Visiting the Key West Butterfly Conservatory: a Beautiful Oasis

The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory is such a delightful place to visit, with kids or by yourself. We’ve many times and its beautiful creatures and flowers never get old. From the street the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory doesn’t look like it’s going to be very large, as it looks like a house, but upon entering and discovering that it’s got a small museum, amazing conservatory and large gift shop you can’t help but be impressed. Our kids would visit every day while we’re in Key West if we could.

Have you gotten to come and hang out with Rhett and Scarlett at the Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory? If you don’t know who I’m talking about, they are the flamingos that you cannot miss during your visit. We’ve got all the information for planning your visit to the Key West Butterfly Conservatory and having a beautiful day in the gardens. If you have any questions about visiting here or need other ideas for spending time in Key West, please leave a comment or send us a note. We’re always happy to share more!

Highlights of the Key West Butterfly Gardens

Who doesn’t love butterflies, flowers and birds? The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory is all of that blended into one cool experience. Having been to many butterfly gardens before, sometimes you just expect to see butterflies and flowers in a nice, warm greenhouse space. Here at the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory you get a bit of a museum, an art display, a conservatory and bird aviary in addition to the butterfly garden portion of it. I love the pre-conservatory room with live caterpillar displays, an incredible collection of butterfly specimens displayed as art, and exhibits about the life cycle of butterflies. I’m always down for some learning mixed with the fun.

The real highlight though is going into the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory itself and being immersed in tropical vegetation and butterflies. Taking your time to stroll and enjoy the fully engaging environment is awesome. And yes, the butterflies do land on you if you’re calm and attractive to them. If you’re one of the chosen ones then you can just stand there and enjoy it or you can walk cautiously and be oohed and awwed by everyone else. I think it feels special.

Seeing all the birds in the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory is pretty cool too. Of course I love seeing Rhett and Scarlett, the flamingos, but there are lots more other birds throughout the conservatory space. Another favorite of ours is the tiny quail family that are so small and adorable. Bird nerds like me will love it.

Tips for a Great Visit to the Key West Butterfly Conservatory

I think an hour is perfect for visiting the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. That will give you plenty of time to go slow and enjoy the exhibits and thoroughly meander in the conservatory. I think one of the key parts of enjoying the experience is taking your time and just being still and quiet. Before you exit the conservatory, take a few minutes to check out the chrysalis case and watch the different butterflies emerge. I love seeing them crawl and slowly unfurl their wings.

When it comes to planning the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory for a group, check with everyone to be sure this is something they’re interested in. I know it sounds odd maybe, but there are actually people who have a butterfly phobia, called lepidopterophobia, which is rarely a topic that comes up in regular conversation. Once I planned to visit with a friend to a well known spot for the monarch butterfly migration… and it turned out that she was lepidopterophobic and absolutely freaked out. It’s easy to be a little extra courteous to make sure everyone has an enjoyable time.

Also, as you proceed through the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory you’ll need to be mindful of your steps. Often butterflies will rest on the garden path and sometimes they land quite quickly, so you need to be careful to not crush them. With that, managing kids in the butterfly garden is very important for the safety of the butterflies.

Being Prepared for the Butterfly Gardens

On a hot day, particularly if you’re doing summer in the Florida Keys, the gift shop and exhibit room are wonderful to cool off in, but then once you step into the conservatory the temperature goes up. It is very warm and humid in there, so dress for a tropical experience. There’s no food or drink allowed in the conservatory, except water. Spending time here is like visiting the Key West Aquarium: a place for observation and enjoying life, not a place for meals.

For my photographer buddies, this is a great place to bring a camera for some macro photography. While not every butterfly or type of butterfly in the conservatory is going to land in the perfect spot for an epic photo, there’ll be plenty of opportunities. Something to keep in mind if you’re not used to using a fancy camera in a warm, humid place is that you need to let your camera come to temperature where you want to shoot, otherwise the lens will fog up with condensation and you’ll be out of luck. I like to set my camera bag outside or carry it around in the heat a bit before I try to use my camera, and that usually works well.

Parking for Key West Butterfly Conservatory

Parking in this part of Duval Street is a pain sometimes. The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory is very near the Southernmost Point, so there tend to be a lot of people either driving to the neighborhood just for that or there’ll be a lot of foot traffic. Cross your fingers for street parking, but if you can’t find any there is a pay to park lot next door. If you’re staying in Key West nearby, like at the Coconut Beach Resort or Southernmost Resort, you can easily just walk over to the butterfly gardens.

Note: this is close enough to the Key West Lighthouse, Audubon House and Hemmingway House that if you’re on foot, it’s easier just to walk a few block instead of moving your car.