A fine treat for young and old. This international award-winning zoo lives in the extensive parkland around Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace. Here’s what you need to know…
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Quick overview
(The marvelous meerkats)
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, to give it its proper name, is the world’s oldest working public zoo and dates back to the mid-18th century.
An extensive renovation and renewal program has turned the zoo into one of the world’s more renowned institutions: an award-winning modern institution that combines entertainment with conservation and education. Over two million people typically visit each year.
For ticket advice, directions, and suggestions on how to get the most out of your visit, see these visitor & ticket tips.
Incidentally, the zoo is one of the few tourist attractions where you get to meet a lot of locals. Parents of young kids, in particular, often take out an annual pass and visit regularly (we did).
The animals
(The zoo has a large elephant enclosure)
You’ll be relieved to hear the zoo has one or two animals in it. All your usual favourites, as well as the bright gemstone in the zoological crown: the Giant Pandas.
See the animal highlights article for an overview of the best enclosures and beasties to see.
If you like animals, consider adding a visit to the Haus des Meeres: a huge aquarium and vivarium located in an old WWII flak tower.
What to do with kids
(The fire salamander climbing wall)
It’s a zoo. So, pretty much everything within suits kids. You find all the classics inside: elephants, giraffes, lions, etc.
For a few extra ideas on how best to keep the children entertained, fed, watered, scared or tired (delete as appropriate), see these zoo tips for parents.
Zoo history
(The zoo’s effective founder, dressed for breakfast)
Back in 1752, the city had fewer smartphones and not a lot of Netflix. But it already had a zoo in Schönbrunn, for which we can thank Emperor Franz I Stephan.
To learn a little more about Vienna zoo’s origins and its current standing in the zoological world, take a look at the history of Tiergarten Schönbrunn.
Recent zoo news
(You wait patiently for a lynx kitten then three come along at once; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- July 2025: two male golden takins (a rare ungulate from China’s Shaanxi province) have joined the Himalayan tahrs in their rocky enclosure
- July 2025: the Eurasian lynx kittens are finally old enough to explore their enclosure. Triplets were born in May, but spent their first few weeks away from prying eyes under the watchful gaze of their mother
- June 2025: 12 northern rockhopper penguin chicks are currently learning how to fetch fish from the pool rather than simply wait with their mouths ajar. See them in the Polarium section
(The zoo’s biggest stars are back in Vienna. Female Lan Yun and male He Feng (pictured) have moved into the newly renovated panda enclosure; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- May 2025: find young white-nosed coati exploring their outside enclosure. The cubs (?) were born in March, but spent the intervening time indoors until they were ready to go out and drive their parents to distraction
- May 2025: the latest new arrival comes from Apenheul zoo in the Netherlands. A nine-year-old male Orang Utan has joined the existing group and hopes are high that, in time, he can contribute to a successful breeding programme
- May 2025: the Giant Pandas are back!
(A new addition to the ring-tailed lemur enclosure; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- April 2025: watch the ring-tailed lemurs enjoying the spring sun and you might spot the latest member of the family hitching a ride on his mother’s back
- April 2025: a new species conservation house opened with a focus on the illegal trade in wild animals
- March 2025: Schönbrunn is due to become only the third zoo in Europe to house Chinese pangolins, a species endangered by smuggling and the use of pangolin parts in traditional medicine
(I’m getting Game of Thrones vibes from an earless monitor lizard; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- March 2025: a young female tiger transferred from the AquaZoo Leeuwarden in February and can now be seen by visitors. Hopes are high for the new arrival as a potential partner for the male tiger that came from Lisbon Zoo in 2021. All part of an EEP conservation programme coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
- February 2025: the zoo has long kept and bred the endangered earless monitor lizards, native to the Borneo rainforests. But visitors can now see them for the first time in the aquarium / terrarium house
- January 2025: the naked mole rats in the nearby Desert House produced their first offspring in almost eight years. These are no ordinary rodents. For example, a colony has a social structure more akin to honey bees. Fascinating animals
(You never see the words cuddly and naked mole rat in the same sentence; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- January 2025: big news about small antelopes. For the first time ever, the zoo has had success breeding Kirk’s dik diks thanks to the birth of a young female just before Christmas
- December 2024: news reaches me that the zoo’s pair of two-toed sloths have a new baby: their 14th offspring. Prophecies suggest this will be the one to lead the sloths into a new era of industrious activity and wakefulness
- October 2024: the red pandas have packed up their magazine collections and crockery and moved house. They now have twice the space, flanked by the polar bear complex and the rainforest house
(The red pandas have moved enclosure, accelerating the gentrification of the area around the rainforest house; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- September 2024: pink is the colour of the season (just not yet). Twelve flamingo chicks hatched with more to come. They begin with grey down and only achieve the famous pink colour in full after three years
- August 2024: Vienna might be experiencing one of its warmest summers but it’s all cool and cosy in the Polarium, where visitors can now admire a King Penguin chick
- August 2024: zoo vets just confirmed that one of the female elephants is expecting and (all being well) should give birth in around a year. Any prospective elephant calf is exciting news. But this is also the first time in over twenty years that a pregnancy has come about through natural methods, i.e. an elephant bull doing what elephant bulls do
(Here to eat fish, not win beauty pageants: a King Penguin chick; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- July 2024: busy times in the new white-nosed coati enclosure as four cubs explore life among the trees and other plants outside the nest (and also refuse to do their maths homework)
- July 2024: the venerable pair of Aldabra Giant Tortoises have moved to a lovely new home in the nearby Desert House. The eldest is some 120 years old, so was born at a time when people still talked to each across restaurant tables
- June 2024: you might spot a few ostrich chicks out and about. These are the first the zoo has managed to hatch in its long history. The North African subspecies is highly endangered
(A white-nosed coati cub; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- April 2024: the zoo has a history of success with its breeding programme for the endangered Northern Rockhopper penguin (the ones with the punk hairstyle). The fresh appearance of chicks means you can see how the parents raise their offspring in the Polarium complex
- April 2024: the average age of the herd of Burchell’s zebra just lowered thanks to the birth of two foals. They actually appeared in late March but are only now out and about in the open-air
- February 2024: the (off)spring season starts with four baby Vosseler’s blade-horned chameleons, an endangered species found only in a small area of mountains in Tanzania. Given habitat loss, reserve populations in captivity remain critical for the lizard’s long-term survival
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