The Lae Botanic Gardens are the best reason to stop in the city. Spread across 38 hectares of natural lowland rainforest, the gardens feel less like a manicured park and more like a walk through primary jungle — enormous buttressed trees draped in epiphytes and climbers, creeks running through the understorey, and the sound of birds everywhere. The greenhouses hold specialist orchid and aroid collections.
The gardens also house the Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute, built with Japanese government funding in 1989, and the National Herbarium. It is a working scientific site as much as a public green space. The entrance is on Huon Road in the Eriku area, and there is no admission fee. Go in the morning before the heat builds.