... Having spent a morning at the aquarium in the port are we headed for the Zoo. Located in the middle of the City it is well signposted in every direction and features as one of the main stops on all of the sightseeing tour buses routes. There are a couple of car parks located near to all of ... Read review
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Advantages: A beautiful setting with some amazing animals Disadvantages: Is perhaps overshadowed by other attractions
...signed up to the World Zoo conservation strategy and are committed to breeding programs for endangered species. Having opened for the first time in 1892 it has expanded to its current size from a private collection. Since those early days the Zoo has evolved and grown to become a rather large centre piece in the middle of the city.
Open 365 days a year, they are even open till lunch time on Christmas day, which would be a slightly ... ...entrance and exits to the Zoo one comes through the Parc De La Ciutadella and the other from Carrer Wellington, each of them starting you in a different area of the Zoo. The Zoo itself is laid out in a pretty standard way with each different type of animal located close to other animals of a similar type. For example all of the Monkeys are located in one area and the cats in another. It's a pretty standard Zoo layout but it's a method that works ... more
Whilst in Barcelona earlier this year we were looking for somewhere to visit that hadn't been on my tourist's agenda on my previous visits. Having spent a morning at the aquarium in the port are we headed for the Zoo. Located in the middle of the City it is well signposted in every direction and features as one of the main stops on all of the sightseeing tour buses routes. There are a couple of car parks located near to all of the entrances and again this is all well signposted from the city's main access routes.
Over the last couple of years we've visited a few Zoos and Aquariums and it would be fair to say that Barcelona is one of the biggest Zoos. Like many Zoos these days they are signed up to the World Zoo conservation strategy and are committed to breeding programs for endangered species. Having opened for the first time in 1892 it has expanded to its current size from a private collection. Since those early days the Zoo has evolved and grown to become a rather large centre piece in the middle of the city.
Open 365 days a year, they are even open till lunch time on Christmas day, which would be a slightly different way to spend Christmas morning. As far as the prices we actually found it quite reasonable in comparison to the nearby Aquarium. In fact entrance for an adult is actually cheaper than the Aquarium at Euro16 for an adult and Euro9.60 for a child. There are a number of concessions available for larger groups and old age pensioners. In comparison to the prices of other attractions in the City it's actually quite reasonable and I have to say very much worth the money.
There are two main entrance and exits to the Zoo one comes through the Parc De La Ciutadella and the other from Carrer Wellington, each of them starting you in a different area of the Zoo. The Zoo itself is laid out in a pretty standard way with each different type of animal located close to other animals of a similar type. For example all of the Monkeys are located in one area and the cats in another. It's a pretty standard Zoo layout but it's a method that works and makes navigation relatively easy.
Of course upon arrival you are given a copy of the Zoo plan that shows you exactly where all of the exhibits are located and this is in Spanish, French and English. It makes navigating the park even easier and also acts as a guide to the sheer size of the park with 67 different species on display throughout the park. Through the park there are also signposts guiding you around and I think we've found this to be the easiest attraction of this type we've been to.
Located in various locations around the Zoo are a number of Cafe's and snack bars that are all very reasonable. We ate lunch at one of these cafe's and it cost us no less than the equivalent sandwich and drink would have cost in one of the takeaways or Cafe's in the streets nearby.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Barcelona Zoo for me was the habitats the animals were kept in. They are by no means small and the animals have plenty of room to roam around and feel comfortable. Obviously it's nowhere near the size they would have in their natural habitat but they aren't crammed into small pens and there aren't huge numbers making it uncomfortable. The Zoo seem to take their responsibility very seriously and with their breeding programs are not only keeping animals within the Zoo but also trying to reintroduce some of the species to their natural environment.
As the Zoo is a fairly big attraction within Barcelona it took us almost 5 hours to look around everything and even then we felt like we could have stayed much longer. There were a few species I'd never seen in a Zoo before such as the Dolphins who had a huge tank and an area where you could watch a show on 4 occasions throughout the day. There were also a couple of Wolves which I'd never seen as close as that before and throughout the Zoo there are impressive habits for all of the animals within the Zoo.
Overall Barcelona Zoo is incredible value for money. There are a lot of endangered species within the Zoo and it offers a great change for Adults and Children alike to see a variety of animals they would otherwise have no chance to see. The entrance price is reasonable and unusually so is the food and drink within the Zoos grounds. It isn't an attraction I would have really considered near the top of my list to visit in Barcelona but I am certainly glad that we went.
Advantages: Cheap and nice to spend the day Disadvantages: We miss Snowflake
...to purchase the collectionopening the zoo in 1892.
SNOWFLAKE
The main attraction was an extremely rare albino gorilla, named Nfumu Ngi, but usually know as by his nickname Snowflake, put by National Geographic magazine.
Snowflake was captured in Equatorial Guinea (former Spanish colony) on October 1, 1966, by a Catalan primatologist, Jordi Sabater Pi. Quickly , he was known worldwide, mentioned in tourist guides and put on postcards, becoming ... ...In September 2003 the zoo announced he was dying. Thousands of children visited the zoo to say goodbye before he was finally euthanized the 24 November 2003.
His webpage is www.floquetdeneu.es
THE ZOO
Althought the dead of his most famous inhabitant, the Zoo covers 13 hectares of Ciutadella Park and containing a collection of some 7,500 individual animals belonging to more than 400 species from all over the world. There is also a restaurant, picnic ...
swaption 08.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Zoo (Barcelona)
Advantages: Must See 'Snowflake' Disadvantages: Some small enclosures
...yawning) that Barcelona had a zoo and not only that but the worlds only Albino Gorilla - i had to see that for myself!
So from Salou I took a 2hour train journey to get to Barcelona, a quick tour of the Nou Camp stadium (to keep the pother half happy!), a 30 minute ride and ended up in Barcelona Park home to their zoo.
The zoo is well laid out with everthing sign posted well and although some enclosures seem a little on the small side they also ... ...into the care of the zoo having been captured form the wild due to its rarity and used in a rather cruel circus show. He now lives happily with other gorillas in Barcelona. It is the weirdest of sights, a white skinned gorilla with blonde hair! If you are in Spain, go see it, you have to to believe it!
He is a playful fellow too taunting the crowds and lapping up the attention. The only problem is getting close engouhg to see well, this is a popular ...
Charlotte288 15.02.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Zoo (Barcelona)
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Advantages: clean, modern, cheap, classy Disadvantages: bit out of the way, surrounding areas could be dodgy
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Advantages: Get close to Famous critters! Disadvantages: None. This is the perfect Zoo!
What is it you like about Zoos?
Seriously think about it for a moment. Do you really need to see 5,001 species of Birds like at the San Deigo zoo?
How about the size of the cages? Do you want to spend twenty minutes waking between exhibits like at many "open" zoos where they claim to care more about their animals?
Like the cages so small that you don't even have to walk? Then you'd probably not see the zoo in business very long, because the zoo's going to be targeted heavily by animal rights activists.
I have been to Zoos around the world. Bankok, Barcelona, London, Innsbrook, San Diego, Vienna, Orlando, Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Memphis, Chicago, Big Bear CA, Kansas City... And probably a dozen others I've forgotten about. I love zoos but I've never had the pleasure of seeing one done just right until I first visited ...
Advantages: Lot to do and see, coastline of beaches, and lots of good shops to the expensive to the cheap. Disadvantages: metro underground gets busy in the paek seasons, but all places have easy access and are walkable
or your children are animal lovers you will find Barcelona's Zoo situated in this park which is well kept and has a good mixture of animals, there are monkeys, lions tigers, zebras,tigers, snakes all different species from around the world, the Zoo is well kept and manicured, they even put on a very good dolphin show ,you can take a picnic lunch if you prefer as there as there are plenty of picnic areas around the zoo there is a souvenir shop and plenty of sit down and eat places where you can have a drink, sandwich or a burger
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