- Stunningly beautiful butterflies up close and personal
- Detailed tour by informative guides
- Lush enclosure with ample opportunity to just sit, relax and observe
- Pay once, visit as often as you like during your duration of your trip
- Very humid in the mesh enclosure
- Fairly small area to walk around in; vegetation often in your face
- Tour can be a little too scientific for the casual observer
- Address: J. Irausquin Boulevard, Oranjestad, Aruba
- Phone: 297-586-3656
- Hours: Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (half-hour tours; last starts at 4)
- Admission: $13 adults, $6 for children ages 4-16 years, 3 and under free
- Other amenities: Gift shop
The tour is amazing in its detail and riveting as guides explain the life cycle of some of nature’s most delicate and delightful creatures. The “famous” tour (isn't every tourist attraction either “famous” or “award-winning”) shows the evolutionary cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to glorious winged works of Mother Nature’s living art. Truly amazing stuff, even more so if you come early in the morning when you might catch a butterfly birth.
The possibilities for capturing truly spectacular photos abound, even with a basic digital camera. Be patient, and watch where the butterflies like to land (hang out at the feeding tables where the staff leaves fruit: butterflies take their time, slowly opening and closing their wings as they munch). I accidentally became a photographic voyeur when I got some really close-up photos of what I thought was one huge black butterfly with red markings that turned out to be a male and female, mating (for up to 48 hours at a time, I later found out from the guide; must be the romantic setting).
This is a hands-on place; staff will show you how to pick up the gentle creatures without hurting them. Wear bright colors and perfume if you want the butterflies to land on you. It’s not as creepy as it sounds, and the legend is if a butterfly lands on you, make a wish and it will come true.
