Planning a Tentative European Zoo Trip - Fall 2024/Spring 2025

[Batto]

I would expect that it is my passion for ungulates and the limited time I will have on the continent that has exempted Salzburg and your facility from the suggestions I have received thus far

Surrrre, that must be the reason. Maybe I will have to invest several million € into meerkat enclosures to get more attention from ZooChatters...

 

[Batto]

Pairi Daiza speaks for itself

Oh, does it? Not from a proper reptile husbandry pov.

 

[JVM]

Just want to say whatever route you choose, as an American zoochatter who is only just started to get to know Europe's zoos, would love to see your thoughts on wherever you go!

 

[Dormitator]

Oh, does it? Not from a proper reptile husbandry pov.

I certainly wasn't praising PD wholeheartedly with that statement, the reptile house and aquarium are pretty poor overall and some of the enclosures in the Mersus Emergo are the worst I've seen overall for reptiles in a major zoo.

 

[GiratinaIsGod]

Seeing as you mention loving zoo history, I'm surprised Hagenbeck Tierpark hasn't come up in this conversation yet. While I've never been to Europe, I know one zoo professional who just came back from a zoo trip in Germany, who is similarly a zoo history enthusiast, and talked about how incredible and surreal it was to see Hagenbeck's panorama. I know as a fact there are at least 200 Zoo Chatters who know Europe's zoos better than me, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think this zoo at least belongs in the conversation.

I was for the first time im Hagenbeck last Setember. And I was realy disapointed. The quality of the exhibit is not on a modern standart, even the new exhibits like the Eismeer, the species are also avrage at best. Yes, the historical significance and landscapung is intresting bzt the exhibits are just ooften depressing. The Tropenaquarium was realy good though. There are in Germany allone more than a docent zoos I would advice to visit instead.

 

[twilighter]

Thank you to all three of you for your very detailed thoughts and opinions on Dresden vs. Magdeburg. It was all greatly appreciated and very helpful! I think with all of the information provided about the zoos and cities, Dresden would take precedence over Magdeburg for this trip and what we are both trying to get out of it (it also just better fits within our route of travel).

Btw, the Grandidier's Vontsira went off show, according to fellow ZooChater.

 

[oflory]

Btw, the Grandidier's Vontsira went off show, according to fellow ZooChater.

From my experience last year, it wasn't very on-show anyway...

 

[Batto]

I'm surprised Hagenbeck Tierpark hasn't come up in this conversation yet.

As mentioned here and in other threads, Tierpark Hagenbeck has been in a rough patch for quite a while, for various reasons. In its current state, other European zoos might offer more bang for one's buck...

 

[Nile Hippo Expert]

One European zoo that I would recommend for you to visit is Dvur Kralove because they have BOTH Greater and Lesser Kudus (assuming that is your favorite animal species).

 

[Kudu21]

Pairi Daiza speaks for itself and whilst the hotel is phenomenally expensive, if you are planning on visiting there over two days (which you should) then it does make a bit more sense as you get an excellent breakfast buffet and dinner. Everyone will have their own favourite hotel species to stay with but the walrus room really was special. You can also walk around a good chunk of the zoo at night which is pretty cool, and you can watch the animal feeds in the morning before the park opens to the public. The last one was an unexpected treat, not taking up the opportunity to throw a fish to the polar bears because I mistranslated the keepers offer is something I still regret!

The sticker price for the rooms at Pairi Daiza are quite shocking at first, but I would agree that when you consider everything that is included, it is actually more value than immediately meets the eye. It is good to know about the access to the zoo both before and after hours, as this is something not immediately clear when looking on their website. It is something on our radar if we do end up splitting the trip in two.

If you do go up there, then even more out of the way is Brouwerij de Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren, widely regarded as one of the greatest Belgian breweries. If you're not familiar with the brewery it's quite remarkable and phenomenally difficult to get hold of without going there, however the brasserie is excellent it's well worth going there for lunch.

This does sound quite wonderful, but you certainly were not kidding when you said "even more out of the way" I think the course of our trip would have to shift quite dramatically in order to squeeze that in, haha.

The city is nice and worth spending time in, but just as good as the zoo is Cafe Kulminator which is the best Belgian beer bar I've been to. There is a password on the door which is strictly enforced (seriously) and cash only, but the beer bible is enormous and it's a wonderful place to spend a few hours.

This, on the other hand, is something that I will definitely be saving to our to-do list for while we're in Antwerp. It appears to be a very unique experience, indeed!

Having planned a massive road trip across Europe a few years ago which COVID put pay to, driving across Europe at this scale really will be hugely time consuming, and don't forget our higher fuel prices. It may be worth consolidating around either the east or west and having a loop from whichever airport you choose to fly to. This will give you a bit more time to explore small places and the cities which you would have to give up for driving. I completely understand the desire to make the most of the flight over but it would let you do a lot more. Various folk on here recommended I scale down a bit from my original plans to drive from the UK to Czechia, and though COVID stopped the original plan the smaller trip I did (admittedly also over a shorter period of time) meant I dropped some zoos in favour of museums and botanical gardens which were brilliant. I've always been appreciative of the sensible suggestions of those folk who offered advice.

The travel time, is, indeed, our biggest enemy on this trip We have lived in the two biggest states in the continental United States (California and Texas), and have traveled quite extensively through them. So while we might not be inherently phased by long travel times, when your time is already limited, the thought of losing the better part of any day to travel is a hard pill to swallow! We definitely do intend to trim up the fat a bit on the trip, consolidate as much as we can, and travel as smartly as we can (traveling in the evenings/overnight whenever possible). It is very much looking like either an itinerary of "Europe's Greats", with a couple of days each spent based in and around the major cities suggested very early on in this thread or a tighter loop of the West with my partner and then the East on my own, if he cannot travel the full time with me. It is hard coming all the way from the west coast of the United States and not want to squeeze in as much as you can It is proving to be a hard balance to strike. As @Philipine eagle put it, to choose is really to lose!

Just want to say whatever route you choose, as an American zoochatter who is only just started to get to know Europe's zoos, would love to see your thoughts on wherever you go!

I absolutely intend to share my thoughts and experiences from the trip along the way! I look forward to getting to compare my experiences at American facilities with their European counterparts and seeing how my thoughts align and differ with those shared by all of you

I was for the first time im Hagenbeck last Setember. And I was realy disapointed. The quality of the exhibit is not on a modern standart, even the new exhibits like the Eismeer, the species are also avrage at best. Yes, the historical significance and landscapung is intresting bzt the exhibits are just ooften depressing. The Tropenaquarium was realy good though. There are in Germany allone more than a docent zoos I would advice to visit instead.

As mentioned here and in other threads, Tierpark Hagenbeck has been in a rough patch for quite a while, for various reasons. In its current state, other European zoos might offer more bang for one's buck...

Despite its status as one of the most important facilities from a historical perspective, it was opinions such as these that made it quite easy to write Hagenbeck off rather early in the planning process. The lackluster state of affairs of the facility today and its relative remoteness in comparison to the other cities and facilities on my itinerary made it seem just not worth the effort at this time, as sad as that is to say.

Btw, the Grandidier's Vontsira went off show, according to fellow ZooChater.

I read this on the Magdeburg news thread prior to responding to this thread yesterday. How unfortunate! They are such interesting animals. The vontsiras going off display really makes writing Magdeburg off the list that much easier.

 

[Kudu21]

Hello again, everyone! Over the past almost two months now, my partner and I have slowly-but-surely continued to chip away at the planning of our trip to Europe! The past couple of months have been particularly busy for the both of us at our respective jobs, so planning has not quite progressed at the speed we had hoped, but it has come along. Prices have remained pretty consistent, and they have actually remain cheaper than what is expected for Spring 2025, so at this time, we are still looking at fall of this year!

As we have been working out the details of the trip, it has become clear that my partner's work will not allow him any more than two weeks of vacation, so we are going to be limited to 14-to-16 days, in total. As such, we have decided to narrow the focus of this trip and forego The Netherlands, Belgium, and likely western Germany for this trip, with the hopes of being able to return to Europe for a focused trip on that region plus France in a year or two. Our current plan is to have Berlin, Prague, and Vienna as our three main bases.

With the flight options available, we are currently debating between a couple of different feasible routes (of course, the cheapest route available (via Munich) would cause us to lose three extra days to travel one-way and four days to travel round-trip ). The cheapest of the still feasible routes would be to fly into Frankfurt and out of Vienna or into Berlin and out of Frankfurt. For roughly $200 more, we could fly into Berlin and out of Vienna and keep ourselves completely contained within our "hubs", and for about $100 more than that, we could fly into Nuremberg and out of Vienna.

All three of these routes have their potential positives and negatives. Flying in or out of Frankfurt would allow us to potentially include Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg in our itinerary, but the travel time would cause us to lose time in the "Big 3" cities. Flying in and out of Berlin and Vienna would minimize our travel time and maximize our time in/allow for day trips from the "Big 3" cities, but it would effectively eliminate any possibility of including the previously mentioned cities and their respective facilities. While flying into Nuremberg allows us time to explore Nuremberg and to visit the zoo there without losing too much time to travel, it is the most expensive option and would shorten out time in the "Big 3" cities and eliminate Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.

With all of that said, for those of you more familiar with Berlin, Prague, and Vienna, how long do you think is appropriate to spend in each city for a first time visitor to not feel too rushed while also being the most efficient with the time available?

Also, when previously talking about interests beyond zoos, I somehow forgot to mention natural history museums! How would you all say the natural history museums in the cities along our routes stack up against one another? Which ones are "must-sees" and which ones are more skippable if time doesn't allow?

 

[amur leopard]

Also, when previously talking about interests beyond zoos, I somehow forgot to mention natural history museums! How would you all say the natural history museums in the cities along our routes stack up against one another? Which ones are "must-sees" and which ones are more skippable if time doesn't allow?

Both Berlin and Vienna have very high quality NHMs - Berlin has some spectacular specimens, not least the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world along with various extinct species (Glaucous macaw, thylacine, quagga etc, although these seem to move on and off show a lot). Definitely worth it, and probably won't take more than half a day, as particularly with (still ongoing?) renovations, it isn't as sizeable as some of the other major ones. Vienna is more taxonomically complete and thorough, but perhaps has slightly less wow factor besides the lovely building, and can easily be combined with the tremendous art museum opposite.

 

[cerperal]

Especially in terms of Berlin and Vienna, it's very much dependant on what interests you. Both, and to a slightly lesser extent Prague, are historical to the extent that a year in each city wouldn't be enough to see it all.

In Berlin you'd want at least 2 days to cover both collections, but the city is still alive into the evenings so 3 days could cover the big hits - a day at the zoo, a day in the Tierpark, and then a day of general sightseeing. This would give you the opportunity to cover a lot of the city's major offerings - certainly the Reichstag and the surrounding area, as well as the natural history museum. It's a relatively small museum, especially compared to say London's or Vienna's, but it has a fantastic collection especially of minerals. And of course, as @amur leopard has said, the Giraffatitan as centrepiece.

Vienna benefits from only having one major zoological collection, and Schonbrunn Zoo can be combined with the rest of the Schonbrunn palace grounds. You can easily get to and from the city centre by tram but I combined this area during my visit and it gives you plenty of time. Certainly visiting Vienna you would be amiss to not visit Haus Des Meeres, being both one of the great aquariums of Europe and built inside a former Flak Tower. This can be done in half a day, and especially if visiting in winter would provide much wanted warmth. Vienna's natural history museum is also one of the true greats, with a taxidermy collection best described as encyclopaedic. Moreover it has one of the best hominid collections stretching right up until the middle ages. I would agree it lacks the wow factor in a giant dinosaur, but the fossil collection is also superb and the extinct mammal section is also vast. I'm not one for art myself, but as amur leopard has also said combining the two is an option - if you visit on a Wednesday, the museums close at the later time of 8pm. However, the aquarium is open until 8pm all year round and doing the museums earlier in the day would allow you to better sightsee central Vienna, arguably the prettiest city in Europe. I'd say then at least 2 days in Vienna, but it's a city you can get completely lost in.

Hopefully that's been of some help, I haven't spent nearly enough time in Prague to comment on it. I would say though, if you are looking at finding zoos on a more direct route Leipzig is a short train journey from Berlin and combines an excellent collection with even better exhibitory.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

With the flight options available, we are currently debating between a couple of different feasible routes (of course, the cheapest route available (via Munich) would cause us to lose three extra days to travel one-way and four days to travel round-trip ). The cheapest of the still feasible routes would be to fly into Frankfurt and out of Vienna or into Berlin and out of Frankfurt. For roughly $200 more, we could fly into Berlin and out of Vienna and keep ourselves completely contained within our "hubs", and for about $100 more than that, we could fly into Nuremberg and out of Vienna.

I assume you mean that the Munich-focused route would lose you days as a result of flight dates rather than actual time taken to travel around the continent - if you do mean the latter, I don't see why as it shouldn't be all that tricky, and would actually leave you well-placed to visit all three of your main target cities along with Stuttgart and a few other possible options.

I'll give more thought to the various questions you have posed within the main body of your post, but a few initial remarks on minimum timescales:

1) Berlin can probably be safely done in three days. One day for each of the major zoological collections, and one day to visit the museum and perhaps mop up anything missed at one or other zoological collection. Note that the museum - like many in Germany - is closed on Mondays.
2) The zoo in Prague is probably scratching the margins of taking longer than a day to see properly on a first visit, so a second day to revisit the zoo in the morning, and then explore the city itself in the afternoon and evening, would be a good idea. There is a very reliable and affordable staffed left-luggage office in the main train station, so if you wanted to save time for daytrips elsewhere you *could* do things the other way around - arrive in the city, deposit your luggage and then head to the zoo for a few hours, do some sightseeing, and then return to the station to collect your luggage before checking into your hotel. This would then allow you to only set aside one non-travel day for a full day at the zoo.
2a) On a related note, making judicious use of left-luggage offices and lockers in German and Austrian railway stations will help you make the maximum use of your time and reduce (or even negate) any days "lost" by travelling to a new hub and not wanting to drag your luggage around with you whilst you wait for hotel check-in to open.
3) Vienna merits three days I think - one day for the zoo and sightseeing around the immediate environs, one day for the natural history museum and the Haus des Meeres, and one day for other sightseeing in and around the city.

 

[Kudu21]

Both Berlin and Vienna have very high quality NHMs - Berlin has some spectacular specimens, not least the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world along with various extinct species (Glaucous macaw, thylacine, quagga etc, although these seem to move on and off show a lot). Definitely worth it, and probably won't take more than half a day, as particularly with (still ongoing?) renovations, it isn't as sizeable as some of the other major ones. Vienna is more taxonomically complete and thorough, but perhaps has slightly less wow factor besides the lovely building, and can easily be combined with the tremendous art museum opposite.

...as well as the natural history museum. It's a relatively small museum, especially compared to say London's or Vienna's, but it has a fantastic collection especially of minerals. And of course, as @amur leopard has said, the Giraffatitan as centrepiece.

Vienna's natural history museum is also one of the true greats, with a taxidermy collection best described as encyclopaedic. Moreover it has one of the best hominid collections stretching right up until the middle ages. I would agree it lacks the wow factor in a giant dinosaur, but the fossil collection is also superb and the extinct mammal section is also vast. I'm not one for art myself, but as amur leopard has also said combining the two is an option - if you visit on a Wednesday, the museums close at the later time of 8pm. However, the aquarium is open until 8pm all year round and doing the museums earlier in the day would allow you to better sightsee central Vienna, arguably the prettiest city in Europe. I'd say then at least 2 days in Vienna, but it's a city you can get completely lost in.

Thank you both for your quick run downs on the museums! (And thank you @cerperal for your suggestions on number of days in each city!) I just could not quite get a grasp of how extensive either museum's collections are from what I could find about them online. Most museum websites seem not be very thorough, and most photos I could find showed the same areas of the museums over and over again It is good to know that both institutions are roughly half-day facilities. This will be very helpful in planning day-to-day itineraries.

Berlin's is one that I have heard much about (particularly the Giraffatitan mount), but The extinct animal mounts would, of course, be of great interest to me, so here's hoping they are actually on display! I have seen the quagga foal mount at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town, but I would really love to see an adult!

Vienna's definitely does appear quite extensive from its website, and it gives the impression of being a very proper and traditional museum. I am happy to hear that the fossil and extinct mammal collections are as complete as the modern animal taxidermy seems to be, as that is what will interest me the most. It is good to know that it can easily be combined with the nearby art museum. I have an interest in fine arts, but my partner less so These will likely be less of a focus for our trip, but I would like to squeeze in one or two.

Certainly visiting Vienna you would be amiss to not visit Haus Des Meeres, being both one of the great aquariums of Europe and built inside a former Flak Tower. This can be done in half a day, and especially if visiting in winter would provide much wanted warmth.

I absolutely intend on visiting Haus Des Meeres while in Vienna! Their late opening hours will make it quite easy to fit in to the itinerary, and it will be quite the different experience than the other facilities we intend to visit on this trip.

Hopefully that's been of some help, I haven't spent nearly enough time in Prague to comment on it. I would say though, if you are looking at finding zoos on a more direct route Leipzig is a short train journey from Berlin and combines an excellent collection with even better exhibitory.

Leipzig is pretty much a shoe-in day trip from Berlin for most of of our potential itineraries!

 

[Kudu21]

I assume you mean that the Munich-focused route would lose you days as a result of flight dates rather than actual time taken to travel around the continent - if you do mean the latter, I don't see why as it shouldn't be all that tricky, and would actually leave you well-placed to visit all three of your main target cities along with Stuttgart and a few other possible options.

Yes, my apologies for not being clearer - the flight dates and times specifically, are the problem. The timing of the departing and returning flights make it to where we lose twice as many days to travel as the other potential routes.

I'll give more thought to the various questions you have posed within the main body of your post, but a few initial remarks on minimum timescales:

1) Berlin can probably be safely done in three days. One day for each of the major zoological collections, and one day to visit the museum and perhaps mop up anything missed at one or other zoological collection. Note that the museum - like many in Germany - is closed on Mondays.
2) The zoo in Prague is probably scratching the margins of taking longer than a day to see properly on a first visit, so a second day to revisit the zoo in the morning, and then explore the city itself in the afternoon and evening, would be a good idea. There is a very reliable and affordable staffed left-luggage office in the main train station, so if you wanted to save time for daytrips elsewhere you *could* do things the other way around - arrive in the city, deposit your luggage and then head to the zoo for a few hours, do some sightseeing, and then return to the station to collect your luggage before checking into your hotel. This would then allow you to only set aside one non-travel day for a full day at the zoo.
2a) On a related note, making judicious use of left-luggage offices and lockers in German and Austrian railway stations will help you make the maximum use of your time and reduce (or even negate) any days "lost" by travelling to a new hub and not wanting to drag your luggage around with you whilst you wait for hotel check-in to open.
3) Vienna merits three days I think - one day for the zoo and sightseeing around the immediate environs, one day for the natural history museum and the Haus des Meeres, and one day for other sightseeing in and around the city.

Thank you for this! This is an incredibly helpful starting point for nailing down exact days per each city and where we can still add in day trips once we add at least one non-zoo day to each city (that way my partner cannot claim I only wanted to go to Europe to visit zoos )

I also appreciate the tidbits in regard to the left-luggage offices and storage lockers. These are not something we have ever had to use in the US, where we have always either driven ourselves or rented a car once arriving. We intend to travel quite lightly, but it will be nice to not have to carry any more than a daypack with us whenever possible and to make the most efficient use of our time.

 

[Maguari]

(that way my partner cannot claim I only wanted to go to Europe to visit zoos )

Strictly speaking it just gives you an argument to go back with when he tries to claim it.

I second the general travel tips about trains and left luggage etc, and it cannot be repeated enough times to not plan any European museum for a Monday without ensuring it is specifically open - that is a classic problem!

Berlin NHM's Quagga and Thylacine mounts were certainly on display last summer.

The Vienna NHM is indeed enormous and excellent (we ended up getting basically kicked out because we were still deep in nerd mode at closing).

The flight trilemma is an interesting one. Part of you always thinks more places/more zoos = good, but not necessarily if it's costing you time later.

I was at Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart earlier this year and all are well worth your time, as of course is Nuremberg. Of the set, Nuremberg is probably the strictly-speaking highest quality zoo, but Stuttgart is by some way the most 'unique' (and has the animal collection to match). Frankfurt is very much carried by the two big houses (the Gzrimek small mammal/nocturnal house and the Exotarium/herps and aquarium) but is still a great zoo. Karlsruhe gives you the option of three smaller collections that can easily be done in a day whether you arrive by train or car (including an NHM with quite extensive living collection and an all-ungulate (barring one owl) animal park in the woods). But you have the risk of trip mission creep by including any of them!

I would say you might be best staying in your 'zone' if you can make it work - it's very easy to lose a lot of time to travel days without noticing.

And of course, if minimising the travel time creates a spare day in Prague, you can always while it away by popping an hour down the road/rails to Plzen.

But I can hardly blame you if you end up being tempted away by those other great zoos.

 

[Jana]

The Prague NHM is a nice recently refurbished place but can´t compete with Berlin or Vienna.

The technical muzeum would be my other tip if weather gets bad. It has a collection of oldtime local brands of cars, airplanes or trains.

The city has a municipal botanical garden that is located just next to the zoo. A mini old university garden is downtown and free of charge - with exception of the greenhouse (btw it will host killifish breeder club exhibition on 12.-14.Sep)

Historical city center of Prague is compact and all landmarks are within walking distance of each other. It suffers from overtourism through. A walk at down (6-7am) gets you better photo ops.

Prague zoo has luggage lockers at its entrance too.

 

[Kudu21]

I am back almost a week later, and we finally have some solidified travel plans, with our flights and flexible train tickets now booked! The most time and cost effective flights ended up being into Vienna and out of Frankfurt, saving us two travel days and nearly $500. With that, we will officially be arriving in Vienna on the afternoon of 02 September and departing from Frankfurt on the evening of 17 September. We now just need to further fine tune how many days we want to spend in each major city and where we want to stop/take day trips along the way!

Strictly speaking it just gives you an argument to go back with when he tries to claim it.

Don't worry. I'm already using it as leverage for discussions about our next trip

I second the general travel tips about trains and left luggage etc, and it cannot be repeated enough times to not plan any European museum for a Monday without ensuring it is specifically open - that is a classic problem!

Berlin NHM's Quagga and Thylacine mounts were certainly on display last summer.

The Vienna NHM is indeed enormous and excellent (we ended up getting basically kicked out because we were still deep in nerd mode at closing).

I was at Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart earlier this year and all are well worth your time, as of course is Nuremberg. Of the set, Nuremberg is probably the strictly-speaking highest quality zoo, but Stuttgart is by some way the most 'unique' (and has the animal collection to match). Frankfurt is very much carried by the two big houses (the Gzrimek small mammal/nocturnal house and the Exotarium/herps and aquarium) but is still a great zoo. Karlsruhe gives you the option of three smaller collections that can easily be done in a day whether you arrive by train or car (including an NHM with quite extensive living collection and an all-ungulate (barring one owl) animal park in the woods). But you have the risk of trip mission creep by including any of them!

I would say you might be best staying in your 'zone' if you can make it work - it's very easy to lose a lot of time to travel days without noticing.

And of course, if minimising the travel time creates a spare day in Prague, you can always while it away by popping an hour down the road/rails to Plzen.

But I can hardly blame you if you end up being tempted away by those other great zoos.

Thank you for the additional tips and opinions! They are much appreciated.

Now that we are definitely flying out of Frankfurt, we will have to see how we want to format the last day or two of our trip. Stuttgart is a big draw, with its historical stature, intriguing collection, and impressive gardens. Tierpark Oberwald is as well, being a very different facility than the others on our list, with a collection of new ungulates for me that I will miss elsewhere on the trip. It being free and without standard operating hours makes it a convenient stop either on the way from Stuttgart to Frankfurt or combined with the other Karlsruhe collections for a whole day. Frankfurt, itself, wasn't originally on my radar for this trip, but we will now have half a day before our flight out of Frankfurt, where it could be a possibility...

Plzen is definitely still on my radar as a potential day trip, depending on timing

The Prague NHM is a nice recently refurbished place but can´t compete with Berlin or Vienna.

The technical muzeum would be my other tip if weather gets bad. It has a collection of oldtime local brands of cars, airplanes or trains.

The city has a municipal botanical garden that is located just next to the zoo. A mini old university garden is downtown and free of charge - with exception of the greenhouse (btw it will host killifish breeder club exhibition on 12.-14.Sep)

Historical city center of Prague is compact and all landmarks are within walking distance of each other. It suffers from overtourism through. A walk at down (6-7am) gets you better photo ops.

Prague zoo has luggage lockers at its entrance too.

Thank you for these notes on Prague! They are appreciated. I have heard about the over-tourism in the historical city center and knew to make touring it an early morning affair. If you have any further suggestions on things to do and see outside of this area, I would love to hear them! My partner and I have lived in several touristy cities here in the United States, so we know that pain all too well... We would like to not add to this problem for others as much as possible

 

[remar]

Some opinions for possible day trips.

Vienna isn't the best place therefore. Bratislava, Brno, Hodonin or Györ are easily done day trips, and although i like at least some parts of these zoos, imo none of theme is worth to sacrifice a whole day from your point of view. Zlin (one of the most beautiful zoos in Europe) and Budapest are on a higher level, but for both of them you have a travel time from at least 3 hours each direction. So not sure if this is worth the stress.

If you're interested in European ectotherms you should think about the Museum Niederösterreich at St. Pölten (approx. one hour by train from Vienna and a short walk). Exotic animals are missing, but it has one of the most complete sets of native ectotherms and the exhibitory standards are quite high (And only two terrariums are outside, the rest is an indoor zoo, so maybe it's a bad weather alternative if you are interested into ectotherms?). The biggest disadvantage is probably St. Pölten itself. Together with Wels it is considered as one of the most boring and ugliest cities of Austria

Regarding Prague. I only visited Prague as a day trip so i have no idea what is doable as a day trip. Maybe you should check if you want to use one day for a trip to Ceske Budejovice (the origin of the famous Budvar beer) and the nearby Zoo Hluboka (Ohrada) if it is doable. Zoo Hluboka isn't the brightest star of Czech zoos, but it is interesting if you want to see European animals. It has one of the best collections in terms of European birds and herps. It also has some nice mammals (European rabbit, souslik, alpine marmot, european moose, roe deer, west caucasian tur and himalayan brown bears). As the zoo is rather small, you will also have enough time to visit the historical city center of Ceske Budejovice.

But these are just a few thoughts what could be interesting to you, but i know, there are probably 100 other interesting things in that area