I have currently visited
47 zoological collections in five countries.
While I have not visited nearly as many zoos as some people on here have, judging by the poll I've visited a pretty normal number of zoos for members of this forum as well as a pretty decent amount. I also believe that amongst these collections I have seen some of the top collections in Northwestern Europe as well as some smaller places and admittedly a few not not quite so great ones.
I decided to mention collections by their current name and to mention if the name has changed since my (last) visit. I will list
closed facilities in italics as well as add (closed) and list them at the bottom of each country's list. I also choose to list facilities with their names in the original language, but with some explanations/translations where I believe they are appropriate).
The facilities are not listed in any particular systematic order of time, preference or geography.
Some of these facilities I visited quite some time ago (in some cases like two decades ago) so I do not have vivid memories of all of these facilities, but of those I visited in, say, the last decade to decade and a half I do, and in most cases also have pictures, and in many cases very many pictures.
Belgium (16 facilities)
1) Zoo Planckendael (My first "local" zoo, the one I have definitely visited the most - probably well over 100 times by now - one that I still love and that I have had a membership for for over 20 years - i.e. about three quarters of my life.)
2) Zoo Antwerpen (My second "local" zoo and as it also belongs to the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp I've had also had a membership there for over 20 years.)
3) Olmense Zoo
4) SeaLife Blankenberge
5) Serpentarium Blankerberge (small herpetological collection, now also belonging to the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp.)
6) Pairi Daiza
7) Monde Sauvage
8) De Zonnegloed Sanctuary (While they have an official Flemish zoo license* and I am counting them in for that reason, amongst others, this place, as they themselves also indicate, isn't really a zoo, but more like a sanctuary/animal rescue that is open to the public, as they rescue and house animals and educate rather than breed. This was a new facility for me in 2018.)
9) Wildpark Domein van de Grotten van Han (Wildlife park on the domain of the caves of Han-sur-Lesse)
10) Bellewaerde (Theme park also housing an animal collection that while smaller than that of most zoos, does include some charismatic megafauna like elephants, lions and tigers.)
11) Familiepark Harry Malter (Relativaly small family recreational park including an animal collection. I visited as a school kid and have not been there since. At the time conditions were pretty poor for the animals and the attractions included elephant and camel rides, which I sadly participated in. I didn't hear much good about the park later on, although not very recently, but they have discontinued elephant rides at least and I hope they have improved. Last I heard they were working on that.)
12) Insectarium Lieteberg (Small insect museum on the edge of one Flanders' largest nature reserves, the Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen, that houses a small living insect collection and an outdoor facility with captive native butterfly species, which I have not seen elsewhere so far and found the most interesting part of this not very impressive facility)
13) Vlindertuin Knokke-Heist (Butterfly greenhouse in Knokke. Closed. There was a pop-up butterfly house in Knokke more recently but that one has also been closed.)
14) Vogelpark Zwin (Closed. It was a small and pretty outdated bird park with mostly native birds, next to a large nature reserve. The bird park has since closed and been demolished to be replaced by a new education center and the "Zwin Nature Park", a nature experience park with tidal and dune landscapes. The nature reserve still exist and has in fact been substantially expanded recently).
15) Aquatopia (Closed. The former location of Aquatopia within the Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel Antwerp, which is in fact located on the same square as Zoo Antwerpen, has now become a chocolate museum).
16) Museum Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen (Museum of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, our national natural history museum. The museum still exists, but to my knowledge and research there are no living specimen exhibits currently. It used to house some aquaria and a vivarium room with mostly invertebrates in their entomology and malacology halls, but these have been definitively closed as part of the museum's ongoing renovations. With this and the ending of a temporary exhibition on toxic animals including living specimens they don't currently display living specimens, although they likely do have some, somewhere.)
* Flanders is the Northern Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Full list of Flemish facilities with a zoo license:
Erkende dierentuinen
List for the southern, French-speaking region of Wallonia:
http://bienetreanimal.wallonie.be/files/documents/BEA-zoos-agrees.pdf
I could not find, nor know of any facilities currently falling under this legislation in the Brussels Capital Region and I believe the two that previously did (Brussels Aquarium and KBIN) have either closed completely (Brussels Aquarium, which I never did visit) or no longer display live specimens.
Netherlands (22 facilities)
17) GaiaZoo
18) Burgers' Zoo
19) Safaripark Beekse Bergen
20) Diergaarde Blijdorp - Rotterdam Zoo
21) Natura Artis Magistra - Artis Royal Zoo
22) Ouwehands Dierenpark
23) Dierenpark Amersfoort
24) Vogelpark Avifauna (Bird Park Avifauna.)
25) AquaZoo Leeuwarden (Called AquaZoo Friesland at the time of my visit.)
26) Zoo Parc Overloon
27) Apenheul (Primate park)
28) Dolfinarium Harderwijk
29) Dierenrijk
30) Zoo Veldhoven
31) Kasteelpark Born (Kasteelpark = Castle park.)
32) Mondo Verde (Not only a zoo but also botanical and landscape gardens and some fun fair attractions on park grounds. This was a new addition to my list in 2018.)
33) Het Arsenaal (Maritimine museum and attraction including some aquaria.)
34) Reptielenzoo Iguana (Reptile zoo in Vlissingen, the town where Het Arsenaal is also located.)
35) Zie-Zoo (The newest addition to my list and the only new collection I've so far visited this year.)
36) Kasteeltuinen Arcen (Back when it was owned by the now defunct Zodiac Zoos and housed more animals then it does today, but I believe this park, which is mostly botanical and landscaped gardens, still houses some animals including exotics, so it might still be counted as a zoo, although they don't currently have a zoo permit.)
37) Dierenpark Emmen (The old, now closed Emmen zoo that was replaced by Wildlands, which I have not yet visited.)
38) Dierenpark Wissel Epe (Closed after the bankruptcy of Zodiac Zoos.)
List of the biggest Dutch Zoos, belonging to the NVD (Nederlandse Vereniging van Dierentuinen, Dutch Association of Zoos).
Dierentuinen « NVD Dierentuinen
Facilities with a zoo permit in the Netherlands
Dierentuinvergunning - Wikipedia
Germany (6 facilities)
39) Zoo Duisburg
40) Kölner Zoo
41) Zoo Wuppertal
42) Allwetterzoo Münster
43) Weltvogelpark Walsrode (Named Vogelpark Walsrode at the time.)
44) ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen
France (2 facilities)
45) Nausicaä - Centre National de la Mer (Nausicaä National Sea Center. Large aquarium, although I visited long before the large expansion that opened last year.)
46) Zoo de Maubeuge
United Kingdom
47) Sea Life London Aquarium (Before it was purchased by the owners of the Sea Life chain. At the time it was just named the London Aquarium).
