Butterfly Farm worth it?

[PJNJcruise5]

My daughter would like to tour the Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten, so far only RCCL has an excursion for this, not any private tours. Does anyone know if a private tour company includes this stop? The reason I ask we would like to see the butterflies, tour Fort Louis, stop in Marigot for a bit and Maho beach to see the planes land and shop in Phillipsburg. We are not interested in stopping at Orient Beach. RCCL doesn't offer stops to the Fort or Maho beach. And if anyone has been to the Butterfly Farm what did you think of it. My daughter is 18 and has been to a similar place in Costa Rica and loved it.

[mit43]

We loved it. It was very interesting.

[PJNJcruise5]

Mit43, did you take a tour or taxi to the butterfly farm?

[wonderdox]

My daughter would like to tour the Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten, so far only RCCL has an excursion for this, not any private tours. Does anyone know if a private tour company includes this stop? The reason I ask we would like to see the butterflies, tour Fort Louis, stop in Marigot for a bit and Maho beach to see the planes land and shop in Phillipsburg. We are not interested in stopping at Orient Beach. RCCL doesn't offer stops to the Fort or Maho beach. And if anyone has been to the Butterfly Farm what did you think of it. My daughter is 18 and has been to a similar place in Costa Rica and loved it.

 

The Butterfly farm itself is what I would describe as a mom and pop operation. I know nothing about butterflies and really could care less about butterflies. I honestly booked the Butterfly Farm and Beach excursion (via RCCL) for the beach that was listed in the description. The Butterfly farm itself was a pleasant surprise! The beach portion on the other-hand was a huge bust. The tour company pulled a fast one and took us to a beach that was NOT listed online and other print material. There were several in the group upset by the change in the beach at the last moment. I felt taken advantage of and the situation was handled poorly but the tour company. I spoke to Royal the issue. But this has nothing to do with the review of the Butterfly Farm. I am only bring this up because it sounds you may be looking at the same excursion. I also want to warn other travelers if they are seeking a specific beach.

 

The people who run the Butterfly Farm are very passionate about butterflies and I found the tour very educational. They even give you tips on attracting butterflies at home. They take time to answer any questions you may.

 

It isnt the cleanest or nicest butterfly exhibit I have visited (I have since attended another butterfly farm in the States). If your daughter is into butterflies it is worth a stop. I would not budget more than hour to experience it unless you are big into photographing butterflies.

 

They gave us (I think that was included in our excursion price that was a ripoff) punch that you can put on the back of your hand to attract the butterflies to feed. I didnt care for that because it got my hands all sticky but I am weird like that. When I went to another butterfly farm recently, they gave us a q-tip soaked in sugar water. That worked out far better. I know this is odd but I would actually bring my own q-tips if I visited again.

Edited May 13, 2014 by wonderdox

[Lard Greystoke]

My daughter would like to tour the Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten, so far only RCCL has an excursion for this, not any private tours. Does anyone know if a private tour company includes this stop? The reason I ask we would like to see the butterflies, tour Fort Louis, stop in Marigot for a bit and Maho beach to see the planes land and shop in Phillipsburg. We are not interested in stopping at Orient Beach. RCCL doesn't offer stops to the Fort or Maho beach. And if anyone has been to the Butterfly Farm what did you think of it. My daughter is 18 and has been to a similar place in Costa Rica and loved it.

 

It's a small facility, about the size of a single-family house. Cost something like $13 to get in (good all day). Whether it's worth it depends a lot on you. I'm not looking to pinch pennies on vacation, and I like insects, so I was good. They have a nice selection of butterflies, including blue Morphos when I was there. Staff periodically offers guided tours describing care, breeding, life cycle, etc. The butterflies can't get very far away from you so there are plenty of good photo ops.

 

It's a walk away from Le Galion beach, which was less commercialized and I thought more attractive than Orient - which is also a walk or short drive away.

[GenHawk]

My daughter would like to tour the Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten, so far only RCCL has an excursion for this, not any private tours. Does anyone know if a private tour company includes this stop? The reason I ask we would like to see the butterflies, tour Fort Louis, stop in Marigot for a bit and Maho beach to see the planes land and shop in Phillipsburg. We are not interested in stopping at Orient Beach. RCCL doesn't offer stops to the Fort or Maho beach. And if anyone has been to the Butterfly Farm what did you think of it. My daughter is 18 and has been to a similar place in Costa Rica and loved it.

 

I loved it have been there twice. The Aztec Butterfly's are Amazing. I did the tour that stops at the market first then goes to the butterfly farm.

 

Wendy

[Newbie Cruiser 2010]

We did a ship excursion to the Butterfly Farm and Marigot. Not sure which cruise line it was now. Both my husband and I absolutely LOVED the Butterfly Farm. We also love the bakery in Marigot.

[viking042900]

We just came back from St. Maarten/Martin on the Freedom of The Seas (8/10-8/17) and did almost everything you're wanting to do using a taxi. We took the bought all day passes for the water taxi ($35 for our family of five) and hired a taxi in town to take us to the Butterfly Farm. We loved it (except for my 11 year old who suddenly became petrified of butterflies.) We learned a lot about the butterflies from the tour and saw many cool species. It was $45 for the five of us to get into the Butterfly Farm. Our taxi driver waited for us and then took us to Maho beach (where the planes come in.) It was lunch time by that point, so we ate at the bar and grill there. Pretty good food there as well. The driver again waited for us and then took us back to Phillipsburg. The total for the taxi was $110 (again, that's for five people); not too bad in my opinion to have someone waiting on you for more than half of the day in port. I did the math and we spent less than half of what we would have spent on the excursion through RCCL. It will obviously be a little more for you since you're wanting to go to Maginot, but I still think it will be worth it to just handle things yourself instead of going through the cruise line.

[navybankerteacher]

My daughter would like to tour the Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten, so far only RCCL has an excursion for this, not any private tours. Does anyone know if a private tour company includes this stop? The reason I ask we would like to see the butterflies, tour Fort Louis, stop in Marigot for a bit and Maho beach to see the planes land and shop in Phillipsburg. We are not interested in stopping at Orient Beach. RCCL doesn't offer stops to the Fort or Maho beach. And if anyone has been to the Butterfly Farm what did you think of it. My daughter is 18 and has been to a similar place in Costa Rica and loved it.

 

Your contemplated itinerary involves much of the island and might best be accomplished with a rental car rather than a number of taxis (which would eat up a lot of time while costing just about as much). The butterfly farm is right next to Le Galion beach - a calm, low key place with restrooms and good food. It is probably a half hour drive from the cruise terminal - and would be best to see at the end of the day - after seeing the planes at Maho - which are busiest in the early afternoon. If you did drive, your first stop might be Marigot and Fort St. Louis. There would be a bit of back-tracking, but you would not want to get from Maho to the cruise terminal at the end of the day - the traffic then would be brutal.