Zoo Trip summer 2025

Père Damian's Deer

Père Damian's Deer

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone

Me and my friend are currently planning a Czechogerman zoo trip (and vienna). We intend to travel by train using the interrail pass after we have landed in Vienna. I have highlighted the place where we intend to sleep:

Day 1: arrive in Vienna (perhaps visit Haus des meeres depending on the time)
Day 2: visit Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna
Day 3: travel early to Zoo Zlin, visit zoo Zlin, Travel to Prague in the evening
Day 4: visit Zoo Prague
Day 5: visit Zoo Plzen early in the morning and return in the evening to sleep in Prague
Day 6: visit Zoo Dresden/(Prague) and then in the evening leave to Leipzig
Day 7: visit Zoo Leipzig and leave late to Berlin
Day 8: visit Zoo Berlin
Day 9: visit Tierpark Berlin
(Day 10: visit Tierpark Berlin)
Day 10/11: flight back to Belgium

We are still thinking about either Dresden or another day in Prague and perhaps an extra day in Tierpark Berlin.
Any tips or feedback would great to hear.
 
Looks like a solid plan to me.

My personal tip for Vienna is to take some time and and buy something at the Kaiserpavillion restaurant. Even if you just skip your coffee to go and therefore take a seat just for a coffee to drink within the pavilion. It's a fabulous building with a lot of history and fascinating ceiling murals you shouldn't miss.
 
Looks like a great trip, nothing I'd really change about it either

Père Damian's Deer said:
We are still thinking about either Dresden or another day in Prague and perhaps an extra day in Tierpark Berlin.
Any tips or feedback would great to hear.
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I love Dresden Zoo, but you are definitely better off with an extra day at either Prague or Tierpark Berlin.

Prague is incredibly draining to try and do in a day, especially if it's particularly warm and humid. There's so much to see that when combined with the steep terrain and sprawling paths I find it made for a much nicer experience to split the bulk of the zoo into day 1, the remaining section into day 2 and then a wander about to see anything you want to repeat.

Tierpark is generally flatter (aside from Himalaya) but the exhibits are larger and there's a lot of woodland and fields that help to spread exhibits out further. As a somewhat regular visitor you can definitely do the whole collection in a day but again, it's a much nicer experience to take your time and fill in the gaps the second day.

Batto said:
If you time your Day 2 on a Wednesday, you might still have time to visit the NHM in the evening till 8 PM. Or do HdM in the evening.
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Completely agree with @Batto here. The NHM in Vienna is simply incredible
 
Looks like a great trip, but beware you aren't packing too much in a trip ;), a few suggestions from my side:

- Why fly to Vienna and back from Berlin if you are interrailing anyway.... There are daily night trains from Amsterdam/Utrecht to Vienna (and 3 times a week from Brussels) and there are plenty of options to get from Berlin to Belgium too. Such flights are just wasteful in my humble opinion.... Taking the night train at day 0 means you have a whole day (which might be slightly sleepy) to see Haus des Meeres/ Natural history museum and more importantly: wild hamsters going crazy in a graveyard.

- Getting from Vienna to Prague and visit Zlin the same day is maybe possible on paper, but a very tall order. That is >7 hours of traveling time and trying to visit a major zoo which takes at least 5-6 hours to properly enjoy. With the full itinerary you plan on anyway, such days are a bit too much if you want to have the energy a week later to fully enjoy Berlin... My suggestion would be to either spend the night in Zlin and travel to Prague the next day leisurely (giving you the option to do a tiny bit of sightseeing in Prague to look for upside down horse statues). Or alternatively travel from Zlin to Ostrava at the end of the day (saves 2 hours of traveling time) and visit Zoo Ostrava the next day before taking a 4 pm train to Prague. Ostrava is a very good zoo too.

- I have never had trouble seeing Prague or Tierpark Berlin in a day, but I try to make full use of their generous opening hours. This means you will be exhausted at the end of the day. Unless you want to take large numbers of photographs of animals, you should be fine with a single day at each, if you don't mind you cannot backtrack everything you want. Visiting Dresden is something I would really try, it is not a shiny fancy zoo, but it does a lot of stuff right and has a lovely atmosphere and it is nice to break up a traveling day with a good zoo.

remar said:
My personal tip for Vienna is to take some time and and buy something at the Kaiserpavillion restaurant. Even if you just skip your coffee to go and therefore take a seat just for a coffee to drink within the pavilion. It's a fabulous building with a lot of history and fascinating ceiling murals you shouldn't miss.
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I second this. They also serve really good food, so worth taking your time.
 
Batto said:
If you time your Day 2 on a Wednesday, you might still have time to visit the NHM in the evening till 8 PM. Or do HdM in the evening.
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If we find the time for it we will definitely visit the NHM as it looks very good!

remar said:
Looks like a solid plan to me.

My personal tip for Vienna is to take some time and and buy something at the Kaiserpavillion restaurant. Even if you just skip your coffee to go and therefore take a seat just for a coffee to drink within the pavilion. It's a fabulous building with a lot of history and fascinating ceiling murals you shouldn't miss.
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I will make sure to eat something here, thank you for the suggestion.

lintworm said:
Looks like a great trip, but beware you aren't packing too much in a trip ;), a few suggestions from my side:

- Why fly to Vienna and back from Berlin if you are interrailing anyway.... There are daily night trains from Amsterdam/Utrecht to Vienna (and 3 times a week from Brussels) and there are plenty of options to get from Berlin to Belgium too. Such flights are just wasteful in my humble opinion.... Taking the night train at day 0 means you have a whole day (which might be slightly sleepy) to see Haus des Meeres/ Natural history museum and more importantly: wild hamsters going crazy in a graveyard.
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Thanks for the suggestion. This could give some well needed sleep for the upcoming days.

lintworm said:
- Getting from Vienna to Prague and visit Zlin the same day is maybe possible on paper, but a very tall order. That is >7 hours of traveling time and trying to visit a major zoo which takes at least 5-6 hours to properly enjoy. With the full itinerary you plan on anyway, such days are a bit too much if you want to have the energy a week later to fully enjoy Berlin... My suggestion would be to either spend the night in Zlin and travel to Prague the next day leisurely (giving you the option to do a tiny bit of sightseeing in Prague to look for upside down horse statues). Or alternatively travel from Zlin to Ostrava at the end of the day (saves 2 hours of traveling time) and visit Zoo Ostrava the next day before taking a 4 pm train to Prague. Ostrava is a very good zoo too.
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I do know quite a bit about Ostrava and I was also considering to put this one in there, but I can't promise it yet as we likely won't have unlimited time to visit. We shall think about it, because I do agree that the travelling in that day could be a little too much.
lintworm said:
- I have never had trouble seeing Prague or Tierpark Berlin in a day, but I try to make full use of their generous opening hours. This means you will be exhausted at the end of the day. Unless you want to take large numbers of photographs of animals, you should be fine with a single day at each, if you don't mind you cannot backtrack everything you want. Visiting Dresden is something I would really try, it is not a shiny fancy zoo, but it does a lot of stuff right and has a lovely atmosphere and it is nice to break up a traveling day with a good zoo.
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I myself did do Tierpark Berlin last year and I managed to see almost everything except the pheasantry and the birds of prey in one day, but it did feel a bit rushed. We will however probably visit Dresden as a smaller stop to relax, compared to the behemoth zoos that we intend to visit.
 
I would also like to ask some questions regarding certain animals in these zoos.

  • Is there a best time to see the aardwolves at Zlin and where on the map are they located?
  • Is there a certain time that the brown hyenas tend to be outside in Prague?
  • I have already read a lot about the pangolins and their time schedules, the pangolins in Prague were mostly active in the afternoon, but Leipzig seems to be the easiest to see them, is this correct?
  • My friend also really likes echidnas and he was wondering which zoo has the most active or visble echidnas.
  • I also visited Zoo Berlin last year, but had to skip a few things. One of the things that I just couldn't find was the Kiwi in the Bird house, could anyone tell me where they are somewhere located?

    If there is any more advice about certain rarities or things to know about in the zoos that I intend to visit, it would all be welcome. Thanks again for the advice that you guys have already given @Batto, @remar, @cerperal, @lintworm
 
Père Damian's Deer said:
I would also like to ask some questions regarding certain animals in these zoos.

  • Is there a best time to see the aardwolves at Zlin and where on the map are they located?
  • Is there a certain time that the brown hyenas tend to be outside in Prague?
  • I have already read a lot about the pangolins and their time schedules, the pangolins in Prague were mostly active in the afternoon, but Leipzig seems to be the easiest to see them, is this correct?
  • My friend also really likes echidnas and he was wondering which zoo has the most active or visble echidnas.
  • I also visited Zoo Berlin last year, but had to skip a few things. One of the things that I just couldn't find was the Kiwi in the Bird house, could anyone tell me where they are somewhere located?

    If there is any more advice about certain rarities or things to know about in the zoos that I intend to visit, it would all be welcome. Thanks again for the advice that you guys have already given @Batto, @remar, @cerperal, @lintworm
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The brown hyenas in my experience like sunning themselves mid afternoon, usually best visible from the walkway above the main path. I'm not confident enough to say that's the best time to see them, so hopefully someone else can confirm - but it's been consistent for me.

You are effectively guaranteed to see pangolins at Leipzig if you arrive for feeding, unless for whatever reason they aren't doing it on the day you visit. The lights turn on, the keepers generally pick them up to check them and they eat next to the glass. The lights are also on for most of the morning, I believe it's half 10 they turn off. You're quite right they're most active in Prague in the afternoon, but you can view their dens all day so even if you don't get an active pangolin, you'll still at least see a sleeping one

The echnidna is incredibly hard to see at Prague, due to the enclosure being lit all day. This is another point someone can hopefully provide confirmation on though. The echnidna in Berlin is visible easily all day provided you have a bit of patience, he usually comes stomping out a few minutes after the lights turn off in the exhibit in the morning (10:30am) and is generally active all day

The kiwis are in a separate room in the main Africa section of the house, it should be reasonably well signed but look out for the rubber flaps. Just a suggestion for spotting them - it obviously takes a while for your eyes to adjust, but while they do try to listen out for movement. They are very active and rather noisy, tending to prefer the left-hand side of the exhibit as there are offshow areas there.

Regarding rarities you've chosen a series of zoos with too many to name! My random suggestion would be to make sure you don't miss the red-and-white flying squirrels at Tierpark Berlin, which are housed near the Karl-Foerster-Garden.
 
Père Damian's Deer said:
I would also like to ask some questions regarding certain animals in these zoos.
  • Is there a certain time that the brown hyenas tend to be outside in Prague?
  • My friend also really likes echidnas and he was wondering which zoo has the most active or visble echidnas.
Click to expand...

From my experience, the hyenas in Prague can be seen anytime throughout the day, but they're usually just laying around, sleeping. Which makes sense, since they're quite old. The only time I've seen them being awake was in the morning, shortly after the zoo opens.
Prague's echidnas are not very active, but I was lucky to see one while feeding around 3 PM.
Also, I have to agree with lintworm, that Dresden is a smaller, but really pleasant and nice zoo. I went there few days ago for the first time and I was surprised by how nice the zoo actually is. There are some really cool species and some nice enclosures - especially the aviaries. It is worth visiting if you have the time for that, especially since the zoo isn't that big and so it can be relaxing after visiting Prague.
 
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