors are grouped together in the same pen. We saw one kid (a baby goat) wandering freely among the garden though.
Besides the furry animals, there is a koi pond and a tiny tortoise enclosure between the toilets and the café. Honestly, the tortoises and turtles are pitiful in their tiny algae infested pond.
PS: We did not see any animal feed for sale here. There are no staff members around the gardens or mini zoo either.
6. Strawberry Farm
At the moment, there is no option of self-picking strawberries.
But it looks like this is their intention in the future. Because there are many rows of hydroponically grown strawberries next to the bird enclosure.
We saw staff picking strawberries and taking them to the back of the visitor center.
7. Yoyo Car
These are close to the paddle boat station and rabbit pen. It’s a fenced-up concrete compound with some small ramps.
What To Eat
We had lunch at the on-site Japanese cafe before. The food we ordered was a katsu chicken bento set that included miso soup, a slice of cake and mousse dessert. It was decent (higher than our expectations in fact). The chicken was crispy, and the mousse had a nice texture. The cake was just alright.
Note: Prices at this restaurant are high if you’re coming from Ipoh, but normal if you’re used to KL prices.
What stood out to us were the scones. They have classic scones, chocolate scones and lavender scones. The latter is special and worth ordering.
Note that you cannot have a mix of flavors if you just order 2 scones. Our 4 scones came with a saucer of delicious chocolate sauce, whipped cream, butter, and 4 sweet and large strawberries.
Lastly, we tried the lavender homemade ice cream. This was sweet and did not have an overpowering taste of lavender. It doesn’t taste of lavender. But rather like vanilla ice cream with a slight floral flavor.
They sell several flavors of homemade ice cream – these cost around RM11 a pop and include flavors like matcha, Sakura, chocolate, etc.
The kitchen for both the open-air café outside the visitor center and the Japanese restaurant appear to be the same. It just depends on where you prefer to sit.
We’ve also had strawberry juice and their signature strudel at the other seating area. We ordered these straight from the counter in the visitor center. Not big fans of the service (the staff is not friendly and seem reluctant to serve us) or strudel (probably wasn’t that fresh since we had it in the late afternoon), but the juice was refreshing.
Note: You can order the same things from the counter at the visitor center. Or from the counter inside the on-site Japanese restaurant.
What You Can Buy Here
Right at the outside of the entrance is a small market section for things like cherry tomatoes or other vegetables.
There are lots of unique in-house products to browse through inside the visitor center. And you can do so at your own leisure since there is no staff pushing for sales.
Their in-house products include biscuits and chips of various flavors. Lavender drink concentrate, chocolates (also of many flavors), and tea.
A small toy section at the left side of the shop will be hard to resist for the little ones.
Aside from packaged goods, there are fresh cakes and homemade ice cream for sale at the counter. The counter is at the back of the visitor center.
Summary
What we like:
- Attractive grounds that are well-maintained
- Free entry
- There is an on-site café and restaurant
- Homemade ice cream of many flavors is available here
- The gift shop has some novel products to check out
- Paddle boats!
- Many opportunities for photos
- There are toilets and many places to sit down
- Birds look happy in their enclosure
- Rabbit enclosures are very spacious
- Whole area (except the carpark) is protected from rain
- Easy parking
- No need to climb any staircases (though there are some steps to get over)
What we don’t like:
- Goat pen is too small (but they do occasionally leave their pens on their own)
- Duck and turtle enclosure needs better maintenance
- Food is pricey
Conclusion
Green View Garden is a lovely spot to explore on the way to Cameron Highlands. If you have kids, they will enjoy the paddle boats and seeing the different animals here.
For those keen on snapping pretty photos, there are many attractive photo set ups as well.
And because there are no entrance fees, there’s reason not to visit this place. The fact that they have their own parking lot is a big bonus too!
You can include this attraction as part of a day trip from Ipoh to Cameron Highlands with RayTherTour. Book a tour (WhatsApp).
Agro Market
While Agro Market has entrance fees, they are still reasonable considering how much you can see here! They have beautiful garden sections, a mini Santorini setup, and some animals too.
CH Flora Park
CH Flora Park is notorious for their steep entrance fees. The only way to reach this vast hilltop park is with their shuttle service from behind Kea Farm Market too. But if you’re able to manage walking in their hilly terrain, their gardens are indeed very beautiful.