Forestiere Underground Gardens — Attraction in Fresno

This place is so worth the Money! It's GORGEOUS 🤩 and it's history is amazing! My whole family loved it! Children 5 and under are Free! Adults are $19.00 each 5 and up to 17 are $9.00 each. My family of 6 with 2 children under 5 paid $56.00. Our tour guide Latieshka was wonderful! Man she knew her stuff! She also memorized everyone's name on the tour😳, made sure everyone stayed six feet apart from each other and wore masks😷 and showed us where the hand sanitizers were, she also gave us ample time to take pictures and tore the area she was talking about. She made it very exciting for us to learn about the underground caverns, she was funny and very kind to my little ones. At first when I paid for my tour Cami rang me up, she complimented my Mickey mouse loungefly backpack and my coordinating wallet she asked about everybody's ages and gave us pricing. She was so very friendly and polite. At the end of the tour Shera was also very polite and wrapped up our souvenirs carefully and also complemented my backpack and wallet. We were so very amazed with every single area of the tour and the history behind it I would recommend anyone who has never visited Fresno to take that tour because it is awesome history and absolutely stunning. If you are also a religious person especially if you are Catholic the holy Trinity plays a big part in the making of these underground caverns because the maker was originally from Sicily and they are very big in religion there. There are so many picture opportunities and especially for people who are photographers or into photography or if you want to take wedding photos oh my goodness this is the place you want to do it at! at the end of the tour or at the beginning of the tour if you are in the ballroom the restrooms are upstairs to the right and if they are full they have a porta potty if you need it. There are hand sanitizers as well and there is a little gift shop with some refreshments, Gatorade, water, red bull, Iced tea. I personally loved the Angel earrings. I would definitely recommend this as a first date outing it is very...

EDIT: I’m so glad you decided to respond in such a condescending way. The policy is listed on your website you say.. not under the main page, or the ‘learn more’ tab. We finally found it under the FAQ page where it says are children welcome? Which we didn’t click because we already saw where we could reserve spots for children. We were not offered a refund when the manager “became aware”, the same woman who told us no car seat last second was the one who also said “just refund them” after we insisted that guest passes wouldn’t suffice as a refund. Not interested in carrying my baby?? I was gonna carry his car seat. 12 years in the military, I have a bad back so having the car seat would have provided me with the opportunity to set him down occasionally to give my back a break which wouldn’t have been an option with no form of carrier. Your policy would be better noticed if placed on the learn more page or possibly a reminder at checkout as opposed to a FAQ page most people don’t look at. I don’t operate with the mentality that small businesses mistreat me, nice try trying to paint me with victim mentality.. real classy. Most small businesses are more up front with their policies and show a bit more humanity than that of your business. This rude and condescending response coming from the Director of Operations just goes to show the lack of respect your company truly promotes.

Drove over an hour to come see this garden. Turned us away because my 6 month old was in his car seat. They told us no strollers due to the risk of it running into things in the garden(okay, understandable I guess) then right when we go down to the start, tell us no baby carrier. We said we would like a refund for our reservation and they tried to tell us they could refund us with guest passes??? Uhh no. I didn’t pay in guest passes so I will not get refunded in guest passes. We got a refund but still disappointing that small businesses like this behave in the manner they do. Wouldn’t recommend for a family day because they aren’t...

Visiting the Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno was a unique experience with both positives and negatives.

Pros

Smooth Entry: We visited midday and found that it wasn't very busy. We were able to get right in without any hassle, which was a pleasant surprise. Friendly Staff: The staff were all very friendly, making us feel welcome from the moment we arrived. Clear Tour Expectations: Before the tour started, we received clear expectations regarding the tour's length, walkability, and other details. This helped us prepare and enjoy the tour without any surprises.

CONS

Misleading Name: Given that it's called "Forestiere Underground Gardens," we expected a more extensive garden tour. In reality, it's just a handful of citrus trees placed in a hole, which was disappointing. Lack of Knowledge: When a tour member asked about tree grafting in the first room that features a grafted tree, the guide didn't have a clue about how it's done or what can be grafted together. This lack of knowledge was frustrating. I'm not a matter gardener but do know the basics of grafting this should be in the guide's basic training

Focus on the Creator: The tour content was almost exclusively about the man who dug the gardens, Baldassare Forestiere. While it's nice to learn about him, the tour felt more like a museum dedicated to him rather than a garden tour. The guide went on and on about him, which became tiresome. Replica Items: There were many items staged in the tour that looked suspiciously like replicas. While conservation sometimes requires replicas, encouraging people to take photos of items that aren't authentic felt misleading. (like a clearly plastic tree in the center of a table)

Overall, while the Forestiere Underground Gardens have some charm, they fell short of our expectations as a garden tour. The focus on the creator and the presence of replicas detracted from the...