Europe's Top 100 Zoos and Aquariums?

[Penshet]

I mentioned Karlsruhe - visited in 2017. While it's definitely not a top 10 zoo for most people, I think it's better than Duisburg at least.

 

[Brum]

I mentioned Karlsruhe - visited in 2017. While it's definitely not a top 10 zoo for most people, I think it's better than Duisburg at least.

I overlooked Karlsruhe initially but did make a point that Duisburg was probably only a worthy inclusion whilst Baby was still around.

 

[Philipine eagle]

I mentioned Karlsruhe - visited in 2017. While it's definitely not a top 10 zoo for most people, I think it's better than Duisburg at least.

I don't think so. And not only because of the dolphin, but Duisburg has a world class spectacled bear enclosure, an interesting Australian and primate collection, some other good enclosures and in general a far better collection.

Karlsruhe, although a good zoo, has nothing spectacular imo (Persian goitered gazelle as exception). To be honest, I haven't seen the 2015 Exotenhaus.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

, an interesting Australian and primate collection,

The latter held in some of the worst exhibits in a major European zoo, however!

 

[Brum]

And now I think I've settled on my final thirteen...

Germany
Karlsruhe
Heidelberg
Dresden
Dortmund

UK
Slimbridge
Paignton
Woburn
Hamerton

France
CERZA

The Neterlands
Beekse Bergen

Czechia
Jihlava

Switzerland
Aquatis Lausanne

 

[Arek]

It’s my list of 100 zoos (I didn't see all of them personally). Aquariums are in italics.

Poland

Wrocław - Ogród Zoologiczny

Warszawa - Ogród Zoologiczny

Opole - Ogród Zoologiczny

Czechia

Praha - Zoologická zahrada

Dvůr Kralove nad Labem - Safari Zoo

Plzeň - Zoologická a Botanická Zahrada

Hluboká nad Vltavou - Jihočeská Zoologická Zahrada

Ostrava - Zoologická Zahrada

Zlín-Lešná - Zoo a Zámek

Jihlava - Zoologická Zahrada

Hungary

Budapest - Állat- és Növénykert

Nyiregyhaza - Állatpark-Sóstó Zoo

Austria

Wien - Tiergarten Schönbrunn

Wien - Haus des Meeres-Aqua Terra Zoo

Innsbruck - Alpenzoo

Salzburg - Tiergarten Hellbrunn

Switzerland

Basel - Zoologischer Garten

Zürich - Zoologischer Garten

Bern - Tierpark Dählhölzli

Germany

Berlin-Friedrichsfelde - Tierpark

Berlin - Zoologischer Garten

Rostock - Zoologischer Garten

Stralsund - Ozeaneum

Hamburg - Carl Hagenbecks Tierpark

Hannover - Erlebnis Zoo

Walsrode – Weltvogelpark

Osnabrück - Zoologischer Garten

Springe - Wisentgehege

Halle - Zoologischer Garten

Leipzig - Zoologischer Garten

Dresden - Zoologischer Garten

Erfurt - Thüringer Zoopark

Frankfurt am Main - Zoologischer Garten

Duisburg - Zoologischer Garten

Köln - Zoologischer Garten und Aquarium

Wuppertal - Zoologischer Garten

Krefeld - Zoologischer Garten

Gelsenkirchen - Zoom Erlebniswelt

Düsseldorf - Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum

Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt - Wilhelma Zoologisch-botanischen Garten

Heidelberg - Tiergarten

Karlsruhe - Zoologischer Stadtgarten

München - Tierpark Hellabrunn

Nürnberg - Tiergarten

Augsburg - Zoologischer Garten

Denmark

København-Frederiksberg - Zoologisk Have

København-Kastrup - Dēn Blå Planet

Sweden

Kolmården - Djurpark

Hunnebostrand - Nordens Ark

Finland

Helsinki - Korkeasaari

Netherlands

Amsterdam - Artis Zoo

Rotterdam - Koninklijke Diergaarde Blijdorp

Amersfoort - Dierenpark

Rhenen - Ouwehands Dierenpark

Alphen aan den Rijn - Vogelpark Avifauna

Beekse Bergen - Safaripark

Kerkrade - GaiaPark

Arnhem - Koninklijke Burgers’ Zoo

Apeldoorn - Apenheul

Belgium

Antwerpen - Dierentuin

Mechelen-Muizen - Dierenpark Planckendael

Cambron-Casteau - Pairi Daiza

United Kingdom

London - ZSL Zoological Gardens

Whipsnade - ZSL Zoological Gardens

Hamerton - Zoological Park

Colchester - Zoological Gardens

Burford - Cotswold Wild Life Park and Gardens

Bristol-Clifton - Zoological Gardens

Slimbridge - Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre

Colden Common - Marwell Zoological Park

Paignton - Zoo Environmental Park

Twycross - Zoo Park

Chester - Zoological Gardens

Hull - The Deep

Edinburgh - Scottish National Zoological Park

Kingussie - Highland Wildlife Park

Belfast - Zoological Gardens

Les Augres Manor - Jersey Zoological Park

Ireland

Dublin - Zoological Gardens

France

Mulhouse - Parc Zoologique et Botanique

Amneville - Parc Zoologique

Besançon - Citadelle

Paris-Vincennes - Parc Zoologique

Paris - Menagerie du Jardin des Plantes

Saint Aignan - ZooParc de Beauval

Boulogne sur Mer - Nausicaá Centre National de la Mer

Hermival les Vaux - Cerza-Parc Zoologique Lisieux

Brest - Oceanopolis

Les Maties - Zoo de La Palmyre

Spain

Cabárceno - Parque de la Naturaleza

Valencia - L’Oceanografic

Valencia - Bioparc

Puerto de la Cruz - Loro Parque

Portugal

Lisboa - Oceanario

Italy

Bussolengo-Pastrengo - Parco Natura Viva

Genova - Acquario

Greece

Spata - Attiko Zoologiko Parko

Latvia

Riga - Nacionalais Zoologiskais Darzs

Estonia

Tallinn - Loomaaed

Russia

Moskwa - Zoołogiczeskij Park


It is interesting that there are many more zoos in northern Europe and they are generally much better than in the south, but in aquariums southern Europe is at the forefront.

And I have crazy idea to replace one of the aquariums by chain of Sea Life. There are 30 Sea Life Centres in whole Europe. They all together have more water in their tanks than any other aquarium and have more visitors than any zoo.

 

[temp]

Aquatis Lausanne, which is Europe's largest freshwater aquarium.

Not really directly related to the subject of this thread, but it's perhaps worth noting that there's a handful of ways of judging "largest aquarium" and in this case it appears to be based on area. In two other frequently used measures, number of tanks and total water volume, Aquarium River of Zaragoza is the largest freshwater in Europe. Size isn't everything, but I've only visited Zaragoza (Lausanne soon, I hope) and consequently can't say which is better.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Size isn't everything, but I've only visited Zaragoza (Lausanne soon, I hope) and consequently can't say which is better.

And (although not a dedicated aquarium) I reckon the aquarium complex at Alpenzoo has a damn good chance of being the best freshwater aquarium in a European zoo hands-down

 

[snowleopard]

There are now 7 lists on this thread, which is a useful number to reveal a certain level of consistency with the choices being presented. I would encourage others to take a stab of coming up with their own possibilities for a Top 100 as it's a fun thing to do and 'the more the merrier'.

A trio of things that I've been pondering:

1- I think that for a travel writer, a book about Europe's Best Zoos would need to have a certain degree of geographical representation. That would open the door for lesser-known zoos to make the cut based on the fact that they are the #1 major zoo in a particular nation. Examples of this would be:

Croatia - Zagreb Zoo
Estonia - Tallinn Zoo
Finland - Helsinki Zoo
Greece - Attica Zoo
Latvia - Riga Zoo
Norway - Kristiansand Zoo
Slovakia – Either Bojnice Zoo or Bratislava Zoo

All 8 of those zoos, in 7 different nations, have popped up at least once each on this thread, but whether any of those establishments are truly amidst the very best zoos in Europe is a question that I'm ill-suited to answer as I've yet to visit them. In terms of geographical representation they'd be strong contenders, but in all honesty the 20th best German zoo could perhaps be a stronger candidate than any of them. I think that a book written for zoo nerds might not contain a single one of those 8 zoos, or only have one or two selections at most. If someone wants to write about the absolute best, then geographical positioning needs to be tossed out the window. If there are 25 zoos from Germany and 0 from Latvia then that's just how things roll.

For instance, in the list provided by @sooty mangabey , he had 64% of his choices from only 4 countries! Germany, France, England and Czechia accounted for 47 out of the 73 zoos listed. He didn't have space for any zoo from Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Norway or Slovakia.

2- What could be viewed as an automatic choice might not in fact deserve to make the cut. Not everyone would approve of Madrid (some outdated enclosures), Barcelona (currently in-flux) or Moscow (hardly visited) to make a Top 100 list. 'Name recognition' isn't enough for zoo nerds.

3- I have a gut feeling that the Scandinavian countries are being under-valued due to lack of visits from zoo enthusiasts. I could be way off-base, but Denmark has Copenhagen Zoo, Blue Planet Aquarium, Aalborg, Odense, Givskud and Randers. Sweden has Kolmarden, Parken, Nordens Ark and Boras...all interesting zoos. I'm not sure how many would make a Top 100 list, but those two nations have impressive animal welfare laws and from those that have visited it would appear that both Sweden and Denmark have a handful of top-class zoos.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

1- I think that for a travel writer, a book about Europe's Best Zoos would need to have a certain degree of geographical representation. That would open the door for lesser-known zoos to make the cut based on the fact that they are the #1 major zoo in a particular nation.

Of course, "Best" isn't the same as "Most Geographically Representative" as you note further into your post I doubt you made certain to include a zoo from each of the 50 states in your recent book, in any case.

3- I have a gut feeling that the Scandinavian countries are being under-valued due to lack of visits from zoo enthusiasts.

You could well be correct here - although the extent to which this affects people's lists (other than in cases like mine and sooty's where we deliberately left space in the final total for gaps in our experience rather than padding things up to 100) is cloudier.

 

[temp]

the Scandinavian countries

There certainly are some zoos in that region that are well worth a visit and nobody mentioned Skandinavisk Dyrepark (some 15 minutes in car from Ree Park, already mentioned earlier) or Orsa Rovdjurspark (close to... nowhere). Both have a limited scope, but what they do, they do very well. However, the Scandinavian countries just don't match Germany, the Netherlands or Czechia... and while those three have zoos I'd place in the top-25 of the world, IMO none in Scandinavia quite make it there.

And (although not a dedicated aquarium) I reckon the aquarium complex at Alpenzoo has a damn good chance of being the best freshwater aquarium in a European zoo hands-down

Sure, absolutely excellent. And not far behind AQUA Silkeborg when it comes to this type* of aquariums

*(for the uninitiated both Alpenzoo and AQUA only feature local freshwater species in their aquariums, which allow them to use "tanks" that are open-topped and not protected from the weather. A direct comparison to aquariums with a wider geographic scope is potentially misleading)

 

[Hvedekorn]

You could probably argue that bit by bit, many of the Scandinavian zoos are easily as good as their German/Dutch counterparts. But what they lack is size. Almost all Scandinavian zoos/aquaria have small collections - Den Blå Planet and maybe Bergen Aquarium are the only places I can think of that have more than 150 on-show species. Many of them are also pretty tiny in area - Copenhagen which is usually considered Denmark's "main" zoo is a mere 11 hectares. The zoos that have huge surface areas (Ree Park, Givskud Zoo, Borås Djurpark, Kolmården etc.) have tiny collections with a one-track focus on big mammals. Scandinavia seems to lack a "traditional" top tier zoo that is big and has a big/varied collection and has a high exhibitry standard.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

*(for the uninitiated both Alpenzoo and AQUA only feature local freshwater species in their aquariums, which allow them to use "tanks" that are open-topped and not protected from the weather. A direct comparison to aquariums with a wider geographic scope is potentially misleading)

Although Alpenzoo also has indoor aquariums - don't know anything about AQUA so cannot comment there although I doubt it has a complete set of native fish, as does Alpenzoo.

Reading up on AQUA it sounds like precisely my kind of collection - another one to add to my list for an eventual Danish trip, perhaps?

 

[temp]

Alpenzoo also has indoor aquariums
...
although I doubt it has a complete set of native fish, as does Alpenzoo

Both have indoor tanks and both have large open-topped "tanks".

Well, unlike Austria, Denmark isn't landlocked, so not complete, which would require saltwater fish. If limited to freshwater, neither Alpenzoo nor AQUA has a complete set of the native freshwater fish species in the respective countries (e.g., Coregonus). Both are high, with AQUA much closer to a complete set than Alpenzoo, but that comparison is not really fair because Austria has more freshwater fish species than Denmark and this includes some rather problematic species pairs (e.g. Eudontomyzon mariae/vladykovi, Romanogobio kesslerii/uranoscopus).

 

[TeaLovingDave]

If limited to freshwater, neither Alpenzoo nor AQUA has a complete set of the native freshwater fish species in the respective countries (e.g., Coregonus)

I don't believe Coregonus occurs in the Austrian Alps - and yes, you're correct that if one includes the entirety of Austria, Alpenzoo is far from having a full set of freshwater fish; I should have specified that I meant species native to the Austrian Alps

On a complete sidenote, provoked by the species you cited in your last sentence, it is FAR too long since I last saw a lamprey..... there used to be a reliable spot for finding them near me, but they have been completely extirpated.

 

[snowleopard]

Looking at the list of Polish zoos that several people have submitted, it shows Wroclaw, Warsaw, Opole and Poznan Nowe as possible candidates for a 'best' European list. Then there is Lodz Zoo, which I know very little about, but the establishment is spending 80 million Euros on the enormous 'Orientarium' complex. I wonder if that exhibit area will be a game-changer for Lodz in much the same way as the 'Afrykarium' was for Wroclaw. Thoughts?

 

[sooty mangabey]

Looking at the list of Polish zoos that several people have submitted, it shows Wroclaw, Warsaw, Opole and Poznan Nowe as possible candidates for a 'best' European list. Then there is Lodz Zoo, which I know very little about, but the establishment is spending 80 million Euros on the enormous 'Orientarium' complex. I wonder if that exhibit area will be a game-changer for Lodz in much the same way as the 'Afrykarium' was for Wroclaw. Thoughts?

I think that it will be a ‘game changer’, but Łódź doesn’t really have the same potential, as a city or as a zoo, as Wroclaw did (and does). Wroclaw was, even without the Afrykarium, a great - if flawed - zoo. Łódź, on the other hand, was sitting firmly in the relegation zone of Polish zoos.

 

[Arek]

Sooty is right. Łódź does looking at the success of Wrocław Zoo. But probably it will be only
significant increase in the number of visitors (Łódź is third biggest city in Poland and is close to Warsaw). But zoo director is Mr. Nobody in European zoo world and there is lack of experienced keepers . I know that they haven't started applying for new animals yet. So, elephants – rather young males only, orangutans – probably hybrids, rarities – rather no. Typical sharks and other fishes, popular birds and reptiles. Only hope that Mr. Ratajszczak is trying to help them a little, but he can't do everything for them.

 

[Arek]

Btw. Poznań Zoo isn’t so good as five years ago. Under new management goes straight to relegation zone (using Sooty’s term).

 

[sooty mangabey]

Btw. Poznań Zoo isn’t so good as five years ago. Under new management goes straight to relegation zone (using Sooty’s term).

Although I shy away from ranking zoos, would it be fair to say that, to use football terminology, in Poland..

• Wroclaw are the clear champions.
• Warsaw and Opole are competing for a place in the Champions League.
• Gdansk and Poznan are bumbling around in mid-table.
• Katowice, Krakow, Plock and Lodz - without new developments - are flirting with relegation.