Apologies for the late response but I was still travelling around Germany and Austria and wanted to be able to sit down at my desk to write a more thoughtful response than would be possible on my phone.
As for
@Shirokuma , to have some of your favourite zoos be Stuttgart, Basel, Bern and Korkeasaari is both fantastic and shocking. Even without knowing you, if you asked me what your two favourite Swiss zoos were then I would have said Zurich immediately and yet you made no mention of that famous zoo.
Zürich is an excellent zoo with some amazing parts including the highly influential and beautiful Andean bear enclosure, Masaola of course, the elephant house (although the outdoor paddocks are somewhat underwhelming in comparison) and the Exotarium. But for some reason, the overall whole doesn’t knock me off my feet despite liking it very much. The Australian section was under construction when I last visited but from what I have heard, I don’t think I’d love it.
I think Basel is an excellent example of a small-ish city zoo in transition that has retained a very representative collection. It's a nice scale and I love the themed buildings (in the sense of topic rather than cultural or geographic theming). I like the mix of concrete clean lines and naturalistic enclosures alongside typical grand zoo architecture like the Antilopenhaus and the bird house. My one main critique is that too much space is given over to domestics in the centre of the zoo. It has a stylish easy to follow map and a nice restaurant.
Basel was the first traditional European city zoo I visited as a young child and I remember the intense excitement of my first snow leopard, okapi and fossa and I found all the storks fascinating. I also love the proximity of the city around it, something I like about places like Antwerp, Amsterdam, Cologne and Frankfurt. It's great seeing houses and blocks of flats through the trees or across a canal from giraffes for example.
Huge comprehensive collections are something I can really appreciate. Arriving in a massive zoo for the first time is a special experience but I get overwhelmed and overloaded after a while. Big has its place but it definitely doesn’t mean better.
It's great to see some appreciation for Dahlholzli and Helsinki, which also feature very highly on my personal subjective list. Have you visited Odense? I suspect you'd find it to your tastes
I have been to Odense. There were elements I liked very much and the squirrel monkey island in particular was beautifully done. But overall, I didn't like all the theming. I get that they have a narrative of story telling which is of course appropriate to Odense with its literary heritage but it didn't entirely work for me.
A couple of other responses:
Nuremberg
The weird thing is that I have been on countless visits to Germany throughout my life but as it was always on family visits to the same areas or travelling with friends until recently I hadn’t visited any German zoos. For example I kick myself that I had been to Cologne on a number of occasions whilst they had saiga but never made it to the zoo. I had only been to the Berlins before this summer and visiting 11 zoos in 2 weeks was on the one hand satisfying and fulfilled a need to address a large gap in my zoo experience but at the same time utterly draining.
I arrive at zoos feeling almost elated but it’s not unusual for me to feel mentally and physically overloaded by the end of the day and leave feeling very grumpy and overwhelmed which is why as a child I would often have meltdowns at the end of an otherwise enjoyable family day out.
My visit to Tiergarten Nürnberg wasn't my best day. I started on the wrong train from Munich, managed to get off in time but dropped my wallet - which was quickly found - and ended up with a one hour journey taking four due to a broken down train. So I ended up arriving at the zoo in the afternoon on a very hot and busy Saturday. Not the best conditions for me to visit a large new zoo for the first time. Nonetheless, I loved it for many of the reasons you point out. The lammergeier enclosure was spectacular (although no luck with the marmots - in fact I didn't see a single marmot on the whole trip), the site in general is stunning. I'm sure many of us wander around country parks or woodland and picture a zoo there and Nuremberg is just like that in many ways. I should add that I have major reservations about keeping cetaceans in captivity and I wasn't overly impressed with the dolphin lagoon. By the time I got round to the Desert House it had already closed but peering in through the windows I thought it looked excellent. The neighbouring deer paddock was simply beautiful, just a lovely zoo moment at the end of a stressful day.
Munich
I broadly agree with you on Munich too. My perception before visiting was that it was big and slightly bland with fairly uniform paddocks maybe a bit like a German Miami (I’ve never been to Miami so I could be completely wrong but I get the impression it’s got lots of similar-looking open 'golf course' paddocks and it’s never stuck me as especially exciting).
My first impression was very positive, a lovely wooded site which was cool and peaceful with lots of flowing water. I sat on a bench by the Mesopotamian fallow deer for while and reflected on a busy two weeks and what’s coming next in my life. It was the last full day of my trip and I was really exhausted and not feeling very enthusiastic about visiting another fairly large zoo but in the end I really enjoyed Munich very much and it was a satisfying and pleasantly surprising end to a sometimes intense and very tiring trip.
A few random thoughts: African crowned crane and ground hornbill in the old brown bear enclosure shows the weakness of the geozoo system which isn’t that fully implemented anyway. At least it wasn't empty. The map was definitely too vague! The fast flowing water throughout the zoo was quite lovely. There was greater variety in the enclosures than expected but there was a certain degree of uniformity. The rhino enclosures, for example, could be more like Basel or indeed Nürnberg's converted elephant paddock with a bit more landscaping. I hated the rhino house by the way.
I thought the farm was very nicely done and it's always good to see local/regional breeds. Wild guinea pigs alongside their domesticated cousins was a nice touch.
I got very close to a very active and playful young polar bear - and noted a dead duck in the water.
I don't normally talk to staff but did ask about the golden jackal and where I might find it. A very friendly helpful member of staff told me where I could find it and when best to see it - although ultimately it was a no show. The walk through aviary was excellent with free flowing water and high subtle netting you would hardly notice.
Overall the signage was really excellent, interesting, engaging and attractive.
Munich was the last zoo of my trip. I was exhausted and overwhelmed - and would never do so many again - but at the same time I have no regrets (apart from missing the kaka in Stuttgart and not staying around longer).
It's not perfect and not quite up there as a favourite but Hellabrunn is definitely a zoo I’m very fond of in a city and Land (Bavaria) I have come to love.
