Have a butterfly encounter this summer! You can get up close to hundreds of flying butterflies at local nature centers and gardens. If you’re lucky, you may have a butterfly land on your hand or arm. It’s a magical experience for kids and grownups alike.

We’re focusing on venues where you can enter a butterfly house, also known as a butterfly conservatory or lepidopterarium. (These are different from outdoor butterfly gardens.) They are special facilities designed for breeding and displaying butterflies, often with an emphasis on education.

Some of our local nature centers have special butterfly events in July, when the butterflies have emerged from cocoons and are in the adult state. If you visit, bring a camera!

Best places to see butterflies in Atlanta

Smith-Gilbert Gardens

2382 Pine Mountain Road
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152

Open July 1 – August 1
Tuesday thru Saturday
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Prices:
Adults — $10
Seniors (65+) — $8
Kids 3-17 — $5
Under 3 — FREE

A Garden with Wings Butterfly House opens to the public each summer. The newly expanded facility features butterflies that are native to Georgia, as well as their native host plants and plants that provide nectar for food. You can expect to see the entire butterfly life cycle here — from eggs to caterpillar to cocoon to adult.

This special exhibit is included with the price of garden admission (see prices above). 

You an also visit an outdoor pollinator garden that hosts a collection of annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs that attract and support native pollinators like bumblebees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

You must buy tickets online in advance, as there are no on-site sales right now. The garden is working on a timed-ticket entry system this summer.
More info here

Chattahoochee Nature Center

9135 Willeo Rd.
Roswell, GA

Open June 6 – August 2
Monday thru Saturday — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday —  noon to 5 p.m.
Note that the Butterfly Encounter closes at 4:30 p.m.

Prices:
Adults — $10
Seniors (65+) — $7
Students 13-18 — $7
Kids 3-12 — $6
Under 3 — FREE

The Butterfly Encounter takes place in a mesh tent on the nature center grounds each summer. This walk-through exhibit lets you get up close to hundreds of native butterflies surrounded by their nectar plants.  You can even hold a special “nectar stick” to entice butterflies to come to you.

If the exhibit inspires you to start your own butterfly garden at home, you can purchase nectar and host plants on site.

You must purchase your ticket online in advance. The nature center is operating on a timed-ticket system to limit capacity. No walk-ups are allowed. The time on your ticket is the time you may enter the Butterfly Encounter. You’re free to visit the rest of nature center after that.

The Chattahoochee Nature Center’s annual one-day Butterfly Festival will NOT take place in 2020.

More info here

Dunwoody Nature Center

5343 Roberts Drive
Dunwoody, GA 30338

FREE to visit
Open 7 a.m. to sunset

The annual Butterfly Festival is canceled for 2020. It usually takes place here each August. During the festival, you can enter mesh tents filled with colorful fluttering butterflies.  The festival also showcases the nature center’s birds of prey, reptiles, and other wildlife. Activities include craft stations, live music, nature scavenger hunt, face painting, and more.

Dunwoody Nature Center is always FREE to visit, although some special programs have a fee. 

On Saturday, September 5, 2020 from 10 a.m. to noon, you can participate in the nature center’s First Saturday program for FREE. This monthly event will focus on butterflies in September. Pre-registration is required.
More info on the First Saturdays program

Callaway Gardens

17800 US Hwy 27
Pine Mountain, GA 31822

Butterfly House is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The outdoor gardens and trails are open daily 9 a.m. to dusk

Advance purchase prices
Adults — $19.95
Seniors — $19.95
Kids 6-12 — $14.95
Kids 5 and under — FREEE
Military — $14.95 adult and $11.95 dependent child

The Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens is one of the largest tropical butterfly conservatories in the country. It’s a glass-enclosed facility that provides a complete ecosystem, complete with tropical plants that provide food for the butterflies.

The complete butterfly life cycle takes place inside the climate-controlled conservatory, which replicates the environment of a tropical rain forest — complete with a waterfall and pool. There are over 50 butterfly species in residence.

Purchase tickets in advance online to save $5 over on-site purchase of an adult ticket.
More details on the butterfly house

Freedom Park Bird & Butterfly Garden

The garden is located near the corner of North Ave. and Candler Park Dr.

FREE to visit

This is a bonus item, since it’s an outdoor butterfly garden and not an enclosed exhibit. Since Freedom Park is over 200 acres, the garden is unknown to many people.

The Freedom Park Bird and Butterfly Garden is a certified wildlife sanctuary. It is a joint venture between the Atlanta Audubon Society and the Dekalb Master Gardener Association. The garden includes more than 40 species of native plants.
More details

Find something to do this summer:

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Friday, July 10, 2020

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