Honestly, what could be better than visiting a free Butterfly Garden at one of the world’s most beautiful airports–Singapore’s Changi Airport?

Official link: https://www.changiairport.com/en/experience/attractions-directory/butterfly-garden.html

Why the Changi Airport’s Butterfly Garden is worth a visit

Whether you’re connecting in Singapore or simply departing the country, you’re going to want to visit the Butterfly Garden at the airport. Yes, Changi Airport in Singapore is one of the top airports in the world. Beyond just the structural beauty of the airport, there are plenty of activities to do while you’re there. Perhaps one of the best is the absolutely free Butterfly Garden where you can witness upwards of 1,000 butterflies living their best life.

All you need is a plane ticket to get into the airside portion of the airport and you’re good to visit. How simple is that?

Location of the Butterfly Garden

The Butterfly Garden is located near the center of Changi Airport’s Terminal 3. The airport map below gives a general overview of Singapore Changi Airport. The butterfly garden is close to where the “3” is in the large “T3” characters are in the image below.

If you’re a connecting passenger, you do not need to pass through immigration controls to visit the Butterfly Garden. It is located airside.

Walking through Terminal 3 itself is nice given the artistic design of the terminal itself.

When you get close, you’ll find all sorts of signage leading you the rest of the way. There are two entrances to the Butterfly Garden–one upstairs and one downstairs. The signage led us up the escalator to start at the top.

Inside the Butterfly Garden

The Changi Airport Butterfly Garden is open from 8AM to 5PM daily–or at least that’s when the butterflies themselves are active.

We’ve made it a point to try to stop by the Butterfly Garden whenever we have time in the airport. Even back in 2018, the area was wowing the kids (well, one kid since the other wasn’t born yet).

Through the years, the Butterfly Garden hasn’t changed. There is a small upstairs area and a staircase that leads down to the larger main area of the garden.

There are plenty of displays of blooming flowers to make sure you get a great view of the butterflies during your visit.

There are even some carnivorous plants inside. I didn’t see any butterflies falling for the traps, thankfully.

And don’t forget to check out the display of butterfly cocoons. From what I could tell, these appeared real and some even seemed to be close to hatching.

Free guided tours available too

Not content with just making the butterfly garden free for all who visit the airport, Changi also has free guided tours too. These are available weekdays at 9:15AM, 10:30AM, and 12:00PM. Tours last 40 minutes each, so it’s not something to do if you don’t have a long enough layover. Plan to arrive 10 minutes early. The tour starts at the lower entrance to the Butterfly Garden.

Making a reservation in advance is highly recommended as the tour is capped at 8 participants. You can make a reservation by using the official Changi App on your mobile phone.

Important — watch where you step!

There are several important rules to follow when you visit the Butterfly Garden.

• No smoking and no outside food
• Do not touch the butterflies
• Do not take any of the butterflies or plants with you when you leave

However, there’s one thing we specifically want to draw your attention to as you enter. Watch your step when inside. Butterflies call the entire area their home and will wind up resting on the floor. If you’re always looking up, you might not see the butterfly in front of you on the floor.

And, yes, this one didn’t make it. The sign on entry said “leave nothing but footprints”, but I’m sure they meant footprints on the floor, not on the butterflies.

And here is another victim. You’re going to see smushed butterflies here on any given day.

Closing thoughts on the Butterfly Garden

No “cap” when I say that the Butterfly Garden at Singapore Changi Airport is so good I’d rather visit it than go to a business class lounge. Sure, you can grab a bite to eat while at the lounge, but Changi Airport has so much to do that it feels like a waste of time to just sit in a room, eating and drinking the whole time. And this doesn’t even include The Jewel, the massive nature exhibit inside Terminal 1 that is on our short list to visit next time.

This Butterfly Garden is beautiful and being able to see it before a flight is a treat. As a parent, I’d much rather give the kids something to do that doesn’t involve screentime and this is stimulating enough to do it. It’s easy to forget about nature when you’re flying in a metal tube or wandering the mazes at airports. That’s why stopping off here to reunite with nature briefly feels so invigorating. And just like that, we’re ready for our next flight after our visit.

For more on what to do while in Singapore, check out our dedicated post to the beautiful city-state.