Utopia Orchid Park, Kibbutz Bahan – Visitors Guide

Utopia Orchid Park at Kibbutz Bahan is a unique botanical garden. You can visit the tropical rainforest, animal area, and other attractions.

Map

Utopia Orchid Park is at the entrance to Kibbutz Bahan. Use the links below to reach this location. Moreover, there is plenty of free parking near the entrance.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Opening Hours

Sunday – Thursday, Saturday, and Holidays: 9:00-17:00
Fridays and Holiday eves: 9:00-15:00

Note: The last entrance is allowed 1.5 hours before closure.

Entrance Fee

Child (2 – 12) – 59 NIS
Adult (12+) – 69 NIS

Notes:

• Children under the age of two enter for free.
• Besides the regular entrance, you can purchase a picnic entrance (regular entry + picnic basket).

You can buy the tickets at the official site.

Coupons and Discounts

• Due to the situation, children under 12 enter for free (up to two children per adult). You must purchase tickets through the official site to take advantage of this offer.
• American Express credit card owners can purchase two adult tickets 1+1 for 69 NIS (and 650 points).

Note: opening hours and ticket prices were updated in March 2024. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting.

Contact Information

Official website: www.utopiapark.co.il
Email: utopia@utopiapark.co.il
Phone: 09-8782191

The Entrance

When we arrived Saturday morning, the closest parking lot was already full. Thus, we were directed to a nearby free parking lot (probably 200 meters from the entrance).

Here are several photos from the entrance:

But only after taking several steps back did we see the writing. It says Utopia in both Hebrew and English.

After purchasing the tickets, we went into the Tropical Rain Forest.

Tropical Rain Forest

Tropical Rain Forest is a two-level, air-conditioned building with plenty of water and several small waterfalls. They created a tropical ecosystem inside this building, the size of a basketball stadium.

Inside, you can find many different types of orchids. And near some plants, you can find explanation signs.

At the far end of this building, you can find Carnivorous Plants. I took the photo above from the second level. So we continued on the second level and returned to Carnivorous Plants later.

Here are several additional photos from the tropical rainforest building:

Carnivorous Plants

During our previous visit, there were short sessions where a guide talked about different types of Carnivorous Plants. These sessions took place every hour. And there was a guide at this place. My daughter did not have the patience, so we did not ask whether there were still such sessions.

There are different Carnivorous Plants. Here is an explanation of probably the most common ones.

Nepenthes drives insects by smell. Once they enter the pitcher, insects can not get out. They cannot hold onto the pitcher’s interior and fall into the water at the bottom of the pitcher. The insect’s movement stimulates Nepenthes’s Gastric Glands.

Drosera is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants. It traps insects using sticky leaves and then turns the leaves up.

One more thing that I have not shown is a big walk-in cage. There were different birds (mostly the Phasianidae family, meaning chickens, quails, and so on).

We finished at the tropical rainforest building and headed outside.

Outside Area