Dublin Zoo

Enjoyed a visit to Dublin Zoo on a bright day. Get there early and read the schedule of activities on the map you’re given on entry — you can stop by certain animals to see them at feeding time and listen to the keepers chat about them and answer questions. Watching the penguins at feeding time was lots of fun. The meerkats are cunningly kept in an enclosure only viewable from the restaurant but you don’t need to eat there to watch them.

I went there with my 4 year old daughter today. We spent 3 hours walking a whole place! I really liked that you get to see animals pretty close. Also the zoo is very clean and beautiful to walk. My daughter was really happy to see baby elephants playing with their mommy & daddy elephant:-). The food inside the zoo is pretty expensive and I recommend you to take your own lunch and eat it at the picnic tables (that’s what we did).

Dublin Zoo was a blast. Animal keepers are knowledgable during the shows. Animals seem really happy, a lot happier than other zoos I have seen, not sure what Dublin Zoo is doing differently. The Lions were roaring, Tigers playing with each other, everyone was out having a good day. Would recommend for anyone, all ages. Great way to have a fun day and support animal conservation!

Dublin zoo is one of my favourite places in Dublin not only because I love animals but also for the fantastic photo opportunities. The African Savannah is perfectly designed giving the animals lots of space to roam while also allowing visitors to get really close. This summer they made did a big upgrade on the flamingo and sea lion enclosures and now have an under water viewing area which is really great. The food in the zoo isn’t great and is quite expensive but there are lots of really nice picnic areas and you can always buy drinks /​ice creams there. In my opinion the best time to visit is September when it is still bright and mild (wishful thinking) but the kids have gone back to school

Dublin Zoo is brilliant! A big zoo, with lots of different animals in fab enclosures. We went on a sunny Thursday during summer holidays at 12pm so be warned there will be a queue and navigating around all the pushchairs can get tiresome (grumpy old lady!).
Highlights include; the 12.30pm elephant talk where there are 3 elephant calves who you get to see playing in the water — adorable, the tigers, the silver back gorilla and the chimpanzees!
I would recommend trying to get there as early as possible and make sure you bring your own water (and picnic if possible). At 2.50E a bottle and no water fountains available, drinking becomes a little steep. There food also didn’t look all that appetising.

Fantastic day out with the wife and kids.
We set out from our hotel in Ashbourne for a some what short journey to the zoo. Dublin Zoo does not have car park facilities but there are plenty of parking spaces available within Phoenix Park. Finding these spaces is the problem.
Using sat nav to find the zoo is essential as on our day the main route through phoenix Park was blocked off with no signage to direct traffic to an alternative route or point in the direction of the zoo. We eventually used Google map to plot a different direction and eventually parked in a pretty crowded car park. No signage was displayed to point which way the zoo was but we knew approx where it should be via Google maps.
The rest of the day once entering was straight forward and more enjoyable. With our prepaid passes we avoided huge ques to enter. The new water enclosure for the sea lions was fantastic with views of above and under water. The African plains were spacious and well placed viewing areas gave ample space for the smallest of visitor.
Dublin Zoo is a great place to visit and is very spacious so expect sore feet at the end of the day. It has plenty of seating areas and various dining areas all pointed out on their detailed pocket map.
A great day had by all.

Very disappointed with the zoo. All I got from a visit was soar feet.
Walk ways with high hedges on both sides with small openings to view the animals. Most of the time there was nothing to see as the animals were hidden behind hills or trees. The flamingo enclosure was very good as you could view these birds. A walk in the park would have been worth more.
If you want to view wild animals, suggest you visit another zoo.

I love Dublin Zoo — one of the best zoos in UK/​Ireland. The zoo is huge so be prepared for a good walk, but it’s lovely to walk around and see the animals in their large enclosures. The African Plains are just brilliant for the animals and give the animals so much space to roam around. A lot of enclosures have been extended and renovated in recent years so that animals are given even better living environments. The gorilla rainforest is an example, it is not only great to walk through and see the gorillas, but the habitat is also fantastic for the animals.
There is a lot to see in the zoo, both for adults and children alike. There are also various places to stop for food, including a cafeteria style café called ‘Meerkat Restaurant’ that serves lots of different hot food and sandwiches. You can even view the meerkats while you eat.
Parking is available, or you can take a bus or tram to close to the zoo and then walk a little through Phoenix Park to get to the actual zoo entrance. There is also a ‘hop on hop off’ tour bus that takes you right to the entrance. I recommend visiting this zoo.

Pensez à né pas venir en début d’après midi. ¹⁄₃ des animaux y dorment et né bougeront pas même après qu’une horde d’enfants aient taper contre la vitre. Pour ce qui est du reste, c’est vraiment très plaisant, une belle balade à faire en famille.

Little bit pricey € 18.60 per Ault but worth it you can spend hours in the place sea lions are great very active great day out loads of parks to stop and eat

its just not like I remembered it. The animals looked depressed (the ones we actually got to see). Only part i enjoyed was the african plains. All the place is getting done up so when I arrived there was tractors and loud noises everywhere. It took away the feel from the zoo. i dunno maybe I just went on a bad day?

Zoo, Dublin: Schon die Anfahrt mit dem Taxi ist interessant: Der Zoo liegt im Phoenix Park, der fast so gross ist, wie die Stadtfläche Dublins selber — und man verlässt die Stadt schlagartig durch ein Tor — dahinter kommt eine grosses, grüné Fläche. Der Zoo liegt am nördlichen Rand des Parks und soll wohl der viertälteste Europas nach Wien, Paris und London sein. Etwas mehr als eine Million Besucher kommen pro Jahr und der Park bezeichnet sich selber als Irlands grösste Familienattraktion. Mir würden da noch ein paar tausend Pubs einfallen, aber O.K. Der Eintritt kostet mit 16,50 € so etwa dasselbe, was derzeit alle Zoos in Mitteleuropa nehmen — da Irland insgesamt finanziell etwas günstiger, als der Rest Westeuropas ist kommt das also etwas mehr. Es gibt einen recht prägnanten Rundweg durch den Zoo, der einen durch die unterschiedlichen Kontinente führt — Asien und Afrika hauptsächlich. Löwen und Tiger kommen aus Asien und dann geht es los. Die Gebäude in denen Tiere wohnen sind teilweise älter und die Tiere sind hinter dicken Glasscheiben zu (nur schwer) sehen, was beispielsweise fotografieren extrem schwierig macht. Dazu gibt es umfangreiche Bauarbeiten, die in Zukunft sicher den Zoo verschönern helfen, aber derzeit nicht so zur Attraktivität beitragen. Sehr weitläufig und schön gemacht sind die Menschenaffengehege (auf einer Halbinsel im See), die afrikanische Savanne mit Giraffen, Antilopen und Straussenvögeln und das Elefantenfreigehege. Nach meinem Empfinden gab es aber nichts wirklich Einzigartiges zu sehen, daher war es ein durchschnittlicher Zoobesuch an einem Tag mit wunderschönem Wetter.

I was only there last Saturday and it was absolutely amazing. I haven’t been for a few years so it was a bit different. I went with my scout troop and the kids had a brilliant time. It is very big and easy for everyone to move around without bumping into anyone. It’s good to see that there will be a few expansions to some of the enclosures. It’s also good that there is talks on for certain animals. While I was there, I got the opportunity to be to there when the talks where on about the elephants, it was good to see how they reacted with each other and the zookeepers. There was some nice animals there, my favourite are lions, monkeys and penguins.

I grew up next to Dublin zoo so have many happy memories here from visits to the zoo as well as summer camps in the zoo.
Dublin zoo today is very different from the zoo of my childhood, but still somewhat recognisable. Its only become bigger and better. More animals, and bigger habitats for the animals. Gorilla and chimpanzee island are particularly cool, as is the giant habitat shared by the giraffes, zebra, gazelle, and ostrich. I’ve never been to another zoo that had animals interacting with each other like this as they would in the wild.
I’m been to zoos all over the world, and I’m happy to say that this is one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to, anywhere.
The food choice isn’t great, particularly in the African Plains, and one or two more coffee stations about the zoo would be nice. But I come for the animals, not the food.

I must say, I really love the Zoo. Its a fantastic day out, when the weather is nice it is even better! What I love is that the Zoo is constantly improving, always upgrading a number of different areas, improving facilities etc. What I really think lets the Zoo down is the quality of food available. the only nice restaurant is at the entrance, so when you are really hungry, half way through, there is only one small fast food restaurant with really poor quality food, which is really disappointing. That is my only big complaint — my advice, make use of the picnic tables and bring your own food! :)

A brilliant day out, lots to see and learn, wholesome family fun.

You just can’t beat a trip to Dublin Zoo!
What can I say that’s not already been said about the place? Killer staff, killer animals and decent prices!
The best part about Dublin Zoo is the «African Plaines». It’s full of larger enclosures for the animals, kind of giving it a safari feel! As a budding photographer, it’s one of my favourite places to take a few snaps!
Lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, jaguars, leopards, guerrillas, chimps, snakes, parrots, birds, seals, penguins, horses and meerkats. And those are just my favourites! There’s plenty more where that came from!
Food gets pretty pricey, particularly if your bringing the whole clan, so I’d advise doing a picnic job! Other than that, great day out!

It’s one of the best zoos that we’ve been to. If you go to the zoo you must take a walk through Phoenix park! It’s a bit outside of the city, probably worth taking a taxi or bus at least one way. It’s a bit pricey for the admission, would have liked to see more for my buck.
We loved the African Safari section, we had never see the animals mixed in together like that in an exhibit. The lands were gorgeous, we really enjoyed the pond in the middle. It would have been nice if there were a few more animals and things to do. We’ve been to other zoos where there were camel rides, educational exhibits that were interactive, etc.

What’s not to love?! Animals, candy floss, a selection of flora that often gets completely overlooked and a couple of hours light exercise as you move from enclosure to enclosure.
Plus, Dublin Zoo is the only place left on earth that sells blue Shush Puppie… with added popping candy. If that doesn’t make your kids hit a sugar high resulting in some sort of international incident involving a Rhino and an elastic band, nothing will.

I am somewhere in the middle as far as the Dublin Zoo is concerned.
We chose to visit on a weekend and were pleasantly surprised to find the place not overly crowded and the animals were very active. It was neat to be able to hear the lion roar and see the red pandas playfully chase one another throughout their enclosure.
However, with that being said, I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. With an admission price of € 16.50 for adults, I think it is a bit steep considering the limited number of animals you actually get to see. (could just be the day we went-​many were off exhibit)
**Also just as a tip, definitely bring in your own food! Options inside are limited and way overpriced!

Not really a surprise — but the Zoo makes for a great day out with the family. So that of course means lots of small kids and buggys. So that is something you shouldn’t mind having around you ;-)
Dublin Zoo is quite big so you should count at least 2 – 3 hours to have a look at everything and then maybe a picknic break in addition.
For that the animals are not in the wild and their natural environment they still have mainly a seemingly big enough area to live in.
All signs show how common the animals are out in the wild — and a lot of them are endangered to some extend, some to a bigger extend. So it’s nice to see that they are living in a rather sheltered environment now.

I love Dublin Zoo, I know Zoo’s can have a bad reviews, but Dublin Zoo obviously is working hard to provide great environments to the animals involved.
The walk around the zoo, even without animals is great as its now all landscaped and looks great.
Facilities are pretty good, plenty of cafes and drinks machines.
The meercat resturant allows you to eat dinner and watch meer cats how cool is that.
The recent Ape enclosure is really cool. Its such a nice experience watching the apes watching us wandering what all the fuss is about. A great place.

Un zoo tres agreable, prevoir une bonne marche et surtout pas le weekend. Le parcours se fait à pied avec de faible denivele. Les fauteuil roulants peuvent passer partout un vrais plus. Tout est fait pour la famille dejà un prix famille, aires de piqué nique tout les 300 metres wc idem. Des aires de jeux pour distraire les enfants et autres activités pour les petits. On y passé une apres midi sans probleme.

Es gibt viele Tiere zu sehen, der Zoo ist als Anlage im Park hübsch hergerichtet, aber ich finde ihn schrecklich langweilig: Jedes Gehege sieht gleich aus, man hat sich nicht die Mühe gemacht, Abweschlung in die verschiedenen Gehege zu bringen. Da gibt es viel schönere Zoos. Er ist sauber, an schönen Tagen leider hoffnungslos überlaufen und mit 12,50 EUR einmaligen Eintritt recht teuer. Wenn die Sonne scheint: Früh da sein! Bereits ab 9:00h morgens bildet sich eine riesige Schlange in den Phoenix Park.
Als Ziel für Touristen in Dublin würde ich ihn nicht empfehlen, da gibt es schönere Sehenswürdigkeiten. Wohnt man hier, kann man es sich mal antun :-)

Bien mais dommage qu’on ai vu que la moitié des animaux!
en effet certains étaient dans leur cage ou dormaient.
moi je voulais surtout voir les fauves, mais le lion dormait, et les tigres je sais pas mais on né les a pas vu!! lol

Für die, die in Dublin wohnen und v.a. solche, die Kinder haben, bietet sich ggf. das Jahresticket an. Das Individual ticket für 2 Erwachsene kostet EUR 95,-, das Familiy ticket EUR 150,-.
Wir hatten den Familienpass für ein Jahr und sind sehr oft in den Zoo gefahren, manchmal nur für eine Stunde, um z.B. die Affenbabies anzugucken oder im Winter für einen Spaziergang im fast leeren Gelände. Großer Vorteil: wenn im Sommer an einem warmen Sonntag die Menschen in einer ca. 100m langen Schlange für ein Tagesticket anstehen, marschiert man als Member locker daran vorbei und geht durch den separaten Member’s Q-​Eingang — und innerhalb von 2 Minuten ist man drin.
Mit dem Jahresticket kann man auch kostenfrei den Fota Wildlife in Cork, den Chester Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo und den Paignton Zoo in UK besuchen.
Obwohl es eine große Wiese mit Picknickbänken gibt, die wir oft genutzt haben, kamen wir an Tim Hortons selten vorbei: zu lecker sind die vielen verschiedenen Doughnuts dort :-)

Mir hat der Dublin Zoo auch sehr gut gefallen, das Gelände ist sehr schön und grün und teilweise haben die Tiere wirklich ein ungewöhnlich großes Areal für sich, so z. B die Elefanten. Außerdem sind die Infotafeln der Tiere sehr gut gemacht und lesenswert. Für mich einfach der schönste Zoo den ich bisher kennengelernt habe. Da lohnt es sich auch der nicht ganz billige Eintrittspreis.

Der Dublin Zoo befindet sich im östlichen Teil des Phoenix Parks.
Phoenix Park ist einer der größten umzäunten Parks weltweit und selbst einen Ausflug wert.
Der Zoo erstreckt sich auf einer großen Fläche des Parks und bietet vielen Tieren ein Zuhause.
Gegründet wurde der Zoo 1830. Seitdem hat sich vieles verändert. Flächen wurde erweitert und umgebaut.
Der Zoo wirkt mit seinen vielen Bäumen, Sträuchern und Seen sehr natürlich. Einige Tiere haben ungewöhnlich große Gehege.
Der Park ist in verschiedene Bereiche unterteilt. In der Nähe des Einganges befindet sich die «World of Primates», mit verschiedenen Affenarten vom Gorilla zu den Spinnenaffen und die «World of Cats mit Tigern und anderen Raubkatzen.
«African Plains» bietet großen Raum für Nilpferde, Nashörner und weitere afrikanische Tiere. Der «Kaziranga Forest Trail» beheimatet auf einem neu gestalteten Areal mehrere Elefanten inklusive einem Nachwuchselefanten.
Besonders für Kinder interessant ist die «City Farm». Hier kann man Haustieren wie Hasen, Meerschweinchen, Ponys und Ziegen recht nahe kommen.
Besonders interessant fand ich die drei Roten Pandabären.
Der Zoo bietet mehrere Cafés, Restaurants und Souvenirshops.
Eins davon ist «Tim Hortens» eine aus Kanada stammende Cafékette mit Kaffeespezialitäten und Donuts.
Tiere können leider keine gefüttert werden.
Ich besuchte den Zoo an einem Sonntag, leicht bewölkt, doch das Wetter hielt durch. Dies schreckte vermutlich einige Besucher ab und so war der Zoo angenehm nicht von Besuchermassen überfüllt.
Eintrittspreise:
Erwachsene: 14 EUR
Studenten: 10,50 EUR
Kinder von 3 –16: 9.50 EUR
Familientickets: 40 – 49 EUR
Für alle Freunde der grünen Insel: