Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) Reviews

One of my favorite places in the city. Love that it's free for everyone to enjoy and they have a surprising variety of animals you might not expect from a free zoo. A great asset to the city

If you're in the market for an incredible, cheap attraction in Chicago, make the Lincoln Park Zoo a stop on your itinerary. Best part? Hands down, the polar bears.

Nice free zoo, well worth the trip, kids had a great time. Large variety in animals and the grounds are well kept. Plenty of scenic walking extending out onto the lake and the Lincoln park area, keep walking north past the Farm area and you will run into the Lincoln Park Conservatory.

Great place. Was free when I visited during Christmas. Has a lot of variety of animals

My family and I have always had nice experiences while visiting this zoo. It s clean, good sized and lots of good exhibits. The only thing I would really improve is adding signs along the walk ways saying where each exhibit is and not just posting the map in a couple places. It s very inconvenient to have to stop and look at the map while people are walking all around and you re trying to keep an eye on your kids as well. Otherwise, it s a great zoo.

call me a Grinch if you want but no reason for lights on trees

This zoo was AMAZING!!! The animals were all so active and the staff were there giving us fun facts. All arpund AMAZING!!!

Great light show and family fun. Just need to get a better handle on parking when there are thousands of people in the area.

I was so surprised how great this zoo was. Great place for a affordable day trip with a family, or a good place to run through for a light jog.

Great place to enjoy family and the fun animal too.

What a brilliant zoo. Lots of interesting animals and great staff who spent time to talk about animals. Heather in the gorilla enclosure gave a great talk and the chimpanzees/gorillas were great fun. Really lovely zoo and it was free which was a great bonus. Really enjoyed our afternoon.

It was a little sad to see animals in such small spaces, specially the rhinoceros and the polar bear... The polar bear even looks psychotic. The whole outdoor design and kids activities are awesome, but the zoo should be animal centered.

Small zoo, but lots to see and it's free! They have some fun exhibits, but my favorite time to come is during the Lights show during the Christmas holidays. Off holidays, it's a nice place to take friends and family.

The 5D exhibit would be better if you could pay cash at the door after standing in line

Good experience nice place to take children lots of information

The zoo is free, but like everything in Chicago you have to pay to park. We paid $30. The zoo is kind of old school in that all of the enclosures feel too small so I felt bad for the animals. The staff was nice and knowledgeable.

A lot of the exhibits are gone and most of the animals are not there

This place is free and cute.
All the exhibits are within easy walking distance to each other. The lights they had for the holidays were amazing

Good place but some animals have been relocated since the place is being reworked

Best Zoo experience. It's free, great exhibitsC active animals, great gift shop, one of my favorite things to do in Chicago!

It is a free zoo but seeing the animals in such tiny enclosures was depressing. There was a black bear that kept pacing back and forth along the glass. That's not ok.

ALL of the animals look very malnourished and not taken care of. Their sand cat was limping. Eye badly and was very skinny. The rhino has lots of sores, and the penguins were kept in a warm environment. This zoo should be shut down. All the exhibits look like nobody takes care of them.

Went on a cold late October afternoon and this place was still an amazing family attraction. I've heard about this place since I was a kid in Wisconsin and it was great to finally get to see it! Would definitely come back!

This is a place one can visit anytime. Zoo lights event every year during Nov- Dec is a must watch.

Animals are breading there! Very safe place for them.

I love how it is compact and walkable for a 90 minute visit with a lot of variety of animals

The exhibits were amazing. Had such a good time. The Red Wolves had pups recently and we got to see them

Not the most modern zoo but fun stop none the less.

Great place to take the kids. Only problem was getting a spot to park.

Nice zoo in the "middle" of a city; however our timing may have been bad because we saw few animals. But the price was right. Will go again to try and catch some more animals out and about.

Beautiful zoo in Lincoln Park.
Very well kept and guest friendly zoo. The animals luckily were all outside their hising being a lovely sunny day.
Plenty of signboards and maps ensure visitors are guided well.
The animals all looked v healthy which means they are well kept by the zoo authorities!
Our favourite area was the Oranghutans habitat. It was hilarious to see them in action !

Great zoo! Can't beat the price! It's free. Donations are welcomed. It was hot so many animals were hiding. Still plenty to see and explore. Absolutely loved it!

Fun place for a family visit. Parking is expensive, but admission is Free. Our son enjoyed the zoo farm with the tractor and animals.

Well maintained zoo that just takes donations. There is free parking on the road, but there are not usually any spots available. This is a really nice place for kids. Some people had scooters and balance bikes for younger children, which is a great idea because this place is massive.

Very nice zoo. Was there for Christmas event. Clean restrooms. Great food.

Had allot of fun here and appreciate the efforts to preserve the surrounding areas nature and native habitat.

Half of the animals weren't available to see. I was told it was because it was early in the day. We were there at noon?

Love it, love it, love it! The best zoo ever! And it's free! the park is beautiful - and the zoo is spectacular! And the best bit - it's free! All the atractions and animals are an added bonus to the beauty. Love how the ducks and seaguls just walk around freely.

Pleasantly surprised on a nice spring day. Good family place. Lincoln park is an inexpensive way to spend a day with kids.

So much more fun than I remember when I was a child. Beautiful Zoo. Highly recommended.

Make reservation before going, had to go back the next day. Friday was sold out. The day I went was very hot. Stay hydrated and sanitized and have a marvelous visit. Very clean. Be safe

Went there for holiday lights. Won't ever be going back

For a free zoo this place is excellent. Decent variety of animals and staff are friendly too.

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It'd be nice that people that do answer the phone would provide you information instead of putting you on hold for long periods time and when you call back they hang up on you...

Wonderful zoo. Completely free. Lots of different kinds of animals. If you go in the winter zoo lights is really cool.

Great place to visit when in Chicago. The zoo is free, but plan on paying to park. The views of the city from the zoo are very neat. The zoo can be a bit crowded so keep that in mind when you visit- patience is key =) Christmas time is probably one of the best times to visit- the light displays are definitely worth the trip (and traffic getting there).

Was a fun experience during the Light festival that the zoo hosted. May experience it being overcrowded, but worth it by all of the lights.

Boring, hardly get to see any animals. Fun day for free I guess.

Amazing place to visit, alot of animals and places to relax. Best part of all, Its Free!

It was gorgeous! They turned the park into a beautiful scene for New Year's Eve

There is a wide variety of animals for a zoo with free admission! Parking is very expensive though ($20+ depending on time) so if possible park elsewhere and walk/bus.

The staff are passionate about the animals, and the place is child friendly.

Great place, wish I'd had more time to explore. Beautiful animals. Will definitely come again.

This place is such a great place for the family. It is well laid out and landscaped beautifully. They do not charge admission. However all the food items and souvenirs are really overpriced.

Nice field trip for the kids. A lot of the cages were empty. Nor sure why.

Plenty to see, good exhibits, and free entry. Lots of fun.

I enjoy it more than Brookfield zoo seems cozier and more personal not to mention the entrance is free parking is about $20 for 2 hours or less but public transportation is great

Amazing zoo!! Haven't been too in 30+ years!! Soooo cool.

I use to live in Chicago and bragged on this place drove forever there and back paid 24 dollars to park. DON'T waste your time. Only thing was worth looking at was the new baby gorilla

Lovely free zoo with tons of events and activities throughout the year.

This is an amazing place to go. It's free! And it's so nice, particularly I really like animals so I've been here several times. Just because haha

What you can and can't see is going to depend on the weather, so be aware.

Went to see the Christmas lights. Amazing decorations.

This is a wonderful zoo, and it s free!! We had so much fun and loved seeing all the African animals!

If you like seeing majestic animals trapped in small enclosures, this is for you.

Love this zoo its one of my favorites. Would reccomend especially because the zoo is free parking can sometimes be difficult but the animals tend to be in good mood and moving around. The food isn't super overpriced and the park there is beautiful.

Great place to go for free if you ever visit Chicago just as many animals as the Indianapolis Zoo and smells better

Free zoo! Need I say more??? It was an easy walk from nearby landmarks. Lincoln Park Zoo was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the early afternoon. It wasn't too busy, and the exhibits were really good! It's a good sized zoo with a lot of great animals. Everyone here is super helpful and knowledgeable

Great zoo, fantastic edutainment, free. Parking is available relatively cheap nearby. Food is expensibe, but you can bring your own food.