⚠️ No Car? Don’t Even Think About Going to Zoom Torino!

Rating: 40/100 🫠 (If Rome Zoo deserves 60 and Berlin Zoo 90, then giving Turin anything above 40 would be an insult to zoos everywhere.) In a nutshell: Tiny area, very few animals, dirty glass, visitors smoking everywhere 🚬, overpriced tickets, terrible location, and they try way too hard to hype up their water park. Ticket: €26 💸 The park is divided into a water park, African zone, Asian zone, etc. Both the water park and butterfly greenhouse cost extra — €7 and €5 respectively. There are also paid photo ops with owls and some educational activities. Let’s start with the (only) interesting bits: The funniest thing in the whole zoo was the restroom in the Asian zone 🚻. From far away, I could see “Female” on the right, but couldn’t make out the left side. I thought the characters were rubbed off… until I got closer and saw it said “Man” 👨💢. Seriously, has no Chinese ever been to this zoo? I laughed so hard. Did no one tell them?? One cool moment: catching an Aldabra tortoise soaking in running water 💦🐢. Even though they’re land tortoises, they do need water. In the wild, they soak when it’s hot — you can’t just dump them in a sandpit and call it a day. Turin Zoo actually got this right — decent space and conditions for them. Also clearly saw hippos opening their mouths wide underwater 🦛👉😮 Lots of active behavior, and the pool is big and deep enough. If anyone knows what this means, fill me in! (Got a video too 📹) Now the cons — and there are MANY: Sin #1: It’s way too remote!!! 🚆🚌🚶 Called “Turin Zoo,” but from either Porta Susa or Porta Nuova station, you first take a train to Lingotto, then a bus that wobbles for over an hour to Piscina, then walk 20 minutes. Over 2 hours total — and none of the stops matched Google Maps. It tried to make me walk on train tracks! Buses come once an hour 🕐, and the “20-minute walk” is actually 15 minutes on a narrow two-lane road with no sidewalk + 5 minutes on a path between endless wheat fields 🌾 on one side and a cemetery ⚰️ on the other. Do they even care about visitors’ safety? Get hit by a car and go straight to the graveyard? That’s why I say: no car = no Zoom Torino. Don’t do it! (If you still insist on going car-free like I did 🫣, get off at Piscina. Remember your stop — the return bus picks up at the same spot. And confirm with the driver it’s going back to Lingotto, not Pinerolo!) Verdict: Not recommended at all 👎. Heading to three zoos in Czech soon — Praha Zoo, Plzeň Zoo, and Jihlava Zoo. Let’s see if they’re better… (If I survive to write reviews 🥹) #Zoo #GoingToTheZooIsSeriousBusiness #Italy #Turin #EuropeanZoos #ZoomTorino