Visiting Vienna

Vienna’s zoo is the oldest working zoo in the world. Emperor Franz I, husband of Empress Maria Theresia, established a private menagerie here in 1752 and the public were let in at the end of the 1770s. But exotic animals were on display on the site as far back as the 1500s.

In more recent times, the zoo can claim a phoenix-like resurgence from the point of closure.

In the late 1980s, it was a fairly rundown, rather sad place in desperate need of rejuvenation. Then new management appeared in 1991 and started a massive ongoing investment programme of renovation and expansion.

While still an unfinished task, the zoo’s facilities and husbandry practices are now more in line with modern zookeeping and able to attract and support prestigious projects and exhibits like the Giant Pandas.

The improvements also mean visitor numbers have skyrocketed, making the zoo the second most popular paid attraction in Vienna (after Schönbrunn Palace).

Unfortunately, there is little display information in English, bar a few information boards. The signs on each enclosure give at most the name of the animal in English, and there are no English-language guided tours. Nor are there many educational “shows” of the kind you might know from places like London Zoo.

That’s not to downplay the success of the new management team. The turnaround has been remarkable and much to the benefit of visitors and — most importantly — the animals.

So what’s inside? Plenty - you can spend a good half-day or more in the zoo. You can also eat there.

The main zoo area has an open-plan food buffet serving mainly fried foods (sausages, langos etc.) and snacks, which I would find very hard to recommend. There’s also a much better full-service restaurant in the central pavilion; the one originally used by the founding royals for breakfast back in the 1700s. Other smaller buffets and snack bars are dotted around the zoo, too.

Up on the hill at the back of the zoo there’s the Tirolerhof restaurant, serving typical country fare and also accessible to visitors from outside the zoo. In the farmhouse next to the restaurant, there’s a farm shop selling simple but superb open sandwiches and pastries.

Of course, history and eating are all very well, but you want to see animals, right? So click here for a comprehensive look at what the zoo has to offer.

The zoo is open 365 days a year from 9am, closing between 4.30pm and 6.30pm depending on the time of year. Tickets are not cheap at €12 for an adult (€4-5 for children), though you can also get a combination card for the zoo, Palmhouse and Desert House which saves you some money.

(The zoo had to put up prices recently to pay for the cost of bringing over the pandas.)

To find the zoo, follow the instructions for getting to Schönbrunn. It’s signposted everywhere.

Address: Schloß Schönbrunn, 1130 Vienna
Website: http://www.zoovienna.at/ (with a complete English version)

This entry is filed under Zoo.