Edinburgh Zoo — Attraction in City of Edinburgh

If you're planning on taking kids to Edinburgh Zoo to see some cute exotic animals, just forget it. 6hrs travel to take my kids to my favourite place growing up. It didn't take long after arriving to see I made a big mistake.

First off, that car park needs to be modernised BIG TIME. The road up is terribly steep and the machines to get your ticket, I hope you have long arms because damn, that was awkward. The spaces themselves are clearly for a couple of generations ago. Very small and also on a very steep incline. The strain on cars coming in was very noticeable.

Second issue, the entrance is at the BOTTOM of the hill. So, you have to strain your poor car to get to the top only for you to walk down to get entry, even if you're disabled. Great thinking. Here's the catch. You can gain entry at the top of the hill, IF you pay for an over priced membership card (or whatever it is).

As a disabled person, I've already had to traverse this mega hill just to get the entrance. What a great start. We got our tickets and in we went. Now, when I was a kid. You use to walk in and were greeted by some magnificent VERY loud and highly entertaining see lions (or something similar). Today, we were greeted by some mingy looking Meerkats. Could you get a more boring unoriginal choice for a zoo? One look around and I very quickly noticed that the zoo was no longer a simple walk with an open view. It's now full of small wooden corridors, wrapped in foliage. Designed to bring you to enclosures. Unfortunately, this makes the place extremely closed in and reduces the view of the animals considerably.

We walked around the first half of the park and we saw very little. We saw a Red Panda (who was adorable), some cute baby penguins and a couple of monkeys. Everything else was missing. Lots of dirty logs and mud, but no animals. Were they locked in their sleeping areas? We wouldn't know. Our view was constantly blocked by foliage and other obstacles.

We had a look in the little critter zone. it had some snails and a lizard. Nothing interesting. More monkeys, again blocked by foliage. After this we decided to make our way to the Rhino, hippo etc and just found ourselves walking up one tedious large incline after another. Poor signing and nothing to see. The rhino was impressive but was too busy eating. We saw more of his gigantic willy than him himself. The hippo we didn't see. We made our way further up to the cats, seeing one empty enclosure after another. Were there animals there? If there was, we didn't see them. We did see a wild cat, who was beautiful. But didn't see a tiger or lion. Lots more tedious inclines, which were getting a lot steeper.

By this point my daughter declared this a pretty bad zoo and I had to agree with her. We spent more time staring at empty logs and walking up long tedious hills than we did standing looking at beautiful animals. Hell, I think we saw more play parks and over expensive cafés than we did animals. We called it quits just after 2 hrs.

Ironically, we were standing right next to the fence which the car was parked next to. But we couldn't exit anywhere near there because we didn't own a pretentious membership pass. We had to trek aaaall the way back down the tedious steep slopes to get the exit and then walk aaaaall the way back up the hill to get the car out.

It was a really miserable experience. There was no joy or excitement from anyone we saw. Most of the people we walked past were complaining about the same things that I've put into this review. Empty enclosures, foliage and no attempt to make the slopes any easier to traverse.

I know they advertised mobility scooters at the front etc but people shouldn't need to (unless they genuinely require one). These slopes could have easy going steps with banisters built onto them. The entrance could be at the TOP of the hill and a cable car or something to bring you back up to the top when you're done. But no.

I wouldn't recommend it. Go to the Highland Wildlife Park instead. Much better quality and nowhere near as sad,...

We visited Edinburgh Zoo for the first time on Friday. It’s such a beautiful place! We arrived in Edinburgh by train and found the zoo really easy to get to using public transport. There are plenty of buses that go straight there; we took the X26 and found the locals incredibly friendly and helpful. The journey took about 20 minutes, and the bus stop is conveniently located just opposite the zoo.

From the moment we stepped through the doors, the staff were so welcoming and helpful. There was no wait to enter, and even when we were told there might be a 10-minute wait for the lift to the top, it ended up being less than five.

We took the accessible vehicle up to the top of the zoo, and I’m so glad we did. With my child’s needs, walking up the hill would have been a real challenge. The gentleman who drove us was absolutely lovely and we had such a pleasant chat with him on the way up.

This was our first time in Edinburgh, and when people say to wear sensible shoes , they mean it. The zoo is built on a hill, so it’s quite the climb if you're walking. For those used to flatter areas, it’s definitely worth planning ahead for.

We were lucky to have gorgeous weather, which made our day even more enjoyable. There are plenty of picnic benches throughout the zoo, including shaded areas which we really appreciated with a very hot child. There are even some lovely play parks, which our son definitely enjoyed.

The zoo is extremely well signposted, and they also have an app you can download. It has a great map, you can see where you are at any time, and plan your day in advance. It even lists daily events and activities, which was a great bonus.

The staff throughout the zoo were fantastic and so friendly, always happy to help. One team member in particular, Jo, really stood out. We bumped into her a few times during the day and had a few lovely conversations. She was so full of energy, enthusiasm, and interesting facts; everything from capybaras to giraffes to penguins, which my eldest especially enjoyed.

There were plenty of animals to see, and all appeared well looked after and content. The grounds were clean, and even during busier moments (like when we stopped for ice cream), the waits were very short.

We brought our own picnic, though it was so warm the kids didn’t eat much but the slushies and ice cream went down a treat. Slushies were from £3.50, and ice creams started at the same price for a single scoop cone or a small tub.

There are lockers available to rent if you don’t want to carry everything around. We chose the smallest size, which was £5 for the day, plus a refundable £5 deposit.

We didn’t manage to see all the animals as some were hiding, as animals do and we left a little earlier than planned due to our son getting a bit overwhelmed. But we would come back for another visit!

Before we left, we had a look around the gift shop, which had a lovely range of items for all budgets. We walked away with some lovely gifts and just like the rest of our visit, the staff were so friendly and helpful as we were heading out.

Overall, our day at Edinburgh Zoo was a fantastic experience and the views were...

We recently visited Edinburgh on holiday and mainly came for the zoo because of the pandas. We were a little disappointed with our experience but some of it was just unfortunate timing. We booked the tickets weeks ago for the Monday, unknown to us coming from England that it was a local public holiday that day and the kids were off school. We prepaid for our tickets and when we arrived it was packed. The queue went as far back as the car park. Because it was so busy there was no staff around and I needed disabled access, but couldn't see one or find anyone to ask. We saw that people in the queue were offering their places for those that needed access as they let a lady in a wheelchair in. We didn't know what to do and ended up going in via the exit to ask for help and told to go round into the main foyer. We went to a counter to ask where we should queue for disabled to be told that we can check in with her but we should have queued up. We did try to call but the lines were closed, which she confirmed as true. We felt bad for cutting in and would have happily queued in a smaller queue but I couldn't stand in the long queue. The zoo is mostly steep hills and was a struggle. We went straight to the top to see the pandas but could only see one that was asleep. Unfortunately there was no protection from the sun and the glare on the glass meant you couldn't see into the enclosure. We followed others who were putting jackets up to block the glare and we could see the panda peacefully asleep. We later came back as the 2nd panda made an appearance for feeding time. For its main attraction there wasn't a lot of areas to get a good view of the outside enclosure and be able to view the panda if they were outside. We carried on down the hill, managed to see most of the animals we wanted. We did manag to catch the lions at feeding time and this was brilliant, a bit gruesome but fascinating. The penguin area was great, so open and no matter where you stood you could see them. The underwater area was lower down outside and very easy to view them swimming around without it being crowded. The new sloth area was disappointing, they were asleep in deep baskets so you couldn't see them at all. The hills and slopes were getting too much and we decided to leave. The gift shop was very disappointing. Great if you liked giraffes and penguins but there was hardly any gifts for pandas. Loads of cuddly toys, £35 gin glass or a £20 glass tea light holder or some expensive prints. I found a snow globe but the animal inside looked nothing like a panda, very cheap looking. So sadly we bought some cheap magnets and...