Ideas about approaching a Texas zoo trip?

Lucas Lang

Lucas Lang

Well-Known Member
Though I just post a thread asking about Zoo Miami, I had to say I need to change my idea and switch my winter vacation trip to Texas since the Aviary is not open (and the facility have leatherback turtle baby will release them in several weeks).
I plan to start my trip at Houston, and here is my plan:
Day 1: Fly from Detroit to Houston, rent car (so excited I finally find a credit card!), drive to San Antonio.
Day 2: Visit two small facility for herps: Reptilandia zoo, Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo. I think it might be enough for me to spend one day for these two facilities?
Day 3: Visit San Antonio Zoo
Day 4: I was struggling if I should visit Gladys Porter Zoo. I find there are many mammal that I want to see, such as Gaur and Pileated Gibbon. Go back to San Antonio
Day 5: Drive from San Antonio to Houston in morning, hope the traffic is not bad at 6. Visit Houston Zoo. Go to airport, return car, take flight at night then go back to Detroit.
I'm not so sure if the two small facility is worth visiting(I'm addict to venomous snake though), and if my time schedule is suitable. Any advice would be great, thanks a lot!
 
I think it would make more sense to do a triangle, with Gladys Porter at the start or end? Make sure you check car rental prices, they have gone way, way up since covid; even the smallest are $100+ a day once taxes and stuff are included, and renting from near an airport will be significantly more expensive.
 
I've got a similar trip planned for next July, so I'm interested in seeing how yours pans out. My trip is going to be a bit more difficultly laid out though, since I'll have to return to San Antonion each night after a brief stint in Dallas. But I intend to hit Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Gladys Porter Zoo, and then depending on how much I want to push myself, possibly Houston Zoo and one of the safari parks.

I do have to wonder though, why no Dallas World Aquarium? It struck me as an obvious top priority when mapping this whole thing out.
 
Based on that route you may want to look into flying into Austin or San Antonio instead. Houston traffic can be epic, and if you are heading right out there is not much of a reason to fly there first unless it is that much cheaper. Austin is also a lot smaller airport and is easy to get around.

I suggest Austin as it is closest to Reptilandia and makes an easy starting point to get to AWSF&Z and San Antonio Zoo. Honestly, I think Gladys Porter is too far from San Antonio for a day trip, you are looking at 8 or more hours of drive time alone. It is doable, but that is a long day.

Actually, you may want to consider making Austin your base and driving down to SA for the day. You could also drive to Cameron Park Zoo (Waco) easily. Houston could be done as a day trip from Austin as well, I have done that drive many times. Hotels on the outskirts of Austin can be pretty cheap and there are a LOT of new hotels in that market.

If you are doing Reptilandia you may also want to stop at The Exotic Resort Zoo, it is about a mile away from Reptilandia.
 
SwampDonkey said:
there is not much of a reason to fly there first unless it is that much cheaper.
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Thanks for advice! Yes, the only reason I choose Houston is that is much more cheaper to fly from Detroit to there, so sad.
SwampDonkey said:
I think Gladys Porter is too far from San Antonio for a day trip, you are looking at 8 or more hours of drive time alone. It is doable, but that is a long day.
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Thanks for your advice! I'm working on to find a friend that willing to go with me, hope I will success...
SwampDonkey said:
If you are doing Reptilandia you may also want to stop at The Exotic Resort Zoo, it is about a mile away from Reptilandia.
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Thanks! I will check this zoo
 
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