Where to see butterflies in Atlanta — have a close-up butterfly encounter this summer, at these parks and nature centers!
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.
Our list is focused 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 each summer, 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
Where to see butterflies in Atlanta: festivals and up-close butterfly encounters!
Chattahoochee Nature Center’s Butterfly Encounter + Butterfly Festival
9135 Willeo Rd.
Roswell, GA
June 3 – August 11 in 2024
Mon. thru Sat. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday noon to 4:30 p.m.
The Butterfly Encounter is included with general admission to the nature center.
PRICES
Adults — $21
Seniors (65+) — $17
Students 13-18 — $17
Kids 3-12 — $15
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 general admission ticket online in advance. The nature center is operating on a timed-ticket system to limit capacity, so you can enjoy the experience. 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.
2024 Flying Colors Butterfly Festival on June 1 & 2
The Chattahoochee Nature Center’s annual day Butterfly Festival is back for 2024.
You’ll want to buy your ticket online in advance:
* $25 general admission
* Children 2 and under FREE
* $20 for nature center members
There are tons of special activities at this family-friendly event — in addition to the Butterfly Encounter. You’ll also find food and live entertainment.
HOURS for 2-day Butterfly Festival
Saturday — 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday — noon to 5 p.m.
Dunwoody Nature Center’s annual Butterfly Experience
5343 Roberts Drive
Dunwoody, GA 30338
September 7 & 8, 2024
Tickets on sale Aug. 1st
Last year, tickets were $18 for adults and kids over the age of three. Kids three and under are FREE.
Ticket sales begin on August 1st — and will probably sell out, so set a calendar reminder for that day!
More info on Butterfly Experience here
The 2024 event is bigger than ever, with multiple butterfly tents on site to accommodate more people. You’ll buy a timed ticket for entry to a specific tent, but they all provide the same experience.
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.
Deposit Photos
Smith-Gilbert Gardens’ Butterfly House
2382 Pine Mountain Road
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152
June 1 to July 31, 2024
Tuesday thru Saturday
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Garden Admission Prices:
Adults — $10
Seniors (65+) — $8
Kids 3-17 — $5
Under 3 — FREE
Add $3 for Butterfly Exhibit admission
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 an extra $3 on top of the price of garden admission (see prices above). It is no longer free with admission.
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 may buy tickets online in advance, or on the day of your of your visit,
More info here
The outdoor butterfly & pollinator habitat garden. Courtesy of Dahlonega Butterfly Garden.
Dahlonega Butterfly Farm
427 Castleberry Bridge Rd.
Dawsonville, GA. 30534
April thru November in 2024
Thurs 10-4, Fri & Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5
Tuesday & Wednesday: Group reservations only
The Dahlonega Butterfly Farm features an indoor tropical butterfly conservatory, a containment room where our butterflies are born, and an outdoor caterpillar habitat.
The basic tour shows you the life-cycle of butterflies and the importance of pollinators in the environment. You can also “catch” a butterfly in the tropical conservatory to can observe up-close.
This is an easy day-trip, and for some folks will be a much shorter drive than Callaway Gardens.
You’ll buy tickets once you arrive at the Butterfly Farm. They are not selling in advance online this year.
Ticket Prices:
Adults — $9
Children — $7
Under 3 years — FREE
Seniors (62+) — $8
The tropical butterfly conservatory. Photo: Dahlonega Butterfly Farm.
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
Tucker Butterfly Garden
Located at the Tucker Rec Center
4898 LaVista Rd.
Tucker , GA 30084
FREE to visit!
This certified pollinator garden features a wide variety of the host and nectar plants that support the complete life cycle of caterpillars and butterflies. It provides a complete habitat for the winged creatures that are native to Georgia and the Southeast.
Feel free to browse the butterfly garden and nearby native plant showcase garden — it’s completely FREE.
You’ll find the plants are labeled with both common names and botanical names. There is also educational signage that explains the butterfly’s transformational life cycle.
The Rec Center also hosts workdays where you can learn more about butterflies and how to provide a habitat on your own property. The workdays are held the fourth Thursday of each month from February through November.
More info here
Butterflies & Blooms in the Briar Patch
617 N. Jefferson St.
Eatonton, GA 31024
Open 7 days a week during daylight hours
FREE to visit
This pollinator habitat was created and is maintained by volunteers. The garden contains host plants for caterpillars and nectar plants for adult butterflies.
There are picnic tables and a quarter-mile looped walking path.
Family friendly, and leashed pets are welcome.
More info
Visit the Facebook page
Douglas County Butterfly Trail
Multiple locations
FREE to visit
The Douglas County Butterfly Trail is registered with the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail in Plains. It is a “trail” of ten separate butterfly gardens designed to support the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly.
The sites on the trail are all located within Douglasville.
They include the county library, several parks, government buildings, museums, and community gardens. You are free to visit one or all of them.
More info + list of trail gardens
Callaway Gardens’ Butterfly House & Festival
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
Butterfly Festival: 2024 dates not announced yet, but will probably be in September.
2023 Advance purchase prices:
Adults — $19.95
Seniors — $19.95
Kids 6-12 — $14.95 (see FREE offer below)
Kids 5 and under — FREE
Military — $14.95 adult and $11.95 dependent child
Buy tickets online in advance and save
About the Butterfly Festival
Children 12 and under who dress as a butterfly, caterpillar, or other insect receive FREE admission to Callaway gardens on Butterfly Festival weekend only.
This is family-friendly annual event that takes place each year in late September. Venture out on a scavenger hunt, create a butterfly mask, and participate in other activities and crafts.
The Butterfly Festival is included in the price of admission, and is FREE for resort guests.
About the Butterfly Center
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
Deposit Photos
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