Spain 2025 Trip

MGolka

MGolka

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Hello fellow ZooChatters from Spain!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Spain in late February of 2025 and I'm able to hit two zoos while here. Zoo Barcelona is going to happen, that is one for sure as we will fly into Barcelona. Their species list has some lifers for me as they aren't around the middle of United States where I am or not even on the North American continent.

It seems my wife and I will be sticking to the Mediterranean coastline and will fly out of Seville.

I have two zoos identified that would be of interest, but not sure which one I would choose off the top of my head, but I have a pretty good idea. So my question to the forum is this, would you recommend BioParc Velencia or BioParc Fuengirola? I have interests in both collections, but it also seems Valencia is strictly African species.
 
MGolka said:
Hello fellow ZooChatters from Spain!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Spain in late February of 2025 and I'm able to hit two zoos while here. Zoo Barcelona is going to happen, that is one for sure as we will fly into Barcelona. Their species list has some lifers for me as they aren't around the middle of United States where I am or not even on the North American continent.

It seems my wife and I will be sticking to the Mediterranean coastline and will fly out of Seville.

I have two zoos identified that would be of interest, but not sure which one I would choose off the top of my head, but I have a pretty good idea. So my question to the forum is this, would you recommend BioParc Velencia or BioParc Fuengirola? I have interests in both collections, but it also seems Valencia is strictly African species.
Click to expand...

One vote for Bioparc Valencia. You can combine it with the Oceanarium, which is amazing experience in itself. The Bioparc Valencia is easy accessible, while to Fuengirola you need to travel an hour from Malaga, for example.

Valencia has to offer species like Spotted-naked Otter, Red Duiker, Thomson's Gazelle, Black-backed Jackal (only at the Show), two spieces of Mangabey, Drill, Beluga etc.

If you are into rarities- Madrid's collections has some very interesting species, like Iberian lynx, Iberian Ibex, Mazama and rare Penguins.

If you do strictly the coastline, check Rio Safari Elche and Benidorm Tera Natura's spieces lists.

Wish you a great time in Europe :)
 
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I recommend a visit to both the Bioparcs, although I wouldn't say it's too viable to get out of your way from Sevilla and Barcelona to go to them, it can get tricky to travel those distances. BioValencia is strictly African species as you say, and if you want to go to Valencia and have time for two days visit the Oceanografic, one of the best aquariums in Europe as well as the best zoo in Spain in the opinion of many.
I agree with Twilighter when it comes to the Madrid collections, although as I said with the detours this applies to Madrid too.
 
Thanks for your input. We will have a car once we get to Malaga from a friend who lives in that area so the distance to Fuengirola doesn't necessarily bother us in that regard. Madrid may be off the table this trip, but Madrid and Barcelona were the original two. We plan on a future Spain trip in the warmer months, trying to stick to the warmer coastline in February.

Drill (and maybe Striped Hyena per ZooTierliste) are really the only two species at Valencia I haven't seen yet per the list of the zoo. With Drill being at Barcelona, Valencia may come down to just the experience.
 
twilighter said:
One vote for Bioparc Valencia. You can combine it with the Oceanarium, which is amazing experience in itself. The Bioparc Valencia is easy accessible, while to Fuengirola you need to travel an hour from Malaga, for example.

Valencia has to offer species like Spotted-naked Otter, Red Duiker, Thomson's Gazelle, Black-backed Jackal (only at the Show), two spieces of Mangabey, Drill, Beluga etc.

If you are into rarities- Madrid's collections has some very interesting species, like Iberian lynx, Iberian Ibex, Mazama and rare Penguins.

If you do strictly the coastline, check Rio Safari Elche and Benidorm Tera Natura's spieces lists.

Wish you a great time in Europe :)
Click to expand...
I think Faunia's Mazama died, but I'm not sure.
 
What animals do you plan to see at Barcelona? The zoo is getting worse and worse every day, losing many species.... At this moment the Reptile House is closed for renovation works (not sure if the crocodile part is still open)
 
aim_foliksta said:
What animals do you plan to see at Barcelona? The zoo is getting worse and worse every day, losing many species.... At this moment the Reptile House is closed for renovation works (not sure if the crocodile part is still open)
Click to expand...
Seeing they are from the United States I'm guessing less accesible species over there like european bison, a bunch of the primates, dorcas gazelles,.... should be the main targets, they have already mentioned the drills for example.
As far as I know the crocodile area is open again.
 
Well, as a Valencian, i would recommend you Bioparc Valencia just for the experience. You may see species you have already seen in a huge different way. As Sivatherium has said if you decide to come to Valencia, get to the Oceanografíc, is expensive compared to other zoos or aquariums in Europe, but not comparen to american Ones. Also if you can, go to Fuengirola, is other experience that is worth it. If you need something more of Valencia just ask :)
 
aim_foliksta said:
What animals do you plan to see at Barcelona? The zoo is getting worse and worse every day, losing many species.... At this moment the Reptile House is closed for renovation works (not sure if the crocodile part is still open)
Click to expand...
I'm mainly interested in mammals so these are the ones that stand out:
  • Mhorr Gazelle
  • Axis Deer
  • Banded Mongoose
  • Barbary Macaque
  • Black Faced Impala
  • Drill
  • Eurasian Otter
  • Wisent
  • European Brown Bear
  • European Mouflon
  • Iberian Wolf
  • Libyan Barbary Sheep
  • Northern Talapoin
  • Pileated Gibbon
  • Congo Buffalo
  • Sri Lankan Leopard
Among a couple others. I know some of these are common to Europe folks, but most of the list above is almost/if not completely absent from American zoos, and especially AZA zoos. Axis deer are around, but a lot on private farms or non-AZA for the most part.

The only zoo I've been to in the EU is London Zoo way back in 2006.

It sounds like we may do the Rock of Gibraltar once we get to that part of the country, so we will probably for sure get to see Barbary Macaque there if anything.
 
MGolka said:
We plan on a future Spain trip in the warmer months, trying to stick to the warmer coastline in February.
Click to expand...

You are, I suspect, severely underestimating a) just how hot central Spain gets in the summer and b) just how warm it already is by mid-February :D when I visited in February 2019 temperatures were hitting the mid-20s Celsius.
 
I went to Barcelona at the beginning of May, the otter habitat at that time was undergoing renovations and the barbary sheeps were in a habitat near the axis deer
although the map says that they are next to the vultures.
 
MGolka said:
Hello fellow ZooChatters from Spain!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Spain in late February of 2025 and I'm able to hit two zoos while here. Zoo Barcelona is going to happen, that is one for sure as we will fly into Barcelona. Their species list has some lifers for me as they aren't around the middle of United States where I am or not even on the North American continent.

It seems my wife and I will be sticking to the Mediterranean coastline and will fly out of Seville.

I have two zoos identified that would be of interest, but not sure which one I would choose off the top of my head, but I have a pretty good idea. So my question to the forum is this, would you recommend BioParc Velencia or BioParc Fuengirola? I have interests in both collections, but it also seems Valencia is strictly African species.
Click to expand...

Personally, I prefer Bioparc Fuengirola, but as others have said, Valencia also have Oceanografic so I think that would be a better choice for you.

If you are interested on species that are not present in US, maybe you´d like to consider a visit to any of the less known zoos in Andalucia that keeps Iberian Lynx. Selwo Estepona and Cordoba zoo are not too far from Malaga or Sevilla. Selwo is especially convenient if you plan to visit Gibraltar, since is on the way between both cities.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
You are, I suspect, severely underestimating a) just how hot central Spain gets in the summer and b) just how warm it already is by mid-February :D when I visited in February 2019 temperatures were hitting the mid-20s Celsius.
Click to expand...
I've looked at the temps for Madrid in the summer months and 80s to 90s F (30 C) don't scare me. :p My home state of Nebraska gets routinely to the upper 90s F in June, July, and August with high humidity!

I don't have a problem with temps 55 F and above, just when it starts to get cooler than that I'm not a fan. It gets to 10 F and below in Nebraska in the winter quite often so we get the massive temperature swings here.

In reality, we would probably do a future trip in September for central/northern Spain.
 
twilighter said:
If you are into rarities- Madrid's collections has some very interesting species, like Iberian lynx, Iberian Ibex, Mazama and rare Penguins.
Click to expand...
I've just read that the IUCN ranking of Iberian lynx has been downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable as it has a population of about 2,000. I find the classification system confusing as some species have much larger wild and captive populations and are classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered. Last year I contacted IUCN about the bushy-tailed opossum. It was discovered in 1912 and is known from under 25 specimens. I don't know why it is classified as 'Least Concern'. I would have thought it was 'Data Deficient'.
 
Dassie rat said:
I've just read that the IUCN ranking of Iberian lynx has been downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable as it has a population of about 2,000. I find the classification system confusing as some species have much larger wild and captive populations and are classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered.
Click to expand...
Because IUCN classifications are based on population trends and threats, not usually on a simple population number.

Dassie rat said:
Last year I contacted IUCN about the bushy-tailed opossum. It was discovered in 1912 and is known from under 25 specimens. I don't know why it is classified as 'Least Concern'. I would have thought it was 'Data Deficient'.
Click to expand...
The species is known from a relatively small number of specimens but those specimens have been collected from sites across a huge chunk of northern South America, and the low number is probably an artifact due to it being a nocturnal canopy-dweller. If it was known from only one or two sites then Data Deficient might be appropriate, but that isn't the case.
 
MGolka said:
Hello fellow ZooChatters from Spain!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Spain in late February of 2025 and I'm able to hit two zoos while here. Zoo Barcelona is going to happen, that is one for sure as we will fly into Barcelona. Their species list has some lifers for me as they aren't around the middle of United States where I am or not even on the North American continent.

It seems my wife and I will be sticking to the Mediterranean coastline and will fly out of Seville.

I have two zoos identified that would be of interest, but not sure which one I would choose off the top of my head, but I have a pretty good idea. So my question to the forum is this, would you recommend BioParc Velencia or BioParc Fuengirola? I have interests in both collections, but it also seems Valencia is strictly African species.
Click to expand...

Hi Mgolka, what are you interested in? species, exhibitions, birds demostrations, landscapes...?

Do you like any specific group of species (for example birds of prey, reptilians...)

If you are looking for endemic iberian species for example, the best option is Zoo Botanico de Jerez
 
MGolka said:
Hello fellow ZooChatters from Spain!

I am in the process of planning a trip to Spain in late February of 2025 and I'm able to hit two zoos while here. Zoo Barcelona is going to happen, that is one for sure as we will fly into Barcelona. Their species list has some lifers for me as they aren't around the middle of United States where I am or not even on the North American continent.

It seems my wife and I will be sticking to the Mediterranean coastline and will fly out of Seville.

I have two zoos identified that would be of interest, but not sure which one I would choose off the top of my head, but I have a pretty good idea. So my question to the forum is this, would you recommend BioParc Velencia or BioParc Fuengirola? I have interests in both collections, but it also seems Valencia is strictly African species.
Click to expand...
I've been to Spain a lot of time!
It's a shame I've only got black once after the pandemic, but I want to retake my old lifestyle and go more time there.
A shame you're not going to Madrid. They have two zoos and an aquarium I think any zoochater would enjoy.
As for the bioparcs, I think both are great but if I had to pick one, it would be Valencia, do to It being neat Oceanografic, but Fuengirola is great and its new exhibit looks promising.
Enjoy your trip!:)
 
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