This is the oldest zoo in Europe. You couldn't tell though because it's one of the most…read moreprogressive. They've massively expanded spaces for the animals who need to roam like the elephants and rhino. The polar bear exhibit is spacious and gives the animals a place to hide. The panda has one of the best environments that I've ever seen. It's a nice centralized zoo with one center restaurant that comes to the middle. It's very much about the animals. They put a lot of revenue in and don't do a lot of marketing. There are good sit down foods. Beer gardens. Petting zoo and big play area. Even the walkways and public spaces are amazingly well planted and kept up. After Singapore, my second best zoo in the world.

The Schönbrunn Zoo (Tiergarten Schönbrunn) is touted as the oldest zoo in the world, so we did pop…read morein to see it while wandering the Schönbrunn grounds. It unfortunately does seem like it's the oldest zoo, too. I don't like zoos in general, but where I live, we have one of the world's best zoos (The Henry Doorly Zoo), where the animals have lots of room to roam and live their best lives - as best they can while being in a zoo anyway. But the Schönbrunn Zoo seemed very cramped and a lot older of a set up for the animals there. It kind of made me sad to see them in smaller enclosures. They seemed to be hiding a lot from all the people too. We decided to leave pretty quickly after looking around a bit. I think it's a good thing for kids to do vs. what the parent's probably are wanting to do (seeing the Schönbrunn Palace and grounds), so maybe it's a good thing to have, but just was not up my alley.

The Laizer Tiergarten is a beautiful parc in the West side of Vienna, so peaceful and green it…read moremakes you forget you are actually in the capital city of Austria! To get there, you have to go to Heitzing and take the bus 56B to Hermesstrasse and then switch to the bus 60 to the end station Lainzer Tiergarten. Don't worry it doesn't take that long, and it's definitely worth the trip. You will find there wide green area, fields of cereals, does and sheeps along the way and a beautiful forest (actually one of the oldest in Vienna). There also is a nice castle from the 19th century, the Hermes castle,with a cafe restaurant where you can rest and order some beverage, snacks or more consistent meal (or simply go to the bathroom!). There also it some areas to picnic. I really enjoyed this afternoon on the countryside, who made me feel like home! I will recommend it to any person loving green spaces...

Even though the translation of "Tiergarten" is "zoo", it is not a classical zoo, as you see it in…read moreother cities. When you enter this place and walk about 400m on the left road from the entrance, youll find to your right a big deer park with different deers inside (opposit side of the playground). Continue for another 150m left up the small hill to see a small lake with ducks and a lot of big fish (Good here to have dried bread with you so you can feed them. They like it!). Go ahead for 200m on the left side you can see some ox. Besides that "attraction" this area has to offer a lot more. E.g. a café in the old "Hermes Villa" with nice service and more or less moderate prices. For a small trip you can return to direction of Lainzer Tor on a "nature pathway" besides the rivulet. Pitty, that the descriptions of the trees are just in german. If you have more time, Id suggest to start on the right road from the entrance and continue until youre at a big iron gate (about 30 mins). Pass the gate and continue on the road for about 30 mins. Here youll find a very nice café. From your original way, turn now left uphill on an unpaved road and continue for 20 Minutes until you arrive the large meadow. Maybe you want to have a rest and enjoy your view over vienna. Continue downhill back to the Lainzer Tor. Parking directly in front of the Lainzer Tor though its normally not big enough for all the visitors. To go there via public transport check out the routing planner at http://www.wienerlinien.at .