Best Butterfly Farm?

[DireMongoose]

We're looking at doing a cruise next month that stops in St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Aruba, and Curacao. Of these, I've read that St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Aruba all have butterfly farms, and one of the people in our party would like to stop at one of them.

 

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's been to more than one of these and which you thought were better. Or, if there's a really good butterfly farm you've been to (even if it's not on this list) I'd also like to hear about it so we could look at hitting it somewhere in the future.

 

Thank you!

[momofmeg]

I never knew about any of them but we have been to Butterfly World in Ft. Lauderdale. We went there after debarking HAL Westerdam. We enjoyed it very much and I recommend you extend your cruise by doing that if you embark in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Not only did we see butteflies but several types of hummingbirds.

[ab0si]

For future reference: My two favorite ones are all in Costa Rica. While they advertise themselves as butterfly gardens, they are also great places for birding and botanical explorations (lots of orchids, for example).

 

Spirogyra Butterfly Gardens

La Paz Waterfall Garden (I simply love this place)

[Daniel1313]

I am not much into Butterfly Farms, but as far as Butterfly Farms go they have a nice one in Key West...

[grand isle joe]

We were to both farms in St. Martin and St Thomas. They are owned by the same people. St. Martin is located on the French side of the island and can be reached by taxi or like us we took an excursion.The St. Martin farm is quite desolate but it is near a topless beach in the distance if you want to swim. St. Thomas is located next to the main pier (you see it from the ship)and we took the tour on our way back to the ship. The areas are about the same size but the St. Thomas is much newer. We saw a number of different species and got to feed some on our hands. My daughter had a wonderful time. I would add it on my list but not make it a destination. Like I stated before leave enough time in St. Thomas to stop by on the way to the ship.Wishing you and yours a wonderful cruise!:)

[sk8teacher]

Been there done that, not worth the time or effort. It is very small and if you are there on a HAL tour, you are only there for about 30 minutes, and 15 of that is taken up by someone telling you about the life cycle of a butterfly. You really don't get much of a chance to actually see them and take pictures.

 

That said, and as someone else mentioned, if you get to Ft. Lauderdale, you must see Butterfly World there. Absolutely stunning. And it includes an aviary with several different hummingbirds, other exotic birds, a lorikeet cage where you can actually feed them by hand and get some really closeup pictures. Check out the garden there as well. We spent almost four hours there and could have stayed longer.

 

Cheers,

[DireMongoose]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

 

Are there any other opinions out there? Has anyone seen the butterfly farm in Aruba?

[JunPOA]

This does not really address your question based on that specific itinerray BUT I 2nd the farms in Costa Rica, especially the one in Mt. Verde. Next best in terms of variety, overall environment (its enclosed) isd the Butterfly Consevratory Museum in Key West:)

Maybe you should try a key word search on trip advisor on those individual ports/ islands you've mentioned to get more opinions on this subject.

 

leah, RN

[katbat2]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

 

Are there any other opinions out there? Has anyone seen the butterfly farm in Aruba?

 

We did go to the one in Aruba, it was small and just ok. I would not recommend it. Don't know how it compares to St Thomas or St Martin though. The best one we have been to which isn't a cruise destinations was at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, it was awesome.

[gertz]

FLL is truly outstanding as two other have posted.

[katbat2]

FLL is truly outstanding as two other have posted.

 

Will have to check that one out post cruise in April! Thanks.