A Young Giraffe at the San Diego Zoo
San Diego is a great vacation destination for families. There’s plenty of things to do that will appeal to everyone in the family. Having said that, The World Famous San Diego Zoo is about as mandatory a place to visit as there is in San Diego. Situated in historic Balboa Park, the park is minutes from downtown and a short drive from most of the hotels in the San Diego area.
The zoo is rather large and can be seen in a variety of ways depending on the amount of time you have. The zoo opens at 9:00 a.m. and I would suggest visiting early. Not only do you beat the crowds that generally start arriving around 11:00 a.m., a lot of the animals are very active at this point of the day. Later in the day, particularly in the summer heat, many of the animals lay low and you don’t get the full effect.
As I mentioned, there are plenty of ways to view the park. There is a double-decker bus that can take you to the far reaches of the zoo and the driver will give you a guided tour of about 75% of the park. You can upgrade your ticket to include this tour or purchase the tour once you’re inside the park. This ticket will also allow you to take the express buses that drop you off at bus stops around the park.
If you choose to walk, keep in mind that the zoo is located on a steep hillside. A walk to the farthest part part of the park to see the Polar Bears is a good 20-30 minute walk. If you have small kids, I would suggest taking the bus or even the skyfari aerial tram which gives you a birds-eye view of the park while taking you to the opposite end of the park. If you need to push the little ones, you can take your stroller with you or you can rent one from the park guest services when you enter the zoo. You can find a detail map of the zoo here.
Flamingos are fun for every age
There are a lot of wonderful exhibits within the zoo but, in my opinion, the can’t-miss exhibits include the monkey trails, the gorilla tropics, the giraffes and elephants and, of course, the Panda exhibit. The San Diego Zoo has one of the most successful Panda breeding programs in the world. The Pandas have their own special exhibit and you can often see the latest born Panda before it is shipped back to China. Of course, pink flamingos are also quite a thing to check out.
Since the zoo closes at dusk (it’s open later in the summer when it gets darker later), exploring the zoo thoroughly might take more than one day. The zoo has two-day passes, along with other combo packages that include San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. You can find ticket information here.
Photo: M. Henry
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6 Responses
Steep?? Kilamanjaro is steep. That zoo is crazy steep!! And I loved every bit of it. It’s always fun to see the animals our local zoo doesn’t have–like Polar Bears.
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[...] ways; if you’ve never gone, I highly recommend it (along with a trip to its sister park, the best zoo in the country), and if you go, I highly HIGHLY recommend the park’s Photo Caravan program, which takes [...]
[...] ways; if you’ve never gone, I highly recommend it (along with a trip to its sister park, the best zoo in the country), and if you go, I highly HIGHLY recommend the park’s Photo Caravan program, which takes [...]
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[...] less likely to get mugged. Also, it’s bigger than Central Park and there are more museums, the best zoo in the country, and my wife and I got married [...]