Butterflies Go Free at the Montreal Botanical Gardens is a class winter day-out with toddlers and this year was our third year attending.
Be prepared for some warmth (the butterflies like it humid), a lot of people and butterflies absolutely everywhere!
The exhibit is at the main entrance on Sherbrooke and I do highly recommend you get the right entrance as the botanical gardens are huge and if not you’ll have to walk all the way through with the kids. Not bad for a nice spring day, terrible for a day like we visited when it was -30C.
If you can take the metro because parking is a flat $12 all day fee. Add on top of that the entrance to the gardens and it’s not a particularly cheap excursion. Having said that, it’s extremely entertaining for the kids and I think it’s worth it.
When you enter the main green house you’ll walk through several different climates including an arid climate, one with a huge collection of begonias, and a large collection of Bonzai trees (you can read more about all the areas here). At the very end is the butterflies!
Whenever we’ve gone it’s always been very crowded so keep that in mind if you are trying to decide whether to schlep in the stroller or not.
But it doesn’t really matter because the butterflies are everywhere. On people, walls, plants, floors, hands, and flying through the air. Just choose a patch and look and you’ll surely find one.
There’s also a waterfall that thank goodness has a gate on it otherwise I think my son would be splashing around in there.
Overall it’s a great day out that will enthral even the littlest ones and is a good choice for when it’s freezing outside.
Want more ideas for days out? Check here.
Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
