Family holiday Normandy

Sneeuwpanter

Sneeuwpanter

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi,

We are planning a family holiday in Normandy. For a nice zoo day what zoo would you recommend ?

We are staying near Bayeux zoos near us are

1. Zoo Jurques
2. Cerza
3. Zoo Champrepus
4. Biotopica
 
CERZA is probably the most interesting of the 4, because of the numerous large and rare species that live in near-natural environments.
Biotropica is interesting too, with a large collection of small to medium species, including rarities.
The other zoos have more conventional collections, mainly with common popular species.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Hi,

We are planning a family holiday in Normandy. For a nice zoo day what zoo would you recommend ?

We are staying near Bayeux zoos near us are

1. Zoo Jurques
2. Cerza
3. Zoo Champrepus
4. Biotopica
Click to expand...

Of the 4 you mention, I would prioritize CERZA and Biotropica. CERZA is by far the largest zoo of them and while I thought it was underwhelming, especially from a landscaping point, it's enclosures are overall quite good and it has a good mammal collection. Biotropica is nice too, with a collection with few ABC's, but many zoo nerd species. The large tropical greenhouse is an indoor zoo, nothing of the likes of the Bush or even Gondwanaland, but pleasant nonetheless. The outdoor section is rather small, but has quite some interesting stuff too. It is easily the best zoo of the list to visit with bad weather.

I do second @FBBird , Parc de Cleres (which is just a bit further out than Biotropica) is something else and I would rank them higher than the 4 you mention. While all the others are regular zoos, Parc de Cleres has a great English garden with lots of free-roaming animals and a lovely aviary section. Birds are a rarity in many French zoos, but not here.
Except Biotropica all zoos are best visited in spring/summer time. They are designed for the summer holidays and are not places for a rainy day....

If you want more in depth reviews, I visited all zoos in 2020 and wrote up a report on them here:
Into the unknown: zoos of western France
 
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