Bristol Zoo Reviews

Great place for the family. Can get expensive. The car parks fill up quickly so get there early especially during school holidays.

It is a lovely place but because keeping animals in cages is wrong they are slowing loosing all their animals.

Booked to go to Bristol Zoo during a weekday when the crowds would be quieter and thought we would be able to experience all of the exhibits.

One thing the zoo has done well during lockdown is implementing a strict one way system and face mask policy in indoor enclosures to ensure guidelines are followed.

However, at the expense of this, there was a significant impact on the amount of animals available to view at the zoo with many enclosures either closed or empty. In particular we were excited to see the pygmy hippo but the house was closed! We could even see her through the window so it begged the question why the enclosure was closed.

This trend continued through the zoo and made the full entrance fee not worthwhile.

Unfortunately I would not recommend coming back to this zoo until 2021 when lockdown restrictions have been lifted fully and the zoo can be enjoyed to its fullest.

Wonderful place and you get up close to the animals, most of the attractions have support staff to explain the animals in detail which is great. Really amazed at quality of food served in main restaurant. Excellent and cater for children. Will visit again

Great place to visit in the summer sun. Relatively competitively priced for a full days entertainment

lovely place with such nice gardens to walk round while looking at the animals

Visited passing by. Lovely place with lots to keep kids entertained. Happy animals too

Super and the animations and explanations are at the top

Very moving
Got quite emotional

Good Social Distancing measures in place, clean and tidy and bigger than I thought inside.
Down side to I felt there could be more enrichment for the animals in their enclosures and also very disappointed to see how small the lion enclosure is. Wouldnt visit again.

What a great. 4 adults in their mid 60s enjoying every minute of our visit. The timed talks about the various enclosures , the Gorillas, Lemurs , Fur seals all brilliant . Great to see so much conservationist work being done on behalf of so many endangered species....

Lovely zoo and a great addition to the magnificent central park. it's a beautiful zoo and well laid out. I like how the sea lion pool is right in the middle and then the rest around. Enjoyed the reptile house with free flying parrots. Being from india the bears was a highlight for me as you don't see them every day. Tip: if it snows when you're out there, go to the zoo! We had it completely to ourselves and didn't stop us seeing anything.

An awesome place to do a date or a family day. The admission is not expensive at all, but then the zoo isn't all that big. It will keep you busy or kill a few hours. The exhibits were all clean, the animal selection was also great for the size of the zoo. Over it's a good place to visit if you haven't done so already.

Social distancing guidelines were clear, all inside spaces need masks. Good flow and numbers- the only queue was short and for the gorilla house. A bit annoying losing a hat somewhere in the one way system!

Gorillas are my favourite, try and catch them being fed,very cute! Also the tree kangaroos are interesting and unusual!! Would advise picnics , restaurant doesn't do snacks only full meals so difficult if you just want a quick pit stop!!

I realise that Covid restrictions are making thing difficult for these types of places but half the enclosures were shut and the rest of the place looks like it needs a serious update. A few Lego Animal statues dotted around the place don't make up for the missing real life animals!

Great zoo small but friendly. Animals appear to be well looked after

Interesting and educational. Signage could be better in and around the zoo. Ubiquitous gift shop too expensive for plastic trash.

Great zoo all the animals look heathy and happy with knowledgeable staff.

have always loved this place but parking is terrible

Would of given 5 stars but a fair few exhibits where closed due to Covid, quite small compared to Chester zoo so we walked around in 3hrs but our 4yo really enjoyed it.
But all in all would recommend

Nicely landscaped medium sized zoo but overpriced essentially. Lion looks sad however. Other animals have more space on comparison

Lovely place to take the kids but food is very exspensive. Try and be there around midday as its feeding time.

The animals seemed a bit antsy stuck in cages all the time they should not have to live like this.

A place to spend time with children, to introduce animals to them. It is limited, clean and green in terms of animal diversity.

As two adults going to the zoo (no kids) it is worth the day out. Zoo keepers give great talks with round the clock feedings and giving input all the time. Animals seem to have enough freedom (as much as they can in a zoo) within their enclosures. Unfortunately the otters did not want to come out and say hello on our visit but spent a ton of time looking everywhere else, especially enjoying the underwater and above water view of the seals. We did bring a picnic as food was expensive, bought 2 coffees which costed too much! Would suggest bringing own picnic especially if you're a family. Parking was easy and even though it was summer holidays parking was available, cheap too.

Attended the Zoo for a wedding so hard to comment on price and facilities but the animals were fantastic. Great variety, easy to access with loads of information

Bristol Zoo has a plethora of activities that goes beyond the fabulous animals to make it a wonderful day out. I would recommend going early so you can park more easily and to catch the earlier feeding time of the bats and the gorillas. The talks are entertaining with added little gems of info on the animals. The cafe does do some lovely food and a great cup of tea but does get crowded quickly. However, you can bring your own picnic and there are places to sit undercover or outside. Bring a towel as their is a small area where children can get wet and love too! If you catch the butterfly exhibition at the right time it is magical. A place to visit again and again.

I love zoo's so might be a bit biased, did he e a really good day out with the family, been numerous times and will continue to visit

Fun day out listening to interesting talks and seeing the animals. The walkthrough the lemur section and gorilla island were particular highlights.

Not too many food options and all were very busy. Book online before to save on ticket cost.

Worth it just for the gorilla feeding, but be aware some of the animals are tucked away in the winter, so you won't see everything.

Excellent. Great exhibits with a clear explanation of why they don't house larger animals. Shame the restaurant was overpriced... probably should have packed a lunch. Ah well. Otherwise a great day!

Good value for money, a nice selection of animals and well kept & clean - a good day out for the family

Bristol zoo isn't the best zoo around but it's also not the worst. Some good points are the array of animals and the bbq pit in the middle, the bad points are the parking gets full and the feel like the animals need more space and a lot of things are behind glass or not displayed very well for e.g. some of the frogs are placed in a room where you can o my see the end enclosure the rest are further down and hard to see. Also there is to much glass and it's not cleaned so it's hard to take good pictures.

We thoroughly enjoyed Bristol Zoo today. Although it isn't the biggest zoo, there was plenty of various animals to look at. We also enjoyed going into see the lemurs where we could get a close up experience of them. There was also alot of unusual things along the way like when we went to see some of the rodents, they had a whole kitchen idea where different rodents would be in different places of the kitchen.
The food restaurant was also lovely, there was no queues so we could just go and choose where we would like to sit and the food was excellent! Overall, this was a great day out.

Loved it - nephews loved it too. Lots to do, areas for them to play in and food was really good quality

Thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and a wonderful set of magical animals truly wonderful experience

It is an old zoo, not a lot of big animals but the gorillas and lions are worth seeing. Especially I heard lion roar the first time in my life.

Sold as a 1 1/2 hour walk around the Zoo before a social bbq I was disappointed to find the Exhibits were closed......... Could have done a walk around a park and a nice restaurant for what was paid!!!
Most expensive burger I've ever eaten.....

Good day out enjoyed by all ages, there is an online facility to pre-book tickets. Good value for money

Very interesting animals and information. Great for kids

Gorilla Experience, was a bit of a let down the way they advertise the experience is not how it is.

I was extremely cross that many features were closed with no warning on the website, and no discount on entry. It's a fantastic conservation zoo, however, with great staff.

The lion and the gorilla seemed stressed the gorilla section is terrible they need to have more for the gorilla very expensive for what it is

parking is a nightmare on busy days - I.e weekends or school holidays, admission prices keep rising, the lion enclosure is cruel, not enough space for them at all, same as with most of the animals really ... no where near as many animals as there used to be, The Wild Place Project a few miles away is much better value for money & the conservationists actually care about the needs of the animals! also the 'new' 'refurbished' cafe is extortionate prices, it used to be rather cheap and cheerful but it's now got a high end snobbish vibe where staff are rushed & over worked on busy days & the food is poxy

Very much improved.
It was a great day there xx

Great for the kids good family day out but I would take a packed lunch next time as food on site is expensive as you would expect

Reasonably priced with a good variety of animals to see. Definitely a good day out

Nice place for a family day out. Animals seem happy :)

Although I went for the outdoor cinema, I have been during the day too to see the animals.. need to go back again when it's properly open :)

Fabulous little zoo, if you want to see big animals go to Noah Ark though.

Last time I went to Bristol Zoo was about 21 years ago and Wendy the elephant was still around went there today and I am now 40 years old and the place has changed dramatically it feels smaller than what it did when I first went there however most of the original features are still there and there are a lot of new things that have been built which makes the police look smaller is a very nice place weather was absolutely stunning today so all the animals were out in the sun got some cracking photos of most of the animals but the main thing is the kids really enjoyed and so did the adults hahaha had a picnic great day out can't complain reasonable price to get in food is a bit expensive so I would recommend you take a packed lunch all-round 10 out of 10

Well worth a visit. Animals appear well looked after and lots of info boards to tell you all a out the breeds and individual animals

Well if having to lions in a cage with no way to excersize and a gorilla that is bord out of it's head then it's grate if it didn't have the lions gorillas then it would be a grate place for the kids shame they have those animals in such a small place

It is important to know the animal feeding time chart before you go to get the best experience and value for money. The best experience is to see the animals when they are awake and active, so don't miss out the "Daily talks and feeds" section on their website's "What's on" page.

Medium sized zoo, great layout, friendly staff. Parking not great but only downside

Visiting the zoo was great but you could only buy proper meals when i just wanted a sandwich which they didn't have any of.

Had a lovely time, plenty to do despite the very heavy showers. The Hide serving staff all very helpful and cheerful. Disabled toilets only have scarily noisy Dyson hand dryers; have asked them to consider installing paper towels too for those with sensory issues, which was taken very positively. Kids always love it here.

Interesting talks, fascinating animals and great initiatives for the future