Opel Zoo — Attraction in Kronberg im Taunus

Opel Zoo is a mid-sized zoo easily reached from the centre of Frankfurt, by S-Bahn + bus. I visited on a very cold day in early February, when it snowed. As such, many of the zoo's inhabitants did not come out of their indoor enclosures, but those that did were easy to see and photograph.

Highlights of what I was able to see include: brown hyena, red kangaroo, Arctic fox, and warthog The zoo lacks big cats, but does have lynxes and wildcats.

Animals viewable in their indoor exhibits include dwarf mongooses, African elephants, bush hyraxes, and Rothschild's giraffes. There is also a small aquarium and vivarium, although beware that in winter, the crocodiles are offshow, as are all of the European reptiles and amphibians that live in the outdoor enclosures.

The zoo is large and hilly, but there are routes which avoid the steepest of hills. There are a few reasons for my not giving 5 stars, one of which was the rough gradient; another was the invisibility of certain creatures because of the season, and the third was the kissing gates.

There is a public footpath that traverses the zoo, and as such, at two points, there are kissing gates that do not allow people entry to parts of the zoo, only exit. As such, I walked to one end of the zoo (past the kangaroos) only to realise I had to turn back and walk uphill to get to the entrance to that part. This may have been indicated as signage (not being so fluent in German, I may have missed this), but certainly was not emphasised on the map (that which I had printed and which was available at certain parts of the zoo). This did, however, give me another opportunity to visit exhibits that were previously empty due to the animals being indoors.

Allow 3-4 hours to see all parts of the zoo once, more if you desire to go back to parts you missed. Allow around half an hour to get there from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. This zoo's entry was more expensive than Zoo Frankfurt, partly due to the fact that the Frankfurt Pass does not entitle you to a discount.

Certainly worth a revisit next time I'm in the area during the warmer months...

While our visit was recent, we have enjoyed the Opel Zoo since the early 2000’s. The Opel Zoo is a beautiful zoo that provides up close encounters with amazing wildlife from all around the world. When purchasing your tickets, I highly recommend buying carrots and pellets to feed the animals throughout the zoo. You will need to have euros to purchase the food as credit cards are not accepted for the food. The zoo has a beautiful playground and a ball pit with a slide for kids to enjoy during their time at the zoo. For an additional fee they offer pony rides, trampolines, mechanical swings, and motorbike rides for small children. They have recently added a small area toddler play area that is quite lovely. When you are ready for a meal break, I recommend the restaurant where you will find excellent food and your food will be delivered by a robot, a family favorite. When considering the zoo, you should be aware that the zoo is very hilly with many steep inclines making it a challenging hike. The staff at the entrance as well as in the restaurant spoke English, but the signage for the animals were all in German. Also in the cooler months, we visited in March, most of the outdoor stands and some of the additional activities were closed. All is all we had a...

Extremely unfriendly staff specifically in the pony riding department. They let you guide you’re child on a pony a small round, now, I have no child but I love ponies so I nicely asked one of the women working there if I may guide a pony for a round without child (mind you I would still pay ofcourse) and before I could even finish my sentence she interrupted me and said “these ponies cannot be ritten by adults” in the most aggressive irritated tone ever. She clearly thought I was a moron bcs what adult thinks they could ride those tiny ponies (really they are miniscule and cannot be ridden by anyone bigger then a small child). So I tried to clarify that I just wanted to GUIDE it for a round, like all the parents are allowed to, but no she wasn’t having it because I have no child? Whatever that isn’t even the point I’m mad about but the unfriendliness was crazy. I was still trying to be nice and told her oh okay goodbye and she didn’t even look at me nor say goodbye. Who let’s those antisocial ppl...