Houston Zoo Reviews

Saw very few animals. I guess it was too hot for them too! Everything was under construction! But...I will come back!

This is a very nice zoo. The landscaping is well kept and clean. Nice selection of animals and the reptile section is great. Drinks at the zoo are pricy but that is expected . They do let you bring in your own coolers which is great if you want to save cash. The only real complaint I'd have is the parking. We had to park a mile away and walk to the zoo. No clear signs for non locals showing how or where to park when the main parking is full.

It was indeed a good experience. The children really liked it.

This zoo is amazing! Lots of animals and actually walking around. I would definitely visit again and would recommen.

Had a great time in free zoo day (first Tuesday of the month). I got tickets online and it was an easy entrance. Looped through almost the whole zoo, and really enjoyed how close you can be to the animals. My 19 month old kept saying, "wow". Definitely a good afternoon. If you go on the free day you can't go in until noon. It was a chilly 48* but there were plenty of indoor areas to warm up in. The kids really enjoyed playing in the children's zoo playground and taking a moment to pet the goats. They're were plenty of zoo volunteers there to make sure kids were being careful and to enrich the experience with facts for the older children.

Bring the kids. Visited on possibly the hottest day in August. Appreciated the cooling centers and the indoor options for the animal residents.

Love the zoo! They are always making changes and upgrades. My grandchildren LOVE going so we bought a membership. Best money we ever spent!

I ve been to a few zoos around the US but this is the best. Food could be better however.

You can go to see the dragon area for free. That was cool. Have to wait in line to go inside buildings. But that is pretty normal. It's August so extremely hot. There were no cool zones or splash pads open.

LOVE that you can bring your own food and beverages now! And the attractions are always changing! Easy to navigate and plenty of bathrooms

Great zoo! Unfortunately for my wallet I went to visit it on July, where there are no free admission days. I was visiting as a tourist, but if you're a local do yourself a favor and visit it in one of the months offering free admission.

Not a very big zoo but still very nice. they even have a small aquarium. It's free every first Tuesday of the month after 12 pm.

Wow I haven't bee to the zoo in many years and I love how much it has not only changed but improved!! And it's still growing y'all have to go see it if you haven't lately!!!

I love the zoo. They are always working to make it better. Its always getting better

Very clean.. staff was helpful... beer a bit expensive

On this visit there was so much under construction but we enjoyed the zoo kids had fun

With wonderful amenities and it's close proximity to tons of other downtown attractions, the Houston Zoo is a stop for anyone visiting that wonderful city. The animals are usually pretty active and in the open and we even saw the Indian Elephant swimming! It's a marvelous experience for people of all ages!

Good zoo that had made lots of improvements over the years.

The zoo itself is good but parking is usually hard to find. I like to go for a walk on a nice day. Get the membership, it's only double the single entrance price (for 2 people) and you can skip the line, it's also good to visit the animals at different time of day.

Excellent zoo. The animal habitats are very spacious. The zoo keepers and volunteers are very helpful and courteous when they do their animal presentations.

This Zoo is amazing and very well shaded for Houstons heat. So much to see and do. Highly recommend.

My kids love to play with animals. They have very good petting zoo.

It so much fun , bery fun for the toddlers.make sure to bring lots of water, juices ,sandwiches snack etc because it very expensive inside....and to make it more afforable ride the train ...makes sure to wear tennis shoes lol

Decent zoo. The power was out when we went so most of the exhibits were closed. if the animals were already outside in their exhibits when the power went out and they were out for us to see, any animal that was still inside was stuck behind their electronic door. So we only got to see a handful. we bought the CityPASS so we didn't pay full price to get in, if we had I would have been furious about the power being out, even though I know it was not the Zoo fault. Overall it was a decent zoo.

Beautiful place, but either come early or use the light rail, parking is atrocious!

Was a good time to go..the weather was nice and most of the animals were out which is what people wanted to see. Definitely a good time!

Fun place, kids urged me to go there again! Amazing place.

Quite impressive even with the ongoing expansion. The animals looked well catered for, the environment was great and there was provision for renting strollers, walkers and wheelchairs. Definitely a must go for families.

I've always enjoyed the Houston Zoo. But since I no longer live in Texas, I visited at the end of November 2018. I had a great experience buying tickets and renting a stroller. The park was very clean and the employees seemed very friendly. Unfortunately, I got food poisoning from breakfast I ate before I got to the zoo. The staff was attentive and the medical staff took me all the way to my car. It was an awful situation but everyone was right on top of getting things taken care of.

Took the kid and we had a blast. Love all the animals but some were missing due to the cold.

This is by far the BEST zoo I have ever been too. I've travelled all around the world and always go to the zoos. But, this one is amazing!
I will definitely be visiting again.

Don't expect much from this small zoo. All the animals don't have much space, and half the zoo seems to be under construction.

Whats not to love? Besides the existential sadness of knowing these animals will soon exist only in Zoo's.

I Grew Up Comming To This Place and I really got to admit it i still come to this place i really love it

Good place to spend time with family... expect lots of people on weekends.

Always a joy visiting the Houston zoo
We visited during the Christmas lights show and it was spectacular. Need to put some thought into traffic flow though, it was a long time getting out.

It's the zoo. With cool animals. So its an awesome place to go

Being a member definitely has privileges. We joined and the experience was better. You get discounts at different booths. Some. Of the attra tions at the zoo include You feeding the giraffes and a petting zoo. The new aquarium exhibit is finally open and looks great. Parking is always a hassle so be prepared. I like the new bottle policy. You can buy a metal water bottle which allows for free water refills at the food stops. There are also water bottle filling stations all over the place if you bring your own water bottle. As for the animals, they are playful and out and about. It was a great Sunday morning with the family.

The zoo is well maintained. Its clean and has many animals and birds. Its a great place to visit in Houston.

Love the Houston zoo! It is one of the best conservation zoo in the U.S. Do yourself a favor and support this zoo.

We went in December to zoo lights. It's nice to expend a night with family and friends enjoying zoo locations and lights decorations. Since it's at night, don't expect any interaction with the animals.

Always fun for all ages. Get the membership and come and go as you please, more than 2 visits and you've saved money.

Went for Zoo Lights, was hoping to see lights and animals, but all animals were blocked off. "Adult" cocoa and s'mores not bad and lights were pretty.

It is a wonderful zoo, lot's of enclosures. Bring a lunch and drinks if you want to save money.

Nothing was open so we spent alot of money to see a few monkeys and reptiles. Very disappointed and will never return

We will NOT be renewing our membership until the Houston Zoo figures out the PARKING SITUATION. It takes AT LEAST an HOUR to find parking. Cars are double parked. People fighting for spots. Others standing in spots to hold it while the driver goes around also looking for a spot. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH PARKING. Sometime when we come, we drive around for an hour and never get a spot and literally give up and drive the hour back home with very sad children because we just cant get parking. It is the MOST frustrating thing ever and is not worth a trip to the zoo.

My favorite thing to do here is the Christmas light shows in December. As for the summer, my son enjoy the dinosaur exhibit. It's an additional cost on top of general admission, but worth it if your little ones like dinosaurs. Stay away from the splash pad, as it is crowded and not much of a feature to enjoy.

It was my daughter and I first time back since the pandemic. We had a lot of fun, they are still building on to the exhibits so, there were some animals thay we didn't get to see. Safety was a major priority for everyone and the staff were super friendly. We will go back once the update are complete. It wasn't overcrowded and everyone was practicing social distance distancing. I had the chicken and waffles from the cypress cafe. The chicken was delicious the waffle was a little hard and dry. I will try the Nashville the next time we go.

Great place to visit on a relaxed weekend day. Well designed and laid out, with lush greenery. Especially loved the elephant and giraffe enclosures! Went in for a visit, and ended up taking the yearly membership, so definitely a place I'd recommend to others,

There was hardly anything to see a waste of money it's a shame no discount very sad

Always love the zoo.... the map was a great help.... friendly staff

It was great! All the animals were out and it was worth the trip!

Not worth the money that I spent. They had a lot of stuff closed off that you can't see the animals. There's also time slots that you have to choose from not all the animals were out when we went wait for covid to be over to enjoy.

Excellent collection of animals. All of the habitats were in great condition.

Enjoyed my time there with the family. Lots of things to see and food choices

Nice and very attractive place, We had a magical moments

Its a nice place for families and friends to visit any day of the week!!

Over priced, everything really is over priced. I used to work at the gift shop so my opinion is facts. Animals are always sleeping during the day, but active while we re cleaning up to close up.

If you love people who help animals and like to help out with some volunteer work get a membership

Wonderful day with the kids or friends. Parking is always a challenge. Season pass is the way to go. Always donate your old cell phones to your favs.

I loved bringing my kids to the zoo but I payed 80$ and it didn't include the carousel or other attraction. Sorry I don't have welfare or WIC but that doesn't mean I'm rich. I remember when the zoo was really cheap and they had free days. My boys both have disabilities and i still had to pay full price. My 5 yr old went for the first time to go see the animals. He learned so much about animals the whole money gouging didn't anger me as much. Like i said I'm not Ritch and i was not prepared to pay this much at all. I'm glad I took food and drinks because the food is so pricey as well. I love the zoo but it's changed money. Sad

The worst parking of any zoo I have been to. The zoo itself was decent other than the poor directional signs we ended up missing more than a few exhibits because the signage wasnt accurate.

Zoo lights is great. I would recommend it for everyone.

Such a great place to take the family to! I had no idea there was a splash pad in the zoo!! Total bonus =] My toddlers loved the petting zoo and the two different parks to play on, and they had a blast at the splash pad.

Seeing all of the animals was wonderful. My oldest got a huge kick out of the bug area, of course!

Best time for Zoo is in cooler weather. Less smell of the animals.

Expensive and always super packed. But the animals are amazing

The experience was overall pretty great. This is one of the prettiest zoos I have ever walked around. I have only a few qualms;
- Some of the enclosures are very depressing. Some of the primates has much smaller areas than I have ever seen.
-A few of the fences also seemed very very low.

Outside of that, there are plenty of animals to see and the layout of the zoo is very easy to navigate. They had fried cauliflower to eat, which was a very welcome option. Great place for the family or a date and there s an amazing park right out front.

Always a family fun time at the zoo! Unfortunately due to the cold weather, we were unable to see some animals like the sea lions. But a nice experience as always!!

Great variety of critters. Even at 9 AM most animals are sluggish from the heat.

Even with construction, it's super fun. So much to do inside and the train ride is a must. For the adventurous, rent the paddle boats.

Really great zoo. For warmer days, it has a lot of air-conditioned indoor things to see, which is really nice. I recommend riding the Houston metro train in if you can, as parking is free but is often hard to find. Also first Tuesday of each month is free from 12-7!

Beautifully decorated. Beautiful music. It was delightful!

One of the nicest zoos around! Parking can be a pain!

My 5 and 3 year old kiddos, had a wonderful time at the zoo. The animals were all out and about, and it was great to see my children's eyes light up with excitement. I think that their favorite attraction was the aquarium. It isn't a large room, but the variety of aquatic life is quite good.
There were educational signs at all of the exhibits. The signs had the names of the creatures we were looking at, as well as fun and/or interesting facts. We didn't feed the giraffes on our most recent visit, but it's worth the money to try it just once (I can't remember what the cost is..I believe that it's somewhere between $4 and $6 per person). You purchase the food (large lettuce leafs) at the giraffe exhibit, not at the front ticket booth. They accept both cash and credit cards for giraffe food.
The grounds were landscaped in an interesting way, and there wasn't any garbage/trash on the ground. As a whole, the zoo felt well taken care of.
The employees were all helpful and friendly. It can be a bit difficult to follow
the signs, so you might want to grab a map when you're at the ticket booth. If you are visiting with young children, it's nice to have a stroller. Some of the most "exciting" places to see are quite a walk for little legs. My children would hop into the stroller for a bit, and then walk when they were rested. We brought food and water with us.... although, they do sell food and drinks there, so I would imagine that it says somewhere in a rule book not to bring your own. Again, nothing was said when we got out sandwiches and snacks.... so that's nice.

My 5 star rating is based solely upon the experience my children had while at the zoo. It was an educational, and (most importantly) fun time for them.

Excellent zoo! So much to see and plenty of areas with AC to cool off if you need it. Staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Definitely worth the trip.

Fantastic place to bring the kids. The bulk of the zoo is still closed due to covid, but it's a bit difficult to navigate since the larger maps don't show which areas are open.

Lots of wood railings are in sorry need of replacement. We arrived later with being told zoo was open till 6:00 pm.
But then we were chased out at 4:00 pm.
Not good for 2seniors who drove from Chicago.

I attended Zoo Lights on Value Night! It was so wonderful! Please keep having these value nights so I'm still able to come!!! I was so very impressed! The music selection was perfect! I like the trees choreographed to music along the pond. It was romantic yet kid friendly too. It was truly a winter wonderland minus the snow...hint if you could bring in snow or even paper bits and make an enclosed area for snow playing, that'd make it even better!! I cant wait to come back next year and bring my boyfriend!!

So instead of expanding enclosures, expanding parking, and offering non native animals, they're going to use their space and resources for a wetland exhibit. State parks cost half what the zoo charges.

I like to support the Houston zoo no matter how hot it is with a facemask. Be careful it's more difficult with mask in the heat. You will have to wait in lines due to public distancing. And it took about 15-25 min for carousel they have to wipe it down twice between each ride.