Chester Zoo Avis 

We'd had a brilliant day looking for the animals, but it was soured by our experience of terrible staff when we were leaving the car park. A young lady shouted at us to leave, despite the fact a car was crossing into the same lane that we were meant to exit into. The animals are lovely, shame about the people.

afterglow experience very let down couldnt find any of the things advertised waited over 1 hour for boats in pouring down rain to be told were closing and if you like rubber cheese burgers go to junes food place not worth the 10 pound rather go to mcdonalds one very let down granddaughter most animals had gone to bed

On the one hand this zoo is clearly a triumph of conservation, as many of the animals have very large enclosures, and the habitat is often prolific and overgrown.
However, the downside of this for the paying visitor is that you are highly unlikely to see a lot of the animals in one visit, as they have plenty of places to sleep and hide from prying eyes.
For this reason I was hugely disappointed that we were unable to see many of the animals, and we heard comments from other people that they had also had the same frustrating experience.
The zoo site itself is very large, and even in a whole day you may be unlikely to see all in one visit, and this may in part be because the signposts are infrequent and often unhelpful.
On the plus side, there are many toilets and "outposts" (or kiosks selling refreshments), and the access for wheelchair users and pushchairs is very good on the whole, except for the wooden bridges and walkways which have many uncomfortable and difficult ridges to negotiate.
Viewpoints of the animals are sometimes restricted or few in number, which could be improved.
Information about animal feeding times is not advertised, except at the entrance.
The car parks are split into massive zonal areas, A B C D (there may be more) plus a park and ride area.
Upon arrival we were immediately pointed towards zone D without any questions about accessibility requirements. With hindsight we should have spoken up to ask if there were any accessible spaces, as we soon found out later that there were. So it was a good 10-15 minute trek with wheelchair to the entrance from zone D.

Getting in was quick & easy. Went round the zoo couldn't see quite a few of animals as their enclosures were very bushy & lots of places they could hide. I think they need so high platforms as you couldn't see much as there enclosure tend to be not flat, & some animals looked sad. Elephants were very entertaining & their house was clean & big & well kept.

Brilliant experience - saw loads of animals. Looking at other reviews, we must have been lucky! Friendly staff and volunteers. Well worth a visit.

Not good value for money.

For a more enjoyable and animal-filled experience, I recommend visiting the Safari Park in Knowsley. You'll see physically more animals, and since everything is closer together, it's easier to walk around. However, if you don't have a car, you will need to pay for a ride on the crew bus to go through the safari section; but the day will still work out cheaper than a trip to Chester zoo.

One major issue with Chester Zoo is the long walks to the enclosures, only to often find them empty. Additionally, the entry price can be misleading. With gift aid, the zoo effectively receives double what you pay upfront. While I understand that running a zoo is expensive, spending £80 for two people at Chester Zoo feels unjustifiable. I mean with gift aid my trip was really £160 to the zoo, so I don't understand how it's so expensive honestly. On top of the steep entry fee, the cost of food is outrageous. I spent £50 on a tiny fish and chips and a quick coffee and cake in the afternoon, bringing the total cost for the day to £130 for two people. This is absurd and will make me not recommend this to anyone, I don't understand how families are supposed to afford this.

In comparison, the best zoo I've ever visited is Mundomar Zoo in Benidorm. For £50 per person, you get a private group tour, plenty of photos, a private show with sea lions and seals, and the opportunity to feed endangered lemurs and take photos with dolphins. Chester Zoo, despite its vast size and large number of visitors, doesn't offer the same value. The high cost, expensive food, and lack of animal sightings make it a less appealing day out, and children might quickly become bored, leading to an early departure. I saw this first hand as families with restless kids walked out early on in the day, many people I bumped into also said "where are the animals" or something to that effect.

It was my 2nd visit. Dont know whether its zoo or just a jungle with no animals. We spent 4 hours and all we manage to see was 4 animals. All cages were literally empty or aminals were no where to be seen. It says zoo has 27000 animals but u will b lucky to see 10. There was no tiger or lions leopards to see. Only few monkeys, rhino and deer. What a waste of money and time. It is very beautiful park, but not zoo because soo has aminals to see not empty grounds and cages

The zoo was like being in a different world,the animals have lovely indoor and outdoor places to go ,hide if they want,or just do what ever they want,lovely outdoor places,very natural,I'm definitely coming a gen,they all looked chilled,thankyou for a great day

Lovely day out. Clean and tidy, friendly staff.
Food & drinks are a bit pricey but as you'd expect at a zoo i guess.
Animals look healthy and havd nice new enclosures. Staff very knowledgeable.
Great day out

Cannot fault this zoo at all. I have visited a variety of zoo’s, safari, farm parks and yes this was the most expensive ticket priced one, but it was clearly visible to see why.

The zoo was spotless. Very clean, and all the toilets were the same too, I was very impressed. Usually visiting places as such I’ve found the toilets have been very basic and poorly cleaned throughout the day.

We visited on a Sunday, a warm July day and the animals were very active throughout the whole day. From the morning we were welcomed with the tigers walking around, up close to the viewing windows as well. One of the sloths actually was climbing down from the rope to the bottom also, very active considering they aren’t usually considered active animals. The butterfly house was a brilliant experience, hot but expected. The butterflies were flying around as you walked through and it was great to see so many chrysalis too from these healthy butterflies. The bat cave was an experience like no other. I have never visited an animal day out where this has been an area to visit, so it was a treat to see bats in their habitat and very active. I wouldn’t recommend this part for those with sensory needs though, as it can be overwhelming and disorienting, especially as you are walking through a dark, very low lit ‘cave’. We were also treated at the end with the capybara’s and anteaters out roaming their habitat. Also the new addition of the snow leopard was a treat, lying cosied up right at the viewing window for a perfect pic!

I must say the enclosures are extremely well kept. The sizes also were generous considering this is a zoo and a place of interest for public to visit. Having visited a variety of these places over the country it is definitely one of the more advanced and better suited for captivated animals.

I do understand it is an expensive day out but it’s very clear to see the funds are out back into the animals. They are well looked after and the zoo itself has a lot to offer for a great day out. It would be niave to visit a place like this that’s well publicised and has the variety of animals and rare species, to expect it to be a ‘cheap day out’. My advice, pack a picnic and you won’t need to spend a penny past the ticket cost.

What I would recommend is, as a visitor from Scotland it would have been good to be able to buy a weekend ticket, or a two day ticket. Even on our whole day there from opening to closing we missed out on the aquarium and the protected plant area. Also not getting a chance to play at the several playparks too. I did feel I was rushing a bit of the animals at the end to try get the best of our experience seeing animals we don’t get to see locally.

If you’re thinking about visiting, just do it. Honestly it’s not a day out to be missed and I would definitely return!

Great day out, very well ran and plenty of animals. We absolutely love this zoo.

So disappointed. So expensive. We didn't see any animals except elephants and giraffes, oh and a rhino far away. I understand that animals are not there to amuse us, but we want to experience them. Next time, watch it on tv

We didn't see many animals as the enclosures were either empty or animals were asleep, so this was very disappointing.

The food available in the food court was very expensive and the food was poor quality.

Poor sign posting and we had to ask staff which way to go.

We went as a family which included our 10 month old granddaughter. Parking easy but then signs round park not very good, then we could hardly see any animals, were they all hiding. Saw elephants,giraffes and lions. Couldn’t see tiger or bears. Very disappointing for the moni. Couldn’t even go on the little boat ride as our grandaughter was too young.

You hate animals, otherwise you wouldn't be holding them captive.

Beautiful zoo, with well looked after enclosures and animals.

The zoo is woundfull
The staff are very helpful. However we visited the oakfiled restaurant on our last visit and again this year. All the staff were very helpful. But the menu was very poor the standard has slipped significantly since last year.

The ease of hiring a sturdy mobility scooter. A lot of animals not wanting to be sociable and with the racket from hordes of screaming school children, no wonder.
Loved the Orang-utans and the only Tiger to show itself, the Sumatran one. Thanks mate!
Quite easy to navigate around though most of drinks huts CLOSED on a warm day.
Only criticism is no smooth path for disability scooters/wheelchairs/etc over AWFUL bridges. I know they need to be hard wearing and non-slip for pedestrians, but I felt ill crossing them. One narrow strip of smoothness for us please when you refurb. Truly awful. Try it in a wheelchair/scooter you designers! PLEASE!
Thanks for a tiring but most enjoyable day (bar bridges).

It was awful always loved it when younger so was looking forward ti it well I was very disappointed we got to see about 5 animals in the whole zoo plenty of enclosures with nothing in it was all about British wildlife and flowers will not be going back blackpool zoo next time I think

First visit to the zoo, a little disappointed in all honesty. Allot of the enclosure's you couldn't see the animals, the signage was very confusing in that some areas directed you to the exit instead of the entrance. Needs to be more areas with things to look at as at points you just didn't see anything and we went on the hottest day of the year and I would recommend free drinking fountains where you can fill up your bottle of water instead of paying the expense if buying a drink. Overall good visit but needs that something else to make it more exciting.