I was at first very impressed with Edinburgh Zoo but then when I went for something to eat as I am diabetic and need to eat at regular intervals I found none were open at 11 am, I couId not even get to buy a snack, I had been up early travelling from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I had to curtail my visit and then head back into the Centre of Edinburgh to find somewhere to eat and I was well over my time because of this should anything untoward had happened because of missed meal times would have had to take this further read more

I guess I'm going to title my reviews "From Pittsburgh to Edinburgh". I'm doing this review in our hotel's business center after a heavy morning of touring Edinburgh. I visited this zoo on July 2nd. I was recuperating after an overnight flight from Pittsburgh. International flying takes a toll on my body, so while my husband was out sightseeing on his own, I took a day of rest & relaxation. I felt better by the afternoon and strolled over to the zoo. It's just down the block from our hotel. I'd rate this zoo somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. The thing to remember about this zoo is it's built on several levels. If you use a wheelchair or a rascal (motorized scooter) or you're not a good walker, you may have trouble navigating around here. The map http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/export/sites/default/common/documents/maps-and-guides/W_chair_Zoo_map.pdf shows the many steep slopes and stairs here. So since I've visited many zoos before (the National Zoo in Washington, DC; Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo, Pittsburgh's Zoo, etc), what makes this one so different? Well for one thing, this zoo has a lot of educational talks and presentations. I arrived in time for the Penguin Parade and Talk and I also went to the Indian Rhinos talk. Yeah, I know it's a cliche, but penguins are funny little birds and it was hilarious watching them parade down the sidewalk. Some of the other attractions include the Budongo Trail, an interactive chimpanzee enclosure, and the only koalas in the United Kingdom. I think my two favorites however are the Animal Antics show and the Rainbow Landings where I got the chance interact with the rainbow lorikeet birds. The zoo was a perfect low key way to recuperate from jetlag. Based on what Sam C. says, I'm glad I ate lunch at the hotel. Just be sure to wear your walking shoes (you really don't want to be in flip-flops here!) and comfortable clothes. And be prepared to do a lot of hill and stair climbing! read more

I went to Edinburgh Zoo with my coworkers for our regular 'Retreat' ie. a day we go out of the office, usually somewhere fun, and give presentations on what we're up to. Surprisingly Edinburgh Zoo has fantastic facilities for this! We had a marvelous day with a semi-buffet lunch provided (I say semi as it was brought to our meeting room and wasn't all you can eat but it wasn't a sit down meal.) Our package also included entry to the zoo. We wolfed down our lunch so as to see the Penguin Parade, which was fantastic! After our meeting we wandered around to our hearts content and had a fantastic time (the cute animals helping to disperse the tensions that had built up over the day!) Although as a day out in general the zoo is fantastic, as a venue for a meeting it was surprisingly splendid! read more

This is a slightly difficult review to write, because as enjoyable as it is seeing over 1,000 different species in the one, admittedly large space, it always plays on my mind that it is captivity, even if the animals are amazingly well looked after and not cruelly treated. However, on the other hand, a zoo this size, with such an array of wildlife, has huge educational value for anyone visiting it, and in turn teaches people the importance of conserving every different type of species. If people can't come to a space like this and observe how amazing and impressive nature can be, and how crucial it is to look after the natural world, then that could mean less awareness, and more disregard towards the plight of endangered animals. With the serious part over, if you are visiting the zoo, there is a lot to see, so give yourself a good part of the day to survey everything. The zoo is the largest in Scotland, and set out over acres of parkland in the Corstorphine area. There's obviously tons of awesome species to have a peek at, but I adore the wee fairy penguins the most, plus you can't beat looking up at a giraffe, and wondering how long it took, in an evolutionary sense, for their necks to become that long. read more

Edinburgh Zoo has everything you want/need in a zoo. It is a fantastic day out (providing the weather cooperates) and will definitely keep you entertained for the day. Its slap bang in the middle of Corstorphine, about 15 minutes from the city centre. Jump on the 26 bus and it stops right outside. I have fond memories of coming here on school trips when I was a kid, and now I am an even bigger kid I still like an excuse to go. One of the highlights of the zoo is the Penguin Parade, which usually happens around 1 o'clock. It does what it says on the tin, the penguins come out of the enclosure for a march around the perimeter. Its entertaining and it is humorous to see animals misbehave as there is always at least one trying to escape! There is plenty more to see. The Budongo Trail is a fairly new enclosure for the chimps which has viewing areas in every possible position so you don't miss a thing. There is an outdoor section with ropes and platforms where the chimps play with each other, I could sit for hours watching them. Its a really interesting enclosure and is a step up from your standard cage. The selection of animals is like you would find in any zoo: from Lions to Porcupines and Zebras to Sea Lions. Note that the Polar Bear was moved up to Aviemore last year after 25 years at the zoo. There is plenty of little food stalls and cafes selling ice creams, snacks, tea, coffee etc but these places are usually pretty overpriced. I recommend bringing a picnic and eating in one of the many picnic areas- again if the weather cooperates. On the way out, the gift shop is bound to catch your eye and your pennies. Its well worth the visit. read more

Visited the zoo with an army of my friends for a fun packed day out. It was as fan flippin' tastic as usual! Considering about 30 of us flooded through the doors the staff were patient as always and got us sorted out in no time, with minimal fuss. Visited all my usual haunts - Budongo trail, big cats, koalas, and of course a few of the penguins came out for the parade today. Did one thing different, however - went up to the top for Animal Antics, which was very well choreographewd by the zoo keepers. The guy who was running the workshop was very chatty, all the way handling a wee armadillo and preventing his owl from flying away. Zoos can be very sad indeed but Edinburgh is very interactive and you can tell they take care of their animals. They seem to love them all and be very familiar with each of their needs. It's always very well signposted for information, so you can swat up on your animal facts. They are always great at keeping you up to date with their conservation projects. Next time I'll need to visit rainbow landings - with assistance you can feed the beautiful tropical birds! read more

How could anyone review the attractions of Edinburgh and not talk about the Zoo. This place was my day out of choice when I was a kid. And I have some of my oldest memories here, running about daft with my dad chasing after me, and trying ever so hard not to join in with the Penguin parade. The Zoo has a special place in everyone's heart that visited here as a kid. So now when you go back as an adult, not much has changed, except the price! Expect to pay through the nose for a day out here with the family. I was always a huge Hippopotamus fan when I was young, or as I used to call them, 'Hippomapotamus'. And the monkeys are always a winner. With the icing on the cake being, of course, the Penguin parade. Make sure you get to see this spectacle and the kids will undoubtedly love it. Go during the spring/summer and you will get to see the baby Penguins finding their feet as they get their daily wander around the Zoo. Excellent. read more

Frankly, I was irritated before we even got in. We booked online, thinking we'd be able to see when there was an opportunity to see the pandas and plan our trip for whatever day they had availability. Strangely for the first-choice day it appeared not to be necessary to book a time slot, so we bought tickets. The website happily takes your money. But at the drop down list to "select your panda entry time" it appears that "general admission" does not mean "general admission to see the pandas". In fact it means "sorry, all slots are taken". Obviously. To make matters worse the supervisor / manager got arsy with us for asking why the website didn't offer the option to book a time slot, and when we could go. I would have quite happily have enjoyed the zoo with or without pandas, but as it was I spent the whole day feeling conned by a cr***y website. That aside, the zoo's fine I guess. Good exercise walking up the hills, but lacking the wow factor that really great zoos have. And while I'm ranting, the restaurants were laid out by people who have never eaten there - the layout is awful. read more

I have been visiting Edinburgh zoo for over 40 years I went as a child and since visited with my own children and now my grandchildren. I have always loved it but now find the enclosures are not as good . I visited flamingoland zoo last week and was amazed at the difference the animals all at eye view and well equipped and maintained enclosures . the tigers n lion feeding times were awesome and the keepers talks too. I am sad to say I will not be visiting Edinburgh zoo again and think flamingoland could give Edinburgh a few tips read more

Edinburgh Zoo - Flamingoland tigers - Zoos Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

Absolutely loved my trip here, beautiful zoo with lots for the kids to see & do. The only criticism I have would be some of the food kiosks are quite expensive at one point I was charged nearly £3.50 for one ice cream cone with a flake & £2.50 for one can of Diet Coke. A review on the Kiosk prices might be in order! read more

I really struggle with zoos, especially as a parent. Whilst it's great that my little girl gets to see and appreciate all these wonderful animals I do have pangs of guilt as it is captivity and there's a voice in my head that says that no animals should be caged. Both my wife and I shared a look when we saw a gorgeous leopard pacing up and down staring at the kids through the glass - then we read that there were only 35 of this kind living in the wild and this one was part of a scheme to breed more and save the species, for us wannabe right on types it's a moral quandry. Generally speaking most of the animals seemed to have reasonable sized spaces and the zoo was clean and staff working away at all times, so as far as zoos go it's not such a bad place. The bits I really didn't like were the leopards and tigers, but I guess they need to make sure that there's no chance of them escaping - that being said, these most impressive of animals probably had proportionately the smallest living space. On the flip side, my daughter really liked it..... read more

One of the times i visited was when poor Mercedes the polar bear was still here and that poor old soul was one of the most miserable looking bored creatures I have ever seen. They are particuarly bad for breeding animals to work as a vistor draw and then culling them. google red river pigs edinburgh to find out more on that one. Only this year it is working on getting the giant pandas in to be a real money spinner yet at the same time it has been threatened with the removal of its operating licence after inspectors found it had failed to address a series of animal welfare and safety failings that date back at least five years. At the same time it is spending a fortune on pandas: the big cat enclosure is in a terrible state of disrepair; the sea lion enclosure has several animals were suffering from eye infections; and the main food store was infested withvermin. In additon to that just what you need when bringing in the worlds rarest bears with tricky needs - problems with the zoo's veterinary hospital. All of the above inspection findings are fully verifiable via freedom of information documents and other publications. read more

Edinburgh Zoo - Edinburgh Zoo revealed it had culled the two babies in what the zoo said was a surplus to an international breeding program - Zoos Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

Lazy pandas didn't come out but the park was as nice. The staff should stop telling people they're not allowed up the hill when there's only 30 min left, especially if they're willing to run but all in all it was nice. read more

As a Wildlife enthusiast I can safely say I've visited this zoo a lot! As far as Zoos go Edinburgh Zoo is great! The animals are well cared for and in most cases look like they've been given enough space to comfortable move around, which is certainly not the case in some places I've visited. The downside for visiting the zoo is that as we're dealing with live animals, time of year and weather can make a huge difference to what you get out of your day. If its too cold, which it often can be, a lot of the animals hid away tucked into there warm beds and your left reading information about an animal that seems to be missing. On a good day at the zoo there is a lot to see! new Sun Bears have been introduced into a very open enclosure and so good viewing is pretty much guaranteed. Penguins are of course the main attraction of the zoo and there is hundreds to see. There are three penguin species at Edinburgh, including the well known King Penguins. Last year I was even luck enough to see a new King Penguin chick, and saw it a few days ago almost all grown up. If your lucky, during the afternoon the zoo keepers open the Penguin enclosure and if they choose to, there free to take there awkward little steps out to impress the admirers with there very own Penguin Parade. The biggest news for the Zoo this years is of course that they have been granted the privilege of receiving two Giant Pandas. Although no official date has been decided, Edinburgh aims to get these beautiful creatures in by the end of the year. That in itself makes Edinburgh Zoo worth a good visit! My negative points here are all in relation to the retail section of the Zoo. I was thirsty and in the first vending machines available that I tried, absolutely everything was sold out. When I finally found a machine with something available it wouldn't accept my coins and then in trying the next one I saw that someone else's coins had got stuck and it looked like it had been that way for a while. When I searched for food the only place that seemed open was a small coffee shop so there was nowhere to get hot food. The shop was okay, but could have been better. I buy cuddly wildlife toys everywhere I go yet this shop didn't have that many that appealed to me, I'd have expected more from a zoo. They do have a great range of postcards and magnets and I did buy a nice edinburgh zoo calender filled with different wild animal pictures for only £3. I'm giving 4 stars because Edinburgh is a great Zoo for a variety of wildlife and the staff really do care. There's a star missing because i feel that yes it could be better! I'd like to see more real interaction available between the animals and the public. It would be nice to have a service where we can get our pictures taking next to one of the animals. It would be nice to get to pay to feed the Penguins some fish. Another thing I forgot to mention. If you love your wildlife and would like to support the work they do at Edinburgh Zoo you can either go online or pick up a leaflet from the zoo and adopt one of there animals. All the animals at the zoo are available to adopt for a different price depending on the animal. If you adopt an animal your name gets put on a board at the animals enclosure along with the name of all the other adopters for all visitors to see. read more

I have always loved Edinburgh zoo. Mid-sized but well maintained. and on a hill so good exercise and good views We LOVED seeing the pandas for the first time a few weeks ago and they were most entertaining. Kids loved it but I did even more! The eating facilities are all very good although I remain disappointed that the manor house is no longer a nice restaurants it was when I was a girl! Only complaint is that many of the kiosks and face painting kiosks were closed even though it is school holidays. The kids were a little disappointed by this, read more

We were in Scotland celebrating my daughter's 21st birthday and she and her two 20-something year old cousins wanted to go to the zoo. The zoo? We can go to a zoo anywhere I thought. Well, go to this zoo because it is amazing. So easy to catch a bus. Interactive exhibits where you can walk among wallabies, monkeys, and birds. Excellent restaurants for tea and sweets and farm-sourced lunch items at reasonable rates. The 215 penguin parade is so much fun - we laughed so much. This is a great place for all ages! Giant pandas and an excellent collection of animals large and small. Make sure this goes on your travel agenda! read more

Wow what can I say but wow. I love zoos and I must admit that this zoo is definitely now one of my best zoos. The reason why this zoo is amazing is the space that it has for its animals, how clean the zoo is, the friendlies of the staff and how the animals all look very happy. The other main reason that this zoo is totally amazing is that it is the only zoo in the UK to have some pandas and koala bears. What a joy to see I have never seen a panda or kola bear in real life before only ever on TV. I was lucky enough to get to see the panda roll over and yawn and one of the koalas eating, was so cute. I know some people think zoos are cruel but least they are save and least this way zoos are helping keep animals alive and save from poachers and save from total extinction. All the animals there seemed very happy and they all had enough space to roam around in. Particular areas that was well done and very spacious was the monkeys, pygmy hippos and penguins. The monkeys have a great big hill with many trees to swing to, the hippos a great pond and greenery and the penguins well a vast area of water and ground and they even had their own umbrellas to shelter under. Edinburgh zoo even had two rare white penguins so adorable to see and my first sighting ever of a white penguin. I would totally fly back to Edinburgh just to go to the zoo alone that is how much I loved the zoo and for sure if the panda ever has a baby I will be flying out there straight away. read more

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I expected to wander round Edinburgh Zoo with the same cheery, jovial attitude I applied to such attractions as a child. For the most part, the Zoo unearthed these qualities but staring through the glass cages at these poor isolated beasts was now slightly unnerving as an adult. Nonetheless, hilarious penguins, intimidating lions, some mischievous monkeys amidst many other attractions ensured a good day was had by all. Bring your own lunch though; the on-sight cafe is utter crap. read more

I didn't like it. It was a very sad place. Most of the animals were sleeping and it was very expensive.

The special thing about my when I saw the pandas plus had looked round elsewhere after

We visited today and our party consisted of me and my wife, our 11yr old son and 8yr old daughter. The weather was nice and sunny but it was chilly due to the chill factor.  The zoo is set in a large area and there is a fair amount of walking to be done to see everything so ensure you wear comfortable footwear! We decided to go to straight to the feed of the day, one of the scheduled feeds and here we met Barry, one of the zoo presenters. He presented well and after the talk we stopped and my children and wife asked some questions. Barry was very thorough in answering and even showed us pictures and videos about other animals he had worked with. He then offered to show us one of the most dangerous animals in the zoo and on the way he presented to us and others the Pygmy hippo. As for the most dangerous animal you'll have to visit to find out! We also watched him do a presentation re Sun Bears and that was excellent too. His talks and enthusiasm made the day for us and we continued to explore the zoo. If you see him ask him about wolves! We the had lunch in the Grasslands Restaurant and the food was on par price wise for most on site catering but the quality was excellent. All freshly cooked and well presented. The staff worked hard to ensure tables were clean and cutlery etc available.  We then visited the majority of the rest of the park including the penguin parade although the penguins chose not to parade today. I like the way the animals aren't forced to do something and this made the visit all the more enjoyable knowing it wasnt a show.  One tip to share is if you haven't booked tickets for the panda viewings then just roll up and see if they can fit you in. We were very lucky in that all those who booked didn't turn up so there were free spaces. We saw both pandas and loved it! They are doing some re-organising of animals so some pens were shut but this didn't detract from the overall experience.  All in all we had a wonderful day and can only praise all of the staff there, especially Barry, as they all work hard to make your day a good one. read more

I had a great time at the zoo and really pleased to see some of the areas for the animals have been expanded and upgraded also the zoo staff are so knowledgable that makes it so great to learn interesting facts on each trip. The only problem I had was with the restaurant at the zoo, the restaurant staff were not as helpful as the zoo staff and there cleanliness was a problem to be honest. I witnessed after I received my food customer after customer throwing there food into the bin. Also with it being a zoo it would be great if they had more vegan/vegetarian options. Other than that great trip. read more

Really nice place for a day out and to bring the family. The pandas are always the key attraction, however the penguin show is nice to see too. read more