Butterfly sanctuary
jardín mágico

  My partner and I booked a tour on our honeymoon and it did not disappoint! We enjoyed the tour at Planeta Cacao, and loved the hands-on activity of making our... read more own cocoa paste. Yum! Our guide for the Butterfly Garden, Fabian, was so great. He was extremely knowledgeable about butterflies, the various species, and host plants that are all native to the area. We learned a lot, and he was really fun to chat with during and after the tour. Bonus: we were impressed by the selection of natural, healthy snacks 🙂 It’s worth mentioning that the Mariposario team was really helpful in setting up transportation to and from the sites. I had my celluar data off in the days leading up to the tour, so I didn’t get the messages until the day-of but they were super responsive when I called, and they helped to arrange everything very quickly. Very helpful, given we were coming from Punta de Mita. Overall, I highly recommend visiting (and supporting) the Jardín Mágico: we loved seeing what they’re doing to preserve the local ecosystem, and educate kids and the broader community in PV. So cool, and so very, very important.

  Chris was a wonderful host - I felt like a big kid on a field trip. Refreshed and renewed my love for the magic of nature

  The tour was lovely. Our guide was very knowledgeable and I learned many things about butterflies! You also get to release a butterfly at the end of the tour. The... read more grounds are beautiful as well.

  This tour is not only beautiful but the guide shares so much information about the ongoing changes for the butterfly's in this area. I highly recommend this experience for all... read more ages.

  Fabian was a wonderful, friendly, and very knowledgeable guide, and we were delighted to learn more about pollinators and their importance in the ecosystem. A nice cultural destination (and a... read more break from just laying around on the beach). Also a memorable and sweet experience to release a butterfly for its first flight. We hope to return in the future. Thank you!!

  Favorite part was watching my children release the butterflies, and all their focused attention when the guide pointed out certain butterflies, the eggs, caterpillars and chrysalis.

  What a lovely place! We were so delighted that this wasn't one of the usual butterfly experiences where you just walk around and look at pretty butterflies! Instead, it was... read more so educational, inspiring and informative! They are doing such great work here and spreading such outstanding information. Not a tourist trap at all.....rather a wonderful, off the path find! Thank you!

  This was a little present for my girlfriend which likes butterflies and the Sanctuary was a very beautiful experience. Fabian the tour guide was so passionate about the animals and... read more the whole lifecycle and was really dedicated to make our tour a beautiful experience to remember. Many thanks

  We spent a wonderful few hours with Fabian doing this little gem of an excursion. The communication from Fabian right from the start was excellent. We made arrangements to meet... read more at a specific location and time and everything went as planned. Fabian met us and we rode the bus to the town that houses the butterfly sanctuary. We walked a short distance to the sanctuary where we got a history of how everything was set-up. Fabian spent a lot of time explaining everything once we went inside the butterfly house, talking about the host plants and all the processes they go through to protect the butterflies. We saw eggs and caterpillars and, lots of butterflies, of course. After a very personal tour, we got to each release a butterfly that Fabian and his team nurtured from egg to butterfly. It was amazing! We then got to continue to walk through the butterfly house on our own. Once we were done in the butterfly house, we headed out to meet Fabian at the beautiful pond on the property. We enjoyed time with ducks that Fabian had lovingly raised and look at the other wildlife on the property while we enjoyed water and snacks. Fabian then took us back to catch the bus back to Puerto Vallarta, making sure we got back to our starting point. Fabian was friendly, engaged and genuinely interested in us and our family. We would highly recommend this tour! You will learn a lot and spend a relaxing few hours enjoying a little known part of Puerto Vallarta!