We love zoos, and we have visited a lot of them during the years – among others Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna and Edinburgh Zoo. On a (unusually) warm summer day, we decided to go visit Dublin Zoo as well. And that turned out to be a very green experience…
A zoo or a park?
Dublin Zoo is located in Phoenix Park, which is the largest fenced city park in Europe – twice the size of Central Park in New York! If its location have had an impact on the layout of the zoo, I don’t know. But what I do know is that this is one of the greenest zoos I have ever visited!
Whereever you look, you will see plants, lakes and trees of all sorts. There are plenty of places to find shadow on a hot day. And I imagine that you can use those places to seek shelter for the rain and wind, if the weather decides to act more Irish…
A disadvantage about all the plants is that it can actually be kind of difficult to see the animals through them. We had to look for peepholes many places – not that I mind! This makes it possible for the animals to retreat, if they want to have some peace and quiet. But if you expect to be able to see all the animals up close, you might be disappointed.
Oldies but goodies – and the REALLY old oldies
Our visit to Dublin Zoo was a classical zoo-experience with many of the well known zoo animals such as elephants, monkeys, rhinos, giraffes etc.
They do also have a very impressive habitat named Zoorasic World. Here you have a great opportunity to learn about current and extinct reptiles through exciting exhibitions. And you can also see a real skeleton from a tyrannosaurus rex! If you know someone who are into dinosaurs, this might be the highlight of the visit!
Nice enclosures
The zoo is divided into areas, so the animals, who live close to each other in the wild, are also living closely together at the zoo. This results in different themes that are reflected in the enclosures. I especially liked the African savanna where rhinos, giraffes and zebras walked together on the “African” plain.
Dublin Zoo – worth a visit
All in all I would say that Dublin Zoo is a nice experience and a a park that offers a lot of lovely areas. Don’t visit if you would like to see animals that you cannot see in most of the zoos in Europe. But if you like to go to the zoo and care about the total experience that all the green areas help create, I will most definitely recommend for you to spend a few hours here. But let me be honest about one thing – if possible, bring some lunch from the city 😉 The selection of food was neither exiting nor good during our visit.
You can read much more about the animals, prices and opening hours at Dublin Zoo’s website.
Find your way
As I have already said, Dublin Zoo is located in the huge Phoenix Park. We went from our aparthotel to the zoo on foot. A nice walk on approximately 3 kilometers. If you would like to save a bit of energy, you can catch a bus from the city center.
Visited in July 2017
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