Spain trip may 2023

Sneeuwpanter

Sneeuwpanter

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Hi,

I'm going to Spain tomorrow. 10 days to Madrid. 8 days to Fuengirola. Our time in Madrid is mostly spent visiting castles en old cities. So question my is : Is Zoo Madrid a must visit ? And does anybody have thoughts on Faunia ?
In Fuengirola there is off course the Bioparc, but i also seen Selwo Avontura. Has anybody been here ?
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Hi,

I'm going to Spain tomorrow. 10 days to Madrid. 8 days to Fuengirola. Our time in Madrid is mostly spent visiting castles en old cities. So question my is : Is Zoo Madrid a must visit ? And does anybody have thoughts on Faunia ?
In Fuengirola there is off course the Bioparc, but i also seen Selwo Avontura. Has anybody been here ?
Click to expand...
I have been to Faunia, it's ticket prize is very expensive but it is home to a lot of interesting species. Exhibits like the nocturnal house, penguinarium and venom house are very nicely, with species like Eastern quoll, Adélie penguin, Nancy Ma's night monkey,... and a bunch of others.
I don't know if I'd consider the zoo a "must-visit", but I'd certainly want to go there at some point.
Selwo Aventura seems pretty okay, but that's it. I haven't visited said park though.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Zoo Madrid a must visit
Click to expand...

Depends on what you want, if you like 20th century concrete heavy architecture, then there is a lot to love, though not always from an animal welfare perspective. It is not a zoo with great naturalistic exhibits. With Iberian lynx, Spanish imperial eagle and Iberian ibex there are also some local species you won't get to easily see in many other zoos.
 
Benalmadena's Selwo Marinia Delfinarium is one of 3 ZTL collections with a smooth helmeted iguana and macaroni penguin
One of 2 with a nocturnal curassow
and the only one with an eight-banded leporinus

Fuengirola is one of 5 ZTL collections with a western blue duiker
One of 3 with a fenestratus hap and Siberian sturgeon (nominate subspecies)
One of 2 with an eastern grey-winged trumpeter

Madrid's Atlantis Aquarium and Zoo are the only ZTL collections with the Bali catshark.

The Atlantis Aquarium is one of 3 ZTL collections with a shortnose boxfish, white damsel and speckled butterflyfish
One of 2 with a dusky parrotfish
and the only one with a harlequin snake eel

Madrid Faunia is one of 5 ZTL collections with a bucktooth tetra
One of 4 with a western rockhopper penguin and payara
One of 3 with a black-lined toadhead turtle, sulphur damsel and bellybarred cichlid
One of 2 with a McGregor's pitviper, Nancy Ma's night monkey and chinstrap penguin
and the only one with an Adelie penguin, southern collared peccary and Andean cock-of-the-rock

Madrid Zoo is one of 5 ZTL collections with a doubletooth soldierfish, western corella and southeast Spanish ibex
One of 4 with a mummichog
One of 3 with an Abudjee wrasse and a long barbel goatfish and Wagler's temple pitviper
One of 2 with a reticulated puffer and Sumatran elephant
and the only one with a slender snipefish and easter Mueller's gibbon
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
Hi,

I'm going to Spain tomorrow. 10 days to Madrid. 8 days to Fuengirola. Our time in Madrid is mostly spent visiting castles en old cities. So question my is : Is Zoo Madrid a must visit ? And does anybody have thoughts on Faunia ?
In Fuengirola there is off course the Bioparc, but i also seen Selwo Avontura. Has anybody been here ?
Click to expand...
I have visited all three collections around Fuengirola - my favourite was Selwo Aventura, layout wise, it's quite enjoyable, some really nice species with a pair of very showy Iberian lynx in the late afternoon. Some interesting other species, spotted hyena, Angolan giraffe and white-tailed gnu. The collection itself isn't massive but a good zoo wise IMO. Selwo Marina was a smaller place, you could probably view it all in an hour, again nice species, more focused on the reptiles/birds with the dolphins being the main attraction of the collection. Bioparc Fuengirola was a lovely collection, a very nice viewing of Sri-Lankan leopard, my overall memory from this collection is how tidy and well maintained it was. The collection itself was not huge, but, very pleasing to visit, blue duiker was a highlight for myself, I have seen this species at Colchester however, was more visible on this visit to Fuengirola. Bioparc Fuengirola/Selwo Marina could have been visited together, dependent on the time of year as Bioparc Fuengirola is open late in the Summer.
 
I visited Fuengirola in 2024 before it got revamped.

It was quite an interesting zoo, which included a dwarf lemur (greater?) and a turkey in a waterfowl enclosure.
 
Y
Dassie rat said:
I visited Fuengirola in 2024 before it got revamped.

It was quite an interesting zoo, which included a dwarf lemur (greater?) and a turkey in a waterfowl enclosure.
Click to expand...

You can travel in time!? Niceeee haha ;)
 
I personally don't think Madrid zoo is currently Worth a visit (Iberian lynx, sumatran elephant and imperial eagle might be the most interesting species they have but the rest of their collection is slowly getting older and dying with no replacement plus enclosures are not that good).

Faunia is expensive but compare with Madrid zoo it has more interesting species to see and the general design just feels better.

I have not visit Bioparc Fuengirola but I visited the one in Valencia and I like it and from what I have read, Fuengirola is even better so I would definitely give it a try.
Selwo Aventura is a nice place but I visited long time ago so things might have change (??). Selwo Marina is around the area also (in Benalmádena), quite small and mainly focus on their dolphins activities (shows and interactions) but you can spend some fun hours there (not the whole day... In one hour you have seen everything so you can plan more things for that day). There's a SeaLife aquarium also in Benalmádena, nothing special just like any other SeaLife aquarium.

You also have crocodrile park in Torremolinos (very close to Benalmádena). Haven't visit it but might be interesting if you like reptiles
 
So Madrid will leave no time to visit a zoo...on our "free" day we chose to take it easy. We will watch some MotoGP and visit The Valley of the fallen.
We have made some long daytrips and have some other planned.
1. Segovia & Avilla
2. Monostario de Piedra & Castle de Zafra
3. A day in Madrid
4. Caceres & Trujillo
5. Toledo & Chicon
6. Valladolid & Castle Penafiel
7. Salamanca & Castle La Motta
8. Cuenca & Belmonte Castle

Fuengirola will leave more time...As Aqualand Tormelinos is planned , so i will probably visit the crocodilepark and offcourse Bioparc Fuengirola. With daytrips to Sevilla & Almovar de Rio Castle, Granada, Camita del Rey & Ronda....
 
Caceres & Trujillo: that's birding paradise. I don't know if you are in to that, but the area (Extremadura) is one of the best for birdwatching in Europe. Especially in the countryside while driving around, you can see many nice species (for instance one of the best places to look for great bustards). Keep an eye in those cities for lesser kestrel. They look a lot like common kestrel, but if you see more than 2 together you know for sure you have seen the common kestrel.
 
Sneeuwpanter said:
So Madrid will leave no time to visit a zoo...on our "free" day we chose to take it easy. We will watch some MotoGP and visit The Valley of the fallen.
We have made some long daytrips and have some other planned.
1. Segovia & Avilla
2. Monostario de Piedra & Castle de Zafra
3. A day in Madrid
4. Caceres & Trujillo
5. Toledo & Chicon
6. Valladolid & Castle Penafiel
7. Salamanca & Castle La Motta
8. Cuenca & Belmonte Castle

Fuengirola will leave more time...As Aqualand Tormelinos is planned , so i will probably visit the crocodilepark and offcourse Bioparc Fuengirola. With daytrips to Sevilla & Almovar de Rio Castle, Granada, Camita del Rey & Ronda....
Click to expand...

Sounds great! In Monasterio de piedra they also have a collection of birds of prey with shows :)

Hope you enjoy your days in Spain :D
 
I did find a couple of hours this afternoon. A nice collection, but very mediocre zoo...It was for convience that we went to Madrid Zoo instead of Faunia as it is closer to our apartment...Got to take some nice pictures
 
Stefan Verhoeven said:
Caceres & Trujillo: that's birding paradise. I don't know if you are in to that, but the area (Extremadura) is one of the best for birdwatching in Europe. Especially in the countryside while driving around, you can see many nice species (for instance one of the best places to look for great bustards). Keep an eye in those cities for lesser kestrel. They look a lot like common kestrel, but if you see more than 2 together you know for sure you have seen the common kestrel.
Click to expand...

I'm not realy a birdwatcher, but saw some birds of prey
 
Hi i'm now at Bioparc Fuengirola. Here are some pictures of the planned extention. No specific mention of a Jaguar enclosure, but i'm guesing it will be numbers VII through X Mentioned are corals, frogs, arapaima and i saw a picture of a toucan

South america extention model

South america extention model

Plan south america extention

Plan south america extention

Plan south america extention 2

Plan south america extention 2

Plan south america extention 3

Plan south america extention 3

South america extention site

South america extention site


I must say this is the second time i visited. I love this zoo...The chimp enclosure i find to small, but for the rest a briljant use of space.
 
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If I have to choose between zoo and Faunia, I'd choose Faunia. Zoo Madrid for example hasn't got any longer reptiles (the terrarium closed over 5 years ago more or less, zootierliste is not actualizated)

If you want to see autoctonous iberian wildlife, better go to GREFA (Lesser Kestrel, cinereous vulture, black stork, imperial eagle...) in Majadahonda or Kuna Iberica in Navas del Rey (imperial eagle, spanish ibex...) I don't know even if iberian lynx are easy to shoot in Zoo de Madrid

Other good option for you could be to go to Zoo de Jerez. It is a little bit far away from Fuengirola, but is a zoo where you have all the important iberian species
 
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