Badoca Safari Park — Attraction in Santiago do Cacém

Great place to visit with the family.

Me, my wife and my two girls spend a full day in badoca park, and we loved it.

Its cheaper to buy the tickets online, but beware of the weather, since you have to do a lot of walking, try to go when the weather is suitable (not to hot or rainy), so, we waited for a day without any rain and bought the tickets one hour before we got to the ticket line (although you buy the tickets online, you still have to go to the ticket office and exchange for a real ticket)

There are a few extra paid activities that you can buy directly on the ticket stand, but we choose to buy only the entry tickets, no extra activity (we eventually bought tickets for the rafting, directly in the rafting area, after checking that it was safe for our daughters).

When you enter you are informed of your train departure, that train will do a mini safari, be sure not to miss it, its one of the best features in the park. We loved the unvolunteer interaction with the ostriches 😂. The giraffes (mascot of the park) are beautiful and worth the trip.

We also loved the birds presentation, there are 3 during the day, don't miss any of them (check the schedule before going to the park).

At lunch time, the restaurant was completely full, so we had lunch on the small snack bar, nothing too expensive, but tasty (hamburger and chips).

The only less positive thing about the park was the simian section, its far from the rest and the road to get there its a bit rough for little children.

So, we had a great day at badoca park, we only got a ticket lady that was a bit rude (we found her again at the souvenir store), all the other staff was very nice and helpful.

Don't forget hats for the children 😊

And another detail, we are Portuguese and the guides only spoke Portuguese, I don't know if they have guides that speak...

Good: It's a wonderful experience if you want to try something different during your vacation in the coast of Portugal. Doesn't have, however, anything in English (most of the people working there speak English though). But it's still fun to see all the animals, most of them in the wild. I really enjoyed to see the lemurs up close and I was pleasantly surprised to see an African bird (Abyssinian ground hornbill i think) in the birds of prey show. Even though they aren't real birds of prey, it was a nice change of all the other birds of prey shows I've seen so far all over Europe. Bad: Its expensive. If you want a full day/experience it will cost you, especially with kids. The entrance isn't that bad but there are a lot of extras in the way. The 12/10 euros extra for the lemurs interaction plus if you want your photographs they sell in the exit, you with the lemurs and with the birds of prey, is 7euros each (you can't take a camera with you when you go see the lemurs up close). The rafting is fun and adds a 2.5euros each. The worst is the restaurant. The food in their restaurant is bad considering the price they charge for it. I strongly advice you to take your lunch from home, and a lot of liquids if you go in a hot day. The safari ride is about 30-40 min and although it is very nice to see the animals in the wild and the guide is funny and informative (in portuguese), the trip leaves a lot of dust in the air (you go in a tractor-bus), so take a scarf with you to cover your mouth and nose.

Overall it was my first safari, so I don't have anything to compare it too, but i enjoyed my day.

Last note: they have 2 kangurus near the entrance, but they looked...

Great experience from kids to seniors! The park is wellkept and the animals are beautiful and well integrated in the reserve. All the reserve is clean and suitable for all ages. There is plenty to do and it's a full day experience not to be missed. Our highlight was the Lemur interaction for extra 15 euros/person and everybody had a great time. The restaurant had adequate menu for kids and the food was very good. It is located just next to reptile's and bird's show so we could have a meal in between activities without beeing late. Schedules for activities are well integrated.

On the downside and the main reason for the lack of the 5th star was the price of the photos taken by the staff on strategic points, that we could buy at the end of the day. Each photo was attached to a little booklet which we thought was a waste. The photos were professional and high quality, however, we had 4 kids and we ended buying 10 photos which costed us 120 euros!! Each attached to this same booklet with activities and info for the kids. So in total we spent half the entrance money on photographs, and we didn't buy them all which left a bittersweet filling at the end for not bringing those memories with us. We were not allowed to take our own photos in those specific experiences which we totally understand as we wouldn't have the full experience if we were worried about photos. We suggest a discount system in case of buying different sets of photos. We would have bought them all if the price was more reasonable. It doesn't make sense to pay 200 plus euros to enter the park and the same amount if we had bought...