This is a great small zoo! We go to zoos whenever we travel and this is a wonderful one. It is small enough to do in a day and spend quality at each exhibit. The exhibits are really nice for the animals and the zoo is clean.
A bit expensive fee but they got to keep the place going. Nice zoo.
Nice little zoo tucked away in Santa Barbara. Not too big which is great for kids to walk around. Very nice and clean. Close to the beach which keeps it a little cooler than other zoos.
Animals where beautiful and we learned about different animals also.
A nice, smaller zoo that you can see the whole place in under 2 hours. Family friendly and great weather!
Way too expensive for what you get. Parking is $11, food way overpriced, we'll take the grandkids elsewhere next time.
Beautiful zoo lots of space to have a picnic. You can even feed the animals.
Great place :) would b nice if there was more workers walking around an more time with the geraffts would b nice for the price 30 seconds is not worth it.
Beautiful exhibits. Lovely landscaping.Happy people and seemingly comfortable, happy animals. Takes around 3 hours to see it without rushing. Great picnic areas.
The grandkids had thrills seeing the Reindeer. I didn't bring-up having Caribou sausage and eggs in Alaska (good stuff).
Santa Barbara zoo is very interactive for young kids. There are green spaces for kids to run around, entertainment like a dinosaur show, grass hill, a train ride too.
We took 2 adults and 2 little ones to the zoo. We all had a great time. With the limit on visitors it was especially wonderful. The little ones could see the animals. They especially loved feeding the giraffes!
Such a great Zoo. Lovely views make it one of a kind
Just love it. The views and learning about the animals.
I like it because I can go with my grandchildren near where we live, my grandchildren learn about the animals that live there it is fun to see them surprised with the animals
Convenient transportation, parking lots There are many animals to watch. Impressive performances
The staff was friendly. My granddaughter loved using the map. We also took a ride on the train. We found a cute wrap around teddy bear for my granddaughter to wear on her wrist for under $10. This is a great place to make family memories.
This is a great little zoo. Whole zoo is walkable in a few hours. Highly recommended for small kids. Great play area. We especially loved the "ant hill" where kids of all ages can slide down the slope on pieces of cardboard. Also, try the gold "panning" area near the explorer store.
Small but very nice Zoo. Was surprised that it had an Amur leopard.
Live the animals, it isn't too big so you get to see everything
Zoo was clean and well maintained. Good variety of wild life. They have a train tour for 15mins but we had to pay separately for that. Overall it was a good experience and we had fun.
Good place to spend time with family.
For a small zoo, the diversity of animals is impressive! The animals are dynamic and well cared for! The zoo is well thought out, it is a fun stroll with the family. 2 adults and one child 46 USD.
For a smaller zoo this place is fantastic. The animals all seem very healthy and happy. The staff is very friendly and also attentive to your questions. The giraffe feeding experience is so neat and informative. The train ride is so much fun for the little ones. The inside park is a must stop and plan to spend some time there because the little ones love the grass slope slide as well as the entertainment arena next to the park. They also recently updated the Gorilla interaction area that is very fun for children 5 and up.
The Santa Barbara Zoo was an experience. Our kids had a lot of fun and, for a moment, felt like they were transporting back to a time before our pandemic hit. That being said, the fun our children had is why I m giving the zoo 4 stars instead of 3. The zoo does a good job at turning away guests who don t have a reservation and the zoo is not overcrowded... that being said, their in zoo services inside the park are only accessible through online. You can t order food or train tickets unless online... There is NO WiFi and the cellular service inside the park is HORRENDOUS for multiple people. It was hard with children depending on you for food not to be able to provide due to the lack of WiFi. There is no WiFi at the zoo. The staff did their best and don t set your expectations high for other zoo goers to adhere to the masks. Once you re inside, it s lax.
For us parents, it was stressful but our kids had fun and learned a lot. Our children also wore masks the entire time so we did our best to protect ourselves and I feel the zoo did their best to set protocols in place. But yeah, the lack of WiFi and food access situation was a deadly combo to our stress factor.
We visited the zoo yesterday. The day was over cast but beautiful. We had the best time. The zoo was exceptionally clean. The staff was very nice and helpful. The young man at the entrance was so nice he knew our girls wanted to feed the giraffe's the feeding was about to close he called the staff and they waited for the girls. Made their day. Great Customer service.
The gift shops are set up nice and offer alot of items.
We saw so many animals they were playful and fun.
The Macaw's were beautiful and funny one can say Hello. He's red the blue one funny and loud.
We will definitely visit again.
The parking is 11 dollars. The entrance fee adults 18.
The views from the zoo are spectacular ocean on one side and mountains on the other. Well worth the fees.
Wish the animals weren't professional hiders, but I guess that's how it goes.... The kids loved it.
Hard a great day. Weather was beautiful and the zoo is very clean.
Cute zoo with great staff and lots of fun for the kiddo!
Great zoo. Love the penguins and the giraffe feeding
Very small zoo with very little to see. Other than things like lions,penguins, and monkeys you can buy a lot of the animals at pet stores. Nothing special. Lots of empty enclosures.
I'm sure as Zoos go it's just fine, but seeing giraffes, elephants, gorilla, lions etc. Confined to these small concrete and glass prisons with no room to really move, along with the fact that they often have party events with lighting and loud music well into the night... I can't imagine a more tortuous environment for these beautiful, sad animals. They should be released into sanctuaries to live out their lives as quickly as possible.
Such a wonderful zoo to visit with kids. Parking was super easy and we had such a brilliant time with our two young boys!
The zoo is great. Lots of animals. Worth the drive.
Very beautiful place. Many animals. An excellent place to spend as a family.
Beautiful, and great size zoo. We took our young children, and it's the perfect size to venture around before they get tired. The kids enjoyed the playground and nature paths.
Small but great zoo. Many events for children such as animal petting and feeding, even the bigger ones such as giraffes.
Small but clean zoo. Easy to navigate with little ones
This review is entirely for the jerks at the giraffe encounter who told me I could not take a photo of the giraffe without paying $8 to feed it. This completely ruined an otherwise fun day.
Santa Barbara Zoo is an awesome zoo with almost every kind of animal you can think of. Plus after the zoo visit there is a pier you can drive down to shop or eat, then drive down State Street which is full of shopping. Looks high end and the architecture is very nice as well. High end town and beautiful.
They let he FENTON STEM ACADEMIES stay overnight there because they had to go there for a field trip they gave them the town breakfast and they went to go see all the exibits good and sanitary animal doctor let them get a chance to take a look at all the animals and they were all safe when they were returned to school all ate MacDonald as lunch sincerly, Nancy Carbajal
This zoo is fantastic! The animals looks well cared for, the exhibits are beautiful and spacious and everyone is extremely friendly. Would love to see some more animals, like hippos, cheetahs or tigers, but it is a great place.
The zoo is the perfect for lil kids. This is definitely on the to do list again. We can wait to come back and check out a few things we didn't get to see. For being a zoo by the beach it wasn't super small at all.
My kids loved it here and it's a small enough zoo that they don't get bored after awhile.
First time there. Small but very nice. They have a cool variety of animals, pleasant foliage, and ocean views. We capped off our day by taking the train, it was great. Everyone was very friendly. One keeper stopped to give an impromptu talk about rhino hornbills and their mating practices.
It's a pretty cheap admission for what you get. Also I almost walked out with one of each shirt and a couple hundred dollars of debt.
And beware: they have Dippin Dots which is too delicious to describe and will inexplicably entice you to eat several pounds of it.
Love this place... It will be a well spent excursion. I've been around SB since 86 so I speak of certaintues when I dispence advice. One, woukd be remiss in their effort to;
The animals are amazing and the grass area is perfect for picnics.
Nice exidetts for the animals. Infomitive about animals. Lots of animal exidetts.
My two year old grandson really wanted to see some of the animals we read about in books, so I booked tickets for the Zoo and the little train.
It was a joy to witness his excitement and wonder.
The Zoo is beautifully landscaped and laid out.
In the CoVid Era they kept the number of guests low, everyone wore masks and distanced. The tickets were strictly timed so admissions were low and we felt perfectly safe and protected.
I love this zoo! It's small and cozy and the animals all look relaxed or happy!
Great zoo awesome foliage to look at along the way. There are some steep climbs so be sure to wear good footwear
Larger animals were in need of more water. Train ride is short and expensive, but the kids enjoyed it. Beautiful place though.
Great zoo trip today. With physical distancing some things were closed and train tickets and food orders had to be placed online. Good orders were a bit of a wait, so get the link to order ahead of time and fill it out about fifteen minutes before you would like to eat.
I went here when I stayed in Santa Barbara for a few days. Very clean zoo. Has a good flow to it. I enjoyed my time here. It didn t absolutely blow my mind, but was definitely worth going at least once. I did love that you could see the Pacific Ocean behind the Giraffes. That was the highlight for me.
Beautiful environment for the captive animals and the zoo ambiance is very relax very calm and the walk around the zoo very enjoyable...love it
Over priced, not many exhibits and some of them were empty. Walked the whole zoo within an hour and that even included toddler play time. Have been to many other zoo's which are much better, this definately is on the bottom of my list for zoos.
Very well maintained zoo. Took my daughter here for the first time and had a blast. The "Ewwwww" and Giraffe exhibits were a blast!!
sbzoo.org
