a day at the zoo in Vienna

On Tuesday we visited the wonderful zoo at Schoenbrunn in Vienna.

It was a warm and sunny day - perfect to be outside and see something special.

First I am going to write something general about the zoo - taken from the zoo's folder - and then I will tell you about our visit.

About the zoo:

The palace, the grounds and the zoo at Schoenbrunn are all part of one of the most popular cultural attractions in Austria.
The zoo was founded in 1752 and is the oldest zoo in the world!

Laid out over 17 hectares, the zoo has animals from every continent. Within the beautiful baroque setting of the Schoenbrunn zoo, it is possible to see Giant Pandas, Koalas, a giant rainforrest, an incredible coral reef, African elephants, monkey islands, a pelican colony - in fact more than 400 different animal species - many of which are rarely seen in zoos.

The zoo comes with several tropical oasises which offer a unique and enjoyable experience especially in the winter months including: the Aquarium and the terrarium house with a coral reef unrivaled in Europe, a tropical bird house and the Southeast Asian inspired jungle and rainforrest house.

In the historical center of the zoo you can expect to fin the Kaiser-Pavillion, a broque jewel that dates back to the 18th century and is now a cafe-restaurant. From the terrace you can observe the Giant Pandas and the animals in the Africa enclosure.

The 'Tirolergarten', directly next to the Tyrolean farmhouse dating back to the year 1722, gives you a feeling of being in the Alps and offers delicious, traditional Austrian dishes.

Our tour:

As you can see on the map the zoo isn't small so you should plan a whole day for your visit to have enough time to see everything without a hurry.



We parked on the parking space on the top of the hill where the 'Tirolergarten' is located (upper end of the pink trail in the woods). For arking I guess it's the best place. It would maybe be more comfortable to par at the Hietzinger-Entrance but I didn't see a parking place there, just a public garage where would have to pay and the only other parking place is in front of Schoenbrunn Castle but then you have a rather far way from there across the wonderful park to the Neptun-Entrance. So you can choose either the long way or up the hill.
At the box ofice we took a combined ticket for the zoo, the palm tree house and the desert house. We will visit the two houses on another day, the ticket is to be used within one year and so there is no need to hurry.

We started our tour along the right curve of the pink trail and walked through the woods and the enclosures of cows, sheep, goats, owls and wolves.


At the bottom of the hill we reached the penguins and the sea lions - to which we came back later again to watch the feeding - always a great show!
Following the yellow trail counter clockwise we moved from the monkeys to the cheetahs, black jaguar and tigers.
The Schoenbrunn zoo achieved to have a lot of baby animals like the new born baby tigers and a lot others. We were lucky and got to see them when their mother finally moved a few steps to the side. They are soo cute!


The lion was sleeping inside his house and so we couldn't see a lot of him and the hippos were the whole time underwater. Several times you could see their heads for a second when the came up to get air but nothing more.
The giant pandas where sleeping. The one year old Fu Long was sleeping on top of a higher located platform so all we could see was his fluffy fur and a bit of his nose.
The Koalas were as active as usual - nearly not (haha). I love them they always look so relaxed and nothing can disturb them. One was sleeping and the other one was sitting behind a branch of eucalyptus and eating. Those fuzzy ears are soo cool!
Next to the Hietzinger-Entrance the is a little information center an inside there you can see a big monitor lizzard and a model of the zoo.


Then we made a little break and had a snack on a bench next to the beautiful Kaiser-Pavillon.


From the giraffes we went on to the aquarium and the terrarium house to see the crocodiles, giant turtles, snakes, several reptiles and amphibians, fish and other underwater lifeforms.
In the garden of the aquarium you will find the beautiful pink flamingos.


Next to some birds cages there is this beautiful historic fountain with lots of wonderful plants.


We skipped some of the birds because their were lots of animals left to see in which we are honestly more interested.
The ring-tailed lemurs are funny fellows. Everytime I see them I am remembered of the king of the lemurs in DreamWorks' 'Madagascar' when he sings 'I like to move it'. A bit childish maybe, but it's funny. Next to the lemurs there are the lar gibbons.


Now we came to the zoo's biggest residents - the elephants. Too bad their were already soo many people inside because it was close to feeding time we couldn't see anything. But we already saw them on our way down from the Tirolergarten so we went on to the zebras.
When I was a kid they were my favorite animals. I love their jailbird design and the mohawk hairstyle.


It was time for the sea lions' feeding. It's always a great show. They follow their keeper wherever he moves and jump into the water when he throws the fish. They say that their funny behavior is natural and only a bit enhanced through the training.
The keeper also checks their skin and yaps for signs of diseases.


After the feeding of the sea lions we took a short break in the penguin house and watched them dive. As funny and clumsy they may appear on land they are really fast and elegant when swimming and diving in the water.
Then we moved on the last round left - the blue trail.
We started ad the polar bears. Here are also two young ones. One played with an old tire and the other with an empty plastic canister.


Next was the rainforrest house. The humidity inside is high and so it's rather sure to get sweaty in there. Wonderful flora and fauna await you inside. You cann see otters, fish, bats, several birds and flying foxes. Really cool!


Moving on to the Neptun-Entrance we reached the beavers, but they were hiding and didn't show up. So we followed the route to the rhinos.


Then came the reindeer, the insect house, the collared peccaries with their young one, the buffalos,the pelican colony, the banded mongooses with a tiny baby and the stork and the heron.


On the way back to the pink trail to get back up the hill to the car we visited the donkeys, the capybaras, the ostriches and then made a short side trip to the coati and the red panda.


We were already rather tired when we started our way back up. The hill is not too steep but when you've walked around in the zoo all day the last thing you need is to walk up a hill.
There is usually an alternative to walking - the zoo has its own little train that could take you from the Kaiser-Pavillon to the Tirolergarten, but it was out of order that day. Funny thing is, when we reached the Tirolergarten the train suddenly showed up and some people got off. Seems they fixed the problem right on time but we didn't look for it again. Bad luck! But so we were able to take another look at the wolves and owls. :-)

On top of the hill either before you enter or after you leave the zoo you have a great view at the 'Gloriette' - a beautiful building located on top of the hill inside Schoenbrunn castle's garden - along the avenue and see the emu whose enclosure is on the way to the parking lot.


It was a great the and I can only recommend you to go to the zoo when you visit Vienna.
You won't regret it!

Website: Zoo Vienna