Victoria Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in Victoria, BC, Canada

Are you looking for something cool to add to your list of things to see while in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada? Well, the Victoria Butterfly Garden and Insectarium is just a short distance from the Butchart Gardens, so add it to your list and stop by. I actually was not going to stop here as I need it to get to Craigdarroch Castle before they closed, but I thought “This is your first visit to Victoria, so why not?”

I headed inside and was greeted by a wonderfully chipper young lady at the front desk that took the entrance fee which was around 16.50 Canadian Dollars ($12.50 USD at the exchange rate at the time of post) and provided some instructions on how to navigate through.

You will start out in the Insectarium which has a lot of the glass cases that enclose leaf-cutter ants, walking stick bugs, various beetles, thorny insects, and other more vibrantly colored insects. Some of them you really have to hunt for within the cases as they are camoflaged. I had to chuckle at all the gasps and sometimes shrieks of the other visitors when they were surprised by the secretive little insects.

I thought it was really cool to watch the leaf cutter ants carrying the leaves around the glass exhibit. Actually stood there for about 30 minutes just watching the little ants cutting the blue-green colored leaves and triumphantly hoisting them aloft to journey to the other end of the case or towards the babies.

After you are done viewing the Insectarium, you head to the main event! You have to walk through a set of double doors that are obviously there to try to keep the butterflies in the gardens and then you enter the butterfly garden. The heat and humidity instantly hit you and almost takes your breath away. Be aware that the temperature inside the gardens is at a tropical level temperature so if you have a lot of clothes on then you may want to shed a layer or two in order to not overheat.

It’s kind of a seek and find once you get into the butterfly garden because you’re not only looking just for the different types of butterflies but there are flamingos, iguanas, koi fish, & various tropical birds playing hide and seek amongst all of the tropical plants.

I know it’s probably not funny but I actually happened across some turtles “doing the deed”.

*Tip: The humidity of the butterfly garden was a real trip because it constantly fogged up the lens of my camera and my glasses. They have a hot air blower, similar to those that you use to dry your hands after washing them, that you can use to defog your lenses. It may save you from stopping to wipe off your lenses every 5 seconds from the condensation.

Some of the butterflies are somewhat elusive. So, take your time and really keep your eyes open because there are about 70 species of butterflies within the gardens. Some of them are so fast or don’t stop long enough for you to get a picture. There was a blue one called the blue morpho (Morpho peleides) that would only stop for like a millisecond at a time and ended up turning me into an adventurous hunter trying to creep up on the morpho to capture the flighty bugger on my camera. Sadly, I just couldn’t get it on camera. The other butterflies were beautiful though.

I will say though that I spend about an hour and a half just watching all the butterflies and reading all the information about the different personalities and origins of the butterflies. Take time to read the information as you go along.
The Victoria Butterfly Garden and Insectarium is definitely a great place to take your kids but adults can enjoy the treasure hunt within the gardens just as much. Both the butterfly garden and the Insectarium were kind of small but there is a lot of cool insects packed in each little space.

You might be able to get through the whole thing in less than 30 minutes if you’re not that interested in insects or don’t really care, but I consider this money well spent. I honestly could walk around in the butterfly room for longer if I didn’t sweat to death and would most likely visit again if in the area. I’m glad I decided to stop. I actually enjoyed this place a little more than I did the Butchart Gardens, but that was mainly because I visited Butchart when the rose garden and the majority of the garden was not in bloom.