Cockrell Butterfly Center

Simply awesome. Great parking out front and get your tickets from the gift shop to avoid the line. We saw so many butterflies coming out of the cacoon then when we went into the actual conservatory it’s like something out of a movie. We loved every bit of it. Best $ 8 I ever spent on my wife.

We stopped to see the butterflies and this place did not disappoint. It was great. On entering the museum there was a section about bugs and other creepy crawlies. Once you get through that the butterflies await in a humid room. There is a guide with different types of butterflies on them and we had a good time looking for each type. We spent a little under 2 hours here. It’s a great place to visit on rainy days.

Worth a visit. $ 8 to get in. Fun educational and interactive exhibits. Get to watch butterflies emerge from their cacoons. Be prepared for warm humid environment when walking in the area where butterflies are flying around.

Real live butterflies! Get up close and personal with the Blue Morpho Butterfly! Made famous by my child’s favorite cartoon Diego-​where I learned all about the Amazon critters.
This was a fun afternoon where members get free tickets to check out this exhibit which is attached to the museum. Inside you’ll find interactive learning activities and live bugs to make you squirm.
There’s a botanical garden featuring tons of beautiful butterflies flying all over the encaged exhibit surrounded by a cascading waterfall.
Great photo ops don’t miss!

Oh I don’t do bugs.
Insects.
Crawly things.
Nope. I’m gangsta, but one way to make me come out of my zone and shift into psycho, poltergeist, violent attack mode is to put me around a bug. I will SHOW you what possession looks like. 0₀
(I almost jumped out of my car once while driving because a bug flew into the car. Glad I didn’t…cause who knows where the car would have gone…)
I think, however, because butterflies have those pretty wings, I tend to be not as violent. The wings bring a sort of calm to the storm. BUT DON’T GET IT TWISTED… they are still BUGS with pretty wings.
The butterfly center, part of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, is a way for me to safely admire these creatures from afar. I love this place. They’ve created this mini oasis in the city for you to enjoy these lovely creatures both up-​close, or from afar like me! And the day that I went, it wasn’t crowded. A super peaceful slice of nature in the city.
Go do this.

Very simple and easy walk thru. They have gorgeous array of species. Gorgeous display and walkway. Peaceful. Wonderful for the children regardless of age. ;-)

For locals or visitors this place is definitely a must see experience for all ages. You buy the tickets when you walk in from the booths that sell tickets for 3d shows. Once you enter the museum you get to learn about insects and butterflies and at the end you get to experience and see and experience the best part by seeing the butterflies. It’s so unique and peaceful.

This is such a beautiful experience! I had such an amazing time engulfed in all those beautiful creatures. It wasn’t too packed and everyone was very helpful in making the experience an educational one.
This is a great place for dates, school kids of all ages or for anyone that loves photography!

Highly recommended! This was one of my favorite parts of the Museum of Natural Science, and completely worth the extra $ 8. Before you enter the rain forest area with the butterflies, you first enter an area with many different kinds of other insects on display as well as tons of insect information. Very cool! Then you enter the rain forest area. It was dreary and rainy on the day we went so the butterflies were less active than normal, but it was still a great experience.

This facility is absolutely fantastic. The main attraction is a gigantic domed greenhouse filled with butterflies and flowers. On that proposition they fully deliver. butterflies everywhere you look.
Protip: wear bright colors and the butterflies might land on you!
Unexpected pluses:
— There is a fairly large insect exhibit leading up to the entrance to the greenhouse as well. This includes an area where the butterflies are hatched from cocoons. This is probably my favorite part of the whole thing because you can actually see them (slowly) hatching. Pretty incredible number of cocoons as well.
— Bees! — There is a really impressive hive on display in the butterfly greenhouse. It allows you to see right into the hive. Pretty clever setup with the bees coming in from outside through a tube, thus no risk of getting stung!
— Edible bug vending machine — No I am not kidding and yes it is weird, but gotta hand it to them for setting this up. It’s at the end of the exhibit as you walk out.

I don’t like bugs, but I loved this place! A *huge* geodesic dome that houses a simulated tropical rain forest, and tons upon tons of butterflies. As a word of caution, it does get very humid in there, and they ask you not to touch anything unnecessarily. But it’s an amazing experience, for kids and adults alike.

Simply put, if you want to see a vastly diverse collection of live butterflies, this would be the place to go in Houston. Great place to take your kids and have some family fun. The environment and setting in this center brings out the feeling of actually being in their natural environment, while in reality you are just smack dab in the crowded museum district of Houston, TX with cars buzzing outside.
In all seriousness, this is a great place with a nice ambience and highly recommend, prices are fair as well.

I’ve been here a couple of times — once as part of a photography meeting at night where most of the butterflies were asleep and more recently on a Sunday afternoon where the place was packed with visitors. If you’re a butterfly enthusiast, then you’ll be at home here.
Be forewarned that it’s very humid in there. You WILL be covered in sweat more so than the lead singer of Depeche Mode during his shows. Might be a good idea to keep an extra shirt in the car along with a nice cold bottle of water for the trip back. If you’re on a date, use your own judgement about whether you want to be all hot and sweaty together.
They do allow photography but no tripods without prior permission… and really, it won’t help you anyway, trust me. Those buggers are flying around so you’ll be better off being in rear sync flash mode and trying to freeze their motion with the flash… or if there is enough light to balance it out. A Macro lens would also be handy, but even with a regular telephoto lens, you’ll be at home.
One thing to watch out for is on the lowest level near the waterfall, the floor is very slippery due to algae. Don’t slip and fall.
Oh and you can’t touch the butterflies and definitely can’t snack on them like on those survivor shows on the old Discovery Channel.

The Butterfly Center is one of the coolest places I’ve visited in my time here as a student. I was skeptical at first, as the exhibit starts with some informational reads and interactive displays about insect biology and it’s very much oriented towards younger children (think ages 5−10ish). We skipped the science lesson and went straight for the butterfly exhibit, which I’d recommend if you’re not visiting with kids.
Inside, the butterfly exhibit is fascinating. It’s relaxing to sit and watch butterflies flutter around you in a pseudo-​tropical environment, complete with waterfalls, exotic plants, and the like. Also, the docents really know their stuff; the ones we met were pleasant and offered a lot of interesting information about butterflies.
Come for the science, stay for the ‘natural’ beauty. It’s great for all ages and the whole exhibit takes as little as 25−30min., though you may find that you like it so much that you’ll stay longer. Extra pro-​tip: it’s discounted for students, and free with an ID from a local university (AKA if you go to Rice and haven’t been here, you’re missing out).

If you’re a nature lover, you need to visit this place. I have never been to another butterfly center so I don’t have anything to compare to, but this is so awesome. They have a great variety of butterflies. I could spend hours and hours just watching the different ways that the different butterflies fly. It’s beautiful and relaxing. The staff and volunteers are really friendly and knowledgable, so chat them up and learn something! When we were there, there was a mating pair of Atlas moths just for Valentine’s Day. :P

Very interesting place to enjoy «natural» beauty.
The Cockrell Butterfly Center is located in the same building as the Natural Science Museum, although when you purchase a ticket, you are only purchasing a ticket to the butterfly center, not the museum, and vice versa.
There is a plethora of information available on bugs, butterflies, moths, ants, and every in between! They have a nice childrens area.
It’s kind of an odd feeling to have all these butterflies flying around you, but you get used to it.
I wouldn’t say you would spend a lot of time here, but it is worth a stop if you are going to the museums in the area!

Really fun experience walking through with butterflies just flying all around you. Got a lot of good pictures. I think they also have a butterfly guide handout if you want to identify them as you see them, I saw other people with it but couldn’t find where they got it from.
In the other section of the butterfly center before you actually walk out into the butterflies there’s a glass display where you can see them «hatch,» so to speak, and flap their wings for the first time it’s a cool thing to see.

I think when most people think of the Butterfly Center here, they automatically think of the habitat here (which makes a lot of sense). And hey, it’s nice but if you’ve seen one, you may have seen them all. It is a lot like the one I remember at the zoo in Tulsa and the one in Seattle at their Science museum (I believe). That’s not to take away from the experience, they are all lovely, fun for getting up close and great for taking pics. What I like about Cockrell though is the exhibit before you enter the butterfly habitat. There’s a great area that includes a cockroach exhibit (haha, I love it) and you can see the cocoons as well. I find this to be super special, since you can see it happening right in front of you.
This isn’t cheap and I’m never able to find enough to do to make it worth coming to this alone except with school field trips (which find a way to make everything feel longer, amirite?) School field trips here have always been nice as well, and I suggest them. But combine this with a 3D or Imax thing, bring a credit card with a high limit and that’s likely to be a good time

This place is the coolest! There are swarms of butterflies (the only swarm of insect that would not make me wish for death) flying all around you inside the exhibit, which is this warm and humid greenhouse thing.
Pretty flowers, tons of different butterflies, what more could you want?
We got the groupon for 2 tickets to the natural sciences museum plus the butterfly center exhibit for $ 23! Totally worth it!

This is a great place to visit in Houston. Buying a ticket ahead of time costs roughly $ 6 or so, and you can go with your little cousins as well as your friends.
Despite the occasional wounded butterfly, most of the butterflies were gorgeous to see all in one area, and there were lots of signs with facts and species scattered around. There’s also multiple levels, with a little waterfall and despite the slight humidity because of the whole greenhouse aspect, it’s just very fascinating to see a ton of butterflies hanging around like it’s no big deal, landing on your shoulders and flapping their wings on the railings.
After the butterfly room is also a little exhibit about bugs, which is pretty neat for the small knee-​high explorer, and there’s a huge caterpillar near the entrance that you can take pictures by.