Autumn and winter can be annoyingly long and exhaustingly gray in Berlin. For your monthly dose of vibrating green, nose-tickling flower scents and tropical humidity take a tour to the southwest and visit the Botanischer Garten.

The big tropical greenhouse is one of the largest in the world and displays plants from South African arid environments and the sweltering Amazon jungle — don’t miss the two-meter-wide floating leafs of the tropical water lilies.