Oakland Zoo Reviews

Great place to walk around and see the animals. Confusing trails and map. Animals were active and in sight. A good place to spend half a day with family or friends.

It's a good place to spend time with your family. It has a lot of animals but not as many as other zoos I have visited. Something that I really like about this zoo is that it is very clean. It is one of the cleanest zoos I have visited.

Took my son to zoo. Wasn't expecting it to be 90 degrees In the bay. Was able have good time at the zoo. Definitely be back to see it again and spend more time to see the California adventure side.

One of the best zoo experiences! The animals are happy and healthy, the habitats are clearly comfortable for them but you can still get close and enjoy them. The California wildlife section is a part you cannot miss!

Way better than the San Francisco zoo, and half the price. You can spend hours here, especially with little ones. They just opened a whole new section of wild animals that you can go see with a gondola ride to the top of the mountain. I'm a member here, and the price wasn't bad at all. Three visits and it already paid for itself. You can bring in your own food to save on costs, and they even have a baby amusement park for little ones!

Oakland zoo has come a long way! It's beautiful, clean and offers spectacular views.

The staff was very nice and friendly and helpful it's a good place to go for the kids And Mom and Dad can have a great Time to And injoy it to it's a good experience for everyone to have a good time and lern something to

Great place. California upper zoo is a must. Active bears and great views! Don't forget to bring your snacks and food.

Great place for an educational experience. The only reason I gave this a 4 star rating was because the park feels like it needs an update. Outside of this, the zoo is a great place to visit.

This is a great zoo for small children. Must sees are the Howler Monkey right in the middle of the park, the new California Trail exhibit, and the train that goes around the park and right through and Emu and Wallaby enclosure. We're members and you can definitely spend a great, whole day here.

There's so much to see. I'm glad we bought a membership so we can take our time to enjoy the different exhibits.

Fun place visit kinda expensive. Free gondola rides to the restaurant, which is expensive kids juice boxes are 3$ water $5.

Nicely laid out zoo with a really nice section dedicated to California and a cool gondola ride to get there.

Animals are close to view.. but seemed under nutritioned..

Good place...the gondola ride gave a nice city view. Zoolight was also good, but zoolight is during new year only

Beautiful zoo. My four year old daughter was there all day. She also enjoyed stroking goats, the small playground on the gondola side, as well as the rides before returning home. Plan snacks, there are plenty of nice places to picnic.

They have animals you don't see every day just walking around! Don't pet them

Bit expensive for what they offer, my kid enjoyed seeing the tigers, jirafees, free gondola ride, small roller coaster rides. Train ride was very bad, 3.5$ per person and just got to see very few animals (3, 4 in total) in the 5 min ride. Overall zoo had less animal breeds, and few rides (like sky riding which is 3$ per person again).

The zoo is nice in a very nice setting. It is very hilly so be prepared for a lot of ups and downs. It makes pushing a stroller (especially a double) difficult and I'm sure very tough for a wheelchair. The animal exhibits are decent, especially the giraffes and the elephants. They have a train and gondola ride.

Was disappointing. From being charged 10.00 to park on a lawn Then another 48.00 for the exhibits.
We saw garbage in the enclosures and the gondola was closed due to wind. They should have offered a discount at admission.
Our family visits zoos all over the state San Diego, SF, Sacramento etc this zoo just did not meet our expectations.

Wonderful place! The work they do and education they provide is so important to the community. The Covid-19 precautions they have in place make you feel safe and comfortable so you can enjoy the zoo.

Great rides for the kids animals are an okay environment could be maintained a little better and updated it's a little old looking but a fun outing for the family. But it's pricey if you don't have a membership!!!

I like this zoo and the animals that live here. Been only once but definitely will come back. I like that many kids visit the place and it's a great fun.

Awesome zoo for younger kids: 3-10 or so. Nice small petting area, and a small but fun selection of amusements/rides. Rides are slightly pricey for what you get, but still good clean weekend fun. Check out an animal feeding while there. Families of 4 or more should consider a membership - pays for itself in a visit and a half, and that way you can run in and out for a few hours and still get your monies worth.

We had a wonderful time and learned much. We spent most of our time on the new California Trail accessed via gondola ride. There were 4 young grizzly bears who were very active and so much fun fun to watch. Saw wolves, mountain lions, a black bear and a jaguar! Lots of signage to educate the public. Tons of kids also enjoying new play structures. We were so impressed with the large nature enclosures for the animals! We used our daily admission towards a membership, which you have to do before you leave. We knew we d be going back.

We love this zoo. Unfortunately, today the weather was not conducive to many of the animals being out and about. Still, there were many that were and we were able to get very close since it wasn't crowded. All in all, it ended up being a memorable day with the otters showing off their water aerobic skills the lions sending us off with astounding roars.

Great zoo for all ages! We come here often with our toddler to make the best of our membership and spend some family time together.
Only quip is if you have an outside drink they will not allow lids or straws but conveniently have both in their cafes.

**Update**
I m glad that you are no longer using the lids and straws in the cafe keeping the plastic pollution in mind and for the safety of the animals. Next time I shall carry my reusable glass for my own drink.

My kids and I love this place,animals are well taking care.

We love this place easy access to the highway great parking pricing is fair and all my kids enjoy coming teens, and the younger kids. We love Oakland

I liked the zoo very much for both adults and children. There are also animals and carousels, snack areas.

An excellent distraction, ideal to spend a different day.

Visiting the Tigers is always a highlight for me. A family pass is a great value and a must if your children love animals.

Amazing fun! Educational. Interactive. Beautiful. We spent the whole day there and saw everything. What a wonderful, beautiful Zoo and wildlife reserve. Can't wait to go back!

Legs are killing me but is awesome got to see some bears tussle and all sorts of cool animals

Love the new California exhibit. The facility is great, customer service (and docents/zooologists) is lacking. I felt as though the entire place was being run by high school students with no responsibility or supervision.

Excellent. Highly recommend a docent aided tour . Was able to spot more of the animals in natural settings. Learned a great deal and had a blast. Excellent cafe at the top of the gondola ride with killer views.

What a beautiful day to take my daughter to the zoo. Perfect weather to walk around and see all of the animals and exhibits.

Great zoo, the animals all have big enclosures, the Gondola has a great view

My girls are very funny and I do not even say it. I recommend visiting it but arrive at the time they open so they can cover the entire zoologoco

I have enjoyed going to this zoo for many years. Unlike some zoos, the enclosures are sufficient in size with appropriately engaging features for the animals. The zoo is in the Oakland Hills and has many scenic overlooks throughout the grounds.

Nice little zoo. Great docents working there, full of knowledge and fun to talk to.

Beautiful zoo. I like it because the animals have room to roam.

What a great place! A lot of room for animals! Clean and fun!

Love the gondala probably the best part and the restaurant with the view of the entire bay.

Pro tip park in the lower lot'usually more spots and at the end of the day instesd of trekking up a hill its a smoother walk going down hill

Wonderful experience seeing all animals up close. Best part is seeing animals being fed and interacting with the zoo staff who are always willing to answer questions and interact with children. Gondola ride is fun and they have a nice cafeteria above the hill which has some amazing views. All in all a great experience for kids, families and anyone who would like to enjoy a fun day

Nice African and American animals. Well organized tours in gondola and lifts.

Me and family had a wonderful time at this zoo. Good price and a good diversity of wild life species. The small amusement park was fun for my kids and they didn't want to leave. I will defintely be visiting again.

This is a ok place to go but it does smell like poop. This place needs a air freshener or the staff need to put lavender spry to fix the smell

Great experience for nature and animal enthusiasts. Conservation is the primary goal here. Many, if not most, of the animals are rescues or native born.

Really nice setup. Greatly expanded since last visit

Great place to visit with kids - didactic, kid friendly.

Cafeteria crowded, expensive, food so-so. Bringing a picnic recommended.

I found this piece of advice a jewel...

Much better than san francisco zoo. It has lot more animals, has two gondola rides with great views! It also has tons of rides for kids

My favorite zoo. 4 hours and we saw everything. Took the new gondola, saw the bears wrestling, and had a great lunch with a fantastic view.

We ve been going there since our kid was 2 years old. He is 6 now and we have visited more than 8 times now. My kid loves this place. And they have done pretty good improvement over the time. My kids favorite place is the playground on the hill, loves the gondola ride.

Great zoo experience with zoo lights. We had such a blast, and the zoo is so large. The gondola and train rides were a lot of fun.

I'm a big fan of the addition at the top of the gondola.

So much fun Daniel had a blast it was all he could talk about for the next week.

Parking was somewhat hectic and zoo was a bit crowded, but overall exhibits were nice.

Extremely inhumane. Just because an elephant has 20 feet to roam around in instead of 10 does not make keeping them in a cage ok.

Great experience everytime we visit, best zoo in Norcal