Annapurna Butterfly Museum

Established in 1965, the Annapurna Butterfly Museum displays nearly all of Nepal’s 660 native butterfly and moth species, along with exhibits on birds, insects, and wildlife models.

Planning your visit

Nepal's altitude range — from subtropical lowland to Himalayan peaks within a hundred kilometres — produces extraordinary biodiversity, and the country holds around 660 butterfly species. The Annapurna Butterfly Museum in Pokhara displays nearly all of them.

The collection was begun in 1965 by the Annapurna Natural History Museum at Prithvi Narayan Campus, and it functions as a research and teaching collection as much as a display. Alongside the butterflies and moths sit insects, bird specimens, wildlife models and material on Himalayan ecology and conservation.

Pokhara sits beneath the Annapurna range, and the museum provides useful context for anyone trekking into the mountains — the species change with altitude in ways that become visible on the trail once you know what to look for.

It is modest and academic in presentation.

Bookable options include tours combining the museum with Gurkha and mountain-related sites. Current availability is listed below.