What to do in Edinburgh Zoo

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Edinburgh Zoo is, unsurprisingly, based in the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh and is home to a whole range of magical creatures.

Edinburgh Zoo

Opening in 1913, Edinburgh Zoo is an oasis of 82 acres on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Accessible by bus from the city centre as well as other locations, as well as by car. We stayed in the IHG hotel which is basically in the carpark of the zoo.

Tickets can be bought ahead of time on their website. When we visited these were date and time specific. Current ticket prices can be found here. We used our Kids Pass to save money on the tickets.

Accessibility

Whilst they have made obvious attempts with accessibility it can be tricky as the zoo is set on a hill with some steep increases. Some paths are muddy and some involve steps. The day can be very tiring if you follow a route which repeatedly takes you up and down again.

How to find the magic in Edinburgh Zoo

Edinburgh Zoo is full of animal magic.

When we visited it was all about the pandas but I’m sure these will be replaced with another amazing important exhibit. The zoo had lots of different and interesting parts like the design of the tropical house allowing you to see sloths up close. Which isn’t something I’ve experienced in a UK zoo before.

Or the missing link centre, which I originally wrote off, allowing you to see research conducted in real-time. What you will see here is entirely dependent on the project happening at the time so always changing and, pardon the pun, evolving.

It’s also available to rent for your own special occasions and movie magic moments such as weddings.

Top things to spot

• The only Queensland Koalas in the UK
• The toasty Tropical room
• Penguins on Parade
• See the giraffes eye to eye in their specially designed indoor home
• Walk through the bird aviary to get up close to some feathered friends

Our visit to Edinburgh Zoo

We went to visit the pandas

Our reserved time was at 11, but we started queuing at 10 30 hoping to get in early. But the queue was so long we didn’t get in till 11.15. We were glad we queued early as the queue grew whilst we waited.

We went specially to see the pandas before they left but were sure to see the rest of the zoo too. If you aren’t trying to hit certain talks, which were very interesting, then I’d recommend winding your way down from the back to the front.

We ended up going all around, up, down, up, down which proved very tiring. 

At lunch time the cafes get very busy. We wish we had gone to The Gannet fish bar which does amazing sounding veggie options. But we ended up grabbing a quick cake from Penguins Cafe. Homemade shortbread and a mint slice. Which turned out to be the best shortbread ever. Salty, sweet and sandwiched with fruit strawberry jam.

Top tips for Edinburgh Zoo

Here’s my top tips incase you want to skim through!

• Check out the map before you go, or when you arrive, and plan a route. You probably don’t want to go up the hill multiple times
• Check out any talks you might want to attend and plan these into your route
• Wear sensible shoes for the afore mentioned hill and muddy paths
• Think about when you’ll want food. Try and eat a little earlier than main lunch time for quieter eating and more options. Most of the food is all together in one area
• Have fun and go with the flow

Do you have any top tips for visiting Edinburgh Zoo?