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.
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
Get Dunkin Refreshers for $2
All Day | $2.00
Stream the "Hamilton" movie with original Broadway cast from home
All Day | $0-7.00 | Virtual Event
Summer Scramble Scavenger Hunt
$20.00 | Oakland Cemetery
FREE HIgh Museum admission for frontline workers
FREE | High Museum of Art
Center for Puppetry Arts presents "The Adventures of the Gingerbead Man"
$11.00 | Virtual Event
CANCELED: Free Bird Stroll at Mason Mill Park
8:30 am to 10:00 am | FREE | Mason Mill Park
"A Garden with Wings" Butterfly House seasonal experience
9:00 am to 4:00 pm | $0-10.00 | Smith-Gilbert Gardens
Butterfly Encounter (enclosed butterfly house)
10:00 am to 4:30 pm | $0-10.00 | Chattahoochee Nature Center
United We Move: Home Work-Ins with Planet Fitness
7:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Metropolitan Opera offers FREE live streams of past performances
7:30 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Get Dunkin Refreshers for $2
All Day | $2.00
Stream the "Hamilton" movie with original Broadway cast from home
All Day | $0-7.00 | Virtual Event
Wicked Wednesday $5 sandwich deal at Which Wich Superior Sandwich locations
$5.00 | Multiple Locations
Summer Scramble Scavenger Hunt
$20.00 | Oakland Cemetery
FREE HIgh Museum admission for frontline workers
FREE | High Museum of Art
Center for Puppetry Arts presents "The Adventures of the Gingerbead Man"
$11.00 | Virtual Event
"A Garden with Wings" Butterfly House seasonal experience
9:00 am to 4:00 pm | $0-10.00 | Smith-Gilbert Gardens
CANCELED: Free "Just Walk" group walk events at Mason Mill Park
10:00 am to 11:30 am | FREE | Mason Mill Park
Butterfly Encounter (enclosed butterfly house)
10:00 am to 4:30 pm | $0-10.00 | Chattahoochee Nature Center
North Carolina Zoo virtual events
10:00 am | FREE | Virtual Event
Levar Burton reads to children
12:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Back Bends & Brews (yoga class + 1 beer)
5:30 pm to 6:45 pm | $15.00 | Glover Park Brewery
Levar Burton reads to teens
6:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
United We Move: Home Work-Ins with Planet Fitness
7:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Metropolitan Opera offers FREE live streams of past performances
7:30 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Get Dunkin Refreshers for $2
All Day | $2.00
Stream the "Hamilton" movie with original Broadway cast from home
All Day | $0-7.00 | Virtual Event
Summer Scramble Scavenger Hunt
$20.00 | Oakland Cemetery
FREE HIgh Museum admission for frontline workers
FREE | High Museum of Art
Center for Puppetry Arts presents "The Adventures of the Gingerbead Man"
$11.00 | Virtual Event
"A Garden with Wings" Butterfly House seasonal experience
9:00 am to 4:00 pm | $0-10.00 | Smith-Gilbert Gardens
CANCELED: Free Nature Walks with Ranger Jonah
10:00 am to 11:30 am | FREE | Mason Mill Park
Butterfly Encounter (enclosed butterfly house)
10:00 am to 4:30 pm | $0-10.00 | Chattahoochee Nature Center
Virtual group run/walk meetup
6:45 pm to 9:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
United We Move: Home Work-Ins with Planet Fitness
7:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Mobile Social group bike ride
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm | FREE | Meet at Woodruff Park
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre streams taped performances
7:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Metropolitan Opera offers FREE live streams of past performances
7:30 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Friday, July 10, 2020
Get Dunkin Refreshers for $2
All Day | $2.00
Stream the "Hamilton" movie with original Broadway cast from home
All Day | $0-7.00 | Virtual Event
Summer Scramble Scavenger Hunt
$20.00 | Oakland Cemetery
FREE HIgh Museum admission for frontline workers
FREE | High Museum of Art
Center for Puppetry Arts presents "The Adventures of the Gingerbead Man"
$11.00 | Virtual Event
"A Garden with Wings" Butterfly House seasonal experience
9:00 am to 4:00 pm | $0-10.00 | Smith-Gilbert Gardens
Butterfly Encounter (enclosed butterfly house)
10:00 am to 4:30 pm | $0-10.00 | Chattahoochee Nature Center
North Carolina Zoo virtual events
10:00 am | FREE | Virtual Event
Levar Burton reads to children
12:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Levar Burton reads to teens
6:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
The Night Market (with live music by Fix You, a Coldplay tribute band)
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm | FREE | Peachtree Corners Town Green
Pop-up drive-in movie: Aladdin
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm | FREE | Hurt Road Park (Cobb County)
United We Move: Home Work-Ins with Planet Fitness
7:00 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
FREE: 2nd Friday Art Stroll in Castleberry Hill
7:00 pm to 10:00 pm | FREE | Castleberry Hill
Film: Jaws
7:00 pm | $5.00 | SCADshow
Metropolitan Opera offers FREE live streams of past performances
7:30 pm | FREE | Virtual Event
Movies Under the Stars (limited capacity, requires registration)
7:30 pm | FREE | Brookhaven Park
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