This was a cute little stop during our visit to Ft. Myers. It isn’t too large so you don’t need much time. If you have time to relax they have benches inside the butterfly house you can sit and enjoy the butterflies. I was pleased to see there were many butterflies fluttering around. They are only native Florida butterflies so not a huge variety.I enjoyed my time here.The art gallery was very interesting. An eclectic mixture of art and crafts, including very current/modern art styles.The Thrifty Plant Shop had a nice variety of pots and indoor/outdoor planting items. I spent most of my time here. The staff were very knowledgeable and helped several customers with specific needs while I was browsing.Worth a stop if you like butterflies and/or plants.

Beautiful greenhouse, plants, and flowers. The staff are friendly and informative, we had a lovely date and came home with two sweet almond plants! Excited to start our own butterfly garden. 🦋 🌺 🌿

Great environment...very nice and kind people. I enjoyed my visit. The restaurant was great, the gift shops had unique items, and the live butterfly museum amazing.

We stopped by the butterfly farm after hours.But the store was open, serving snacks with beer and wine.Great place to relax!

Beautiful! Make a donation! They do needed work to preserve butterflies

Awesome place to see, interact and be around butterflies. I had 3 land on me..

Super nice afternoon. I cant believe Ive lived here for 17 years and didnt know about this place. I will definitely be back.

So many beautiful butterflies. They play background music in the butterfly greenhouse. It made it fun to wonder if the butterflies like different kinds of music. There is a lovely babbling brook, a koi pond, caterpillars, gorgeous plants, and zillions of butterflies. A word of note: in the summer...it is HOT. so dress accordingly.

Nice place to visit! Artwork by local artists and nice gifts! Everyone was very personable! There is a plant swap station as well! Stop, enjoy a coffee and your surroundings!!

Cool place to go and destrss!

Found this place on accident but so glad we did! The staff was very welcoming and very knowledgeable. They have quite a variety of butterflies and seem to take great care of them along with maintaining a clean and beautiful habitat. Tickets are very reasonably priced and grant you access all day until they close, fun for all ages!

Like walking into Heaven. Perfect place to go and distress and relax. The butterflies are abundant and friendly as well as interesting to watch. The staff is friendly. I highly recommend taking a trip to the Butterfly estates in Fort Myers. Take a few dollars extra for a plant or 2 or just to donate to a good cause.

Dont debate, just go! A wonderful butterfly house with cute shop next door. The butterfly house was so much fun to spend time walking through. So many beautiful butterflies. Everyone was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Definitely worth the trip!!

Friendly staff, eclectic, varied art. There was a rainbow flag outside, so I did not buy anything.

This was an awesome place to take my aunt and parents while they visited in April, 2018. The volunteers were knowledgeable about all the different types of Butterflies. It was fun to have them flying all around us.

Friendly staff, nice setting in historic district. Sure wish they would promote more native plants while promoting native butterflies. Native plants are what Florida butterflies evolved to use, and as an example, exotic milkweed may have detrimental effects yet unknow to monarchs. PROMOTE NATIVE necter, host, and butterflies :)

This store is amazing they have so many things related to butterflies including earrings jewellery plants. Make sure your mention your a veteran youll get a good discount. Travel photographer from Lake Mary Florida

Its an amazing place to see so many different butterflies flying around at on time.

My family loves to visit the Butterfly Estates. It seems so magical walking through it with so many beautiful butterflies fluttering around. There are sitting areas so one can really enjoy the experience. All the employees are knowledge for any questions one may have. Be sure to visit their lovely gift shop. Thank you Butterfly House staff for another beautiful experience.

This place was amazing. Me and my wife visited February 2020 and the staff was so friendly and informative. Would go back if I’m ever in the area again. The art work is just breathtaking. The actual building where the butterflies are is so nice. If your a butterfly person like my wife you will be amazed by this place.

Awesome place. Beautiful, peaceful, thousands of butterflies. Addicted to the coffee shop there called Bullig. Great little place.

Great place to go see local butterflies. Its a non profit organization, so its a cheap thing to do and it helps support keeping the butterfly population.

Really interesting and very fun. Check out butterflies from catepillar to flier and learn from the guides.

Unique experience, lovely place for an afternoon. Theyll teach you how to start your own butterfly garden, very knowledgeable staff.

I walk to my happy Zen butterfly house and end with a glass of wine or a margarita. Great gift shopping.

Personalized. Absolute must eat at. Humorous menu, but incredibly delicious.

Beautiful placeExcellent place to buy plants

Nice place to have an afternoon out. Lunch and great gift shops.

I had the cordon blue w/a cucumber salad and my daughter had the 5 cheese grill sandwich with tomato & bacon w/a side order of the twice baked potato. It was delicious and the place was amazing, friendly,inviting they make you feel at home !! Outdoors the people & the music was wonderful !! The place is over all a great experience !! Love this place !! Also going back for the butterfly encounters because there only open until 3pm but had a great night !!

What a beautiful place! Thoroughly enjoyed our visit!

Really cool place to relax and see a large variety of butterflies. The staff are very helpful.

So many butterflies!! Very relaxing atmosphere. We were present for a release which was a magical experience for myself and my 86 year old grandma.

Great sandwiches prepared on waffles. Ate outside on the porch while being served by friendly staff.

Such a relaxing way to spend part of your day. Everyone was kind and it is such a artsy little spot. Make sure to grab a coffee. Unfortunately the gift shop was closed, but that may have been a good thing. :)I did find a darling flower pot at the plant shop on the grounds. It looked vintage and I got it for like $2! Score! If I lived near, I would love to come there weekly. Beautiful butterflies!

Loved the array of plants for sale. Being taken care of beautifully.

Everyone there is super knowledgeable & very friendly. Thirfty Garden is the best. The prices are affordable and they have a great selection.I just love to go and hang out there

The place is beautiful the people are friendly and the food is a bit pricey but delicious I recommend the Early Dog It was so good 😁 🤤

Just beautiful, my 2 year old keeps asking to go back!

Wonderful experience!

Amazing food, local art, all shop keeps were invested in their local community. Beautiful people.

Butterfly garden is cute.

We tried some honey the shop keeper was very nice, they had lots of really modern/basic home goods.. will return

Nice place, very informative

Tremendous selection, but the service was amazing - outstanding customer service.

We met Patsy when we bought our tickets. She shared great tours, restaurants and special events in the area and loaded us up with maps and booklets on things to do in Fort Myers. Shes great! We had a great time watching Joyce and Stephanie release the newest butterflies! Joyce was extremely knowledgeable about the butterflies and very willing to share her information. She showed us butterfly eggs they were collecting from different host plants and how they raise them until they were ready to be released. The Butterfly Conservatory is beautiful and we took some great pictures there! We will definitely go back again!

I have been here numerous times and everything is always great. Cute shops, good service, gorgeous butterfly house. The restaurant is amazing as well!

Helpful attentive staff

First off, butterflies are beautiful and the place was very clean and well kept. But we went with a group of 10 girls ages 3-10 and there isnt much to do. The tour guide was not very knowledgeable, she did try to answer our questions as best as possible and was very friendly but wish she knew more about the butterflies, plants, and better known facts. The viewing area is very small, again clean and well kept and plenty of butterflies to see while we were there but very small, takes about 10 minutes to walk around completely and view everything. Then we took the girls to get ice cream and it took them 45 minutes to get us 6 cones, when there were 3 employees and only one other table of guest and we paid $20 for 6 cones! this area was not kid friendly at all and we had the group of girls sit outside due to the employees reaction. There is nothing else to do here. No play ground, no other viewing, no trails, nothing. And we were afraid of even entering the gift shop. Again, not kid friendly at all. Sorry but I do not recommend this place, especially if you have children. Good time for adults if you need to kill 30 minutes of your day.

Very relaxing atmosphere, friendly and knowledgeable staff.

The place for all levels of butterfly keeping.

Went to a symposium on starting a butterfly garden. The owner was very helpful answering the audiances questions. Very knowledgeable . at times it was hard to hear because of the traffic near by.They do sell butterfly related plants and other garden items, including honey.

Beautiful butterflies!!! Unique shops. Great restaurant.

Our office loves ordering from The Gathering Place at least once a week. Their food is always fresh and made to order and we rarely get a meal we dont absolutely love. Their desserts are fantastic and we love checking in to see what new pie or cake they are offering each day. The staff is always friendly and helpful. This has definitely become one of our favorite lunch spots.

Delightful find while on Florida road trip. Grounds are charming, Im here in April w butterflies everywhere! Food is handmade, flavorful and so affordable. I enjoyed a lemon chicken and rice soup with their spinach pie as a specialty and only a limited number made daily and am well satisfied for under $6!! Staff is kind and will return in future.

Well educated help. So much variety. Great place to walk about also.

Must see these shops. A butterfly house with butterflies native only to SE Florida. caterpillars, and a daily newly emerged butterfly release. Theres a gardening shop where you can purchase butterfly and gardening items. This shop has a seed and plant swap also. There is also a little cafe with refreshing drinks and tasty eats. Oh and dont forget the native plants for sale at the butterfly house. The butterfly house sells caterpillars including Monarch caterpillars.

If you love butterflies this is the place to go. Unfortunately, the small shoppe that serves food is under staffed, as it took us 2 hours to be served from start to finish. It took 1 hr to just have our order taken.

I loved this place. So worth the little money paid.

Learned a whole lot about my gardens and the butterflies I have in my yard. I really appreciated the staff taking the time to explain, show, and walk through what I might have to do to continue to see so many butterflies in our yard. They show you the full life cycle of the butterflies. It was nice they had free entry for our veterans and discounts for seniors.

This was an awesome experience from lunch to butterflies. I absolutely love this setting and think the partnership brilliant. You eat and relax in an adorable setting viewing beautiful butterflies visiting the outdoor butterfly garden before you enter the conservatory where you are met with individuals who are knowledgeable and friendly. I would recommend this experience to anyone and everyone.

Always so pretty, peaceful and relaxing to visit here. The staff are wonderful people and very well educated in the world of butterflies. We love the new Pet Walk event they host now. Every 4th Friday of each month. Our dog loves meeting new friends. :) We cant wait for the new restaurant to open! 👍🦋

The shop has a lot of cool gift items as well as plants. Everybody is super knowledgeable and helpful. Its just a really cool environment. And great prices!

It was extremely informative! The guides were so friendly, helpful, and willing to explain all of the life processes and happenings within the life of the butterflies AND caterpillars. Definitely will visit again! Not to mention that the garden is just beautiful! So many different species of butterflies.

I went with my photography meet-up to take pics of lovely butterflies. GREAT place...best kept secret in Ft Myers. Peaceful and lovely.Ate in the café, perfect crepes. Unique gift shop. Everything for the butterfly enthusiast. Just such a perfect day! Music was perfect as well.

Very nice to have a place you can relax with a 100 plus butterflies at once and some beautiful flowers as well ...

My girlfriends and I had a wonderful time talking to Joyce and learning about butterflies and their life cycles. Joyce told us so much and walked us around and answered our questions, We felt like we were experts when we were done enjoying our relaxing time in the conservatory. We then had a tasty lunch with excellent service. We will go back again!!

Youd be hard-pressed to find a friendlier owner-manager who personally interacts with his customers. The food is always on-point. I love that the menu has a couple different types of cuisine.Order pie - its kind of their specialty. Always fresh.

We liked this very much. Very peaceful and relaxing....actually a breeding location and a non-profit. We naturally compare this to Magic Wings in Deerfield MA but that location is all exotics. Id recommend this place to get a full appreciation for the variety of life in Florida. the staff are very nice, dont miss it.

I didnt go in the shops. I only went into the butterfly estate and it was great to see all native butterflies.

What a fun place! Home to the Butterfly Garden, DAAS Co op Gallery and Bullig Cafe. A definite must do!

Beautiful butterfly gardens

The best and most Historic place to eat in the down town Fort Myers river district hands down. Great food, and attractions for the whole family. The review department has rated five stars based on multiple user reviews of both The Gathering Place and Butterfly Garden.

I visited Thrifty Garden, which is a new shop in the Butterfly Estates. I really enjoy the idea behind the shop, which is to help others enjoy container gardening and to educate others on the re purposing of containers for projects. There are plans for a wine garden to go in shortly, and for classes while you sample wines. How fun!!

Adorable!

There was only about 3 different kinds of butterflies but the WORST part was... Dont look up!!! Trapped in the mesh netting of the greenhouse are more dead butterflies than live ones in the whole place. He place is too hot and he air isnt right for these poor butterflies. Their wings are fraying from the humidity and theyre trying to give them the wind they need with a couple of cheap fans. Seems like a front to sell their restaurant, store, and plants. Very sad!

Really nice little shop. The artists who operate it are friendly and very helpful. It was hard not to buy everything.

Awesome food! Great staff! And a extra plus, ...meals are not over priced. Great value!

Wonderful experience

Thrifty Gardens is a great spot for plants & decorative items, along with a coffee, beer, or wine while shopping!

Cool vibe

Always a favorite place to go. Highly recommended. Wonderful place for some serenity. The staff are always so helpful and ready to teach you.

Cute place. We only spent about 15 minutes in with the butterflies because of the heat inside the garden. I couldnt see spending more than an hour there, but its a nice place to bring kids who love butterflies

A little confusing on where to enter, but its a great place to take little kids. It is warm inside the butterfly zone, so have some water afterwards. Great fudge and ice cream to snack on after seeing the butterflies. Friendly staff.

Went for breakfast on a Sunday, enjoyed sitting outside on the deck, staff was friendly & attentive. Food was quick and tasty. Would definitely go again!

Wonderful, relaxed atmosphere. Employees interested in local artists and events, fantastic sense of community here. Food is delicious, love bringing my friends.

They are a non-profit organization and it is worth the entry fee to keep the place going. It is invaluable in terms of education about flora and fauna.Attitude is everything!

Was looking for bushes that attract butterflies. Had a nice conversation with one of the workers. Very helpful and bought a really nice plant.

The restaurant is not family friendly; the menu, the prices, and the seating. Would be great for a date though... And $32 for enrty into a small greenhouse w 50 butterflies, that you are done and disappointed in 5 mins, totally not worth it at all. Not worth half the cost.😩

Butterfly Conservancy, Art, Restaurant, and so much more. In the Butterfly Greenhouse, its a walk through plants and Butterflies everywhere

It was closed when I was there for a dog event however it appears that they have a really nice set up with an aviary worthy of the trip

This place is AWESOME! Definitely worth a visit!

This is an interesting excursion. Butterflies aviary, native a d organic vegetable plants and butterfly friendly species.We really enjoyed the Bullig Cafe here. The German owner is passionate and engaging. She KNOWS coffee like few others do.I would suggest being able to order eggs in the normal ways. As it is, we can only order poached. Also, if you are on a keto/paleo diet, you will have to work with them to put together a plate for you. They were nice about it, and the food was good. That said, our side orders of bacon were almost cold when served. Cripsy. Yes. Hot? No. Hey. It happens.Dog friendly place, and well run if you are not in a hurry..

Unique! Coffee/sandwich shop, art gallery, gift shop (unique plants, small gardening supplies, local honey, etc),...and a WONDERFUL butterfly garden. Price for 2 admissions (one over 50 and one college student discounts) was $15.

We ate a ZCrepes Cafe on a Groupon offer and it was very good. I had the seafood crepe, two others had the vegetable crepes and one had the chocolate mousse crepe. All were wonderful and the service was outstanding. Highly recommend!

Lots of lovely butterflies Tiger Swallowtail, Pipevine Swallowtail and of course Monarchs to name a few. Lots of Zebra Longwing, Floridas state butterfly. They have butterfly release times on their website.

Always love visiting the butterflies. Wish it was closer to Bonita. I would attend much more frequently!

Great place located bear downtown. Go check it out 👍🏽

Went there last week. Great time seeing the butterflies. Had an awesome lunch at the new restaurant there. BRB American Gastropub. A MUST to check out when your there.

I was very disappointed this time. The cashier was rude and didnt have time for myself or granddaughter, even though we were the only ones there. She (JWS) told my granddaughter that she would give her something on our way out, that didnt work out as my granddaughter had found part of a butterfly wing on the ground. So she put it in an envelope for her and said that was her gift. My granddaughter is only 7 and she thought she was going to get a little gift. This was my last trip to the Butterfly House as there are other places to take her when she comes to visit. We did stop at the gift shop and they were very nice and appreciated our business. . It certainly IS NOT kid friendly at this time and a waste of my money........

Nice outdoor patio to eat. Eclectic mix of food. Locally owned.