The attraction has also been named the UK’s favourite zoo in TripAdvisor’s travellers’ ranking (Image: Chester Zoo)
There are some truly incredible zoos around the world, attracting millions of visitors every year. In the UK, animal lovers are spoilt for choice when it comes to enjoying a day out surrounded by wildlife. Just to name a few attractions, there’s London Zoo, Colchester Zoo and Blackpool Zoo. All of them are very well known and attract huge numbers of visitors every year.
But none of them is consistently ranked as the world’s best zoo. That title often goes to a zoological garden in the north west of England that is home to more than 30,000 animals. It has also been named the UK’s favourite zoo in TripAdvisor’s travellers’ ranking.
Chester Zoo has around 30,000 animals from more than 500 species (Image: Getty)
That zoo is Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo has around 30,000 animals from more than 500 species spread across its 128-acre site. It also welcomes around 1.4 million visitors every year.
Visitors can see everything from Asian elephants and Eastern black rhinos to Sumatran tigers, Asiatic lions and snow leopards, which arrived at the zoo in 2024.
The zoo also has one of Europe’s biggest collections of primates, including chimpanzees, Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, Sulawesi macaques, Colombian black spider monkeys and lemurs.
There’s plenty more to discover, too. Inside Monsoon Forest, the UK’s largest indoor zoo exhibit, visitors can spot Komodo dragons, rare frogs and tropical birds. Elsewhere around the zoo are giant otters, red pandas, okapis, aardvarks and Humboldt penguins.
Visitors can also take the Islands boat trip through a Southeast Asian-themed area, attend daily ranger talks and conservation sessions, or book an overnight stay at The Reserve, where safari-style lodges overlook giraffe and rhino habitats.
Visitors can see Eastern black rhinos (Image: Getty)
The zoo has one of Europe’s biggest collections of primates, including chimpanzees (Image: Getty)
According to TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has a rating of 4.4 out of five from more than 17,000 reviews, making it the highest-ranked zoo in the UK.
When booked online, adult tickets cost £38. Entry for children aged three to 10 is £28, while juniors aged 11 to 15 also pay £28. A family ticket for three costs £89 and a family ticket for four costs £119. Children aged one and two pay £2.50, student tickets cost £37 and babies under 12 months can visit for free.
Those who have visited certainly seem impressed. One person wrote: “The best zoo in the world by far. It’s just magnificent.”
Another added: “Definitely lives up to its label of world’s best zoo. We were a bit sceptical at first, having been to hundreds of zoos around the world, but we were blown away. We highly recommend.”
A third said: “A huge zoo with so many animals and various enclosures to walk through. We had a brilliant day and needed a full day to get around. Very clean, tidy and great place all round.”
Those who have visited certainly seem impressed with the zoo (Image: Getty)
Another wrote: “We have visited Chester Zoo several times and it never fails to delight and amaze us! The range of animals, stunning layout and animal environments are just fabulous.”
Someone else said: “Chester Zoo is a fantastic day out for the family, and I think it gave decent value for money. The zoo is large, but the app made it easy to navigate. The place is well designed and feels very ‘natural’ as you move from one area to another. All in all, a brilliant day out which we all enjoyed.”
Another visitor commented: “Amazing experience!! All of the staff were lovely, the animals well cared for (space, food, social groups), lots of places to rest and eat. It was amazing/inspiring to see how passionate the staff were about their animals, and we really enjoyed hearing the staff talk about the bats, giraffes, etc. It was very clean and tidy too.”
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
