CGSwans flies north for the winter

Giant Panda said:
Oh, go on then...

1. Zurich Zoo
2. Prague Zoo
3. Diergaarde Blijdorp
4. Berlin Zoo
5. Tiergarten Schönbrunn
6. Leipzig Zoo
7. Chester Zoo
8. Tierpark Berlin
9. Tiergarten Nuremberg
10. Plzen Zoo

My own feeling is that Prague and Rotterdam pull off "consistent, comprehensive, but never truly outstanding*" better than Chester. That said, I love the place and it's always refreshing to hear an outside perspective. So thank you @CGSwans; this thread has been a joy to read.

*In my opinion ;)
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That's quite a surprising level of agreement, insofar as I have all of those in the top 15. Have you been to any of Burgers, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Beauval? And if so, would any get into your 11-15 category?
 
CGSwans said:
That's quite a surprising level of agreement, insofar as I have all of those in the top 15. Have you been to any of Burgers, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Beauval? And if so, would any get into your 11-15 category?
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All except Beauval, which I think is the only European zoo that still has a chance of cracking my top 10. The other four all slot somewhere into the 11-20 category, which I didn't include because it's a tad more eccentric.

11. Erlebnis Zoo Hannover*
12. Cologne Zoo
13. Burgers’ Zoo
14. Tierpark Hellabrunn
15. Planckendael Zoo
16. Frankfurt Zoo

Briefly, Cologne is another very solid zoo, but never quite blows me away; I find Burgers' overrated for the same reason you loved it, the skimpy outdoor collection; Hellabrunn could easily make my top 10 if I were thinking of the older, wooded enclosures, but I don't like a lot of the recent developments; and Frankfurt is lovely, just too small to compete. Which is all nit-picking, of course, because these are four brilliant zoos.

*Ducks for cover.

EDIT: Yes, that is a pretty striking level of agreement, actually.
 
I thought I’d also list my personal top fifteen European zoos; I have intentionally restricted my list to mainland Europe and omitted any UK collections although London, Whipsnade and Chester all deserve to feature in there somewhere.

This is certainly not intended to be an objective list of the best European zoos; rather a very subjective list of my personal favourites

1. Berlin Zoo
2. Berlin Tierpark
3. Vienna (Schonbrunn)
4. Plzen
5. Stuttgart (Wilhelma)
6. Frankfurt
7. Wroclaw
8. Cologne
9. Prague
10. Antwerp
11. Nuremberg
12. Rotterdam (Blijdorp)
13. Munich (Hellabrunn)
14. Amsterdam (Artis)
15. Arnhem

I share “Sooty’s” fondness for Walsrode but I have deliberately ignored specialist collections such as bird gardens and only included general zoos.
 
Tim May said:
I thought I’d also list my personal top fifteen European zoos; I have intentionally restricted my list to mainland Europe and omitted any UK collections although London, Whipsnade and Chester all deserve to feature in there somewhere.

This is certainly not intended to be an objective list of the best European zoos; rather a very subjective list of my personal favourites

1. Berlin Zoo
2. Berlin Tierpark
3. Vienna (Schonbrunn)
4. Plzen
5. Stuttgart (Wilhelma)
6. Frankfurt
7. Wroclaw
8. Cologne
9. Prague
10. Antwerp
11. Nuremberg
12. Rotterdam (Blijdorp)
13. Munich (Hellabrunn)
14. Amsterdam (Artis)
15. Arnhem

I share “Sooty’s” fondness for Walsrode but I have deliberately ignored specialist collections such as bird gardens and only included general zoos.
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So if you were to include UK collections and Chester were to feature, as you suggest, that gives us an 80% agreement rate on our top fifteens, albeit in quite different order. Not bad!
 
I’m also pleased to see a couple of mentions of Cologne, which for a smaller zoo I enjoyed greatly.
 
CGSwans said:
So if you were to include UK collections and Chester were to feature, as you suggest, that gives us an 80% agreement rate on our top fifteens, albeit in quite different order. Not bad!
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The big difference is that I don't include Zurich in my list; I realise that I am in the minority here but, of the two major Swiss zoos, I much prefer Basle.
 
Tim May said:
5. Stuttgart (Wilhelma)
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This is one I never understand! Tim and I have very similar tastes (in zoos - and also in music!) but his appreciation of Wilhelma is something I don’t get. I realise I’m in the minority (certainly amongst those who like traditional European zoos). What am I missing?
 
CGSwans said:
The one here that surprises me the most is Beauval. Of the 15 I've visited (you're correct: Zlin is the omission), it has a very different character to most.
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I think this might be circumstantial: whenever I’ve visited, I’ve been on holiday, and thus very relaxed. It’s in one of my favourite parts, of possibly my favourite country (relative poverty of its zoos notwithstanding). I’ve only ever been I need July or August, when the weather has been perfect. And it does have a huge collection, mostly displayed really well. And a stunn8ng bird show into the bargain!
 
sooty mangabey said:
This is one I never understand! Tim and I have very similar tastes (in zoos - and also in music!) but his appreciation of Wilhelma is something I don’t get. I realise I’m in the minority (certainly amongst those who like traditional European zoos). What am I missing?
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I like Wilhelma's combination of zoo and botanic garden; the greenhouses and horticultural displays are superb and, at the right time of year, the outdoor tropical waterlily pond is stunning.

To be honest, though, part of my love of Stuttgart is for nostalgic reasons; I have fond memories of the days when the collection included an elephant seal (probably the biggest I've ever seen), proboscis monkeys, mountain tapirs and shoebills.
 
sooty mangabey said:
This is one I never understand! Tim and I have very similar tastes (in zoos - and also in music!) but his appreciation of Wilhelma is something I don’t get. I realise I’m in the minority (certainly amongst those who like traditional European zoos). What am I missing?
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Stuttgart has gone up a little in my estimation, in retrospect. Bear in mind that the six zoos that preceded it in my itinerary were Walsrode, Berlin Zoo, Tierpark, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Munich, five of which made my cut, with the sixth missing out only due to eligibility. So it wasn't well placed for comparative purposes. It'd most likely slot in somewhere between 18 and 22.
 
Tim May said:
I like Wilhelma's combination of zoo and botanic garden; the greenhouses and horticultural displays are superb and, at the right time of year, the outdoor tropical waterlily pond is stunning.
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This hits the nail on the head for me, in terms of why I myself hold such a fondness for Wilhelma :)
 
sooty mangabey said:
This is one I never understand! Tim and I have very similar tastes (in zoos - and also in music!) but his appreciation of Wilhelma is something I don’t get. I realise I’m in the minority (certainly amongst those who like traditional European zoos). What am I missing?
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Absolutely agree (and I thought I was the only one!). I find Wilhelma a jarring catalogue of bad 20th century design movements, from the Hagenbeckian mock-rock bear enclosures to the modernist primate accommodation and brutalist pachyderm house, with a shabby British wildlife park vibe to gracelessly top it off (the top of the zoo is anything but beautiful). It doesn't even crack my top 50.
 
CGSwans said:
Cologne's one of the more comprehensive collections I visited. Not sure I would call it 'small' by any metric.
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Well, I visited this zoo in the same week as Berlin Zoo and Berlin Tierpark. In comparison, it certainly felt pretty small!
 
Giant Panda said:
Absolutely agree (and I thought I was the only one!). I find Wilhelma a jarring catalogue of bad 20th century design movements, from the Hagenbeckian mock-rock bear enclosures to the modernist primate accommodation and brutalist pachyderm house, with a shabby British wildlife park vibe to gracelessly top it off (the top of the zoo is anything but beautiful). It doesn't even crack my top 50.
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The saving grace being the 19th century eccentric's garden that constitutes the lower half of the zoo. I'm not sure 'shabby British wildlife park' quite captures the upper half, though with the exception of one of the bear exhibits and the great ape complex that it's at best adequate (and in some cases not even that). The orangutan building was empty when I visited, which I think is a very good thing indeed.
 
beccasunbear said:
Well, I visited this zoo in the same week as Berlin Zoo and Berlin Tierpark. In comparison, it certainly felt pretty small!
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Well the Berlin Tierpark is like the total perspective vortex of zoos. It's guaranteed to make anyone or any thing that steps inside feel small and obscure.
 
Giant Panda said:
Absolutely agree (and I thought I was the only one!). I find Wilhelma a jarring catalogue of bad 20th century design movements, from the Hagenbeckian mock-rock bear enclosures to the modernist primate accommodation and brutalist pachyderm house, with a shabby British wildlife park vibe to gracelessly top it off (the top of the zoo is anything but beautiful). It doesn't even crack my top 50.
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I haven't been so I don't want my 'like' to interpreted as agreement, but I liked this a lot. Wilhelma is on my most wanted, I'm hoping it'll be a guilty pleasure but I'm braced for anything.

It's quite gratifying to see how much shared opinion there is between ZooChatters of ostensibly very different tastes.
 
CGSwans said:
Well the Berlin Tierpark is like the total perspective vortex of zoos. It's guaranteed to make anyone or any thing that steps inside feel small and obscure.
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Well, *almost* anyone. Oh, is that a piece of fairy cake...?
 
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