Bok Tower Gardens: Tickets, Carillon Times and a Day Trip from Orlando

Bok Tower Gardens is about an hour south of Orlando in Lake Wales, on one of the highest points in peninsular Florida. A 205-foot marble and coquina bell tower rises out of gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and twice a day its 60 bells ring out across the hill. It's the calmest day trip you can take from the theme parks.

Bok Tower Gardens at a glance

• Address: 1151 Tower Blvd., Lake Wales, FL 33853
• Drive: about 1 hour from Orlando (I-4 west to US 27 south)
• Hours: gardens 8 AM to 6 PM, last entry 5 PM; visitor center, cafe and shop 9 AM to 5 PM
• Closed: Thanksgiving and Christmas Day
• Tickets (online / at the gate): adults $22 / $25, ages 6 to 17 $11 / $12, 5 and under free, dogs $10
• Time needed: about 3 to 4 hours

Prices from Bok Tower's site on November 6, 2026 (effective October 1). Online tickets are good for any day.

The Singing Tower and carillon concert times

The tower was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge on February 1, 1929, as a gift to the American people from writer Edward Bok. The whole garden is a National Historic Landmark. You can't go inside the tower, but you don't need to: the point is to hear it.

• Carillon concerts: daily at 1 PM and 3 PM, included with admission, with short selections on the hour and half hour.
• Live playing: from mid-October to mid-May, the resident carillonneur plays live Thursday to Sunday. Other times are recordings.

Find a bench by the reflection pool below the tower a few minutes before 1 or 3.

What to see at Bok Tower Gardens

• El Retiro: a 20-room 1930s Mediterranean-style mansion on the grounds (you may see it called Pinewood Estate on older maps). Tours cost $10 for adults and $5 for kids on top of admission, or $35 and $17 as a combo with garden admission. Hours change by season, so check before you go.
• Hammock Hollow Children's Garden: a play garden for kids, with water, digging and climbing.
• Window by the Pond: a small hideaway with a big window onto a pond, for quiet wildlife watching.
• Pine Ridge Preserve: a 3.5-mile trail through native pine forest, included with admission.

Christmas at Bok Tower 2026

The Holiday and History Home Tour at El Retiro runs daily from 10 AM to 4 PM from November 27, 2026 into early January 2027 (Bok Tower's event page gives both January 6 and January 10 as the last day, so check before a January visit), with the first floor of the mansion decorated for the season. There's also a Christmas cookie workshop on December 18 ($65, $40 for members, admission included). Bok Tower hasn't announced an evening lights event for 2026, but there is holiday music at the Singing Tower: The Nutcracker on the carillon with live ballet on December 12 at 3 PM and Carols and Carillon on December 20 at 4 PM, both included with regular admission.

Dogs, food and tips

• Dogs are welcome on a 6-foot leash (no retractables) for $10 each, but not in Hammock Hollow, El Retiro or the cafe.
• Food: the Blue Palmetto Cafe serves lunch and snacks from 9 AM to 5 PM. You can bring a picnic to the tables near the parking lot.
• Plan around 1 PM. Arrive by late morning, walk the gardens, eat, then catch the 1 PM concert.
• Veterans: free on Veterans Day (November 11) with ID.

Things to do near Bok Tower Gardens

• Spook Hill: a free "gravity hill" optical illusion on N. Wales Drive in Lake Wales, a few minutes away. Put the car in neutral and it seems to roll uphill.
• LEGOLAND Florida in Winter Haven is about 20 to 25 minutes away, so you can pair them with kids. See our LEGOLAND tickets guide and LEGOLAND Christmas guide.

Airboat tours on the way back to Orlando

Heading back toward Kissimmee? Boggy Creek Airboat Adventures is right off the route into Orlando's south side. An airboat ride through the headwaters of the Everglades to look for wild gators is a very different kind of Old Florida, and our link takes 10% off. See airboat tours near Orlando compared.

More day trips from Orlando

• St. Augustine day trip
• Springs near Orlando
• Clearwater Beach day trip
• Leu Gardens in Orlando

How to pay less at Bok Tower

The gate price isn't the lowest price. Bok Tower's buy online page lists adult tickets at $22 online against $25 at the gate in November 2026, and ages 6 to 17 at $11 online against $12. Dogs are $10 either way.

Other ways to save, from the admission page and the FAQ:

• Active duty military get in free every day with ID, and up to four friends or family pay half price.
• Retired military are free on Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day and Armed Forces Day.
• AAA members get $3 off the combo ticket with a membership card.
• Members of other gardens with reciprocal admission get in free. Show your card at the gate.
• Thinking of joining? You can put the day's admission toward a membership.

Paths, wheelchairs and mobility carts

Bok Tower is a historic garden on a hill, and its FAQ says so plainly. Most areas are accessible and the incline up to the tower is paved, but most other paths are mulched and some natural paths are uneven. The visitor map marks the ADA compliant areas.

• Wheelchairs are free, in limited numbers. Ask at The Shop at Bok when you arrive.
• Mobility carts rent for $10 an hour, $30 for a half day or $60 for a full day, as listed in November 2026 on the accessibility page. They're first come, first served, so the gardens suggest bringing your own if you can.
• Sensory help: the front desk in the Visitor Center lends a sensory kit with noise cancelling headphones and fidgets, plus a picture guide to the visit.

Getting there and what to leave in the car

Use 1151 Tower Blvd. in your GPS. The gardens' own directions from Orlando are I-4 west to exit 55, then US 27 south for about 23 miles. Two traffic lights past Eagle Ridge Mall, turn left on Mountain Lake Cut Off Road, right on County Road 17, then left on Burns Avenue. The entrance is 1.3 miles along on the left.

The picnic tables sit just off the main parking area, one group on the south side and a shadier one on the west side near the Visitor Center.

The visitor guidelines ban a few things you might pack for a day out: bikes, skateboards and scooters, drones, balloons, balls and frisbees, and any amplified music. The whole property is tobacco free.

One schedule note. Outside the holiday home tour, El Retiro's regular tour days are Tuesday to Sunday, so check the El Retiro page before a Monday visit. Tour tickets are sold at the entrance gate or the Visitor Center.