Splendor of color in every season in the Butterfly House Vienna

The way through

The Butterfly House Vienna is hidden in the Burggarten (palace gardens) between the Hofburg, Albertina and Vienna State Opera. Who would suspect that in the magnificent Art Nouveau building you can find a particularly alluring and colorful world that is just right for a short escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Caution and a little patience are advised as the residents of the Butterfly House are delicate and fragile but equally as nimble as they are calm and persistent. You enter a green oasis with lush plants and colorful flowers. A wooden walkway leads you through the building where it is between 26 and 35 degrees and the air humidity is approximately 80%.

Sweet flower

Sometimes the butterflies appear almost as if they were being presented on a plate, because the most colorful flowers in the butterfly house are made of fabric, soaked with sweet food that attracts the butterflies. Sometimes, however, you have to look very carefully to ultimately convince yourself that the unusual pattern you are looking at is a butterfly and not an orchid. The Butterfly House is home to around 500 free flying, tropical butterflies from around 40 different species and provides the insects with the perfect habitat.

Waterfall

Follow the path a second time past waterfalls and exotic plants. You are sure to have missed something on the first time around and it can’t hurt to enjoy this reprieve a little bit longer. Remember, a tropical butterfly only lives for about one to five weeks, and despite this, or maybe precisely because of this, nature has provided it with such a blaze of color.

How did the butterflies wind up in the Burggarten?

The Burggarten was once the private garden of the imperial family. The current palm house was built in 1901 and served Emperor Franz Josef I as a private greenhouse and above all as a place to find peace and relaxation while gardening. The Burggarten has been open to the public since 1919 and the Palm House is now home to the Butterfly House as well as a beautiful café and offers space for the overwintering of various plants.
The idea for a butterfly house first came about in 1990 and was originally in the Sundial House in Palace Schönbrunn. When it was renovated to become the Desert House in 1997, the butterflies were moved to the Palm House in the Burggarten, where they can still be found today.

Opening Times & Prices for The Butterfly House

Feeding the butterflys

Open every day from November to March
10:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
from April to October
10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
(on the weekends until 6:15 p.m.)

Entry costs € 7.00 / person (for children € 4.00)
Guided tours are available but must be booked in advance. There is no minimum number of participants. (Cost € 40.00 / tour)

The best way to get to The Butterfly House from one of the 5 Schick Hotels is by foot, the nearest underground stations are U2 “Museumsquartier” or U1/U4 “Karlsplatz”.