Turtleback Zoo Reviews

Super clean, friendly staff, good selection of animals. Has a small playground for kids.

The zoo has had a makeover recently and all the animal exhibits that were closed last year around this time are back open. The new attraction now is the giraffes. This zoo is smaller, but it has plenty of animals to keep your interest for a couple hours. I'm a big kid at heart, so this place is perfect; for family and adults alike.

Reasonable fare, friendly staff, and a home of various amazing animals. Kid loves visiting the zoo!

Great experience there! Plenty of animals to keep you occupied. Clean facility and perfect family activity. Well worth the $15. Would definitely want to go again

Very nice Zoo for a family outing. It offers a pool where children and adults can "pet" small stingrays. There are also cages with animal farms where little ones can give threats to goats. The park and cages are kept very clean. There are also playgrounds where the little ones can pay around while adults take a break. You'll find several small snack stations thorough the park, as well as restaurant by the entrance. There's also a lovely train ride around the park, and my favorite.

This is my favorite zoo in the area. They've got nearly every animal you could want to see and the zoo is laid out well. The exhibits allow you to get up close and personal with animals you'd never want to get up close and personal with in the wild - big cats, bears, and more.

If you're in North Jersey, getting here is super easy and it's very accessible. They've got a huge parking garage, and the lines through admission moved quickly. If you've got kids, this would be a great place to take them as they seem to be very kid friendly (like most zoos). I'm sure I'll be back soon!

Yes yes yes!! We love it there, it is an uphill climb to a bunch of things so for older people this MAY be challenging depending on age.
It was fine with a stroller!!

A medium size zoo with a really great variety of animals. They had tons of large cats which was exciting. You can also feed giraffes for a few bucks. However, I'm pretty disappointed that the gift shop didn't have any pins.

Great for a family outing. Bring quarters if you want to feed the farm animals!

Great smaller local zoo that's still has everything. Perfect for an impromptu family day out. Don't forget to ride the train.

One word: Amazing!
Growing up in nearby Morristown, I visited Turtle Back Zoo with my family a few times a year for many years and we always adored it. Who can forget the red animal keys and their stories! (wish I had saved one). I just returned there with my wife and youngest daughter after many years after receiving recommendations from family friends and I was completely blown away! Truly remarkable what they have done with the place. Clean, organized, beautiful exhibits so smartly and conveniently arranged so you never have to walk far. A nice array of exhotic animals and added bonuses like the bird feeding cage (don't miss it!) I've not seen anywhere else. Also the train ride is even nicer than I remember - just long enough to be worth the wait and with a nice view of the adjoining lake and recreation area. Overall this zoo is a must for families of any size or anyone looking for a great half to full day outdoor activity.

I love what they have done to Turtle Back Zoo. It is larger, nicer and have very good exhibits. It is very family friendly and have a lot af activities for the family. Really fun going during the holiday season.

I have to say that I love the Christmas/holiday activities at the Turtle Back Zoo. Admission was free and there were cute activities and snacks for sale. Even small fire stations for s mores!

The food and most of the attractions are over priced, but other than that, it's a great place to go for fun

They ve done a great job improving this zoo, One of the best zoos to visit in the tristate area

Great small zoo. Went here with my girlfriend and we came from Queens. It's a small zoo, you will see everything in like an hour and a half. My favorite part was petting the manta Ray and baby shark. They have a great Groupon deal. Very cute zoo with cute animals. Good place to bring kids or a girlfriend! The Bronx zoo is much bigger though.

Also many exhibits were closed in the winter and many under construction places. But still worth a go on a Sunday!

It's wonderful, it's better then Central Park In NY

An AMAZING alternative to the Bronx Zoo. Reasonable entrance fee and a decent amount of exhibits.

Good place to go with kids. Clean and relatively I expensive by today's standards.

Beautiful zoo. Hard as hell to find an atm, and many of the exhibits were closed, and certain animals were not out the entire day, but there was no closed sign.

Very much recommended. What a surprise to find a zoo like this where it is. Great place

Nice place, even during a pandemic, easy to get around socially distanced.

Good place to bring kids, admission was free when I went, also play grounds are close by

A great alternative to the bronx zoo. Sure it is smaller so size wise there is not as much but what they lack in size they make up in quality. A must for small children. Please do not miss the touch tank where you get to pet stingrays.

The Turtle Back Zoo was such a great place to take my family. There were so many things for you to do with your kids and so many different animals to see. The food is really expensive but I had an amazing time looking at all of the different animals and species.

Great size park for the family which includes a 4 year old and a 2 year old. We went in the morning when the weather was cool and all the animals were active as opposed to sleeping when we went in the summer time.

great place to take the kids! theres a nice lake on the outside which you can see from the train that goes around and they have these little paddle boats you can rent. very small zoo compared to the bronx zoo but very nice highly recommended

Nice zoo. I was torn between giving it 3 stars and 4 stars. One thing I like is that there are several things to do like riding on horses etc. parking is easy too. The downside for us was not a ton of animals, and the fact that it is built on and around a big hill. It made it tough to get around easily with a stroller.

My family had a great time here, my 4 year old love tu tu train and Mary go around. Lots of animal to see too.

Love it it has fascinating animals and every animal you can possibly think of.

Not the place to go to if your worried about social distancing. Nobody is enforcing distance or masks. There were tons of people not wearing masking walking around.

I love it enough that I got the season pass! It's greatly expanded since I was a kid. Check out the new lion and hyena exhibit or feed the giraffes! The touch tank is pretty cool too!

Very kid friendly. Bring food. The food there is very expensive.

An OK zoo. Small and a nice afternoon visit. Parking is terrible when there is a crowd.

Probably the 2nd best zoo I ve taken my children to besides Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. The only thing that ruined our time here was the overwhelming amount of bees that we never seemed to get away from and me getting stung while exiting the zoo. Also, a HUGE SHOUTOUT TO CLARENCE, JUSTIN AND ZACK!!! You gentlemen were awesome when my girls couldn t finish the Treetop Adventure. Thank you!!!

Go to all the time to see the animals lovely place definitely a place to bring your family

It's amazing how close you can be to some of the animals at this zoo, though I wonder if some of them wouldn't prefer to be further away. Nice place on a mildly rainy day when it's less crowded.

The zoo is clean and well maintained. I love the cooling stations that spray a mist to help visitors keep cool on hot days.

Was fun, everyone had masks on. We went on a Wednesday at 12 and it was busy.

Had to pick the hottest day of the year, was still a good day. The zoo is built on a hill so take that in mind in your plans.

Great local Zoo...great for family price point very affordable for many of us whom have larger families . The attraction were great they have horses and a live pony ride , petting zoo. They have resting station and large Cafe and eating indoor and outdoor . And for those who adventurous they have course and finish it off with zip line to the end. I recommend visiting and supporting the Turtle back zoo . They help so many exotic rescue animals . They also offer free parking which is a plus.

Great place children as well as adults enjoyed equally

We went in the winter time and a few of the exhibits were closed and they don't have a winter ticket price. I thought it was a little bit of a rip off to have to pay full price when a few of the big exhibits were closed. Besides that the zoo is very nice and clean and you could tell the animals were well cared for. it was intimate because we were like the only people there. I would like to revisit in the summer

Nice to see the big cats and reptiles. Good fun adventure

It's a lot bigger than I expected and had many great activities to do (touch tank, feed giraffes, petting zoo, etc)

This is the good place if you like adventure and have good time with family and friends.

Our kids are grown and it has been decades since we visited but today's walk through the zoo was excellent!

Perfect day for the zoo, all of the animals were out and about with the cool but sunny day. Cannot wait to go again. Even had the opportunity to watch the lab and cheetah companions.

Very crowded today. Parking lot full by 11 am. Could have been better signage for overflow parking. Lions not out because the county decides to show up on one of the busiest days of the season to cut trees thus closing the lion exhibits. People texting while walking with double strollers. One crew was 3 abreast all with double strollers. It was really a "zoo" today.

A wonderful, medium sized zoo that you and your children can see all of in a single trip. They seem to be constantly renovating, and that means some favorite exhibits are sometimes closed. The amusements (pony rides, carousel, animal feeding, etc) are reasonable priced, and the parking is free.

I enjoyed the faces of the kids when they see the animals they get so excited

Nice facility. A good deal of aninals were visible . This is an old trick I've used for many years. Most animals usually like temperate weather. If it is too hot or too cold, they tend to stay out of sight. Late winter and early autumn are usually best. Zoo is clean and there seemed to be a good deal of new construction going on. Probably gets very busy in the summer. We'll go back again.

The staff is always friendly, the exhibits are well maintained and the zoo is navigable with a stroller.

What a beautiful zoo in Fall. Everything looks new and natural. We actually could see all animals (tigers, wolves, bear, etc.), not like Central Park where they were hiding and hard to look for. Highly recommended.

Nice walk today...Remember to bring your own drinks and hand sanitizer...

Verfy friendly envirinment and crowd free place for families to visit

Fun for the whole family. Reasonably priced admission. Tons to do!

Now during the pandemic, there is a tent for temperature screening before you are even able to approach the gate. There are signs everywhere to remind people to not touch the glass. They have one way paths for indoor areas. This place is well prepared for the state's current situation. The animals also looked to be in great condition! I enjoyed my time here!

A nice zoo cool animals that you don't see everyday

There putting an excellent effort to make it bigger n better. looks great!

Awesome place for family fun! Friendly and helpful staff!!!

Great zoo. Big, lots to see. Very nicely set out and plenty to do. Enjoyed it very much.

Great experience best location for organizing birthday party for kids. They will have so much fun