Weekend Doubles

Welsh Zootographer

Welsh Zootographer

Well-Known Member
I cannot do longer trips than a weekend (Friday lunchtime to Sunday evening or *very* early Monday morning) without the hassle and long pre-planning of hospital beforehand as I absolutely need treatment every MWF forever, so am looking for pairs of zoos that can be done on a weekend trip. I'm sure it may be of interest to others planning a weekend break too.

Here are some I have come up with:

To start with in the British Isles...

Firstly one I wouldn't do myself because I live between them and can get to them any time, Chester and Welsh Mountain zoos.

Belfast and Dublin zoos.

Bristol zoo and Noah's Ark.

Edinburgh zoo and Deep Sea World aquarium.
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London and Whipsnade Zoos.

Then moving across the Channel...

Antwerp zoo and Plankendaal.

Berlin zoo and Berlin Tierpark.

Rotterdam Zoo and Amsterdam Zoo.

Can anyone suggest more pairs? Paris is easy to get to on Eurostar, is there anywhere that could be matched with Paris zoo?
 
I'd do Bristol and Wild Place rather than Noah's Ark, but that's a personal preference.

I spent a lot of time a while back working out where there were clusters of zoos to do in short one or two night breaks and there are a number of these. Closeness is also subjective - viewpoints will vary!

Howletts and Port Lympne are within reach of Wingham and Wildwood. I also did the Big Cat Sanctuary en route over that way, timing it to coincide with one of their open days.

Paignton and Shaldon are very close. Shaldon is tiny but lovely. You can also do Buckfastleigh Otters and Butterflies nearby, and I did Exmoor on the way down (Combe Martin is near to Exmoor).

CWP and Crocodiles of the World are very close, though the latter is not big.

I frequently do Linton, Shepreth and Hamerton over two days, with one day for the first two and a day for Hamerton.

Ventura Wildlife Park is not one I have been to, but is not far from Paradise Wildlife Park.

Dudley, Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Centre and Wild Zoological Park are pretty close and also not too distant from West Midland Safari Park.

They are not that close, but I did Woodside Wildlife Park en route to YWP.

Whipsnade is not too far from Woburn.

The following are clusters I have not yet done:
There is a group around Banham, including Thrigby Hall and Africa Alive.

Then in south west Wales there is Manor Wildlife Park and Folly Farm.

In Cumbria there's South Lakes, Lakeland Wildlife Oasis and Lake District Wildlife Park all spread out.

I have hopes one summer to do Edinburgh, Five Sisters, Blair Drummond, and the places around there, with a spike up to HWP.
 
BeakerUK said:
I'd do Bristol and Wild Place rather than Noah's Ark, but that's a personal preference.
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Ah, Wild Place, I think that was what I was thinking about but was in south Wales the last couple of days and picked up a brochure to Noah's Ark and didn't realise it was a third location. :)

Thanks for the other suggestions.

(One requirement I forgot in my original post was to be reasonably accessible by public transport.)
 
Welsh Zootographer said:
Paris is easy to get to on Eurostar, is there anywhere that could be matched with Paris zoo?
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There are two zoos in Paris:-
  • Jardin des Plantes Menagerie
  • Paris Zoological Park (Vincennes)
The zoology museums:-
  • Grande galerie de l'évolution
  • Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée
are well worh seeing too and it would be possible to see both museums and the menagerie on the same day
 
Tim May said:
There are two zoos in Paris:-
  • Jardin des Plantes Menagerie
  • Paris Zoological Park (Vincennes)
The zoology museums:-
  • Grande galerie de l'évolution
  • Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée
are well worh seeing too and it would be possible to see both museums and the menagerie on the same day
Click to expand...
Thank you, I was only aware of the Vincennes zoo.
 
A nice three zoo, 2 day trip would be Paignton on Saturday, Living coasts on Sunday morning, followed by Shaldon in the afternoon. All three are easily reachable by public transport (though Shaldon isn't exactly wheelchair friendly but you do get a discount if you're disabled to compensate!) and are all decent collections.

Also in the West Country you can do Newquay zoo and Newquay aquarium on Saturday and then head to Paradise Park (Hayle) on the Sunday. Again, not difficult by public transport. :)
 
Burgers’ Zoo (Arnhem) and Ouwehands Dierenpark (Rhenen) can be done very easily in this timeframe, and I would easily recommend both. I can’t wait to go back, in fact. Burgers’ is probably my favourite zoo so far. We flew from Liverpool to Amsterdam on the Sunday afternoon, visited Burgers’ Zoo Monday, visited Ouwehands Dierenpark Tuesday and flew back from Amsterdam to Liverpool on Tuesday evening. We did the lot on buses and trains.
 
Brum said:
All well and good if you're specifically looking for sun bears! :p I personally would rather do Artis (Amsterdam) and Rotterdam if flying in to Amsterdam as they are the easier collections to reach.
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Although I’m pretty sure there’s something for everyone at Burgers’, at least! Honestly such an epic zoo!
 
Brum said:
I personally would rather do Artis (Amsterdam) and Rotterdam if flying in to Amsterdam as they are the easier collections to reach.
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These days it may be easier to train than fly. Eurostar have now introduced a service to Amsterdam that calls at Rotterdam on the way. :)
 
Welsh Zootographer said:
These days it may be easier to train than fly. Eurostar have now introduced a service to Amsterdam that calls at Rotterdam on the way. :)
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I always wonder about trains, but I often just don’t have the patience! If I can get to where I need to be any quicker, I’ll always take that option. I’m not a big fan of travelling.
 
Sorry to hear of your health troubles. The answer comes down largely to how far you’re willing to travel. You could fly into Prague, for instance, on Friday evening, spend the day there and then get a train to Vienna that evening, flying home from there the next night. You’ll see two truly top tier zoos, but the question is whether 3-4 hours on a train is too long.
 
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