Zoologischer Garten, Cologne

charming day out in cologne

Cologne Zoo is a wonderful place to visit in the city for both young and old. Make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time to visit the zoo as it is a large omplex and you will need a good few hours in which to see everything.

We had free entry with our Cologne cards but the normal entry price is 14 Euros for adults and 7 Euros for children. Whilst this may seem steep I would not have minded paying the entrence fee if we hadn't had our cards.

When you enter you are given a map which you will need to that you can find your way around as the huge is absolutely huge and even with the map we managed to get turned round a few times.
The range of animals on show is staggering and these are different breeds from all over the world.

The enclosures are large and I never looked at the animals and felt sorry for them like I have done in other zoo's.
Wandering around you can see big cats such as lions and tigers, elephants, rhinos, hippos, meerkats and hundreds more. The more popular enclosures were busy with people but we always managed to get a good look and the larger anmals are kept in such large enclosures that there would need to be thousands of more people not to be able to get a good vew of the animals.

Once you have wondered the main outside enclosures you can then visit the tropical enclosures and see some of the more exotic birds and animals. The snakes and spiders were expecially interesting but creepy and the exotic bird enclosures were amazing to see.
This exotic area was all interspersed with wooden walkways and some amazing fauna giving it a real tropical feel.

There were loads of amenities on display at the zoo and I never had a problem finding a toilet and there were loads of snack kiosks to get a drink or something to eat and even a few sit down restaurants.
There was also a few photographers wandering around taking pictures that you could buy when you got to the exit of the zoo and these made a nice souvenir but were expensive.

When we exited the zoo directly across from it there was an aquarium that was also part of the main zoo and this was equally as interesting with some smaller sharks and lots of fish, frogs and marine life.
There was also an insect enclosure here which whilst interesting I would definately not reccommend to those people who are scared of insects as you come up close to some very creepy crawlies here.

I found the Cologne zoo to be a fantastic attraction and it is by far the best zoo I have ever visited and although it is absolutely charming the enclosures are also ultra modern and the selection of animals on display was great. I would highly recommend the zoo to absolutely everyone and can't imagine anyone not having a wonderful time here