Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) Reviews

A great place to take your kids to and have plenty of animals and activities.

This a fine place for all people of the globe. The zoo is clean family friendly educational beautiful and very accessible. The farm is the zoos hidden treasure. The farm offers a unique opportunity to learn and experience agricultural science first hand. The entire zoo staff are highly educated and people friendly. The zoo is clean and well organized. All year people can visit the zoo free of charge. The greenhouses provide absolute beauty of wide range of plant and floral species. The food and soft drinks are priced high so bring your own to save money. Very accessible via CTA. ATTEND!!!!!

Fantastic zoo right in the heart of Lincoln Park and just north of downtown. Very easy walk from there and navy pier. Just walk along the lakefront and there is a crossover of lakeshore drive right into the park and the zoo. Plenty of animals to see ranging from lions, seals, reptile, polar bear, rhino's, flamingos and zebras. There is an African safari exhibit and houses for birds, reptiles, monkeys, and gorilla. There is also a children's section and a nice train for the kids. Best part is that the whole place is FREE. In the winter they have a spectacular zoo lights presentation.

That is a beautiful place to visit in the summer with your kids.

I enjoyed the layout of the zoo greatly and the animals were interesting

A free zoo located near the lake shore. Wonderful place to take a leisurely walk throughout the year.

One of the coolest things about this city. It's "free" in the sense that there is no admission cost, but parking can be a hassle. Great variety and lots to see. My favorite is the primate house or the ape house.

This lace has ir.magic by itself. Well maintained, great location, beautiful place and its gets better: its free

Very poor experience here. The parking lot is very undersized and gets congested easily. If you manage to find a spot to park, it is at least close.

Inside you will find several parts of the zoo do cost money. The carusel does cost a few bucks to ride, but is nice. The animal exhibits are quite overgrown and often void of any animals at all. We walked the entire park and only saw a few animals.

We stayed at the park no more than an hour and had to pay $25! This 'free' zoo is a far cry from free. At the end of the day, you will end up paying as much, if not more, than comparable 'pay' zoos. At least 'pay' zoos are upfront about the cost, instead of presenting themselves as free.

Awesome free experience, walkable from the CBD either through the city or along the Lakefront Trail since there s a bunch of different entrances you can choose from.

Zoo lights were great! I always come here during the day but this is my first zoo lights!!

Lincoln Park Zoo lights were really nice with the family.

Loved the zoo lights, was a fun afternoon on vacation and wasn t too crowded in the early evening - perfect time to wander around the zoo

Our family had a great time at the zoo. Loved the bunny rabbits hopping about. It was a beautiful sunny day and we where able to park near an entrance. The gift shop it really nice. Something for everyone!

I was shocked to learn this zoo is free! We went for the evening Christmas Lights display before Christmas and it was absolutely lovely! The best gorilla enclosure I've seen by far.

Easy parking and accessible to other sites around Lincoln Park Zoo.. Strongly recommend to go in morning for an all day event or outing with the family. Such a great way to spend time with the family..

My son and I decided that we were just going to check out the zoo while we were in town. We were not disappointed! First off...it s FREE and they have any animal you could think of. We had the best day together and we always recommend the zoo to anyone coming into town for a visit.

Very nice Zoo and absolutely free they have glass technology you can really look it exotic animals right at your face must go in summer time or you won t see any animals they be hiding in their caves.

Zoo is free and all animals were awake and active around noon.

Great place it has changed through the years, but for the better!

Not as inviting and not helpful of truthful when ordering. Not a great experience

Always clean and beautiful, great for a family outing

A great place to spend your time. Free entry and a lot of things to see and do. No need to do the whole thing in once but come back and explore more. Enough areas inside so great to spend a rainy afternoon

Enjoyed our time here. The Apes are a must see. I suggest pulling up you tube videos with monkeys playing and showing the Apes. They love it!

Love the relaxed moment at this place. Wish there was more free parking in the area.

Good zoo! Animals enclosures are well designed for viewing and conservation, amenities are plentiful, staff is kind.

Great zoo with an unbelievable location. For being in the city it is rather big, but the selling point for me is to look up and see the building surrounding the zoo to the West, then the lake to the East!

Hall of cats is under construction and all indoor exhibits are closed due to covid

One of the few free zoos left in the country and definitely one of my favorites.

My wife, toddler and I had a great time at Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a no brainer for the one nice day of our weekend in Chicago with the kid being very into animals and the zoo being free. Definitely not the biggest, most spacious zoo we've been to which makes me feel a little bad for the animals but it's nice to be able to hit all the exhibits in 2 hours. Worth a visit!

Parking situation is a mess. They need to expand the lot structure. We went here for zoo lights. Nicely decorated but only one section was choreograph to music. Plus not a lot of adult beverages.

This free zoo is well worth the visit if you are nearby. It's very kid friendly and it feels like a walk in the park.

Unbelievable Christmas light show!!!! Fun for all ages.

The light show was fantastic! It is too cool that it is free. Although, I think the parking was like $30 and the food wasn't cheap, and a couple attractions seemed to have a surcharge, like the little train ride. All in all, a great value, in a priceless location next to the lagoons, baseball fields and of course, just off LSD and the lake. Much of the zoo looked totally new too. I have been coming here since I was little, including taking afternoon classes here once a week, in elementary school. I was the only one from my school, and got to see most of the behind the scenes stuff. That was awesome. The greenhouse used to be lovely, but I didn't get in there this time. I am not the biggest booster of zoos, yet this place is special to me.

Free zoo with plenty of kid-friendly activities. Open year-round, with plenty of fun events for members such as Zoolights in december.

A-mazing!! The zoo itself is just incredible and the fact that its free just makes it all that more inspiring and emotional. I also had a chat to some of the volunteers along the way and they were so genuine and passionate about the animals and the whole experience really was a highlight of my visit to Chicago.

A great family-friendly experience! And the Christmas lights made our visit absolutely magical.

Great zoo and the fact that it is free makes it 10times better. Only in Chicago

Fun place.walkways.very good display of holiday lights ,clean ,well maintained.

Great free zoo. Even if it wasn t free. It did however have more attractions than actual animals, and yes I get it that winter is coming. Very fun for adults and kids.

This zoo is a gem. It s absolutely free to access and should be on everyone s to do list while in Chicago. Granted it doesn t have the latest and greatest in animal attractions but honestly you re not likely to see a lion in your backyard. It s in a great location, the kids loved it, and did I mention it s free!!!

Beautiful park/zoo on the northside of Chicago. Nice place to take the family. Free admission is a bonus!

Nice zoo with large collection of animals
Suggestion: recommends to visit zoo on a sunny day in winter, will able to see most of the animals as they will come outside to feel the warmness

Free Zoo in Chicago. Currently undergoing renovations of the big cat house. It's a great place to take the kids and has some cool adult events as well. Membership pays off in free parking and access to member only events.

I love the open feel of this place! You have total freedom to explore anywhere you should choose to. The fact that there is no admission fee is a plus. It looks like their animals are treated and accommodated very well.

We love this zoo. My kids had a wonderful time. They have a 5D ride which looked amazing. The zoo is very clean and walkable. Stroller rentals were affordable. Must visit.

Good effort taken keeping those animals in the middle of Chicago city.

Love this place. My son loves it as well. Amazing value for the price of free!

Definitely go for the zoo lights. Always a fun time, except for the parking. Not the zoo's fault, there's a huge crowd... Just a testament for how great of a job they do.

Visiting town we decided to head to the zoo. I'm no zoo expert but this was so accessable (free) and convenient we gave it a try, and we really enjoyed the visit. Most fun for us were the gorillas and the two babies only a few weeks old. They are so little.

Great zoological garden. It's free. Don't miss the Polar Bear, the lions and the Gorilla house. All seasons are beautiful at the Zoo. Also the Zoo lights between Thanksgiving and January are awesome.

We had a great time that we didn't realise we spent a good 5 hours there... Not only good fun for kids, good fun time for adults too...

It is such a wonderful FREE admission zoo. It was big, clean, and had a lot of animals.

FREE ZOO. Parking for us was about $25, and we were there for 4ish hours, so not bad. They have almost all the animals, and their displays and habitats are very well done and well thought out. Make sure to ask at the information desk at the entrance what things you should not miss; we were able to see a gorilla training session today because we asked!

The Christmas lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo are likely to be the highlight of our Christmas visit to Chicago. Highly recommended.

the layout is really cool. but they do have a seagull problem. but altogether with the layout and the animals it is really cool.

A truly free zoo that is better then some paid institutions. Come during the winter and enjoy the Light shows. Come in the summer for a relaxing day in one of the best city attractions.

It is a nice zoo, and it is free.



Wonderful place for families :)

While there weren't any big cats, we did enjoy seeing some animals we don't have in our area. Plus, you can't beat the price. I would say we spent about 2 and a half hours, took our time and saw every corner

Run down. Animals appear healthy, but the grounds were unwelcoming and there was an obvious need for some maintenance. Sad, it used to be a great zoo!

I've been to Lincoln Park Zoo numerous times always have a great time. I go there for my walks and easy access to North Ave. Beach

The zoo is a wonderful destination - even in the winter weather. The animals were very active and they are very close and easily visible even for small children. The mid-day crowd on a weekday was sparse and we were the only visitor's in many areas. The birds in the bird house weren't shy and came near to us on our walk through their areas. The apes we're especially playful and it was interesting to see them interact with the snow the keepers brought in to their enclosure. If you are nearby and have a few hours you should definitely check the zoo out. You can't beat the price either - free!

Best place to spend time with family or by ur self

Had a great time with the family today at the zoo had not been there in years felt good to be there

I will have to reevaluate later. Lots of things closed. Lots of other animals inside.

great considering it's free, beautiful during summer

Nice ,kid friendly,beautiful with Christmas lights ,good hot chocolate station,best view of Chicago skyline.

Really nice and organized place to relax , and hang out with buddies on a holiday

I don't understand how a zoo this good can be completely free. Honestly one of the best I've ever visited, huge selection of animals (who all look well cared for) and knowledgeable keepers who are only too happy to talk at length about them. There really is no excuse not to visit if you're in chicago!

Nice clean zoo, it appears as though the animals are treat very well here. The displays are well organized and we had a good time checking them out with the family.

Its a nice little zoo. Easy to get around even with kids or elders. Has healthy food options.

We loved it, my children enjoyed the animals so much and the walk really helped me feel better (after the holiday of course)

Good place to visit, especially for Adults Night Out!

My daughter just loves this place. This time she was old enough to enjoy the train and carousel.

In town for business, I booked a room at the Hotel Lincoln and discovered this gem across the street. It was rejuvenating to see so many excited kids enjoying such a special and well maintained place. During my first early morning ramble through I even encountered a field full of families camping in the zoo. What a unique experience!

This place is awesome! Totally free and has some awesome exhibits!

Enjoy myself with my NANA'S BABIES and only daughter an my mommy .