Naturospace, tropical butterfly and bird house under a glazed roof

The official website presents the Naturospace as a place that has welcomed the public since 1999; two press articles from the summer of 2023 (Ouest-France, Le Pays d'Auge), however, write “since 1998”. According to English Wikipedia, the project is due to a chrysalis dealer who took over a greenhouse when one of his suppliers died, and the mayor of Honfleur offered him the present site.

English Wikipedia dates to 2008 the addition of non-insectivorous bird species. The site is a member of the French association of zoological parks according to English Wikipedia. Le Pays d'Auge and English Wikipedia mention about 100,000 admissions a year.

The Honfleur tourist office describes a “covered, inhabited, living, moving tropical greenhouse” whose natural light is filtered by the verrière (glazed roof); the official website speaks of the “grande verrière” under which the temperature stays between 25 and 28 °C all year, with deliberately high humidity. English Wikipedia instead gives 20 to 25 °C, while the 2023 local press writes 27 °C. The French word verrière denotes a glazed roof.

Ouest-France and Le Pays d'Auge give a 1,000 m² verrière, English Wikipedia a 1,000 m² greenhouse on a 1,300 m² plot. OpenStreetMap records the building, taken from the land registry, on Boulevard Charles V.

The official website lists heliconias, hanging orchids and giant ferns among the plants, which it describes as the keystone of the ecosystem. The tourist office's children's trail highlights a cacao tree, a sweet potato, vanilla and Chinese quail. The 2023 press counts 350 plant species.

More than 1,000 butterflies fly free at the same time; about thirty, six times a day, take their first flight at feeding time. English Wikipedia gives 15,000 butterflies of 150 species, without a reference period. Wikimedia Commons photographs taken on site name, among others, Morpho peleides, Heliconius hecale, Dryas iulia, Papilio demoleus and Euploea modesta. As for birds, the official website mentions doves, lorikeets and small passerines, about ten species; Le Pays d'Auge speaks of some thirty rare birds.

According to the official website, the Naturospace stands on Boulevard Charles V, a stone's throw from the Vieux Bassin. The visit takes about an hour. The tourist office advises coming outside summer, in the morning between 9:30 and 11:00, when crowds are thinner and many butterflies are hatching. The official site recommends a compact pushchair.

The greenhouse closes every year in November; the date announced for 2026 is 15 November, with reopening on 7 February 2027, while another page of the site mentions a closure in January. The Vieux Bassin and its quays, close by, combine easily with the visit.