Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory

We visited the Butterfly Conservatory during our trip in January to Niagara. An employee named Kyle gave us our tickets and was very friendly. We were the only group in the conservatory which added to the amazing experience. There were so many butterflies all over the conservatory. It was absolutely beautiful. Later on, Kyle came and found us and allowed us to see some of the butterflies’ first flights. He was very informative and provided us with a lot of information on butterflies, even answering questions. Kyle really made the experience that much better due to his enthusiasm and knowledge. I would highly recommend this place and will be coming back next time I visit Niagara.

This place is magical! Visited because it came with my Niagara Falls pass. You can take the bus from the visitor center to this conservatory so it isn’t too much out of the way. The staff is very friendly, educated, and obviously love their job. We came 5 minutes before they closed (which I know is a pain in the butt) but they were still very welcoming and greeted us with smiles. The conservatory is garden-​like… simply beautiful and filled with hundred of gorgeous butterflies. They also have a display with the different stages of the butterflies. It’s a lovely place to visit if you have some time… I was here for only 30 minutes and felt completely satisfied. Highly recommended!

So lovely… would have enjoyed walking the grounds longer but we were on our way to a wine tour. The conservatory itself was educational, with opportunities to test your knowledge, which I always enjoy.

I’m not a huge fan of butterflies. I know, that makes me a bad person or something, but I’m not a huge fan of insects and butterflies are insects with dramatic wings. That being said, I do surprisingly like this place. I mean, when I first went a few years ago I was pretty much dragged there but as for this second time, I’m the one who suggested the visit.
Of course because I find butterflies gross, one always lands on me within 5 minutes of entering the conservatory. I mean, I guess it’s cool and all. I hear some people really wish a butterfly would land on them. It does make for nice pictures.
Speaking of pictures, don’t forget your camera. You can get some really cool shots and video of butterflies. I got a nice video of a turtle trying to eat a butterfly (spoiler: the butterfly escapes!)
The cost is around $ 13 plus $ 5 for parking. The conservatory is on the grounds of the Niagara Botanical Gardens (which are free to visit) so in the summer is not a bad deal. The bonus of going in winter is the Butterfly Conservatory is a warm and cozy place to visit on a cold day.

There is beauty around every corner. I never expected so much to see. I thought I’d drive here and then go to Niagara on the Lake for a meal and be home but it’s 3 pm and I’m not done yet.

You walk into the conservatory and it is amazing, literally, breath-​taking, especially if you’ve never been to a butterfly conservatory before! I work at a butterfly conservatory in Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A. [at the Museum of Life and Science] and was absolutely blown away. The area is huge, which allows space for you and the other patrons, with multiple levels of rock walls {handicap accessible}, floral arrangements, tropical trees. And there are butterflies EVERYWHERE! All over the windows, in the air, covering the flowers, all areas you look! They actually raise about 40%+ of the butterflies in house, which allows for quicker turn-​around time from chrysalis to butterfly; additional butterflies are brought in from South American and Southeast Asia. Plus, on top of the butterflies, there are amazing tropical plants, (smell the orange trumpet flowers!) and the staff in the conservatory are VERY helpful. If you ask questions, they will answer! I cornered one of the staff and ask dozens of questions, she was very informative and incredibly helpful. It made the experience not only visually stunning but very educational as well. Definitely recommend this activity anyone in the area, kids and adults alike. The only thing I wish they had was a butterfly guide for individuals. You can ask the staff about specific species (which I did many times!) and they do have a big description of every butterfly outside the conservatory, but it’s easy to overlook AND hard remember everything. A butterfly guide would make this extra perfect!
The Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory is part of the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens, however, unlike the gardens, the butterfly conservatory is not free. For $ 13.95CA (plus $ 5 for parking) you can visit the butterfly conservatory, and it is WELL worth it! Enter the botanical gardens and head towards the back right, you can’t miss the building (or signs pointing you in the correct direction). You are invited to watch a five-​ish minute video pre-​entering the conservatory, highly recommend. You learn a LOT watching the video, even if it was filmed in the 80’s, and your anticipation builds!

This is a must see.
It was the highlight of my trip. Where else can you see thousands of Butterflies freely flying around inside a building and they land on you. Bring a camera you will be blown away. Show up early in the day. They are more active. You can take 30 minutes or hours inside.

So glad that we stopped here along the rode while visiting Canada ! It’s great for kids and adults! Beautiful, relaxing and enchanting!!! Visit is a must !

This is a beautiful place to visit while you are in Niagara Falls. I spent hours just looking around and taking videos and pictures of many butterflies. Often butterflies would lend on me and wait a moment before leaving. It is quite hot in the greenhouse so if you go in the summer, like I did, make sure you wear light t-​shirts. I was wearing orange and it seemed more butterflies were attracted by it and landed on my back. It’s when people started to photograph me, that I realized I had many on me.
The little museum presentation at the entrance is okay, but not as fun as being inside with them. Of course the boutique at the exit sells everything and anything you can imagine with butterflies as a decoration.
This is a great place for kids, but they will get hot and tired quickly, so be ready to walk fast and go…

I saw this attraction with the Niagara Parks Adventure Pass Plus ($ 80 per person). This was another attraction that I «didn’t need to see» to make the pass worth my money, but it stayed pouring so we ended up going to ditch the rain. We took the WeGo bus so we had no worries about parking or needing to pay.
We spent about 20 – 30 minutes here looking and taking photos of the butterflies. I wish they would make the movie from 1993 mandatory because there were SO MANY PEOPLE trying to pick up the butterflies! It’s one thing if a butterfly lands on you but DO NOT pick one up!

My sweetie loves butterflies, so I took her to the Butterfly Conservatory as a Mother’s Day treat. While I think butterflies are pretty, I’m not passionate about them, but I figured that I’d have a good time seeing her smile and hearing her make happy noises (and I certainly did). But this place wildly exceeded my expectations.
For one thing, it’s heavily geared towards educating poeple about the declining number of butterflies, and the reasons the numbers are declining. It’s not just about seeing the pretty butterflies, but also about learning something. (Although, I suppose, if you’re really determined, you could go through the whole experience without learning anything, but where’s the fun in that?)
For another thing, the sheer number of butterflies is overwhelming. It’s a photographer’s paradise, with riotous colours flashing past you, and maybe even landing on you. (I saw one little girl with four [count ‘em!] butterflies perched on her hand.) One landed — briefly — on my sweetie’s head, right on her barrette, looking for all the world like a hair ornament (and, incidentally, complementing her hair colour quite nicely), but it took off again before I could capture the moment.
We’ve been through the butterfly exhibit at the Vancouver Aquarium, and that was enjoyable, too, but this habitat is much bigger, and holds many, many more butterflies.
And, sadly, for some people, the number of butterflies is a problem. We saw a number of children (and, sadly, some adults) who were actually scared of the butterflies, and freaked out if any landed on them. (We also saw some children grabbing at the butterflies. Fortunately, none of them managed to grab and harm any while we were there.)
(The staff, however, are awesome. We heard one of the staff in the gift shop spending a lot of time calming down and cheering up a young girl who had been frightened by the butterflies. He was friendly, and calm, and gentle, but he stayed on-​message, too, saying things like, «No butterfly anywhere in the world will ever hurt you. They can’t bite and they can’t sting.» She probably didn’t go home a buttefly fan, but at least she didn’t go home traumatised.)
The gift shop is pretty large, with a range of price from a couple of dollars for little fridge magnets to «you want HOW MUCH for that?» It’s pretty heavily skewed towards butterflies (which is a good thing, as I’ve been in other gift shops that had precious little stuff which had any relationship whatsoever with the place where the gift shop was located).
There is an admission fee. Whether it’s worth it is up to you to decide. If you get a Niagara Falls Adventure Pass, you get a discount on admissions to the Butterfly Conservatory, as well as to other local sites (like Journey Behind The Falls and the Whirlpool Aero Car), as well as WEGO access for two days (which could save you the parking fee, since the conservatory is on the WEGO Green Line).
There is also a café on site, but we didn’t get to try it, because it closes at the same time as the conservatory, so if you’re planning to see the conservatory first and then eat, either plan to head to the café well before the conservatory closes, or plan to eat somewhere else.

This was my first visit to any type of Butterfly exhibit — ever. I went because a friend of mine wanted to go and so — camera in hand — I reluctantly went. That’s what friends do, right?
I’m so glad I went. The warm, misted oxygen-​filled air felt like a south sea island vacation — but without the beach, waves and skimpy beachwear. The atmosphere was truly refreshing and relaxing.
I haven’t been this excited behind a camera lens for a very long time. I was thinking «butterflies, big whoop-​de-​do». Well it was actually. Tropical plants, flowers and, of course, the butterflies made it a memorable experience. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here’s a few thousand that say much more than I could possibly say.
Even if it’s only once, it’s worth the trip.

This is a beautiful attraction with friendly staff, but I’ve been to zoos, aquariums and museums with a lot more to see and do, including butterfly exhibits, for the same price or less. The surprise parking fee didn’t help. On the bright side, children five and under are free. Just bear in mind that a single adult admission is about $ 13 US dollars.
My husband was a little let down by the nocturnal exhibit, but we were able to pet a python. In addition, there’s a small assortment of tarantulas, emperor scorpions, hissing cockroaches, frogs, turtles, leopard geckos, bats, ferrets and rats.
The actual butterfly conservatory is beautiful with two stories and a waterfall. I did not see any staff inside the actual exhibit, nor did anyone inspect us for stowaways on the way out, which was surprising. Fortunately most people were very respectful of the butterflies, but I did see a couple ex-​butterflies who appeared to meet human related ends.
The gift shop was half the size of the butterfly exhibit, and bigger than the nocturnal exhibit. There’s also a separate café opened seasonally.

Yo, don’t be judgin me but yea, this spot was the ish.
Mah homie suggested we get drunk and hit up this conservatory… so we did. Best spot evaaar.
Butterflies everywhere… in my hair, on my shirt, on my arms… literally, everywhere.
The colors of these flying bugs were redic.
Yea, I admit it, I love this spot.

I liked being in a mini tropical rainforest with butterflies fluttering about their way. Sometimes gently landing on you or snacking on fruit out of your hand. So delicate like fairies. Just switched my mood and could not switch off the smiles it brought me. It’s not a big space. Nice experience if you are visiting the falls.

Yes. Butterflies in March. Lots and lots of them. Varieties? Yes, again.
The staff was excited to engage and knowledgeable about everything from the butterfly stages to the little cayman and ferrets in the lobby area.
We were all really happy with the visit and very surprised at the number of species encountered. It was a calm day regarding number of visitors and many of the inhabitants decided to hitch a ride on us while we strolled through the exhibit!

I’d give this five stars as it is quite an amazing place, but its relatively small size and scope does not justify an admission of $ 13.50 per person. I notice that many attractions in Ontario seem to be seriously overpriced and frankly, I think they’d make up on volume if they cut their admission prices, as the ROM did not too long ago.
Having said that, this is still a very neat place. There are about 45 species though not all are equally as obvious. Especially fun are the huge blue morphos and the owl butterflies (who seem to spend much of their time eating the fruit they are offered). There are pretty smaller gems too, like the red postmen and the lovely green malachite butterflies. You can also watch the butterflies coming out from their chrysalises and drying off their wings before flying out into the conservatory.
One drawback is that they don’t give you an identification sheet with the admission, which would have been helpful in labeling photographs later on.
The plant selection and tropical waterfall are pretty too, though I don’t think it included tropical specimens that were especially unusual.

This conservatory was a LOT cooler than I thought it’d be. It only costs about $ 13 to get in. Parking is about $ 5. It’s not the biggest conservatory. I took my time there and spent about 45 min-​1 hour to complete everything. I am a nature person, so I can see this not being for everyone. It’s definitely a place to check out at least once in your life though!
I loved how you start the conservatory walking through displays and signs informing you about butterflies. There’s not many, but the one’s that are there teach you some pretty interesting things. Some of the displays are even interactive and they have you guess the answers. Really neat!
The main part of the conservatory feels like you’re in a mini rainforest within a greenhouse. It’s really cool. And there are literally butterflies EVERYWHERE!!! They’re all around you and it’s awesome! I expected them to be in separate containers of some sort, so it’s nice to be admiring the butterflies as they are flying around freely. Watch your step though. I saw a few butterflies that were accidentally stepped on.):
I would love to come back here. I had so much fun taking photos and chasing the butterflies. They even have a small waterfall section, a display for hatching butterflies (made me cringe but it was still cool to see), and even plates of oranges for butterflies to eat from. Try to stop by if you can!

If you think butterflies are beautiful this is a must-​see. It allows you to be in close proximity to a butterfly in contrast to foolishly chasing them in a field.
Don’t expect many rooms though. There is an educational video that discusses butterflies before entering the conservatory. This is followed by a single room that is a replica of a butterfly’s habitat with descriptions of the different types of butterflies. With just one room, it’s a pretty small conservatory but it’s an adequate amount of exposure to butterflies. It’s really quite beautiful with all of them flying around.
Be weary with small children, because quite a few of the butterflies got stepped on or enclosed in fists.

This is my favorite place in Niagara Falls. It is not very big, but there are tons of butterflies of all different colors and sizes. Never have I been up close and personal with so many butterflies so it was definitely a magical experience. If you stand still enough, they’ll park right on you. It was a little bit humid inside so dress comfortably. Also, watch where you step so you don’t stomp on one.
Aside from the butterfly exhibit, the gardens outside the conservatory are absolutely beautiful. It was nice to just stroll around and enjoy the green space and fresh air. I highly recommend stopping by the conservatory if you are in the area. Even if you don’t think you like butterflies, you will still walk out of the conservatory with a huge smile and a greater appreciation for these graceful creatures.