Zoo Tour: England to Czechia, by car...

[Philipine eagle]

My suggestion would be:

Day 1 : Pairi Daiza

Day 2 : Frankfurt. Keep in mind that the zoo is situated within the Umwelt-zone with restricted access for vehicles (you'll need a permit). You can take the 661 highway, exit 8, crossing the railway heading to the Eintracht Frankfurt football stadium, park nearby and take the underground U7 at the Johanna Tesch Platz or the Gewinnerstrasse underground stations. Afterwards you have excellent acces to the A3 Nurnberg-Plzen or the A5 Heidelberg-Karlruhe-Stuttgart

(extra) Day 3 if you heading to Stuttgart: Heidelberg Zoo and Karlsruhe Zoo are easy to combine. Stay in Heidelberg and enjoy the historic old town. The zoo is outside the Umweltzone in Heidelberg, and within (but at the edge) in Karlsruhe. Both are pleasant zoos with varied collections.

Day 4 : Stuttgart's Wilhelma is a must for both zoo and botanic lovers. The zoo is in the Umweltzone but there're several good opportunities with the underground.

(extra) Day 5 : Nurnberg Zoo

Day 6 : Plzen

Day 7 : Prague

Day 8 : Dvur Kralové

Day 9 : Usti Nad Labem or Liberec + Dresden Zoo

Day 10 : Leipzig (Umweltzone)

(extra) day 11 : Halle Bergzoo (Umweltzone + Magdeburg Zoo.
Other option: Wuppertal Zoo + Krefeld Zoo. In fact, Wuppertal is a must: very pleasant zoo with some excellent exhibits and quid a good number of rarities.

Day 12 : Burgers' Zoo

Day 13 : Antwerp Zoo. Possibly manageable with Planckendael Zoo in summer: Antwerp has a lot of species and buildings, but is very compact. And both zoos are close together.
Antwerp Zoo is situated in a low emission zone. It will take you an hour driving from Antwerp to Mechelen/Planckendael (maybe less off rush hours). Public Transport (train and bus) probably the same (if you plan well). I can give you more information on public transport and/or parking options if needed.

 

[Dormitator]

Long time, no update. You can probably guess what happened...

Anyway, a year and a half later, and I'm very glad that life has settled down enough for me to finally be in a position where I can actually do this properly. Rough itinerary is sorted, hotels are booked. Unfortunately with a job change I can't undertake the 15 day tour I had originally planned, so this has had to be cut down to 10 days which has naturally pruned some of the more distant zoos from the plan, sorry Germany. The modern world with instant, global connectivity also forces me to be in a meeting on the 3rd of October bizarrely, so this prunes another big zoo day from the list.

This does all lead to a somewhat more 'normal' trip to take in the highlights of Pairi Daiza, Burgers, Antwerp & Nausicaa, with some smaller attractions on the travel days to make the most of driving around. At the moment things look like:


29th Thursday -

Ferry departs Dover morning, arrives Dunkirk. Sint-Sixtus brewery on the way to hopefully collect beer and lunch in the café. Drive to Antwerp (two hours), other things along route. Night in Antwerp. Take car to Airbnb, park elsewhere in green zone.

30th Friday -

Antwerp zoo. Night in Antwerp, see the sights and sounds.

1st Saturday -

Drive to Arnhem via northern route. Either do Planckendael, and/or The Equator garden centre with the squirrels, or Ouwehands Zoo, or Arboretum Kalmthout. Night in Arnhem.

2nd Sunday -

Burgers Zoo, night in Arnhem.

3rd Monday -

Travel back, staying in Brussels with friends. Dierenpark Zie Zoo in the morning? Arboretum Tervuren? Kruidtuin gardens? Life admin mid-afternoon.

4th Tuesday -

Night in Pairi Daiza, travel over in the morning for first entry and check in.

5th Wednesday -

2nd day Pairi Daiza, stay farmhouse south of Lille.

6th Thursday -

Night in Boulogne. Do something on the day, but what? Jardin zoologique de Lille?
Zoo de Maubeuge?

7th Friday -

Nausicaa, stay in Boulogne.

8th Saturday -

Markets and shopping. Ferry evening.


I've listed a couple of 'on the road' options there which aren't the main four, I have a feeling I'll probably decide what to do the night before depending on how I'm feeling. Planckendael is the zoo I'm most keen to try and shoehorn in, Zie Zoo and Ouwehands also look good but the two in France don't really add much other than being something nice to do on the day, unless anyone knows any better?

I'm hoping this all works out relatively smoothly, how badly can things go? As before, if I'm missing out some great natural history attraction on the way please feel free to point out my ignorance.

I'm only sorry I can't make the most of some of the amazing advice which everyone has given here, but I do have a couple of clever ideas up my sleeve for future trips to pick up some of these amazing places. Prague, Plzen, Nuremburg, Leipzig, Chemnitz might be another tour for another time...

 

[TeaLovingDave]

3rd Monday -

Travel back, staying in Brussels with friends. Dierenpark Zie Zoo in the morning? Arboretum Tervuren? Kruidtuin gardens? Life admin mid-afternoon.

Zie-zoo and Best Zoo are easily doable as a double, with neither taking overly long to visit and being pretty close in proximity to one another.

 

[Dormitator]

Zie-zoo and Best Zoo are easily doable as a double, with neither taking overly long to visit and being pretty close in proximity to one another.

Thanks, that looks like an ideal combination, heads up very much appreciated!

 

[littleRedPanda]

Bio-Topia Fort-Mardyck (Dunkirk)
In the gallery as Parc Zoologique de Fort-Mardyck

 

[lintworm]

That's quite different schedule compared to your earlier plans, seems much more relaxed

Drive to Arnhem via northern route. Either do Planckendael, and/or The Equator garden centre with the squirrels, or Ouwehands Zoo, or Arboretum Kalmthout. Night in Arnhem.

It really depends on what your preferences are. Are you more interested in ticking rarities or enclosures? Planckendael + a drive to Arnhem is easily doable in a day, but is a full day. The squirrel garden centre is tiny, but probably hard to combine with Planckendael in a single day. The combination squirrel garden centre + Ouwehands is doable. But these are three completely different places...

Travel back, staying in Brussels with friends. Dierenpark Zie Zoo in the morning? Arboretum Tervuren? Kruidtuin gardens? Life admin mid-afternoon.

I would urge you to visit Zoo Parc Overloon, which is possible in combination with Zie-Zoo. Best really is a crappy zoo, the only reason to insist on visiting is a few rare species. Overloon on the other hand is a beautiful example of a low-budget way to attractive exhibits, with quite an interesting collection too.

Much longer driving time, but doable as a day trip would be Gaiazoo (2 hours from Arnhem, 1:30 from Brussel). This is one of the best zoos in the country and easily overlooked due to its location. When it comes to enclosure and landscape design there are few better considering their budget.

Night in Boulogne. Do something on the day, but what? Jardin zoologique de Lille?
Zoo de Maubeuge?

Zoo Lille is an attractive small zoo, you would only need 2 hours max, so you could easily combine it with Fort-Mardyck, Maubeuge or even Amiens. On the other hand the Opal Coast with the Cap Blanc Nez (Northern fulmar colony) and Cap Griz Nez, just north of Boulogne is also well worth a stop for a short hike and (in good weather) amazing views.

 

[Dormitator]

Bio-Topia Fort-Mardyck (Dunkirk)
In the gallery as Parc Zoologique de Fort-Mardyck

Ahh, got it, thanks!

That's quite different schedule compared to your earlier plans, seems much more relaxed

Just a bit! It's a real shame the first plan couldn't happen but it's given me an idea for a Prague, Plzen, Nuremburg, Leipzig, Chemnitz + others tour using a hire car, starting in Prague and then driving a giant circle of zoos.

It really depends on what your preferences are. Are you more interested in ticking rarities or enclosures? Planckendael + a drive to Arnhem is easily doable in a day, but is a full day. The squirrel garden centre is tiny, but probably hard to combine with Planckendael in a single day. The combination squirrel garden centre + Ouwehands is doable. But these are three completely different places...

Although in general I'd say rarities with this tour in the shape it's in enclosures and history would probably interest me more, big points for walkthroughs. The squirrel garden centre is more for an internal joke really and I'm not expecting much from it, but I am unlikely to get another chance to go.

I would urge you to visit Zoo Parc Overloon, which is possible in combination with Zie-Zoo. Best really is a crappy zoo, the only reason to insist on visiting is a few rare species. Overloon on the other hand is a beautiful example of a low-budget way to attractive exhibits, with quite an interesting collection too.

Much longer driving time, but doable as a day trip would be Gaiazoo (2 hours from Arnhem, 1:30 from Brussel). This is one of the best zoos in the country and easily overlooked due to its location. When it comes to enclosure and landscape design there are few better considering their budget.

Best doesn't really appeal to me, rarities lose any appeal when the enclosures they are in are barren boxes. Overloon and Gaiazoo both look good, sadly it looks like the drive to Brussels is now going to have to get me there for 1200 so it'll be a non-zoo day for me. Might be able to squeeze in a botanical garden or small museum if there is something accessible near the centre.

Zoo Lille is an attractive small zoo, you would only need 2 hours max, so you could easily combine it with Fort-Mardyck, Maubeuge or even Amiens. On the other hand the Opal Coast with the Cap Blanc Nez (Northern fulmar colony) and Cap Griz Nez, just north of Boulogne is also well worth a stop for a short hike and (in good weather) amazing views.

Lille looks good, a hike would change things up and I love sea-watching over the other side of the channel so that could be really fun. See what the weather throws at us I guess. Thanks again for the recommendations, not long now!

 

[Dormitator]

Ok, so initial update:

After getting on the ferry bright and early we set off toward Antwerp, stopping at the incredible St Sixtus Trappist brewery in the way to collect some beer and have a bite to eat. Once in Antwerp itself our mission was to find some swimming gear because Pairi Daiza had just emailed on route to say that their fancy new spa was open and we were eligible, as hotel guests, to free tickets. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I decided trying to get cheap swimming costumes would be worth it to add to the ridiculousness of this whole thing. After this we ended up in the Plantentuin, a small botanical garden, for an hour or so - this was a lovely little hidden gem with some really nice species including obscure Magnolias. Definitely worth a detour.

The next day we set off for Antwerp zoo, hilariously missing the entrance and getting halfway around the perimeter before we found some viewing windows into the buffalo aviary and realised we'd messed up somewhere. The zoo itself was superb, not quite on Cologne, Berlin, Vienna or Prague's level but well above any of the British city zoo's and similar historically important zoos like Moscow or Budapest. Some of the encloses are just too small or dull for the inhabitants, but mostly some serious effort had been put into place to revamp the older parts of the zoo to bring them up to spec. The aquarium, reptile house and bird house are very notable mentions, but the buffalo aviary had to be the absolute standout. What a superb way of displaying both birds and a charismatic but often overlooked species. Or rather, "representative of a species group" because sadly bovines are often rather neglected in zoos. Though the ground area was fairly small for the buffalo, it was well designed and complex, with sand for exploring and mud for wallowing, as well as line of sight breaks from people and each other. I spent about two hours here and could easily have lingered if Cafe Kulminator hadn't been calling.

Leaving Antwerp we visited the superb Arboretum Kalmthout, well worth a visit for the botanically inclined with some gorgeous species including a massive Pseudolarix. One of the nicest things about the arboretum was that a. for a Saturday it was remarkably quiet, and b. this being Belgium there were six different Belgian beers available in the cafe with a bowl of soup, with the correct glassware. Apparently there's no stigma with drinking a 9% tripel there for lunch, whereas in the UK a beer at lunch is generally viewed with some suspicion. And I wonder which country has more issues with alcohol-related and dependant crime?

Following this we went to The Equator, De Evenaar, known on here of course for the Eekhoorn Experience. This was a bit of a sensory overload, not just the strange sort-of garden centre, but the intense smell of burning incense in the air and colossal amounts of tat everywhere as well as the bambooetum and squirrel made for a very odd experience. The collection seemed a bit smaller than reported on here, with a few repeated species, but I still picked up a bunch of species I'd never seen before. It did get me thinking, why don't more places display this charismatic group? Prevosts seem to be about as exotic as most places get, but there are such a range of gorgeous, outgoing squirrels it seems odd they aren't exhibited more widely.

Burgers tomorrow, my checklists are ready.