Not too expensive, great for kids with a variety of exhibits and rotating displays. The staff were friendly and helpful during our lost-child incident. They had a very interesting display of fossils, presented in a timeline of ancient Florida. They also had a great area for young children, including those with sensitivities. Highly recommended.

I absolutely LOVE this museum! It definitely is a must-do in Gainesville. I have visited over 10+ times and I have a wonderful experience each time. The exhibits are interesting, captivating, and very informative. I love the limited time exhibits they offer. They will often include hands-on and interactive displays, which is fun for kids and adults! The discovery zone is also super hands-on and interesting. The butterfly garden is absolutely beautiful and an experience I recommend for everyone.The museum also has a great gift shop! Don't miss out on this outstanding museum!

What a wonderful museum and tip of the hat to FL! Butterfly garden is a must IMO if you like butterflies. The museum has the largest specimen collection of butterfliesand moths in the world at over 9 million specimens! The temporary Fossil exhibit they have on display for a limited time is amazing. The kids were able to get hands on, not only in the discovery center, but also helping to glue together and label fossils before they are cataloged in the national database. We will be back. The.food at the Cafe next door was great and reasonably priced!

So general admission is free, but for the butterfly house and any traveling exhibits cost extra. But the Butterfly exhibit is so worth it! This place is clean and organized. A nice combination of real fossils and recreations.

every time my granddaughter comes to visit me we go to see the butterfly exhibition. Beautiful is like being in another world. Due to her condition of Autism, her connection with nature is incredible. She also has ADHD. also requiring Support in Social Communication. Before entering she understands the rules of the site very well even better than me. because she is high functioning autistic. And believe me, maybe one day she will work for you guys. But the fact that she spreads her arms is not an indication that she wants to touch the butterflies. It is for them to reach her. I'm telling you this not because of a bad review because there was one of you staff employees who came out and told her you can't touch them. You can imagine what happened to her. she began to cry because what she wanted was for a blue butterfly to reach on her hands. Nothing more than that. She wasn't touching her I was with her reminding her of the rules she just wanted to feel the blue butterfly in her hands. She wasn’t stalking them . which she knows very well its name and its characteristics not only of that butterfly of almost all of them. I can assure you that in the future my granddaughter will be of great help to you. Having said all this, I only have one suggestion. Today various colors are used to identify special conditions. I think it's the purple color. With a bracelet you as employees will know that it is a person with special conditions. but that behind them there is an adult who knows the rules and is going to help you to make that special person follow the rules in such a beautiful place prepared to preserve something as beautiful as butterflies. My granddaughter Briana is very grateful that you take care of her butterflies, she understands that butterflies are God's creation and you have to take good care of them. When she spreads out her arms, she knows that at some point one of the butterflies is going to reach her, and that's how it has been on our recent visits to such a beautiful place.

We loved everything about this museum! We had gone once before and decided to take our entire family this go around. The butterfly gardens are a must. We enjoyed being able to go in as many times as we wanted. Perfect location for both kids and adults to have a memorable trip. Entry is free, just have to pay for the add-ons like the butterfly gardens.

First time to the museum. The butterfly exhibit was closed due to lightning. The museum overall is laid out really nice. Easy to navigate and very educational. Although the museum is free, donations are appreciated. It’s located on UF’s campus. Parking is free on the weekends.

It was a bit windy and brisk so we didn’t do the butterfly rainforest as the lady at the ticket desk told us it wouldn’t be worth the ticket price as the butterflies aren’t out and active when it’s cooler outside so we just browsed the gift shop and free portions of the museum as a pit stop on our way back from Orlando. It was a nice place to explore and a good way to break up the drive.

I brought four of my little ones my wife and brother in-law to visit this gem, the kids where completely blown away and had smiles from ear to ear the whole time we were there. The wife loved many parts of the visit as did the brother in-law. I have been to quiet a few museums in my life time and this one was very well laid out and was not to long or to short it was just right the facility was clean and had ample parking over all it was a very pleasant family outing and we thank you for your work and dedication to supplying our youth and even our adults with the beauty and history you elegantly laid out for our viewing pleasure can't wait to see how you change things around with new exhibits in the future

This museum is great! I'm a Florida native and very passionate about the states wildlife, and their collections are very diverse and informative. So many cool fossils, specimens, and exhibits on the flora and fauna of the state. Their traveling exhibits are always super interesting as well, most recently I saw the dinosaur egg exhibit, which had ton of interesting info and reproductions for both kids and adults. I definitely recommend this place, especially for return visits, because there's just so much to see!

Very cool and did not cost to park on the weekend. Only did the free exhibits and was very impressed

I enjoy visiting museums a big deal- this is one of my favorite museums in Florida. I especially enjoyed the butterfly rainforest & the spiders section. However, there is a lot to learn from this museum and it’s a good family spot and are to visit on a weekend or any day really.

I love this museum. I’ve learned a lot! The entrance is free, but if you wanna visit the butterfly kingdom and a spider world you need to pay for their tickets. For the first timers, I recommend touring around the museum first.

Very busy but a lot of fun! Free to enter and only have to pay for the butterflies. Really enjoyed my visit and learning about the natural history of this area.

Nice museum. Easy parking. Lots to see and different exhibits. Paid extra to see the butterfly garden and spider display. Was worth it. Lots of Florida history. Arrow heads. Native American history. Fossils. It wasn’t too busy. Lots of space staff was very friendly and informative. Nice place to spend the day. Good for family’s kids and dates.

If you ever have to endure week-long doctors' appointments at the UF Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL, consider visiting this museum in your down time, it's cool, calm, relaxing, and a helpful way to get your mind off of other things, there is a $4 parking fee, however, admission to the main part of the museum is free and there's a lot to see, experience, and learn about, from dinosaurs, fossils, natural history, and more. This is a great place for people of all ages. There is an admission fee for the Butterfly Rainforest, however you will not be disappointed. All staff and volunteers were friendly, inviting, and knowledgeable. The environment was clean and spacious.

Wow this place is so cool! It's a wonderful museum dedicated to Florida's natural history and has so many interesting exhibits. My absolute favorite is the fossil exhibit. The Mastodon display is quite impressive and mostly intact. The butterfly garden is pretty spectacular too. And if you like spiders and creepy crawly things check out the Spiders Live exhibit. We had such a wonderful time here.

The museum was pretty nice! Lots of cool things to look at and take pictures of. I LOVED the fossil part that was probably my favorite. They have a play area for kids to explore as well, I loved it too as an adult. Best of all, parking and entry were free!

So wonderful! It's free to get in but you have to pay to see the extra exhibits. It's totally understandable when you think about how expensive it would be to keep all of the butterflies, plus the plants , and other animals alive. I highly recommend it! I've never seen so many shell fossils! The native American history was also educational and would be great for kids (especially homeschooling ones).

Great place to see butterflies it was kind of cool so they were a stationary and were able to get these great pictures on a cool day great place to visit and spend a little time sitting on the bench and watching and listening to the nature

I love this place, it's fun, educational, and a great experience for all people. People young and old will love it. My personal favorite place in the museum is the mammoth exhibit (the first room you enter). The butterfly exhibit is also a fun area of the place. Kids love it! The fossil exhibit is fun to, teaching yourself, and others about natural history is great! Some Improvements can be made, no place is perfect, but I'm sure that people that enjoy learning about the history from the time of the Columbian Mammoth, too the times of Native Americans will enjoy this wonderful place in Florida! Overall, I think the place is great for the young and the old. 5/5!

Very beautiful museum. Absolutely loved the butterflies. Highly recommend coming here with family and friends. Do the whole experience. Just wish the butterfly exhibit was longer.

Enjoyed the museum, surprised to learn of the various animals that once inhabited Florida! Staff very helpful and provided god information. Butterfly Florist was extremely nice, lots of butterflies and beautiful plants. Great place to bring family, day trip. Museum admission is free! $15 for Butterfly Forest.

Wonderful Museum. Went to all three 'exhibits' 1. The Butterfly rainforest 2. The main museum 3. The spider one - rotating exhibit Drove to Gainesville (from Indiana) to see UofF and someone recommended we stop here and I'm so glad we did. We loved it! It's so well done and there is a lot to see and learn. Even our 17 year old daughter loved it. Tip: There is electric parking in the garage but you need to follow the instructions (unlike hubby) I think that's nice for those of us with EV or PHEV.

I cannot believe this museum is free. What an asset to the Gainesville community! My daughter and I had a great time learning more about the people, animals, and ecosystems of Florida history. It complemented nicely the Florida history she has learned in school up to this point. We paid the few extra dollars to visit the Butterfly exhibit. They were everywhere and so pretty, but the real stars of the show were the Chinese quails running around. They were so cute!

Really impressive museum for its size. It looks small from the exterior but its a labyrinth of exhibits and a wealth of Florida science and history information. The discovery kids zone is fantastic, but note that section and the special exhibits close 30 minutes before actual museum closing time. Its free admission to permanent exhibits and an absolute must with kiddos if you're visiting the area.

Great experience. The fossil exhibit was informative and there were paleontologists available to speak with and ask questions. The butterfly rainforest was just breathtaking and truly a unique experience. Highly recommend a visit here.