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2. Oct 2023

Vienna ZOO

Annually visited by more than 2 million people, one of the most beautiful zoos in Europe - ZOO Schönbrunn in Vienna - is situated only a few kilometres away from the Slovak borders. It's a great option (not only) for a family trip! You can get to Vienna comfortably also by a coach and one of the public transport lines will take you directly to the entrance.

The ZOO in Vienna is situated in the centre of the extensive Schönbrunn Palace park visit to which is also a great experience. The ZOO covers the area of 17 hectares and more than 8,500 animals live here. You can find there a lot of hidden places, attractions, food stands, interesting places and relaxing zones, so your trip to ZOO Vienna will take you almost whole day. Read our practical guide that will make your earliest visit easier.

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Entry fee and opening hours

The ZOO is open 365 days in a year, also during all bank holidays. The only thing you need to check is the change of the opening hours according to individual months (closing hours change).

Month Time
January 9:00 – 16:30
February 9:00 – 17:00
March 9:00 – 17:30
April – September 9:00 – 18:30
October 9:00 – 17:30
November – December 9:00 – 16:30

Most pavilions close thirty minutes before the end of the opening hours but there are some exceptions. The bird pavilion, for example, closes an hour before the gates close while the aquarium and terrarium pavilions are open until the end of the opening hours.

Tickets to ZOO Vienna are available at the entrance to the site or online in advance. When buying the tickets online, don’t forget to print the tickets, the ZOO employees will ask you to show them. The last entry is possible thirty minutes before the end of the opening hours, which has been announced, for more than 200 years, by an emperor bell that was used, in the past, to announce the Emperor’s arrival.

What are the entry fees?

One-day ticket for an adult costs €18,50 but you can buy it for €16,50 per person if you are entering within a group of 10 and more people. Children aged 6 to 19 and disabled people (after submitting a certificate) pay the fee of €9 or €8 per person within a group of 10 and more people. Small children up to 6 years old can enter the zoo free of charge.

If you plan to visit ZOO Schönbrunn regularly, it’s worth to buy a yearly ticket for €49 for adults and €25 for children and adolescents. The ZOO also offers a discounted entry fee for 5 persons (2 adults and 3 children) for €54.

If you want to make your program even richer in experiences and enjoy the stunning surroundings of the Schönbrunn park, you should certainly decide for the combined entry fee with which you can save up to 25% of the price for individual tickets. The complete price list is available on the ZOO’s official site in English.

Look forward for seals, polar bear or giant panda!

No doubt the giant pandas are one of the biggest attractions of the Vienna ZOO. In 2016 their breeders managed to reproduce them naturally and, on 7 August, Yang Yang delivered two little pandas.

However, pandas are certainly not the only attraction worth seeing. The ZOO is home to more than 700 animal species from insect to African Elephants. Apart from giant pandas, you can also come to see red pandas, lions, tigers, pelicans, rhinos, arctic wolves, penguins, seals, exotic fish and birds or even jelly fish and polar bears.

How to get to the ZOO?

The Slovak Lines coaches run on the Bratislava – Vienna route as frequently as 20 times a day. We will take you to the centre of Vienna, from where you will get to Schönbrunn by one of the public transport lines.

  • The U4 underground line: Hietzing station – tickets can be bought directly at the underground station or online in advance (you must buy at least 5 tickets if buying online)
  • Trams: 10, 58, 60 tickets can be also bought from the driver with an extra charge
  • Bus: 10A, 51A, 56A, 56B, 58A .

More types of travel tickets for the public transport are available in Vienna. You only need to know that one trip with any number of changes costs €2.20 (youngsters up to 15 pay half the price), a 24-hour travel ticket costs €7.60 and children up to 6 can travel for free.

Attractions in ZOO Vienna

Neither children, nor adults or even the older ones will be bored in the Schönbrunn ZOO. The most interesting attractions are, for example, the thematic pavilions such as “Regenwaldhaus”, where you can experience the right rainforest atmosphere, “Wüstenhaus” with animals and plants from desert regions or “Polarium” with penguins and seals.

In the centre of the ZOO, there is the historic Emperor’s pavilion form the 18th century where animals in their yards can be observed directly from the terrace. You can also find there thematic restaurants, for example Tirol Garden, where you can enjoy delicacies of the Tirol cuisine in the shadow of trees.

For the ZOO visitors, commented animal feeding is also a great experience which often means the only opportunity for you to see a specific animal. The ZOO has a fixed feeding timetable you can check in advance online to prepare a plan for everything you want to see. Flyers with the times of the commented feeding are also available at the cash registers at the entrance.

It’s normally not allowed to touch the animals but you can enjoy a closer contact with them in the Contact ZOO.

From 10am to 6pm, a yellow panoramic train runs across the ZOO that will take you from the Emperor’s pavilion to the Tirol Yard for €2 for adults and €1 for children.

The history of the ZOO

The Vienna ZOO is the oldest ZOO in the world. It was founded in 1752 by Emperor Francis I of Lorraine, the husband of Maria Theresa, who brought his valuable collection of exotic animals to Vienna after the wedding. The ZOO was first accessible only to the Emperor’s family but, 26 years after its opening, he made it accessible also to the public.

After the death of Francis I, the small collection of the animals in the ZOO was extended by his son Joseph II. He brought mainly different carnivores Francis I avoided for their smell.

The Vienna ZOO is interesting, for example, for the fact that, in 1906, the first elephant was born here in captivity within Europe and that, in 2013, the breeders managed to artificially fertilise an elephant using frozen sperm. In 1828, the giraffe occurred here for the first time, that, surprisingly, inspired the Viennese in the hairstyle fashion.

The Vienna ZOO plan is available on the official website in English.