Tour Descriptions
The Butterfly Garden Experience
This self-guided tour takes you through both our garden greenhouse and outdoor garden path.
In the garden greenhouse you will see many different native Costa Rican butterflies flying around in the lush tropical garden setting. Small black and red butterflies, called the Postman butterfly, will flutter past you as they move from flower to flower in search for more nectar.
The white and black striped Zebra Longwing butterflies will also gather on the flowers, like that of the little red flowers of the bottleneck plant, as they too drink up nectar. The striking yellow and black King’s swallowtail butterfly will stop at the little purple butterfly weed flowers and gather nectar as its wings flutter in constant motion, like a hummingbird.
The stunning blue morpho butterfly, the iconic butterfly of Costa Rica, will slowly glide past you as they make their never-ending loops around the garden.
Scattered around the garden are plates of bananas, the food source for our jungle dwelling butterfly species, like the blue morpho or the malachite butterflies, aptly named for the malachite green color of their wings. At the back of our garden greenhouse, we have 2 little “houses” for all the chrysalises of the butterflies in our garden greenhouse.
You will get an up-close view of many different types of chrysalises as well as possibly see some newborn butterflies still clinging to their empty chrysalis as they wait for their wings to fully expand and dry.
In different black pots around the greenhouse, we have host plants for a couple of the butterfly species. On these host plants you will see butterfly eggs and caterpillars, giving you the ability to see each of the 4 stages of the butterfly’s life all within the beautiful and peaceful setting of the garden greenhouse.
After you finish your tour of the garden greenhouse, you can walk the path of our outdoor garden loop, giving you the chance to see some of Costa Rica’s abundant wildlife, from wild butterflies, to hummingbirds, to iguanas and even monkeys!
This self-guided tour is available anytime during open hours.
- Adult (13+)$10
- Child (3-12 years)$5
- Children 2 and under:Free
The Butterfly Farm Experience
This 1-hour guided tour takes you through our garden greenhouse, owl butterfly greenhouse, and laboratory, as well as a visit to the outdoor garden once the guided tour is finished.
After experiencing the garden greenhouse as described above (and with the added explanations and fun facts about the butterflies from the guide), you will be led down to the owl butterfly greenhouse where we keep all our owl butterflies.
Once in the greenhouse you will be surrounded by hundreds of owl butterflies as the guide will begin to tell you all about the owl butterfly, one of the oldest butterfly species in the world, and its spectacular camouflage which has evolved throughout millions of years to have owl eyes and hidden snake faces.
You will be able to see owl butterflies laying eggs on its host plant, plantanilla, in front of your own very eyes, and watch as the newborn owl butterflies are released and take flight for the very first time.
From the owl butterfly greenhouse, you will go into our laboratory where you will see thousands of owl butterfly caterpillars in different sizes from tiny newborns to large caterpillar about ready to make their chrysalises, as they all are quietly eating the leaves of their host plant.
The guide will then explain the process of how we raise these butterflies, from eggs, to caterpillars, and finally to a chrysalis, when it is then shipped to butterfly gardens in museums or zoos around the world.
This 1-hour guided tour is best when booked in advance, although walk-ins guided tours will be possible when started between 9am – 11am.
- Adult (13+)$20
- Child (3-12 years)$10
- Children 2 and under:Free
General Information For Tours
Please bring water with you on the tour as the greenhouses, in their nature, are even warmer than the outside temperature.
Parking is available on site.
During the low/rainy season (May to November) we operate with reserved tours only, in order to be in communication with our guests about the state of the road on the day of their tour (heavy rains the night before a tour could mean we need to cancel due to the condition of the road).
*Please note that we do not have phone service at the butterfly farm due to our remote jungle location. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience. We do have internet and therefore can be reached only through internet communications, such as WhatsApp (both messages or calls), email or Facebook messenger.