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 location 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 pair of Giant Pandas.
See the animal highlights article for an overview of the best enclosures and beasties to see.
If you like animals, consider also visiting the Haus des Meeres: a huge aquarium and vivarium located in an old WWII flak tower in central Vienna.
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.
Selected zoo news
I keep this updated with those pieces of zoo news of most interest to international visitors…
(“So you’re saying I need to be back by 10pm and no alcohol?”; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- June 2026: the zoo is currently celebrating the first breeding success with an old Viennese breed of rabbit. The Blaue Wiener is named for the blue colour of its fur
- June 2026: four young white-nosed coatis actually appeared in March but have only just started to explore their outer enclosure with their parents’ permission
- June 2026: it’s that time of year when the northern rockhopper penguin chicks (ten of them this year) take their first plunges into water
(Enjoying a little hors d’oeuvres soon after arrival in April 2026; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- April 2026: a slight change of scene for a 30-year-old male Morelet’s crocodile. Confiscated in Germany by the authorities after a life in an allotment garden, it’s now enjoying a new permanent home with a female of the species in the zoo’s aquarium & terrarium facility
- April 2026: another panda reaches Schönbrunn, this time of the red variety. A young female panda from Italy’s Parco Faunistico La Torbiera has joined male colleagues. Of course, we hope they get on particularly well, given the species is endangered
- January 2026: news reaches us of a rather special breeding success. A young Amur leopard was born in early November and has now begun to explore its enclosure. Only around 120 survive in the wild
(I feel like the one in the middle is judging us. And it’s not going well, frankly; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- December 2025: a holiday gift of the ruminant variety arrived twice this month with the birth on the 5th and 16th of young antelopes, specifically the tiny Kirk’s dik-dik
- October 2025: we can finally spot some fluffy newcomers in their outdoor enclosure. The zoo’s pair of cheetahs produced three offspring in September: an important contribution to the conservation of these endangered mammals
- October 2025: onagers (the subspecies of the Asian wild ass, not the Roman catapualt of the same name) have arrived for the first time ever. Two mares joined as part of a European breeing programme with a stallion and another mare to follow in November
(The endangered European hamster out in a park; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- August 2025: the first elephant calf to be conceived naturally at the zoo in 20 years was born on August 20th. Mother and son are being kept out of the limelight for now, but you might be lucky and catch a glimpse from a distance
- August 2025: big mammals have long disappeared from the zoo’s small and historical former bear enclosure, but the latter has a fresh lease of life housing endangered local species. Spot the European hamster (famously also resident in the Zentralfriedhof cemetery) and the European roller
- July 2025: another birth to celebrate, this time of a young sea lion. The pup is initially enjoying a bit of quality time with its mother away from the rest of the group, so neither has to listen to Auntie Mildred’s unwanted advice on when best to start the kid on fish
(You wait patiently for a lynx kitten then three come along at once; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- July 2025: pop around to the flamingo enclosure to discover that the birds are not born pink. The various chicks hatched this year are distinctly grey, In fact, they only turn pink after around three years, and then only with the right food
- 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
(Two juvenile prairie dogs reenacting their favourite scene from the 1922 movie Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; press photo © Daniel Zupanc)
- July 2025: although born in May, the six juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs have only just started appearing regularly aboveground
- 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) moved into the newly renovated panda enclosure in MAy 2025; 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
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