Oakland Zoo Review

Small zoo but still a great experience. Easy to get to, just off the freeway, it's kind of a hidden find that's definitely worth going to.

It's been several years since my last visit and the new gondola experience to the back side where the grizzly bears, jaguar, and bisons is worth the admission.

Be warn, on Saturday 11:30 parking was a nightmare and we parked close to the exit. It was a climb up the steep uphill to get to the entrance.

Parking was a bit of a hassle on the weekend but a nice day all in all. The new gondola and California wildlife exibit are excellent.

Go early as the lines can get long.
If it's your first time, you'll need 3-4 hours to see the whole thing. Our 2 year old was done in about 3.

Almost all the animals were out and about but the bears were fun to watch. The zoo staff brought the 4 grizzlies close, to feed them fruits and play with them. The black bear cubs were having a blast amongst themselves, climbing on trees and jumping in the water. Don't miss taking the gondola ride to go see them at the California Trail section. Plus the view from the top is a bonus!!

Nice zoo kids had fun and most of the animals were awake, which is a good thing. Gondulas were closed, so did not experience them.

Animals are healthy and zoo is very well maintained. Views are amazing and the gondola is awesome.

Me and my family really enjoyed this place. Big upgrade since the 90s when I was a kid and use to go

Really nice zoo. Large variety of animals. Admission prices not bad.

We were there from open to close and enjoyed every minute. Watching the animals in their habitat was fantastic. Good day.

Had a great time with my kids and my mate. We arrived at 10 with our family membership purchase. Great deal. Our 9 year old this was her first trip. She loved it. Love the new Gondala ride. What I like mist as compared to San Francisco zoo is the animals are alor closer, they look healthier and cleaner. We got some great pictures. Looking forward to going back.

Well I have been coming for years and I have 5 children since I came to Hayward CA I bring them to the zoo and it is getting better and different with my children and pray with my granddaughters it is beautiful to come and have fun with nature

Nice! Even with so many people, it didn't feel crowded. The new California Trail Expansion was a great addition. Different exhibits featured different ways of viewing so it didn't get boring as you wander the grounds. Terrific for kids.

Extremely overpriced, run-down, the gandiola made it worth the drive though.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that there's a new airlift to another part of the zoo where we saw wolves, bears and eagles. A cool little park for the kids is up there too! The animal exhibits were nice. I enjoyed learning about bats.

My grandkids enjoyed the zoo. It was our first time visiting. There were some beautiful animals, such as the zebras, the elephants, the playful bears, the giraffs, etc. The gondola ride was so nice. It was such a wonderful place to go with the children. Im very impressed at this zoo. We will surely be back.

Don't underestimate its location this place was superb!!!

Really great place. Very friendly staff. Overall wonderful experience for the family

The new bear exhibits are great. Don't miss the river otters.

This is during Covid...but not entirely related to it.
Pros
-Easy in an out with buying tickets online!
-Nice to see large areas for the Animals!
-Clean bathrooms an areas
- Not gonna complain about exhibits being closed or animals not there etc. Life goes on lol.
-Taking the gondola is cool but read my con lol.

Cons however ....
-I get some food places need to be closed. But there wasn t a single vender in the park. Maybe I missed the one right as you walk in. But through the entire park. Not a single food or drink station. I would have left sooner simply to get food, but just trying to walk to every attraction takes forever.

-Complete nightmare walking with a stroller or a child you have to carry. Pathways are uphill or down hill and most areas are a one way in one way out. This is not cause of Covid. It s just how the path is. So you have to walk one way to see something to then walk back to get to something else. Poor planning on the layout for sure. Not a single flat area...

-The gondola ride was fun for the kids. A stroller takes up space. Everything was closed or empty but the bears an bison. The bison don t do anything an the bear exhibit is the only exhibit worth it. There is also no shade. So unless you wana see a few bears. You can totally skip this. The restaurant is also closed. So no food.

-Not sure of the whole point of a parking pass as it wasn t left in my car nor attached to my plate. So I hope that $10 goes to the zoo lol.

Over all it s a one an done kinda thing. I enjoyed the Zoo an I am glad they were able to open back up. I didn t mind the lack of exhibits etc. I minded the poor planning of the layout of Exhibits an the lack of food and drink.

My daughter like this one cause she love to watch duck

Good place for kids, gandola and sky rides we're good.

A great zoo in the beautiful Oakland hills. My 16 month old has so much fun here. The membership is highly recommended as single visits are quite expensive and you'll want to return often!

This zoo has most of the animals you expect and hope to see at a zoo, the enclosures are decent sized, and the animals seem to be well cared for. The bathrooms are dated. The rides expensive, so we skip them. I wish there were more zoo staff around to talk to about the animals. And it's sometimes hard to see the animals due to the design of the pens.. which is probably best for the animals, but frustrating for children. Just be prepared for a hike, this zoo is on a hill and is a hike. I personally leave the stroller and take a carrier for my littles.

Kids love it, especially the gondola. Lots of fun. Food is overpriced and not the best service at the restaurant, girl employee rude. We will bring our own sandwhiches next time. We bring our kids at least once a year. If we have a little extra time we let them get on a couple of rides next door.

Great place. Everything is close by so not far to walk!

A great little zoo. Exhibits have been placed inspaces resembling their home environments. Also has a breeding program for several endangered species. All exhibits are grouped according to area they come from. Just a shame that the Australian section can only reached by paying for a ride whereas the California area has a free gondola ride up the hill to get there.

A beautiful place full of beautiful majesties of nature

Great zoo with well done exhibits. A few are closed and been that way for some time. The new lift up to the restaurant is great fun and provides a super view

Best zoo in the country. The new California section is amazing. We watched them feed the bears. We even bought a membership

It was awesome to see tha animals!!! The people that worked there were very friendly and respectful! We were able to see a lot of the animals..i enjoyed it and i will most definitely be back!!! And most importantly everybody including guest complied with the covid-19 rules and that was great!!

Nice, small zoo. We had lunch at the cafeteria and the view was beautiful. Some animals are ETS hiding in the shadows, I guess, so we didn t see them. Get a tube of sunscreen with you, as it gets pretty hot.

A new area has been opened on the top of the hill that can be accessed by a nice gondola ride. The new grizzly bear and black bear exhibits are very impressive.

25 years ago this place was the poster for shutting down zoos. Now they're one of the best I've recently visited.

I love this Zoo! Very informative and the staff is very eager to answer your questions. I had asked about a cat that I saw with a bib on and this young lady with the goats and sheep answered all my questions. I wish I had gotten her name, she was very nice.

My recommendation is to just go! Go when they open for the best parking and a little more animal activity, excerpt the big cats. Lol. Oh, and bring your lunch it's pretty pricey to eat there..

very good place to go for a walk with the whole family. You have a lot of fun

My Baby loves this place, we even bought a Membership

Visit the new native California exhibition. Excellent

Great place to go with the family very friendly staff, there's a lot of activities you can do

Good assortment of animals to see, but can be a bit confusing to navigate. Plan for at least a two hour visit.

pretty good. takes 2-3 hrs to see everything if you really take your time, and 1hr if you zoom through. we planned going near end of day to get the best chance to see the nocturnal animals like the big cats, and it worked out perfectly. could not see them around at 2:30PM, but by 5PM they came out and it was nice (esp., hyena, tigers, lions. they don't kick you out until 5:30PM. the tram over the africa section is not worth it unless you want to see the awesome west bay vista views or if you could not see the big cats b/c they hide where the tram can see them.

Great place for day out with kids. Lots of animals and cable car is fun included in the ticket.

Not at all ADA compliant!!! How were we to know that we were supposed to make 2 week advanced reservation to pay EXTRA for special wheelchair!!!! Staff were clueless and unhelpful, probably not payed well. Overflow parking lot was very difficult and dangerous for our family member in a wheelchair.
Our family s zoo trip would have been great except for the huge hassles.
At least we all could go on the Gondola that was great along with the whole California Trail. That part five stars.

Better zoo than I expected. New California exhibit is nice. Good idea to check the feeding times other the animals will be asleep most of the time.

Beautiful, very beautiful, there are always activities

Not too many
exotic animals

it isnt the best zoo in the bat area, its san fransisco xoo you need to check out

Zoo is okkk even decent ticket price food was ok but overpriced.....

I love this zoo. Staff is super friendly, animals are not confined to a small space, and the new expansion is beyond amazing! Great and new play space for kids. California trail is marvelous!

Disgusting leftie loon propaganda everywhere
Total waste of money

This was a great Zoo with well laid out enclosures....from my non expert opinion.

This zoo is huge. Easy to find parking space, family oriented. They got bathrooms, animal play ground for kids, gift shop, cafe. Different animals birds, monkeys, lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras, elephants and so much more. The zoo is very nice and clean and employees are nice, friendly and helpful. I would totally recommend worth every dollar.

We have been to the Oakland Zoo many times and love the zoo. This visit was to see the new California Trail. The animals and enclosures were perfect. You could really get up close to most of the animals.

Great zoo. Make sure to get there early on weekends. Parking fills up quick.

What an awesome place !! Amazing place for kiddos ... Small place but can handle big crowds without making it look too packed .. parking was easy ... Lines move quickly ... Lots of strollers and families come here ... They had 4 tigers and you can usually spot them due to the multiple openings for the public to view around the cages

Oakland zoo was bigger then I thought lots of stuff to do and animals to see

It's small but I love its turtle and serpentarium area in great

A great place to go, and has lots of things to do. The only thing is that the food was so expensive there.

The vegetation is lovely around the Zoo although it would be nice to have more trails to take various ways to different exhibits. The animals had well sized and varied enclosures only problem was vegetation was lush enough to make some hard to find in exhibits.

The Gondola ride was highlight of trip and it will be nice to visit when paths and exhibits are open at the top. The best dining was at the top yet it was always crowded so hopefully they will add more seating, especially outside with the view. That was very limited. It would be a great setting for an evening event at the Zoo and it would be fun to see an adult type event utilizing the spectacular view of the Bay Area and San Francisco.

We were fortunate to have perfect weather. Just enough breeze and temperate weather to make it very comfortable. It might get hot in mid-summer since it's exposed in areas and away from the coast. It's a great place to spend an active day with family.

I liked it very much it was very quiet not a whole a lot of people to day . However it was little chilly to day but very nice weather. I even got to talk to some decents about the Lions and chimpanzees as well.

Excellent zoo located in the Oakland hills. Make sure to visit n California Trail up on the hill with display of Grizzly and Black bears, wolves, mountain lions and eagles. There is also a large kids playground on top of the hill.

Awesome awesome awesome! One of my favorite zoos in the country for its intimate setting and animal encounters.

The cablecar ride was fun but overall trip was not worth it for 22 dollar

The oakland zoo is pretty great. I have been going here since I was little and I have always loved it, although the recent remodels have made it even more amazing. The bear exhibit is probably one of the coolest and most upclose i have ever seen grizzly/brown bears and it is really impressive. The people who work here are incredible and super knowledgeable and its just a really awesome place to spend a day. The childrens zoo is really cool too. They also have a few rides, and a zoo train which takes you around the zoo. The gondolas that take you up to the California exhibit are pretty comfortable even to someone with a fear of heights on a windy rainy day