Lan Su Chinese Garden

Having travelled through Asia before, I can say that this garden is the closest experience to that you can have in China. It has a beautiful tea house with a great selection of Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese and teas from all over the world, powered and run by the Tao of Tea. And not to mention the fact this spot serves GENUINE Chinese cuisine!
While making your way to the tea house, you cross bridges over the ponds that are full of life. Lots of spaces to meditate, do art or take pictures.
Make sure to go early in the day as this space is typically only open until 5pm. Enjoy to the fullest.

Even though I’m Chinese, this is actually my very first time touring an authentic Chinese Garden. The garden itself is not huge but it’s not small either — it feels very serene while you’re inside but as soon as you look up/​outside the garden walls, you’ll definitely see other skyscraper buildings in Portland towering over.
We really wanted to join in on the free tour, but our Guide was not very interesting to follow. She spent more than half an hour talking about stuff unrelated to the Garden and its history, so we decided to leave the group and explore on our own instead. We ended up visiting the tea house for an afternoon drink and it was a fun experience!

ONE OF THE TOP 10 THINGS YOU MUST DO IN PORTLAND!
This place is absolutely breathtaking! Can I say anymore. Whoa! (I’ll let the pictures speak for itself)
I first experienced this spot as the Japanese Garden was closed during the time I was in Portland. This lovely garden has been open since the year 2000 and was built by Suzhou artisans. This garden takes up an entire block of the city’s historic Chinatown district and is truly hidden gem in the Chinatown area.
The whole time I walked around I was imagining living in Portland and being able to see this Garden everyday. Iys truly a peaceful place to be and get away from the «real world».
The Garden incorporates a 2,500-year-old tradition of Chinese architecture, design, and nature to offer an elegant and one-​of-​a-​kind space. Can you believe they have more than 400 plant species?! Most of the plants featured in the garden are indigenous to China, but no plants were brought from China due to import bans. Some plants in the garden are 100 years old. They also have a majestic pond («Lake Zither»), mosaic pathways, and pavilions with intricate wood work. There was so much to see here I literally can spend hours in this lovely Garden.
There is a Tea at the tea house in the Chinese Garden which is a great place to have either a quiet meeting or just feel swept away for a moment.
Prices here are SO reasonable** they offer different discounts such as: AAA, Student and Military at great deals. The time I came there was this sweet lady at the booth that chatted with me about the garden and living in Seattle. Her personality truly matched the beautiful garden. (I wish I could remember her name).
This Garden is perfect for ***weddings and parties! Check there great deals out on their website. I definitely saw many people getting married here while I was visiting. It’s beautiful for pictures!
Upon coming here I had just missed the tour. The tour is supposed to be very informational and it sucks that I missed it so word of advice. …Arrive early for the tour.
This was truly my BEST part about visiting this amazing garden. There is truly no other garden that I have seen this far better than this garden!
DID YOU KNOW FACTS?:
~Lan Su is a walled oasis shoehorned into downtown Portland, overlooked by tall office buildings but sheltered and inward-​looking.
~ Lan Su Chinese Garden was designed as a natural escape from the everyday world.
** Bring a student ID to save $ 2 on admission.
*** Lan Su Chinese Garden is available to rent for weddings, private parties and corporate events after public operating hours.

«Portland’s Chinatown # 1 Attraction «
My wife and I visited the Lan Su Chinese Gardens in Portland Oregon last week and had a wonderful time. The Chinese Gardens are within a walled up, one city block area in a rough part of the city of Portland. Once you walk through the door and enter the Gardens, it is like going to Disneyland. It’s like no place on earth. You just can’t believe you walked in and see all the beauty, and historical culture of the Chinese people and their architecture. The amount of work and time that went into the individual hard rock flooring alone, is incredible. The Gardens are packed with Historical mementos about the Chinese culture. It was so refreshing and Interesting to tour the Lan Su Chinese Gardens.

Absolutely beautiful garden.
The cost to get inside is only $ 9.50, but the experience is well worth your time and money.
If you do not have the time (or money) to go inside, at least visit the wonderful gift shop. The shop is tiny, but it is packed with wonderful mementos of the garden and great souvenirs for children or adults.

Serenity now! Serenity now!
Does anyone besides me remember George Costanza? The character on the «Seinfeld» show bellowing those famous words? Yes? No? It doesn’t matter.
If you want serenity now, a peaceful place to park yourself, an oasis of blissfulness, look no further. Once you are inside the garden, the busy and bustling world outside its gates, fades into memory. It’s a gentle reminder to pay attention to your senses. You might hear a chittering sound and find yourself face to face with a brazen, babbling baby squirrel or a fearless, chatty bluejay.
Even on a still day, the bamboo rustles and inspires beautiful daydreams. It mesmerizes. It intrigues. There are unique and exotic flowers with such divine fragrances you just might lose track of reality for a moment. Embrace that feeling.
We are lucky to have such a jewel in our midst. Our traditional Chinese garden is influenced by the classical Chinese gardens of China. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited China (Suzhou included) and our beautiful Chinese garden rivals the authenticity and majesty of the classical Chinese gardens in China. It is also the most authentic Chinese garden in the United States.
There are many rooms within the garden that you can visit, all with spectacular and genuine Chinese artwork and furniture. You’ll also find a teahouse where you can relax with a cup of tea and watch the world go by or just sit quietly with a good book.
I attended a party for the 15^th anniversary of the Lan Su Chinese garden on October 8, 2015. During a speech thanking our city officials for the city’s support, we were reminded that we were practically standing on Chinese soil. All the rocks and the wood used for the bridges and the structures that you see were actually imported from China. 65 Chinese artisans that crafted our garden were from Suzhou China. The flora mirrors that of Suzhou and now Suzhou China is our sister city.
This garden has a special beauty regardless what season of the year or time of day. There is no wrong time to go. If you have not visited, I strongly urge you to do so and make haste. Don’t let another day go by without treating yourself to a retreat at the Lan Su Chinese Garden.
2015 — Review # 72

If I could describe this place in two words, it would be RELAXING and BEAUTIFUL. There is an admission to enter this establishment. Children, who are aged five and under are free, and adults are $ 9.50. I didn’t check out the other prices, but there might have been a children’s price or student’s price. When you walk in, they check your receipt as admission. There are sweet people, who work the entrance, and they are more than happy to offer you any advice or directions or information. The place has beautiful grounds in different shapes — sunflower, lotus, crabapple, etc. They were wonderful to look at, and I can’t imagine how much time it took to make them. The grounds are so well kept, and you can see the beginnings of autumn on this early October day. The whole, entire place is peaceful, and it’s a great place to gather your thoughts and/​or clear your mind. Plus, there are so many great photo opportunities. I think engagement pictures would be great here, and they even host weddings and events. Overall, it’s definitely a spot to hit when you’re in Portland.

During a recent visit, er, pig out to Portland, OR we were «tourist suckered» by going into Voodoo Doughnuts. Well, after eating a couple of their gut-​bombs, we continued walking in the direction of Old Chinatown. We soon came upon this peaceful botanical escape called Lan Su Chinese Garden (蘭蘇園).
Lan Su Garden was formerly known as the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. It was renamed in 2010 to honor its sister city, Suzhou, China. «Lan» represents Portland and «Su» represents Suzhou. This walled garden takes up a full city block and opened in 2000. It was designed by Kuang Zhen Yang and it took 65 artisans from Suzhou to build. Over 500 tons of rock were imported from China which includes the «Chinese Scholar’s rocks» from Lake Tai or Lake Taihu (太湖), a freshwater lake located near Shanghai. Because of agricultural import restrictions, many of the 400 plant species were selected from private gardens or nurseries, however, the plants are all indigenous to Suzhou, China.
In the center of this garden is an artificial lake, Lake Zither. Surrounding the lake are covered walkways, bridges and structures. These structures are:
— Celestial Hall of Permeating Fragrance (a xuan, or scholar’s studio for practicing the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar);
— Flowers Bathing in Spring Rain (a shuixie, or water-​side pavilion);
— Painted Boat in Misty Rain (a fáng, or boat-​shaped pavilion):
— Moon Locking Pavilion (a tíng, or stopping place); and
— Tower of Cosmic Reflection (a lóu, or two-​storied building).
We chose to do the self-​guided tour but they do have very knowledgeable and friendly docents available for a small fee. You can purchase your tickets online or at the ticket booth. Adult admission is $ 9.50, Seniors $ 8.50 and members are free. Included with the fee, you can participate in scheduled discussions or demonstrations that are held on certain days. They do also offer a tea service in their tea house for a separate fee.
While strolling through Lan Su Chinese Garden, we felt our minds, bodies and souls relax and calm. Lan Su Chinese Garden’s design brings China’s art, history, architecture and nature into perfect harmony.
#406

The garden is beautiful, well thought out, historically and culturally detailed, and truly an oasis in this part of downtown Portland.
Given all these good qualities, I’m not a fan. Lan Su feels claustrophobic when tourists, tour guides, and family strollers are added to the landscape. It’s wonderfully peaceful when few to no people are near.
I’d also like to give the tea house staff one star because they seemed too preoccupied with themselves to notice my raised hand, standing up and approaching them with them continuing to not notice me, and then me placing my tea menu back on the counter and exiting the building. Weird.

The Chinese garden is beautiful but not as beautiful as the Japanese or Rose Garden. It’s small and a quick walk with interesting little exhibits. If in Portland, give this place a go but don’t go out of your way to make it a destination.
It’s located in Old Chinatown and beware, there’s PLENTY of homeless folks surrounding the area BUT not IN the garden.
Don’t go too late and I wouldn’t recommend walking down Old Chinatown, esp if you’re a single female.

The Lan Su Chinese garden is certainly worth a visit, especially if you’re walking around Chinatown, or wanted to go on a nice scenic stroll after pigging out at the Voodoo doughnut shop just down the street. While the entire garden will take no longer than 15 minutes to walk through, I really liked the interior decoration, with the man-​made waterfalls, the region-​specific foliage and soothing nature of the familiar ancient architectures. I must admit, I was a bit surprised to see advertisement and price tags for unique Asian-​themed, lotus flower pottery, proudly displayed as ancient Chinese art; my girlfriend was inspired to buy them, while I was majorly put off.
Once you’re done with the tour, feel free to stop by the mini-​shop, but I didn’t find anything there that was really authentic or unique… just typical Chinese souvenir stuff.

THE Lan Su Chinese Gardens are an oasis in a hectic sometimes rough area. It is a full city block walled Chinese garden. it has several areas including a tea house and a gift shop outside the gate.
I have been a fan since I first heard they wanted to build this. The idea is cool.
The garden is based on the gardens of Suzhou, Portland’s Chinese sister city. Many of the materials in the garden come from China. This is one of the best examples of the Sister City program in Portland.
The garden is laid out around a central lake and has different rooms to see. I know that sounds odd but it is the best way to describe them the small walled off areas are interesting and feel different one from the other.
The garden has lots of seating I can stop and relax anywhere. I imagine this would be a great place to meditate as it just seems to take me there.
I am not sure it is possible to take a bad picture here. everything is so well designed and as you go you keep getting glimpses of what is next or where you were. There are even windows to the outside world.
I can wader around and sit by the lake for hours. Over the years I have enjoyed bringing visitors here. They have always enjoyed it.
Tip– check out the gardens website for history and its schedule lots of things happen here see when you want to arrive.

This garden is super calm and serene. I took my parents who were visiting this summer and they loved it. It was nice to hear that they offer free tours, which we joined, however the volunteer who lead it didn’t know much. She was very slow to get to the point, went off on random tangents and couldn’t answer any questions that the guests asked. I ended up leaving the tour as I didn’t find it beneficial and enjoyed roaming around on my own much more. The guide they give you upon entering has a plethora of information so a tour really isn’t necessary if the guide can’t give you any additional information not included on the guide.
We loved the fortune telling area and all of the fragrant plants and flowers. The tea house was a little disappointing as it is small and not relaxing so we decided not to partake once walking in… it didn’t seem to fit the vibe of everything else.
Overall, we would recommend this place for a nice, hour-​long stop.

Chinatown stops are notorious for being dirty and a huge rip off. However there was suprisingly friendly staff, reasonable admission prices (for students), and beautiful and well maintained gardens. It definitely reminded of the gardens in Suzhou I visited as a kid, but on a much smaller scale. My favorite part of the garden was the scholars room.
There’s also free Tai Chi lessons inside on Thursdays. Kinda fun to follow along and feel zen.

Lan Su is such a gorgeous oasis in the middle of the city, and especially in the middle of Portland Chinatown. The garden, while not large, is incredibly lush and verdant in the summer! Almost all of the flora is blooming and you really can almost imagine you’re a dynasties-​old emperor taking a leisurely stroll through his imperial gardens… or is that only me? In any case, everything is well-​maintained and beautifully organized around the central pool, and the many bridges/​foothpaths/​walkways mean you can wander through however you like instead of strictly linearly. One fun bit is the ancient Chinese fortune-​telling, and the calligraphy room is also not to be missed.
The volunteers are also wonderfully friendly and tell you about any upcoming events, offer plant guides, and suggest other advice.

An ideal location to be transported into another culture in Chinatown. Really, because in 1988 Suzhou, China, and Portland became sister cities. Later on 65 artisans from Suzhou built this magnificent garden with Chinese scholar’s rocks from Lake Tai, China. Most of the plants featured in the garden are indigenous to China. It is a must see! My wife and I go for reflection and tranquility in the wonderfully landscaped garden. Check out the plants, flowers, trees, rocks and water. We go for tea and lunch in the Teahouse. There are events happening all the time. Check out the calendar and GO! Today was a Taiko drumming event.
Taiko performers throttled drums with heart and energy – made the Koi in the pond dance. Volunteers, ME too, pounded the drum. It was awesome power and emotion I released into the drum! Now my elbow hurts, oh well!
I recommend the membership, good value, and go often.

Two words.
Tourist. Trap.
So Chinatown in Portland is laughable and about as deserted on a weekend as could be, probably populated by more homeless people than Chinese people. Anyways, looking for things to do and this was one of the recommended stops. I spent all of about 20 minutes here and that was me lingering around. Is it cool to have this garden in the middle of Portland? Absolutely, but was it worth the price of admission? I don’t think so. As to be expected it looks exactly like a Chinese garden you would see in China only at about ¹⁄₁₀^th the scale of the summer palaces you would see normally. It was nice to wander around the entire place for about 5 minutes take a few photos… and you’ve seen it all at that point. They do have a tea house inside the garden so that would allow you to kill some additional time.

Oh wow. Lan Su aka «Garden of Awakening Orchids» is quite a lovely surprise in an otherwise rundown Chinatown. Stepping into the garden makes you forget you are in Portland. The Chinese architecture is stunning and the well-​designed layout makes the garden appear much larger. The variety of plants featured is also impressive — their website states they have hundreds of native Chinese plant species and over 90 specimen trees. They have a Bloom Guide at the entrance with photos and locations of the plants.
The walking paths wind around and through a central body of water. There is a small waterfall within a rock formation in one corner. The buildings along the path contain different themed rooms and pavilions. There is a calligraphy display in the Scholar’s Study, a Lounge House, a Shrine, and a Koi pond. Guided tours are available as well.
The Garden was fairly busy with visitors and families when we visited during an April weekend, but it was still a tranquil and enjoyable experience.
Other notes:
–Entrance fee is $ 9.50, with discounts for students, seniors and AAA members.
–Teahouse onsite serves tea and light snacks.
–They host events like calligraphy demos, mandarin lessons, music in the teahouse, and Tai Chi. Check their website calendar.

This gem is not to be missed in Portland’s [small] Chinatown.
After an early morning trip from Eugene and a quick coffee pit-​stop, I walked to Lan Su. I was apparently so eager that I arrived before the garden even opened for the day. Fortunately, it was a gorgeous pre-​spring morning! Perfect for a leisurely morning outdoors.
The garden itself is, as you can imagine, quite tranquil. I would say that a solo visit is ideal to soak in your surroundings in silence (without someone saying «OH HOW PRETTY AND PEEEACEFUL!»), but I could be biased since that was my experience.
I also loved that they had a bathroom somehow built right into the gardens, because, coffee.
The admission price was reasonable. You can spend a good deal of time here, too, depending on your pace. I was here for about an hour, I’d say.
At the end of your visit, you can stop by their gift shop (s?) if you’d like. I believe they have two of them — one inside of the gardens and one outside.
I visited at the very beginning of March and the garden was still beautiful. So great.

3.5 stars
Such a pretty and peaceful place in the middle of downtown. Most of the walkways are covered so it’s easy to enjoy even in the rain. If you have kids with you ask for one of the treasure hunt guides and encourage the kids to explore and find each one while learning some interesting facts. The price is a little steep for such a small garden though. Despite the size I think you can still spend quite some time here if you really take the time to admire all the details in the architecture.

Pues lo primero que piensas que has de pagar 10 $ por entrar en un jardín es… «no me apetece» pero de verdad que vale la pena. Si te gusta el té tienen un sitio dentro que te encantara y la paz y tranquilidad que se respira dentro hace que te den ganas de quedarte un tiempo.